A Sermon preached at Pentecost XIV 14 September 2025 at St. Augustine’s, Wiesbaden
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Luke 15:1-10
Jesus is weird at times. He meets and eats with all the wrong people – today it was tax collectors and sinners, rather making it sound as if being a sinner is as much a profession as being a tax collector! What would the job description and the salary scale for a sinner be, I wonder? In fact, we think this broad category covers all sorts of people who did not keep to the strict rules that the Pharisees propagated, and often simply could not, due to their status and poverty: outcasts, outsiders and misfits! And in the two parables about lost things – a sheep and a coin – the behaviour he recommends is very strange indeed. So much so that if his listeners were honest, their answer to the question: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4) would be, well me of course. I would not. Why should I put 99 sheep in danger just to go and look for the stupid one that has wandered off! And why should I spend hours searching for one drachma (to use the original term, the equivalent of a day’s wage of a labourer), possibly even using up oil in the lamp worth the same amount?
The level of care that Jesus shows and recommends, and the amount of time and effort that the sheep owner and the woman in the two parables are willing to invest is simply astonishing, and the extent of love and mercy and joy that Jesus expects for the one sinner who repents goes well beyond any expectations, both those of his listeners and I think also ours today. This is the kind of love without limits and constraints that inspired the hymn Amazing Grace:
Amazing grace! how sweet the sound,
that saved a wretch like me!
I once was lost but now am found,
was blind but now I see.
Last week in the Epistle, we heard about a slave, Onesimus and a slave owner, Philemon. The author of Amazing Grace, John Newton, was a slave trader and captain of a slave ship. In that function, he was not only lost himself, but responsible for the pain and death and loss of many, many people. And so, he was truly amazed that God went looking out for him. But with the help of his friend and later wife, Mary Catlett, and his reading of Thomas à Kempis' Imitation of Christ (hint: that book title is a command!), Newton not only gave up the slave trade, but became an ardent abolitionist. And under the influence of George Whitefield and John and Charles Wesley, yes, the founders of Methodism, he studied for the ministry and was ordained a priest in the Church of England. What a turnaround!
And then as we heard in today’s Epistle, the 1st Letter to Timothy, Paul too was amazed that God went looking after him, “even though I was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. … “the foremost sinner.” (1 Tim 1:13, 15) And yet it was for him that the “grace of our Lord overflowed … with the faith and love that are in Christ Jesus.” (1:14) As we know from the story in Acts, Paul was privileged to experience this faith and love through a very dramatic and personal encounter with Jesus Christ. This was another amazing turnaround! And once again that theme of example, of imitation comes up: “I received mercy, so that in me … Jesus Christ might display the utmost patience, making me an example.” (1:16)
So, what does Paul’s and Jesus’ example have to tell us? We can get very comfortable in our own communities and bubbles, we can be tempted to close out that confusing and frightening world outside, keeping ourselves to ourselves, and carefully avoiding other viewpoints and experiences. But as Christians, those who follow and try and imitate Christ, we don’t get to avoid today’s equivalents of “tax collectors and sinners,” and we don’t get to talk and interact only with those we know and whose views match our own.
Instead, the right answer to the question, who would not go after the lost sheep, who would not actively welcome the stranger, who would not seek out the lost and needy, and who would not leave the comfort of our sheep pen, is I would Lord. I would go after them. I will follow you and your way – which is what true repentance entails. Following the way of Christ, as we will recite together in a moment in the Baptismal Covenant, is a call to seek and serve HIM in all persons, loving our neighbor as yourself. We are supposed to reflect God's persistent love and to participate in God’s active search for those who are lost.
There are so many lost people out there. People who have lost home and family, people who have lost a loving community, people who have lost meaning and purpose, people who have lost all sense of being valued and worthy. Reports from England, and some other countries, on what is being called a “quiet revival” indicate that loneliness and a need to be loved are one motivator for the young people seeking out communities of worship, and joining them, if they are properly welcomed.
All these lost ones need to know and hear from us that God is diligently looking for them. And as followers of Jesus, we should be actively engaged in the search on behalf of our Lord! Jesus provides a clear example for us to follow. Finding lost "sheep" and missing "coins" is a disciple's priority. Jesus involved himself with the lost of his culture and time, especially those that society rather wanted to lose and not see or experience.
Jesus is weird and so must we be. It may be more efficient to focus on the 99%, but we value everyone, not just 99 out of 100 or 1 out of 10. Each individual matters and let’s not forget that it is pretty risky to be a lost sheep. In the parable, both the owner of the sheep and the woman take responsibility for what is lost and they do not give up on them. Their joy in finding them is their reward. Finding the lost, incorporating them into our community, making our church as broad and as diverse and as much like the colorful, rich and varied kingdom of God as possible would be our reward too. It is always an occasion to rejoice and to celebrate!
And today we incorporate Alma into our community and into Christ’s body, the church. She’s not lost! Nor is she a sinner. Though she – like all of us – will probably need to repent and return to the Lord now and again. Like every new member, she will strengthen and enrich our community, and so we rejoice and celebrate.
Amen.
