Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents

 

Christ the Shepherd with the lost sheep.  Roman Catacombs, 3rd century

 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."  So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.  

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, swept the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

 

- Luke 15:1–10 

 

Yesterday we read that at this time in Christ's ministry, great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.  Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" 

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."   Regarding today's entire passage, my study bible explains that for pious Jews, fellowship with sinners was defiling.  What follows in Christ's response to the Pharisees and scribes are three parables giving the image of a man, a woman and the father (this third parable is recorded in the verses in tomorrow's lectionary reading).  These are seen as representing Christ, the Church, and God the Father.  My study bible quotes St. Ambrose of Milan:  "Christ carries the sinners, the Church seeks and intercedes, and the Father receives."

So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."   There is a spiritual interpretation of this parable in patristic commentary:  the hundred sheep represent all rational creation.  The one sheep who goes astray symbolizes humankind.  The ninety-nine represent the angelic realm.  

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, swept the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."  My study Bible comments that ten silver coins comprise a single necklace worn by a married woman -- a bride, which is an image of the Church (Ephesians 5:31-32).  The lost coin (in Greek, a drachma) carried the image of the king.  My study bible says this image symbolizes human beings, who, although bearing the image of God, fell from grace.  Through the Church, Christ enlightens the world, sweeps away sin, and finds His lost creation.

Christ's parables are about longing, a depth of love, and especially a deep understanding of incompleteness without the missing sheep, or the missing coin.  These are images that give us a sense that it is the whole of humanity with which Jesus is concerned, the whole of His creation for which He fervently desires redemption, salvation, and union -- a return back to love and communion with Creator.  We're given pictures of what constitutes a whole set:  not just the ninety-nine sheep, but the complete one hundred are so fervently desired that Christ would leave behind all rest in the wilderness to seek out the one.  The woman with the necklace of ten coins will go to great lengths to seek out the one that is missing and complete the set, reunited altogether, for her understanding is one of great urgency that one is missing.  Altogether, Jesus is expressing His great love for each one of us, even the ones who are lost or straying.  We don't earn God's love in this sense that we are unworthy of that love when we stray or sin.   God's love is God's prerogative, not up to us, and God's very nature is love.  Therefore, even when we sin, we ought to be assured that a return in humility and honesty is always going to be conditioned in that love.  That is to say, God is a parent whose love is unconditional.  That doesn't mean always approving of everything we do!  It means real love, One who wants what is best for us, and what is best for us is to be in communion with the One who loves us best, better than what we can understand.  When we see God's love in this light, we understand discipleship to be healing (as Christ speaks of Himself as physician in another such encounter - see Luke 5:30-31).  In the Revelation, the Lord says, "As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be zealous and repent" (Revelation 3:19).  From Jesus' parables in today's reading, we can understand the ground of all of our reality is really the love of God, sustaining all, and all of us.  When we wonder why there is such evil in the world, perhaps we'd best turn to these parables to understand God's deep love and the time we're given in hopes of repentance and return.  I find myself reminded also of the story of the man who identified himself as Legion, for whom Christ set sail with the disciples across a frighteningly stormy Sea of Galilee, to a very strange place to find that man, occupied by a legion of demons and living among tombs, in order to heal him (see this reading).  Christ's ministry opened up grace for all of us, the Lord coming into the world to reclaim those who were lost, and seeking after each one.  The Spirit has been poured out upon the world, and we simply have to say yes to this deep invitation of love to all of us.  

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents

 

 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."  So he spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

 

- Luke 15:1–10 

 

Yesterday we read that at this point in Christ's ministry, great multitudes went with Him.  And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- least, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to met him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.  Salt is good; but if the sale has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" 

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.  And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."  Regarding today's entire reading (and two more verses that follow), my study bible comments that fellowship with sinners defiled pious Jews.  Christ begins three parables which will follow in this chapter, which are His answer to the Pharisees and scribes.  The protagonists in each of those parables (the man, the woman, and the father in verses 4-32 represent Christ, the Church, and God the Father.   There is a quotation here by St. Ambrose of Milan:  "Christ carries the sinner, the Church seeks and intercedes, and the Father receives."

So he spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."   The Patristic spiritual interpretation of this parable tells us that the hundred sheep represent all rational creation.  The one sheep who goes astray is a symbol of humankind.  The ninety-nine, a powerful number, represent the angelic realm.  Christ descended from the spiritual realm to find the one sheep, humankind, and to save us.

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."  My study bible tells us that ten silver coins comprise a single necklace worn by a married woman, a bride, and this is an image of the Church (Ephesians 5:32).   The lost coin (in the original Greek, a drachma), carried an image of the king.  This image of the king symbolizes humankind, who, although bearing the image of Christ, fell from grace.  Through the Church, Christ enlightens the world, sweeps away sin, and finds God's lost creation.  

