C, Pent 16 Proper 19 - Luke 15:1-10 "Seeking the Lost"

Luke 15:1-10 NIV

1 Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

8 “Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Sermon

Last week we heard, from Jeremiah eighteen, about the potter and the clay; and how he sought to form something beautiful out of it with his hands. However, anyone who knows anything about clay will tell you it can be the most hideous stuff at times.

A worker once sought to dig his way down to a water main which had started to leak. He assumed it wouldn’t be a difficult job to dig the hole so a plumber could come and make the necessary repairs. But little did he know that the ground below his feet was clay.

Clay might be a very good product to work with on the potter’s wheel, but in its natural environment it’s one of the most difficult and stubborn elements to move. When clay is dry its qualities are more like rock; when it’s wet its sticky stuff which is still not easily moved.

And that’s what the worker found out. The simple job of moving the soaked soil, was a painstaking nightmare. As he dug, he needed to use tremendous force to get the sticky clay onto the shovel, and when he went to tip it off the shovel into the wheelbarrow, turning the shovel upside down, the clay stubbornly just stuck there. He had to bang the shovel against the wheelbarrow and even pick it off with his fingers. After three hours he had only dug two barrow fulls of clay, and gained three blisters on each hand. Clay can be made into beautiful pots on the potter’s wheel but its terribly stubborn stuff in its original environment.

Last week we also heard in Luke’s Gospel, at the end of chapter fourteen in verse twenty-six and twenty-seven, Jesus say, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple. And anyone who does not carry his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.”

Then at the end of that gospel reading we hear about salt, another natural element from the ground. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “Those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” (Luke 14:34-35)

Like clay, salt can be a great product. It can be used in many applications to make food taste, or to preserve it and other things. But any farmer who has salt in his soil, will distress over the salinity destroying the productivity of the land being farmed. Salt, like clay, can be the best of products; but then again it can also be very unproductive too.

Jesus came to work amongst God’s chosen people. A people who snubbed his sincerity and continually chose to chase after other things! Perhaps, these people — the disciples, the Pharisees, the tax collectors — all of them sinners — were more like sticky stubborn clay, or salty soil in need of refining. In fact, when Jesus says these harsh words… If anyone comes to me and does not hate his father and mother, his wife and children, his brothers and sisters—yes, even his own life—he cannot be my disciple, …he is showing the reality of our fruitless productivity in saving ourselves or doing anything, apart from what he chooses to do through us.

Like clay or salty soil, the people of Jesus’ day couldn’t do anything by themselves. We are the same! Unless someone comes and does something to us, we can’t do much either. In hearing his word Jesus exposes the inability of humanity’s true reality. If we, who are like clay or salt, think we can come to Jesus and bear the reality of who we are, and therefore hate ourselves and those from whom we came, we cannot be a disciple. We cannot come; no person has the power to follow. Like clay or salty soil, we can’t do anything good by ourselves.

So Jesus draws a line in the sand. In fact, he draws a line in the hard clay of our humanity; he draws a line in the salinity of the sinful soil, into which he breathes the breath of life. God the Son shows the sticky stubborn reality of our unrefined natural humanity. We are clay; we cannot mould ourselves into beautiful pottery. We are saline soil; we can neither separate our salt from our soil, nor become tasty or productive. That’s just how it is! Jesus calls those who have ears to hear this harsh reality and believe it.

But the realities don’t stop there. If they did we would be doomed to death for eternity. We must continue to hear what Jesus says in the next chapter, and so on, right through to the climax of the gospel at Jesus’ death and resurrection.

In the next chapter, chapter fifteen, there are three parables; the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son (who we know as the prodigal son). These chapters talk about those who can’t choose to follow or come to Jesus. These three parables speak about you and me. We are “the lost” in need of a Saviour who continually seeks us out.

Chapter fifteen begins, ‘Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”’ (Luke 15:1-2)

Here the worker of grace, Jesus Christ, comes to the clay and the saline soil, but some of the same, who don’t realise they’re the same, grumble, “This worker comes and sticks with “that” unfit soil, and he does his pottery with “that” useless clay.” But all the while they had forgotten the reality of their own unproductive salinity and selfish stickiness.

So the Pharisees, the sinners, the disciples, and the followers of Jesus are told by Jesus, there is only one cross, there is only one Saviour, who can search out the lost. Jesus is that One! He separates us all from himself with the law, so it is he, and he alone, who seeks us out. Lest we think somehow God can be fooled into not seeing our sin through our own efforts, making him out to be a liar by coercing salvation out of him some other way.

Why would God want to find us, anyway? Because we are precious to him! We are, lost but loved lambs, hidden but valued coins, wayward prodigal children loved by our Heavenly Father. He comes looking for us so he might find us and shape us into beautiful pots; so he might refine us into salt with which he can flavour other lost souls in the world.

So we persevere in hearing his word so the Holy Spirit can continue exposing Christ living in us, and save us from eternal death. This is our greater reality, our true baptismal reality, our ever-present hidden reality, despite the very true dying visible human reality of our sinful inability to walk perfectly as Christ walked, and bear the cross that he bore.

Therefore, endure in Christ; continue to allow your ears to receive his word. Although you and I are stubborn and sticky clay, let him form you with his word. Let the word refine you in faith, continually taking out the impurities. Let the Holy Spirit bring you into church, the place where forgiving, infilling, and feeding happens in Christ. The place of re-creation …the place of refining …the place for believers receiving eternal life.

Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life. Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen. (1 Timothy 1:15-17)