Grace Overflowing
Lk. 15:1-10[1]
The Church has, in my opinion, had a mixed legacy. In many cases the faithful have given
sacrificially to those in need, and have poured out kindness and mercy to those
who are hurting. But in all too many
cases, I’m afraid the Church has been responsible for inflicting the hurt. The painful truth is that we in the Church
have drawn all kinds of lines between “us” and “them”--whoever “they” may
be. Like the Pharisees who criticized
Jesus for consorting with “sinners,” we have labeled those we deem outsiders by
using all sorts of unkind and hurtful language. And in my opinion, we have
wounded some people so deeply that there is very little chance they will ever
walk through the doors of this or any other church. And yet, it seems to me
that we are called to relate to them, and indeed to anyone we come in contact,
as channels of God’s unlimited and overflowing grace.
According to the Gospels, Jesus related to people of all
classes and stations in life with the same kindness. That’s part of the reason why some of the
Jewish religious leaders were so offended.
They went to great lengths to justify their belief that they were God’s
chosen, blessed by God’s favor, living in God’s good graces. And in this
system, anyone who didn’t live up to their standards of holiness was a
“sinner.” That meant that, by definition,
they were rejected by God and excluded from God’s grace. The way they expressed
that mindset was by excluding them from common activities like worship, and
especially meals. In their mind, to share a meal with a “sinner” was to extend
God’s grace to them, and they didn’t deserve it![2]
That’s the context behind the parables Jesus told in our
Gospel lesson for today. He told two
unusual stories that illustrated how God extends grace to all people, without
any restrictions or limitations. The
first is a story of a shepherd who has a flock of 100 sheep. One of them goes astray, and rather than
staying to make sure the other 99 are safe from all dangers, he leaves them to
search for the lost sheep. When he finds
that one sheep, he is so overjoyed that he invites his friends to rejoice with
him. And in that day and time, it was
expected that the host of a celebration would provide food. So did he serve roasted lamb? Seems ironic, and extravagant to go to so
much effort to find one sheep, only to use it as the main course for a
celebration with his friends! I think
the point is that God’s grace is that extravagant.
Jesus told another, similar story about a woman who lost a
coin. That might not seem like a big
deal, but in this case, her entire “nest egg” consisted of ten coins. So she literally turns her house upside-down
looking for the lost coin. And when she
finds it, she’s so overjoyed that she invites her friends to celebrate with
her. And guess what--yep, she would have
been expected to provide food. At the
very least, she would have had to spend the coin she had just put so much
effort into finding to put on the party.
Again, it seems ironic and extravagant to celebrate finding the coin by
spending it to throw a party for her friends.
Again, I think the point is that God’s grace is extravagant.
In both cases, Jesus drew the same conclusion: “there will be more
joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous
persons who need no repentance” (Lk. 15:7).
Jesus makes it clear that, contrary to the smug, self-righteous, and
stingy attitudes of his opponents, God excludes no one from grace. In fact, God actively seeks out those who
have found themselves on the other side of the boundary lines. And when just one of those who have been
excluded finds his or her way back into the grace and mercy and love of God,
Jesus said all heaven rejoices.[3]
I don’t think there was any way that Jesus could have more blatantly
contradicted the self-righteous attitude of some of the Jewish religious
leaders. What he was teaching about the
free access of God’s grace that extends to everyone, crossing all the “lines”
we draw to mark off “us” from “them,” constituted virtually the exact opposite
of what they taught. Their definition of
what constituted a “sinner” was rather sweeping. They didn’t limit “sinners” to those we might
think of as leading an “immoral” life.[4] They included everyone who didn’t have the
luxury of spending their whole day studying and seeking to practice God’s
commands. They even had a word for them:
they called them “the people of the land.” It wasn’t a compliment! And the self-righteous religious snobs of
Jesus’ day believed that those “sinners” had only one way to gain access to
God’s grace: they had to earn it. It’s
no wonder they could treat the vast majority of people around them as if God
could care less about them.[5]
Unfortunately, we in the church have made the same mistake all too
often. We have excluded those whom we
ought to include. We have looked down on
those whom God loves and values and seeks to bring home. We have not only drawn lines that make us
feel like we’re righteous at the expense of assuming others are sinful, we have
in some cases reinforced those lines with hurtful words. As I said earlier, I fear that there are some
people whom we the Church have wounded so deeply that there’s very little
chance they will ever come back. There may be nothing we can do about
that. But what we can do is imitate
God’s extravagant love for all people.[6] We can be channels of God’s overflowing
grace--simply by treating the people we encounter in our daily lives with
kindness and mercy and love.
[1] ©
2013 Alan Brehm. A sermon delivered by
Rev. Dr. Alan Brehm on 9/15/2013 at First Presbyterian Church of Dickinson, TX.
[2]
Cf. John Nolland, Luke
9:21–18:34, 773; Fred Craddock, Luke,
102-103, 184. Cf. also R. Alan
Culpepper, “The Gospel of Luke,” New
Interpreters Bible IX:298: “The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin
expose the grudging spirit that prevents us from receiving God’s mercy. Only those who can celebrate God’s grace to
others can experience that mercy themselves.”
[3] Cf.
Mary H. Schertz, “God’s Party Time,” The
Christian Century (Sept. 4, 2007): 18: “God s mercy is reckless and
profligate. It is a prodigal passion, and our visions of salvation are measly
by comparison.” Cf. also Jürgen
Moltmann, Jesus Christ for Today’s World,
12.
[4]
cf. Craddock, Luke, 77-78: “sinners”
were those who were excluded from the synagogue, and “Given the central place
of the synagogue in the community, to be a sinner was to be an outcast.”
[5] Cf. Ann James, “Prodigiously Lost and Found,” The Christian Century (Mar 1, 1989):
221, where she points out that “The Pharisees probably expected the story to
end with some sort of condemnation of the way they too distanced themselves from
sinners,” but the point Jesus was making is that “no one is lost—or rather, no
one is left un-searched for.”
[6] Art Ross, “Lk. 15:1-10,” Interpretation 61 (Oct 2007): 424: “A life of discipleship is a
life that begins with repentance, leads to the faith of Jesus, and embodies the
love of God,” a love that is “love for the lost; persistent pursuit of the well
being of others; joyful, generous friendship; and sharing with one's friends
and neighbors.” Cf. also Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics 2.1:278: “God’s love is
not merely not conditioned by any reciprocity of love. It is also not
conditioned by any worthiness to be loved on the part of the loved.”
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