Luke 15:1-10—Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. ² And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

³ So he told them this parable: ⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ ⁷ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

⁸ “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ ¹⁰ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  Amen.

Can’t you just hear the Pharisees and scribes grumbling and murmuring with clenched teeth and lowered voices, “This man receives sinners and eats with them”?

Jesus was associating Himself with the types of people that were questionable, shadowy, uncouth, lazy, selfish, profane, perverse, and scandalous.

If He had lived today, Jesus would be eating with the IRS agents who illegally targeted conservative political groups.  Jesus would be going to Olive Garden with the NSA agents who spied on people who are on the wrong side of elections.  Jesus would be barbecuing with the alcoholics.  He would have a picnic with the people who use their food stamps to buy liquor at strip clubs.

All sorts of lowlifes would be crowding around Jesus.  The air around Jesus would be clouded in cigarette smoke and filled with profanities.

Think of all the people whose lives are big neon signs that read, “Failure,” and Jesus is surrounded by them.  Flocks of individuals whose lives were mere shells of what they could have been or were supposed to be.  Hosts of people who fill their lives with every imaginable variation of immoral living were Jesus’ cup of tea.

Jesus was surrounded by the junkies, druggies, hippies, and beatniks – all the people who knew they had gone astray from God.

These very people hemmed around Jesus to hear His words, and Jesus would receive them and even eat with them.  Jesus, the man who performed miracles and claimed to speak for God, was making God’s name very unholy because of the people He associated with.

“This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Jesus’ responds to these grumbling voices with three parables; we give them the titles, “The Lost Sheep,” “The Lost Coin,” and “The Prodigal Son.”  But those titles do not recognize the main character of the parables and obscure the point of each parable.  How many of you are going to go home this afternoon to watch refereeing while some guys in pads play football?  Just like referees, the sheep, coin, and son are important parts of the story, but they are not the main attraction.  I would suggest better titles for these three parables: “The Reckless Shepherd,” “The Persnickety Woman,” and “The Wasteful Father.”

In each of these parables, Jesus does not highlight how those things get lost.  Even in the third parable we learn so little about younger son and how he gets lost.  We are given very little information about how either the sheep or the coin got lost.  But were given very clear details of the determination and the pains and the sufferings and the work of the Reckless Shepherd and the Persnickety Woman to find what is lost.

This Reckless Shepherd leaves his 99 sheep.  He leaves his flock out in the wilderness, where bears, lions, and wolves are easily able to kill and eat the abandoned flock.  And this shepherd leaves the flock to go find one sheep which, for all he knows, is already maimed or dead.  For all he knows, this shepherd is wasting not just his time and efforts but potentially his entire flock for the sake of the lost.

This Persnickety Woman has lost one coin.  She goes through the dirty, dusty work of finding what others might have just chalked up as a loss. She goes through the pains of using a dim lantern to light her floor as she sweeps and rummages through every square inch of her disaster of a house to find the lost.

The actions of both the Reckless Shepherd and the Persnickety Woman flirt with being comically foolish.  But both the shepherd and the woman search, sweat, and swoon not just to find the lost, but to preserve their own integrity.

These two are pictures of Christ.

You, of course, are the lost.  You are lost because of your own doing.

You have severed yourself from the rest of the flock and the protection of the shepherd.  Your every action leads you astray.  You turn your own way.

You sin causes you to fall down into the cracks of the floor.  You roll farther and farther away picking up speed and end up in a heap of ashes and crumbs and grime and filth.

You are that sheep; you are that coin.  In this world, a lost sheep is a dead sheep.  But in the kingdom of God, lost and dead sheep are worth finding and raising.

In this world, a lost coin is a dead coin.  But in the kingdom of God, lost coins retain all their value once they are found.

You and I can put names and faces to those lost sinners that we think God is wasting His time and effort trying to find.  Sure, you like it for yourself, you find comfort in the fact that God searches you out and finds you.  You are happy to hear that God still has use for you.  But what about when that message is given to the other lost?  We, just like the Pharisees and scribes grumble, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

I wonder what the Pharisees and scribes would say if they saw us in this sanctuary gathered around Jesus, hearing His word, sitting round His table?  Would they be grumbling about us?  Maybe not.

Let me say it as plainly as possible: Are you the tool Jesus wants to use to bring in the tax collectors and sinners of our community, or are you holding back because you know that you would grumble if those lowlifes showed up here?

You see, the Pharisees and scribes were singing the right lyrics, but to the wrong tune.  The line, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” is best sung to the tune of the Gospel.

You see, sinner, you do not receive Jesus – Jesus receives you.

Christ wandered in the mountains and hills of death and despair to find you.  He heaved you up on His shoulders and brought you back.  Jesus took out His broom and swept and searched all the cracks of His tomb, and He found you there.  He picked you up and put you back in His pocket, calling all of heaven to celebrate with Him because of His tremendous finding.

And maybe, just maybe, God leaves you here until you are ready to join the angel’s song, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”  Amen.

May the peace and joy and celebration of God which surpasses all understanding guard your heart and mind and fill your soul with gladness now and into all eternity.  Amen.