Pastor Peter Metzger
Pentecost 17
Luke 15:1-7
09-15-13
First Lutheran Church
Lake Geneva, WI
Now the tax collectors and “sinners” were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’ 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.
I have a question for you this morning. It’s kind of a deep one, so really think about it. Here goes: Are you worth it? If you happen to work for L’Oreal or use their cosmetics, you might say yes. That’s been their slogan for the past 40 years – “Because I’m Worth It.” I could tell you a whole story about how that slogan came to be used at a crucial time for women’s rights in this country and how liberating and empowering it was to have a commercial on television that showed the worth and value of women. But I won’t, because this sermon isn’t about makeup.
Instead, I want to tell you a very different story. I’m still asking the same question – Are you worth it? – but I’m turning the dial back to the year 1995. For those of you with a keen mind for American military engagements you’ll remember that this was toward the end of the Bosnian War. In June of that year an American fighter pilot by the name of Scott Francis O’Grady was shot out of the air while patrolling a no-fly zone over hostile territory. His wingman, Captain Bob Wright, saw the missile destroy O’Grady’s jet, but could not confirm or deny whether Captain O’Grady was alive. The Bosnians, on the other hand, could.
Shortly after the wreckage settled on the ground below, a Bosnian scout troop found O’Grady’s ejector seat and noted that the survival pack was missing. O’Grady spent the next 6 days in enemy territory, covering himself with mud to camouflage himself, and living off of grass, bugs, and rain water. He wasn’t able to communicate with his command that he was alive until the fourth day. For those of you with a keen mind for American cinema you’ll remember that Owen Wilson loosely portrayed Captain O’Grady in the movie “Behind Enemy Lines.”
If you were to have stumbled across O’Grady buried in the mud in the Bosnian forest, and if you then asked him the same question I asked you – Are you worth it? – what do you think he would have said? Human instinct is to survive. My guess is that the Captain would have enthusiastically said, “Yes! I’m worth it! Now come and get me!”
Now, if you were to have stumbled into the command post and asked O’Grady’s commanding officer the same question – Is he worth it? – what do you think he would have said? O’Grady was one man! A rescue mission would have necessitated putting the lives of dozens of more soldiers at risk. A rescue mission could have sparked a much larger international incident and ultimately put thousands of soldier’s lives at risk. Was he worth it?
Often times, the way we think, in the typical fashion of American pragmatism, is that there’s an acceptable amount of collateral damage. That shows itself all over the place. Most students won’t cry if they get a 99% on their final exam. Most advertisers won’t consider their advertising campaigns to be a loss if they only get 99% of viewers to buy their product. After all, what can that 1% offer that will make a difference?
Our gospel lesson for today asks the same question: Are you worth it? If you were one of those 100 sheep and you happened to stray away from the fold, would it be worth it for the shepherd to come and find you? If we were being honest with ourselves, we’d have to say no.
Our lesson from Isaiah put it pretty clearly, “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way.” Now, I can’t stand up here and act the judge and peer into your hearts to point out your sin. But I don’t have to. You can do that for yourselves. Lord knows, I can point out the times when I stray. Whether it’s sex, drugs, or alcohol, abusing someone else with your words or actions, lying, stealing, being greedy or being self-righteous and stubbornly refusing that you need a shepherd, sin is a big part of your life and it constantly pulls you away from God, and before you know it, you’re out in no-mans-land, way out in the wilderness, and you have no idea where the 99 sheep are or where your shepherd is.
How can you or I possibly be worth the effort? Even if God comes and gets us, we’re probably just going to stray again. After all, He has all the good people to tend to, those 99 other sheep, to make sure that they stay on track. At some point I have to stop being worth it, right? Who am I? What have I done to make me worth it? The answer, hard though it is to hear, is nothing.
Paul says it well in Titus 3, “At one time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one another.” But Paul doesn’t stop there. He goes on to say, “But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy.”
Whether it makes sense or not, God loves us. We are these wicked, straying sheep who obstinately go our own way, and yet every time God goes after us. God loves you so much that even if the whole world believed and you didn’t, he would still leave behind those 7 billion souls and come after you to bring you back home.
Captain O’Grady was in a tight spot in Bosnia. Many people might not have considered his life worth the rescue effort, but NATO and the US Marines did. I have to stop and read the list of support that they sent to Captain O’Grady: 2 CH-53 Sea Stallions (which are transport helicopters), two AH-1W SuperCobra helicopter gunships, 2 AV-8B Harrier jump jets, 2 EA-6B Prowler electronic warfare planes, 2 FA-18D Hornets (which are fighter jets), 2 A-10 anti-tank Warthogs, and an AWACS radar plane. All told that amounts to 4 helicopters, 9 planes, and over 50 Marines. The US military went to great lengths to save one man.
Your God went to great lengths to save you too. He spared no expense and no cost was too high. When it comes to saving his sheep, a good shepherd would even lay down his own life. And that’s exactly what God did for you. While you were still a sinful, straying sheep – one of those “sinners” that Jesus was accused of eating with – God sent his Son to die for you.
Jesus told this parable as he was making his way to Jerusalem for the last time. When he got there he would be arrested by the Jews, put in prison and beaten by the Romans, and sentenced to death on a cross by a world that hated him. But Jesus didn’t do this grudgingly – not as the shepherd who mutters under his breath, “That stupid sheep. I have to go after it again.” No. Jesus did it willingly. He died the death that we deserve because he loves us. He extended his arms wide on the cross so that he could scoop up his straying sheep and carry them home in his arms. By his death, he ensured life for us.
And now we, with all the angels in heaven, and with God himself, rejoice over the gift of love that our Good Shepherd has given us. When someday we leave this world of sin behind us, we will go to be with him in his heavenly home, where he’s preparing a banquet for us to enjoy with him forever.
That’s why we see Jesus eating with tax collectors and “sinners” at the beginning of our gospel lesson. He does it because he loves us. He does it because he shows us that he welcomes sinners. He does it to give us a taste of the heavenly banquet he has prepared for us. As we wait to join in those festivities in heaven, let’s take the time to share the message of Jesus. Look for the other straying sheep around you and let them know that their Shepherd loves them and cares for them. Let them know that God says of each of us, “You’re worth it.” Amen.