The 15th Sunday after Trinity, Year C

Reading: Luke 15.1-10

A small boy, from a Church of Scotland background, was repeating the Lord’s prayer one evening. He prayed “And forgive us our debts, as we forgive those who are dead against us”. I was exploring the Internet the other day for a bit of family history and I came across the Diary of Rev. Patrick Grant: This hand-written book contains the reflections of a local Parish minister in the 1860’s. Patrick Grant was a regular visitor to Auchtertool and was himself the minister of Auchterderran.

In the book Kirk and Parish of Auchtertool, the author tells of Patrick Grant dining with Thomas Carlyle at the Auchtertool manse, home of the then minister Rev. Walter Welsh. The famous writer was somewhat dismissive of Grant and as a result there was nearly a stand-up fight. Anger is a well known human condition – the Grant of our story was angered at being dismissed as a light-weight by the often arrogant Carlyle.

Anger is an emotion with which most of us are familiar with; it is certainly something most of us will encounter in our lives, one way or another. Sometimes it is justified, anger in defence of those being abused, or at cruelty, or an abuse of trust. At other times our self–righteousness can lead us astray. One of the astonishing things about the work of a Rector is meeting people who are estranged from loved ones, over an angry moment, a word spoken in the heat of an argument, a sin long ago repented, and yet unable to forgive or be forgiven and the anger therefore still burning bright, affecting so much of the life around them. The years that go by with the issue unresolved, those who go to their grave leaving loved ones torn by guilt. The tragedy of families so burdened is all too common and all too destructive. And all too sad. Anger itself is not a sin; God displayed anger with his people Israel, Jesus displayed anger at the religious leaders and you can almost hear it in our Gospel today as the Pharisees and Scribes grumble about those they are forced to eat with.

Jesus tells two parables: the parable of the lost sheep, the one in a hundred that strays in the wilderness; the parable of the lost coin - the one of ten that is misplaced.

Jesus tells us about the rejoicing that is done on earth and in heaven when the sheep is found, or the coin located, the sinner saved. Jesus tells us these parables not because we are stupid and can’t understand that God rejoices when people are saved - but rather he tells the parables to remind his listeners what God’s purpose is and what our purpose is.

And we often need reminding don’t we? Recall the setting in which the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, are told.

It says in our passage from Luke, “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Jesus to listen to him”. On the surface it was obviously a meeting between the good and the bad, the good being the religious leaders who followed the law and the sinners, the lost, the outcasts. It was the good who were grumbling and saying “This fellow Jesus welcomes sinners and eats with them”.

Many of the scribes and Pharisees could not understand Jesus. They were affronted and angry that they should be treated equally with the likes of these. They could not understand how he could associate with such people and yet claim to be able to teach the word of God’s purity; they could not understand how he could urge others to follow God’s law - a law which demands that each and every person be holy as God is holy - and yet sit down to eat with sinners. The scribes and pharisees were mystified by Jesus, for he did not express the anger at the tax collectors and sinners that they had; he did not show the fear of being contaminated by evil that they felt. Nor did he demonstrate the holy rage that they felt and believed that he ought to have over the sinfulness of certain members of his audience.

And so Jesus reminds them of what is important, of what God is about, by telling them the parables we heard this morning.

I would like to tell you a parable as well - it is told by Henri Nouwen and it concerns an old man who used to meditate each day by the Ganges River in India.

   ''One morning he saw a scorpion floating on the water. 
   When the scorpion drifted near the old man he reached
   to rescue it but was stung by the scorpion.  A bit
   later he tried again and was stung again, the bite
   swelling his hand painfully and giving him much pain. 
   Another man passing by saw what was happening and
   yelled at the old man, "Hey, stupid old man, what's
   wrong with you?  Only a fool would risk his life for the
   sake of an ugly, evil creature.  Don't you know you
   could kill yourself trying to save that ungrateful
   scorpion?"

   The old man calmly replied, "My friend, just as it is in
   the scorpion's nature to sting, that does not change my
   nature to save."''

It is in God’s nature to save, because it is in God’s nature to love. God seeks the lost, heals the wounded, forgives the offender, and gives hope to those who are in despair. It is what God does.

It matters not that we might be scorpions - that we might hurt him. God has made promises to us and he keeps them. Paul speaks of this in today’s reading from First Timothy when he says:

        
   ''The saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that
   Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners''

Our purpose, to which God calls us, is to save as well: to change our minds about the destruction we want to bring about when we feel hurt, to relent of the anger we have, and to work to save others as God has saved us, us who are sinners no less than those with whom we are angry.

God offers to each one of us the opportunity to start over again, fresh each day. The question for us, who are made in his image, is quite simply this: should we do any less?