Posted by Third Sunday after Trinity
The Parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin form part of Jesus’ response to the allegation of his critics, that “this man receiveth sinners and eateth with them” (Luke 15:2).The Parable of the Lost Sheep tells the story of the shepherd who devotes his care and attention to finding a sheep that has gone astray over and above the other ninety nine of the flock. He rejoices with his friends and neighbours when the lost sheep is found. In the Parable of the Lost Coin Jesus tells the story of a woman who devotes all her time and energy to finding her lost coin, and then rejoices with her friends and neighbours when it is found. In the same way “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth” (Luke 15:10).
But why did this message so scandalise Jesus’ contemporaries, and indeed continue to scandalise today? Table fellowship was very important for Jesus’ contemporaries, not least because who you ate with said something about the type of person that you were. The Old Testament prophets looked forward to the Messianic banquet at the end of time. Jesus proclaimed that the Kingdom of God was now being manifest in his own person and ministry. However, instead of only associating with those deemed pious and respectable, he sought out the lost sheep of the house of Israel, those whom the culture of the time would not have expected a religious leader to associate with. How could this be the coming of the Kingdom of God among men and how could Jesus’ claim about the coming of the Kingdom of God in his own person and ministry be justified?
The religion of the day knew that God forgives all who truly repented of their sins by becoming righteous men. “The Lord loveth the righteous and his ear is open to their prayer.” What it could not countenance was the idea of a God who sought out the lost before they had reformed their ways and become good men. This seemed to them like the dissolution of all ethics, and a denial of the belief that God rewarded virtue and punished vice.
Jesus replied that, on the contrary, God is first and foremost a God who seeks and saves sinners, for the Son of Man is come to seek and save the lost. To shun social outcasts, far from being a model of piety and respectability, is to fundamentally misunderstand the nature of God, who seeks and saves sinners. It was easier for the social outcasts to recognise this, than for the conventionally pious who thought that they had no great sins to confess and so “trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and despised others.” (Luke 18:9).
Trusting in our own righteousness is to commit the deadly sin of pride and is in effect practical atheism, for all goodness comes not from ourselves (for we have no power of ourselves to help ourselves) but from God. Consequently, as St. Peter says in today’s Epistle, all of us must be “clothed with humility, for God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble. Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care upon him for he careth for you.” (1 Peter 5:5-7).
This was a difficult message to receive then, and it remains so now. Pride is no longer seen as the most deadly sin, but rather as the cardinal virtue. Popular psychology encourages people to believe in themselves, and to cultivate self worth and self esteem at every available opportunity. This is incompatible with the Christian faith which teaches us to believe not in ourselves, but in God, who created us and who saves us not because of anything that we have done, but because of his mercy. As St. Paul put it, all “have sinned and come short of the glory of God; Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus (Romans 3: 23-24), For “God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners Christ died for us (Romans 5: 8). In gratitude for that forgiveness and knowing that we can never in this life get beyond being saved sinners (for let him that is without sin cast the first stone), we are called to do all such good works as God has prepared for us to walk in.
As the hymns has it,
Not the labours of my hands
Can fulfil thy laws demands;
Could my zeal no respite know,
Could my tears for ever flow,
All for sin could not atone;
Thou, must save and thou alone.
Nothing in my hand I bring,
Simply to thy Cross I cling;
Naked come to thee for dress;
Helpless look to thee for grace;
Foul, I to the fountain cry;
Wash me Saviour, or I die.
Rock of ages, cleft for me,
Let me hide myself in thee;
Let the water and the blood,
From thy riven side which flowed,
Be of sin the double cure,
Cleanse me from its guilt and power.