In tomorrow's reading Jesus will give us the famous parable, which appears only in Luke, of the Prodigal Son.  This will complete the trilogy of parables Jesus gives to teach us about God's efforts to save even one sinner, so that each one may find reunion with God's love.  But let us examine today's parables, and see what Christ is saying to us.  The stray sheep for which the shepherd leaves the other ninety-nine and goes in search to save it distinctly puts us in mind of the story of the demoniac named Legion.  (See this reading for his story.)   In that passage, we read that Jesus made the disciples set sail through a terrible storm on the Sea of Galilee, to come to a deserted place in which there was a man who lived only among the tombs, and was not in his right mind.  He was inhabited by a legion of demons, and lived among those who did not care about his healing at all, but in the unfolding of the story it was understand that he deeply desired the healing of Christ, and was so grateful he wanted to come with Jesus and the disciples back with them.  But he was sent out by Christ to be a kind of early evangelist to his own community about the great things God had done for him.  In that story, Jesus set sail through treacherous dangers seemingly just to find and heal that one man.  And so, this story of the ninety-nine sheep left behind (and for an every day shepherd, left to danger!) to pursue the one that was lost, illustrates this same point.  God is not an "every day" shepherd, but a divine Shepherd, and so we have an illustration of the power of love through which God will act to save even one of us for whom God has hope of restoration of communion and loving relationship.  What we should come to understand is that God's "efforts" at love are not our human efforts, and exceed extraordinarily beyond the level of passion we are capable of understanding about love on human terms.  God does not weigh or measure effort for us, but rather will seek by any extraordinary means, especially those of which we cannot even conceive, to retrieve us and save us and return us to God's love and communion.  This is what we must take that is expressed in these stories.  Who cannot relate to seeking that one object that completes a set when it goes missing, and making all kinds of effort -- that seemingly outweigh the value of the lost object -- in order to retrieve it?  This nature we share with our Lord, that love seeks out its own that has been lost, and will make great effort to find it.  If we are to take these parables in context of one another, we can understand that God has "efforts" to make that are possible to God, which go way beyond what is possible for us.  If you or I would go as far as the women to sweep up the floor and look everywhere to find a lost coin to a set, think of the efforts God can put out -- especially through God's invisible forces of angels -- for one of us who might be brought back into this communion of love.  Let us understand, then, from Christ's parables the extraordinary possibilities in God's love for us, and the incalculable efforts made for each one as we all upon God.  There are all sorts of efforts, possibilities, and powers we don't know, can't see, and cannot estimate at work in God's love for us.  Call on God in prayer, and ask for God's help in restoration of that love and care at all times, and through all circumstances.  God's efforts and God's love are far greater than we can calculate, beyond the scope of our understanding of love, and in power unyielding to any limitations.

There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.   And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." 

So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. 

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lam, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

- Luke 15:1-10

In yesterday's reading, we were told that great multitudes went with Jesus. And He turned and said to them, "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, yes, and his own life also, he cannot be My disciple.  And whoever does not bear his cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple.  For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost, whether he has enough to finish it -- lest, after he has laid the foundation, and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, 'This man began to build and was not able to finish.'  Or what king, going to make war against another king, does not sit down first and consider whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand?  Or else, while the other is still a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks conditions of peace.  So likewise, whoever of you does not forsake all that he has cannot be My disciple.  Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its flavor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is neither fit for the land nor for the dunghill, but men throw it out.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.   And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."    My study bible tells us that "mealtime fellowship with tax collectors and sinners was considered to be defiling for pious Jews."   So, it's not a situation where Jesus is simply having something to do with these people and paying them attention as followers, but rather a defiling act, a sort of contamination.

So He spoke this parable to them, saying:  "What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?  And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.  And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!'  I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance."  My study bible says, "Joy in heaven for the repentance of each sinner is the main theme of this chapter.  Jesus connects repentance with joy, not sadness."   Jesus teaches, "I am the good shepherd" in John's Gospel.   But Luke here gives us a particular angle on repentance, on the return of even one lost sheep out of one hundred.  It is the illustration of what has been lost and now is found.  Somehow the finding of the one that was lost creates a kind of preciousness made by love. 

"Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lam, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!'  Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."  The great joy in heaven that Jesus speaks us tells us something not only about the gift of human faith and its connection to God, but also the power in one act of repentance.  If even the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents, then we must understand how carefully we each are thought of, how deeply we are truly loved.

Jesus makes palpable in today's reading, the great longing and love of God for those who stray or are far away.  The impact of these parables isn't about someone who has always been gone, but rather one that for certain came from a "home," a particular place of belonging, and has strayed, or has been lost.  It is  a kind of longing that makes particularly joyous the return of this thing, this person, who has been gone, who has strayed or been lost.  It's a love made potent or powerful through the retrieval of what was thought to have been lost.  If we think about it, it tells us a great deal about God, about heaven.  Does God feel such a longing for each of us?  Do the angels feel the loss of one human being, so that a triumphant shout of joy is the result of one who returns?  This is a powerful understanding of God's love, and of what it really means to return or to repent, to come back to find God's way, the ways the angels would have us return to their places, to union of assembly with them.  So it is with the sinners who sit at table with Jesus, and His great love for them.  It doesn't matter where they've been; what matters a great deal more is the joy in heaven over their return, to have them back together at the assembly where we are among the communion of saints, where we worship together with the angels.  I don't think there could be more effective parables illustrating the longing and love of God, the true worth of one single human being, the great joy in heaven over each one of us just because we return.  When you come to God, consider Jesus' parables, how much we are loved, and what it means to return even a single human being to this love.  Perhaps then we will understand "right-relatedness" with a true depth befitting God's mission to us in the form of His Son whom God sent to reclaim, reconnect, and heal, so that the joy in heaven may be truly boundless.