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Readings (click here for full text of the readings):
Exodus 32:1,7-14, Psalm 51:1-18, 1 Timothy 1:12-17, Luke 15:1-10
I. Story
A. 7-year-old who didn’t trust doctors
1. Bonded over “He who shall not be named”
B. Unclear diagnosis for a long time
1. Possibly ADHD
a) Mood swings
b) Gets down on himself
2. Waiting for definitive testing
C. 2 days before testing, end-of-the-rope call from mom
1. Doesn’t know what to do
2. Can’t take it like this anymore
D. The prudent thing to do would have been to wait
1. Wait for testing
2. Then do something
E. But I really liked this kid, and this family, and wanted to help
1. So I went ahead and started him on treatment right away
2. And when the psychologist evaluated him 2 days later, he was very surprised that I’d done so
a) One of my partners clearly disagreed with me
b) “You should just have empathized and held the course”
F. And I realized that I had let my affection for this kid and his family cloud my judgment
1. I so wanted to help them, that I hadn’t done the smartest or most prudent thing in the world
2. As it turned out, everything worked great
a) He’s still on treatment
b) He’s doing much better
c) He’s not a different kid
(1) He’s the same kid, only without all the obstacles to doing his best
G. So I looked back to see what I could learn from all of this
1. And at first I thought the lesson might be: Don’t go with your heart over your head.
2. But the real lesson was that sometimes you just have to do certain things because your heart tells you to
a) I was living out what I tell my students about standing up for what they believe in
(1) Do it when someone might listen to you
(2) Do it when you can make a difference
(3) And even if no one’s listening, and nothing’s going to change, do it if something inside of you will die if you don’t
(4) That was the way it was for me in this case
II. Connection
A. I thought about that this week because that’s exactly what Jesus is talking about
1. In the first of today’s parables, Jesus describes a shepherd who has 100 sheep, but one of them wanders off
2. And the shepherd goes off to look for the one lost sheep, and when He does, everyone rejoices
3. Now this is obviously a parable of salvation, since Jesus often uses shepherds to represent God and sheep to represent us
B. Before we go on, we have to admit that this isn’t a very flattering analogy
1. Sheep can barely see
2. They have to be led to water even if they’ve been to that same trough dozens of times before
3. And they’re so dumb that if the leader of the pack thinks he sees something and jumps over it, all the rest of the sheep will jump at the same place, even if nothing’s there.
4. But putting aside for a moment how we might feel about being compared to blind, forgetful, stupid animals …
C. We might have gotten so used to being compared to sheep that this doesn’t offend us anymore
D. And we might have gotten so used to God doing stuff like this – like running off after the one lost sheep – that that seems pretty routine, too
1. But it’s not
2. Jewish law put some limits on how far a shepherd had to go in defending the sheep
a) For instance, if one wolf attacked, the shepherd had to stand and fight
b) But if more than one wolf came, the shepherd was free to save his own skin
c) After all, what good would a dead shepherd be to the rest of the flock?
3. By the same token, who’s watching out for the 99 other sheep while the shepherd is off chasing the one who broke the rules?
a) He acts impetuously, and not too wisely.
b) And He does that because He just can’t bear to lose that one sheep, even if it puts everyone else in peril.
III. Now that might surprise some of you to think of Jesus acting like that
A. Which brings us to the Old Testament lesson
1. Since the other three readings are matched to the Gospel reading, why do you think we’re reading the story of Aaron and Moses today, with the parables of the sheep and coins?
2. Because they’re both about misunderstanding God, and about idols
B. To review, Moses is up on Mount Sinai
1. And since he didn’t return when he was supposed to, the people ask Aaron to “make gods for them”
2. That’s a pretty practical approach to things
a) The Israelites are wandering in the desert, surrounded by enemy armies
b) Theyneed God on their side
c) And they gave Moses a fair shot
(1) But since he hasn’t returned from the mountain, either he didn’t find what he was looking for or God killed him
(2) So now the people have to look elsewhere for a god to be on their side
3. Both Moses and God realize what the people are doing
a) God is ready to let His wrath burn hot against them and consume them
b) But Moses prevails upon God to change His mind
(1) To turn from wrath
(2) To not bring disaster on the people
c) And God relents, and forgives
C. The reason this is paired with the gospel reading is Moses understands something that most people don’t
1. Moses understands the true nature of God
a) When God is ready to act contrary to that nature, Moses stands up to him
(1) Even when God’s initial response is natural and reasonable
(a) He’d brought the people safely thus far, so who were they to question Him now??
(2) Even when the people deserve it
2. I’ll bet, if you were to go up to most Christians – not any old people, but Christians – and ask them about God, they’d come up with descriptions like
a) Fair
b) Prudent
c) Cautious
3. But the picture we have of God from today’s Gospel reading is anything but that
a) God isn’t fair, because He’s happier about the one super-dumb sheep who returned than about the ninety-nine that stayed
b) God isn’t prudent, because His love for the one lost sheep leads Him to potentially endanger the others
c) And God isn’t cautious
(1) He doesn’t wait for the right time
(2) He doesn’t plan ahead
(3) He just runs off into the wilderness, because
(a) Somebody is alone
(b) Somebody is in danger
(c) Somebody needs Him
IV.It’s pretty easy to see the idol in the story of Aaron and Moses, but there’s also one in the parable of the sheep
A. Aaron is about to build the golden calf and call it God
1. And that’s how we usually think of idols: small inanimate objects that clearly aren’t God
B. But an idol is simply our own idea of God that doesn’t match up with who God really is
1. And the parable of the sheep reveals to us our own idolatry
C. We think of God as fair and prudent and cautious
1. We think of God mostly as mind, thought, reason
2. But what Jesus is trying to tell us here (and pretty much everywhere else in the gospels) is that God is more heart than mind
a) Because who is in His right mind would choose a weak, tiny, persecuted people – the Jews – as His very own?
b) And who would tell that sinful people to do noble and crazy things – like love their enemies and forgive people who hurt them – and actually expect them to do those things?
c) Who would give a sinful people countless chances to repent, after they’d taken His generous gifts and fallen back into sin?
3. That would be God
a) And the idols we hold in our hearts – of a rational, understandable, tamable God – are just as offensive to God as the golden calf Aaron was getting ready to make
V. When it comes to God’s actions in the world, I don’t think all of them – or even most of them – are calculated and well-thought-out
A. Some of them are, of course – like the creation of this complex and marvelous world
B. But some of God’s plans don’t make a lot of sense and don’t have much chance of success
1. Like when He gave Jesus to us for a time, to learn from, to be inspired by
2. Did He really think we would listen, & turn from our sinful ways?
a) I’m not sure if God thought about it at all
b) I think He sent Jesus to us
(1) Not because He thought we might listen
(2) And not because He thought we might change our ways
(3) But because something inside of God might die if He didn’t try to reach us
3. Moses understood the passion God feels for His children
a) And note how Moses challenged Him
b) Moses didn’t say to God, “You shouldn’t fly off the handle”
c) He said to God, “You shouldn’t fly off the handle like this”
4. And that’s what we have to learn, as well, and reflecting on the impetuous, irrational, driven-mad-by-love shepherd of the parable of the sheep is a good place to start.
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