A Sheep-y Sermon

I just want to say what a privilege it is to be here with you and serve as your deacon. I know you have not had a deacon before. 

I have to admit I am still learning the role of a deacon. Its one of those orders that was only resurrected about 70 years ago in the Episcopal Church. It used to be simply a step into priesthood, which is what it might be for me. 

So we might have to learn together what a deacon is. What I do know is that all of us, lay and ordained, priest or deacon, regardless of our calling in life are called to follow Jesus.

I love this story in our gospel today—the story of Jesus as a shepherd searching for lost sheep. It reminds me of a picture I used to love as a child of Jesus holding a lost lamb.

But the story as it is told to us in the gospel is not quite like that picture. You see, Jesus at this point in his ministry, is constantly getting into arguments with the religious leaders of his day. The Pharisees were the leading religious party of the day and they get more and more angry with Jesus. In our story, Jesus is hanging out with the wrong crowd, at least according to the Pharisees. These religious leaders had very strict ideas about who was a good and a righteous person. A lot of people didn’t make the cut. Tax collectors certainly did not. Neither did prostitutes. Or people who didn’t follow all the rules. And Jesus—Jesus didn’t just talk to them, Jesus didn’t just teach them, Jesus had dinner with them. Jesus sat down at the table with them.  

So the religious leaders were angry with Jesus. What is he doing eating with the wrong kind of people? These people defile our town, they thought. These people don’t deserve your attention.

And, so, in response to the religious leaders, Jesus tells a story.

God, Jesus says, is like a farmhand watching over a flock of sheep. God is like a housewife who has lost a valuable coin. In this story, God is not like a king or like a ruler. Just a farmhand or a housewife. God is with us, just like in Jesus, God comes to us in a carpenter born in a barn.

God is always turning things upside down. You ever notice that? A carpenter born in a barn and executed as a criminal is the savior of the world. Amazing!

And this shepherd, this farmhand is not in a peaceful field surrounded by flowers like that picture I liked as a kid. Some of you know that barnyards are pretty darn dirty and muddy and that a lot can happen to an animal who wanders off. I grew up on a farm and we were always trying to keep raccoons out of the henhouse and cougars away from our horses.

And one of the sheep is lost. And this shepherd, this farmhand leaves the 99 sheep safely in their field and goes off to search for the one who is lost. Before I went to seminary, on the fourth of July, I came home early and my dog was gone. He had jumped a six foot fence, apparently. I knew he was afraid of fireworks, which is why I had come home early, but apparently some of the neighbor kids had lit some off early. And he was gone. I spent most of the night looking for that dog. There was a creek running not far from where I was living at the time and I searched and searched. Finally, he appeared, tired and scared. When I picked him up, he was trembling and wouldn’t leave my arms for a long time.

Do you ever feel anything like that? Lost, afraid, alone? I know I do, sometime.

Only as humans, feeling lost comes in many different forms. Like you are not quite good enough, not righteous enough, not holy enough, or just plain not successful enough? Like you can’t quite make the cut? Like the people around you are looking down on you?

The religious leaders of Jesus day only wanted people who had made a certain cut, who kept all the right rules, to be part of the in group. And Jesus said no. Jesus said; No, I don’t care where they’ve come from. I don’t care what they have done or not done in their lives. I don’t care if they are good people.

I am here for the lost. For the afraid. For the alone. For those who feel like their life is falling apart. For those who can’t make friends easily. For those who feel like outsiders.

You can be a tax collector, one of those people who in Jesus day everyone hated because they worked for the Romans and often cheated people. Jesus will come to find you.

You can be a "sinner." You could have made all kinds of mistakes in your life. Jesus will come to find you.

You can regret the decisions you have made in your life. Perhaps you have lost dreams or lost hopes or lost opportunities. Jesus will still come and find you. 

You can feel unloved and unwanted. You can feel like a failure. Jesus will still come and find you.

The amazing thing is—Jesus doesn’t say the shepherd, the farmhand, begrudgingly goes out to look for the lost sheep. He didn’t drag his feet. He didn’t roll his eyes. He went out with a heart full of concern and love. And he came back rejoicing.  Rejoicing so much that he was pounding on his neighbor’s doors to tell them the good news.

Jesus says heaven itself rejoices. God, who comes to us as a shepherd, as a housewife, as a carpenter, has abundant love to give to those who feel unloved and unwanted.  Jesus comes to find us with joy.