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Sheep and coins included
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 12th September 2004
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Another horrific terrorist bomb in Indonesia,
• on Thursday the bomb outside the Australian embassy in Jakarta,
• reminds us of the lost sheep in our troubled world.
The victims of Thursday's bomb are lost sheep.
The people who are injured and the relatives of those who were killed:
• bewildered, frightened,
• lost emotionally and physically.
The attackers are lost sheep:
• terribly deluded in the belief that such acts are God's will.
God's will is very different…
Indonesia is the largest Muslim country in the world.
Most of the victims were Indonesian and Muslim.
Many Indonesians and Muslims are outraged by such terrorism.
Let's remember it's not only us Christians who condemn these atrocities and believe the terrorists are gravely lost sheep.
The attackers may believe they are acting for Islam,
• but most Muslims believe they are deluded.
Jesus speaks against the religion of fanatics in this morning's gospel.
The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin are about which people are included in God's kingdom and which people are excluded.
Luke says that the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling that Jesus was mixing with tax collectors and sinners –
• people they believed were excluded from God's kingdom.
Jesus' behaviour and teaching says that even these supposed outcasts are included in God's kingdom.
Jesus offers free forgiveness,
• a loving welcome to all people,
• without the demanding requirements of the law.
That's what the authorities were grumbling about.
The religion of today's fanatics says that only those who follow strict and narrow beliefs are included by God.
Jesus shows us that God believes differently.
On Tuesday afternoons I read a story to the playgroup at the Cathedral.
We use this book, "Stories Jesus told."
The lost sheep and the lost coin are two of the stories in it.
They are ideal for children
• and this book expands the stories and has wonderful illustrations.
The lost sheep ends with,
• "Jesus says, 'God is like the farmer. He loves us just like the farmer loves his sheep."
• Sweet isn't it?
The 10 silver coins ends with
• "Jesus says, 'We are like the woman's silver coins. God wants every single one of us.'
• Aaarrr!
The danger for us adults is to think of these parables as children's stories.
We risk missing their power.
For example, with our adult, human thinking we might say some things are too insignificant to find if we lose them.
We have to be pragmatic and be careful with resources.
Sadly, we sometimes think the same about people.
Jesus says God thinks differently.
We might say, one sheep out of a hundred is hardly worth looking for;
• and one coin worth very little, perhaps 5 dollars, is hardly worth looking for.
God says these supposedly insignificant things are worth finding.
• God risks the 99 to find the one.
• God turns out the house to find the coin.
To God no person is insignificant;
• no one is an unfortunately victim of the way society is organised;
• no one is left out of the economic system that on the whole works well.
We are glad that God believes in us.
When we are lost sheep, we depend on God to find us.
Whether its times of anxiety or times of grief,
• or times of delusion or times of feeling far from God.
We are glad that God has found us;
• that God hasn't thought that we're unfortunate casualties of the system,
• not worth saving.
Its interesting that Luke puts the parable of the Prodigal Son next in his Gospel.
Another parable we over familiar with.
Luke is reinforcing his point about Jesus' message.
The prodigal's brother is angry when the son returns –
• such a human response.
The father is delighted, forgives all and throws a party.
That is God's way when one sinner repents.
Each of us knows that experience of being lost and found.
• The times we have drifted far from God, but God has come searching for us.
And since we know that experience,
• we realise the other implication of the parable.
That we are called to be like the shepherd who goes to find the lost sheep.
That we are called to be like the woman who searches for her lost coin.
We are called to search out the casualties of society,
• the victims of human dealings.
We are called to look for the lost who feel far from God.
We are called to share the good news of our experience of God's presence in our lives.
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