SERMON, PROPER 19C, LUKE 15:1-10

Most of us here are parents, whether by planning or by accident or maybe by both. No one has to tell you that it's a tough job. And in the beginning, if you can remember back that far, we had certain ideas about how to raise the kids and how to be a parent. Well, as I'm fond of repeating, "It's more complicated than that."

But regardless of the changes over the years to our parenting ideals and practices, and changes to our kids, it seems that our overall goal is to prepare and develop our children for adulthood. This process takes time, at least 17 years and sometimes as long as 32. We teach, we explain, we expand, we give everything slowly over time so that our kids receive the benefit of what we have to offer. Eventually, we hope, they grow into adults we can be proud of.

Why am I talking about parenthood & childhood? Because all of this happens over time. In today's gospel, the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Jesus to listen. The religious leaders were complaining that Jesus "welcomes sinners and eats with them." We don't know for sure, but you might surmise that Jesus was giving a party at his home base, or that he was hosting some sort of picnic in the park. It is clear that Jesus wasn't the one invited in, but that he invited the people; he gave of his hospitality.

In the parables he tells of the lost sheep and lost coin, it doesn't take a genius to figure out that God is being compared to the shepherd and the woman. They are all searching for something. They are all giving of their time to bring something back into the fold -- the shepherd his sheep, the woman her coin, and God the sinner.

And they are not giving just a little of their time, they are giving all of their time and all of their effort. They search UNTIL the lost item is found. That doesn't mean you look for 5 or 10 minutes and then decide it will turn up eventually or is lost forever. That means you look day and night forsaking all other responsibilities until you find what you are looking for. If that is the case, you could be looking for hours or days or weeks or who knows how long.

But there is also waiting. Focusing on the sheep here (because coins don't care), their shepherd has left them. Not simply left them safely in the pen, but left them in the wilderness. What does this part of the parable say to us?

Here's what I think. We are the church and as the sheep of the flock are part of those 99 left in the wilderness. We want to be with God. We want to be led by Jesus. But we are now in the wilderness wandering like sheep without a shepherd. And we are waiting for our shepherd to return. We need to wait patiently because we don't know how long it will be until our shepherd returns with that lost sheep.

Waiting patiently. This is something we don't do very well. I read an article this past week in the ATR called, "The Haste of Sin, the Slowness of Salvation," by Jeff Vogel. In it he focuses on how Irenaeus saw the importance and necessity of patience in salvation and the sinfulness of haste.

We see this in the Eden story when the man and the woman take the fruit. Irenaeus put forth that God has always intended to give humans a share in the divine nature; but because of humanity's created state, we would need to learn to bear this gift over time. Just like you don't give a 7-year old the keys to the car but you work with the child over time giving small pieces of adulthood until they can bear it; so too was God going to give humanity small pieces of divinity over time until we could bear it. But rather than wait patiently for the gift to be manifested, humanity was impatient and tried to take that which could only be given.

We also see this sin of haste in the Exodus passage. When the people saw that Moses delayed coming down from the mountain, they manufactured their own gods. They couldn't wait for the divine gift to be bestowed upon them, so they attempted to take it. They tried by force to achieve the finality of their flight from Egypt when, in fact, the gift of freedom was so much greater than they could imagine; so they fell short.

We see this today in both our own church and in the wider body of Christ. People are so eager to achieve the finality of their salvation that, in haste, they fail to see the larger gift. In their haste, they attempt to create a place pure, holy, and God-like. One of the requirements for this place is that only the good people are allowed in and the sinners are not only unwelcome but actively pushed away.

This is the sin of haste. We understand what God wants. We have determined which sinners to ban. We will establish our version of the kingdom. We will take the gift of salvation for ourselves and put an end to the evils in the world.

The problem, though, is that we cannot take what must be received. Adam and Eve couldn't wait for the gift of knowledge to be given them, they chose to take it. The Israelites couldn't wait for the gift of God to come down from the mountain, so they created their own gods of gold. Our biggest temptation is to stop waiting on God.

Vogel wrote, "it is the very act of waiting on [God's gift], of not grasping at it, that accustoms one to receive it." Just like children need to wait on receiving certain gifts and privileges over time on their journey towards adulthood, we must also wait on God's gift of salvation and divine life-sharing over time.

From the gospel of Mark, "whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it," takes on a whole new meaning. Receive as a child, slowly and over time.

We are the sheep in the wilderness. If we hastily run off, if we try to hastily take the flock in our own direction, we could very well be lost forever. Instead, let us explore this place. Let us discover what it has to offer. Let us patiently wait for the return of our shepherd with the lost sheep. And then let us receive his gift of leadership and fully participate in the life he will lead us too.

Let us wait upon the Lord and receive the gift of life, rather than try to hastily take it and fall short.