Who among us has not lost something valuable – either financial or sentimental or even practical? Our house has a three-car garage, which means it came with three garage-door openers. One of those goes in my car. One of those goes in Joelene’s car. And we use the third for our house sitter or when we take our bikes out for a ride. We keep that third one in a very special and safe place. So special and safe that we couldn’t find it the last time we took out our bikes. We tore the house apart looking for that thing, finally giving up and using one from a car. I found it when we got back from our ride on the backside of the laundry room door. For me to find it though, I needed a different perspective.
Two weeks ago I was doing a home Communion. My Communion kit has a top held on with four small pegs. As I opened up the kit, one of the pegs fell off the table and onto the carpet. After we did the home service I was down on my hands and knees looking for that peg and feeling very much like the woman from today’s gospel looking for her coin. It wasn’t until I got up, cleaned the vessels, and looked with a different perspective that I found the peg.
In today’s gospel passage the Scribes and Pharisees are grumbling about Jesus mingling and eating with “sinners.” The Scribes and Pharisees were the congregational leaders. They were the “good church people” who ensured things were done properly, decently, and in order. I can’t say for sure, but maybe they viewed their faith as a resort for the righteous – a place maintained by certain rules and systems that kept holiness within and all the bad stuff outside. So they grumbled about Jesus allowing the bad stuff to invade their finely manicured resort. And that’s when Jesus tells these two parables.
On the surface these parables are about finding the lost and the joy in heaven when one sinner repents. On the surface we might say that this would be as if one person from the bars began attending Saint Luke’s and we rejoiced that they were now here instead of in the bar. But this just maintains our perception that this place is a resort for the righteous – a finely manicured place of rules and systems designed to keep holiness within and all the bad stuff out.
But maybe we need to change our perspective.
The first perspective change is that this place is a resort for the righteous. It’s true that there are certain rules and systems in place to ensure things are done properly, decently, and in order; we are not advocating for anarchy. Rather than a resort for the righteous, we are (as the well-known but unattributable quote goes) a hospital for the sick. Hospitals are there to help heal and cure the sick. This is what Jesus does – he heals and cures those who are sick. And since we are his agents on earth, that is now our job – to heal the sick. What if our perspective changed to see people in this place as being in need of healing?
A second perspective that needs to be changed is how we and the Scribes and Pharisees see those who are outsiders. The Scribes and Pharisees saw them as sinners, people to be avoided lest they contaminate the righteous. Church people in general haven’t stopped thinking that way. We, in general, talk about helping “those people” as long as those people stay over there and don’t disrupt our space.
But here’s the thing: if the Church is a hospital for the sick, a place of forgiveness, a place to be cleansed from sin, what are we doing here? By that metric, aren’t we all sick? Aren’t we all sinners in need of forgiveness? We can’t pick and choose which sins are okay and which aren’t. We don’t get to weigh sins on a scale and say, “Well, mine aren’t as bad as what Bob does.” As Saint Paul said, “We’ve all sinned and fallen short.” Change your perspective and stop judging “those sinners” as worse than yourself.
The third perspective that needs to change has to do with how we see those deemed “the lost.” Instead of seeing other people as a threat to our finely manicured, proper, polite faith, instead of seeing other people as lost sinners in need of saving, what if we saw them as valuable pieces we are missing. Instead of seeing “those people” as people who need us, what if we saw them as people whom we need?
We don’t search for the lost because they need us, we search for the lost because we need them. Think about it: why do we look for lost things? Because we need and value them. I need my garage-door opener. I need the peg to my Communion kit. We need our keys, wallet, and phone. We only lose things we need, want, or value. So it stands to reason that those who aren’t here, those who are lost, are lost because we need them. They have something of value for us and it’s our job to find out what that is.
We are now Jesus’ agents on earth looking to call and make disciples. To do that, we need to change our perspective and see this place as a place of healing. We need to change our perspective and see ourselves and others equally as sinners in need of forgiveness. And we need to change our perspective and realize that we aren’t looking to save the lost but are searching for those whom we need.
And when we find them, let there be much rejoicing.
Amen.
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