But what if “Billy” is not Billy Crystal or some great comedian in the making, what if this Billy is just plain stupid? Nobody wants to think of someone else as stupid, or at least in our culture today, to actually say the word “stupid”. Instead we resort to the plethora of politically correct terms to zoom in on the “challenge” Billy must surely be a victim of. Billy is not stupid, he is simply developmentally disabled, or emotionally challenged, or psychologically immature. We make Billy the victim of circumstance, never considering for a moment, that Billy may have as high an IQ as you or I, and what is more, may fully be cognizant of his own choices, and just like acting the fool, cause it makes him happy. At that point, we cannot reconcile his “stupid” behavior. But then, perhaps “stupid” is not defined by the majority after all, and maybe none of us have the right to that word. But it does not change the fact, we sure don’t want him around.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could point to the church, and say, it is different here? But alas, if you are looking for a church family, you need only one thing for it; “conformity”. If you can conform, you can be accepted into the flock and have more friends than you can count. Folks that will invite you over for dinner, help you move if you need to, visit you in the hospital when you get sick. You get the idea. You become part of the flock, you have a family much bigger than the one you were born with. But if you start acting foolish; at first they will try to save you, to get you back in line. And if it does not work. You are out, at least socially. Those dinner invitations will dry up. Those friends will become nominal friends, they may not spit on you, but they are much less likely to go out of their way for you. And sometimes this phenomenon happens over what you believe, even if your behavior is exactly the same as the rest of the sheep. Where the real difference in the flock is determined, greater than perhaps anything else, is around sin. Sin is stupid after all. And so many of us seem chained to the stupid sins we commit. Sometimes it gets so bad, we leave the flock, abandon all hope, and resign ourselves that we will never be good enough, smart enough, accepted at all by the others, so perhaps all of them are wrong about sin being stupid, and sin is just the choice I decided to make for myself. Billy has his revenge.
And if I were a bean counter, examining the results of the war between good and evil, if I saw a church filled with 99 good sheep. If those 99 were all conformists, who had only minimal sins, who were there every week in church, and during the week for each other. If I had lost only one “bad” sheep, I would count that an epic win. The Shepherd would make far better use of His time, guarding the 99, investing in the 99, and guiding the 99 to even greener pastures. Than to worry about one crazy bad sheep, who is not interested in being with the others. Probably steeped in sin, by his own choice. Probably the kind of different sheep that makes it impossible to love him. He left on his own after all, no one made him. Could be the kind of sheep with an itchy trigger finger who has made horrific life choice mistakes, that cannot be undone. Maybe, like some cop, who could never take back what he did. A cop who now has to live his life out knowing he took the life of another, perhaps a completely innocent other. That guy would be an instant social pariah. And if the cop were white by chance, and the congregation of the flock were black by chance. How much forgiveness would you even expect him to find? Surely the Shepherd would be better spent tending to those who have suffered the loss, than to the one who made that loss occur in the first place. The 99, so much better, than the one. But as Luke writes, this is not how the heart of Jesus works.
Picking up in the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel letter to his friend about what we believe and why, it opens in verse 1 saying … “Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. [verse 2] And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” So lets get the context correct as we begin. The Pharisees and scribes, are the flock. They are the 99. They are more upright and righteous than you or I could ever hope to be. They read the scriptures for hours everyday. They go to synagogue every Sabbath. They observe strict rules about diet, lifestyle, and conservative monetary policy. They spend their time debating the meaning of the texts they read. They establish and then attend schools devoted to scriptural understanding. And as a result, they make all the religious rules for the rest of the nation. A nation weary of being sent back into exile for their sins. Stupid sins. Like the ones the poor commit. Or like the tax collectors for Rome who are Israelite yet do the work of their Roman masters, and cheat their fellow citizens while they do it. Whores who trade their bodies for silver enough to survive. Stupid behavior the Pharisees cannot reconcile. That group is outcast. That group has Billy as a founding member. That group contains a murderer who can never undo the loss he has caused, or hope for forgiveness from the 99 righteous that cannot understand what or why he did what he did. And in this story, we, each of us, are not the 99, we are the one as well.
Jesus responds in verse 3 saying … “And he spake this parable unto them, saying, [verse 4] What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” Jesus strikes at the greed in the heart of these so-called righteous men. To avoid loss, they would risk the 99, to add back in the one that wanders away. Yet it is not for greed, or pride, that Jesus is eating with publicans and sinners (those who do stupid things, on purpose). He eats with them, with us, because He loves us as much as He loves the 99 who count themselves righteous. You will notice here, it is the Shepherd who initiates the action of finding the lost. It is the Shepherd here who is driven to find that which He loves. It does not matter how stupid the sheep is, or what the sheep has done, or that the sheep chose to leave the safety of the flock in the first place. When you think about it. Sheep are stupid. Their brains are smaller. They don’t think clearly. They make dumb decisions. But they do understand the love of the Shepherd, and respond only to His call, for it is steeped in love and caring for them, since when they were born, for their whole lives. No matter what they have done, even the murderers.
Jesus continues in verse 5 saying … “And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. [verse 6] And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. [verse 7] I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” Now we must contrast the behavior of our Savior with ourselves. When Jesus finds the lost sheep, who is still stupid, and cannot undo what they have done – He does not yell at them for being stupid. He does not throw them into a pen of isolation. And perhaps treat them according to the stupidity they have been engaged in. No. He picks them up, carries them home, and loves them tenderly. And Jesus is happy to have found them, and brought them back to the flock. Jesus says all of heaven rejoices. Hear that? All of heaven rejoices, over finding one stupid, obstinate, ridiculous sheep. The sheep as a result of his encounter with Jesus, seeks repentance. Not because the other sheep told him he had to. Not even because Jesus told him he had to. But because one encounter with a love so pure, will drive him to his knees. The 99 are still important, but lack a reason to repent in their own minds, they consider themselves already good enough. It is the cop who needs repentance, not them. They did nothing but be victims of injustice. They are the 99. It is the cop who murdered, he is the one, he cannot undo what he has done. He and I have nothing in common right? How could he and I both be the one, with the same need of forgiveness, for the same stupidity that would plague us both? Compared to him, I am the Pharisee. At least I think I am.
But this lesson strikes right into the hearts of men. Women too needed to hear it. So Jesus speaks to them. He continues in verse 8 saying … “Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?” Women too must understand the value of every life, even the one who is lost. Even when there are still 9 others, the one that is lost must be found and brought back. Jesus continues in verse 9 saying … “And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. [verse 10] Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” Black lives matter, they should matter to me, to you, to all of us. They should not endure more loss, or more hardship, only because they are black. They matter to Jesus. They are the 99. But the cop is the one. And his life matters so much, that his repentance for a single action he can never undo, causes all of heaven to rejoice. If I am unable to accept him as my brother, and treat him as Jesus would treat him, then I am not part of the 99, I too, am the one who has yet to be found.
As a nation we grieve for the fallen victims of injustice. They have been falling since the dawn of time, since the founding of our nation, and they still fall. Injustice does not limit itself based on race, its victims share many skin colors, and it most often targets the poor. And while we grieve and still grieve; I rarely even hear a mention of grief for the lost ones who inflicted that injustice. But the church in South Carolina had it right. They forgave what should never have had to be forgiven, what should never have taken place. And they moved on. Not in a perfect world, not in a better world, but in a world where hope, faith, and love were a choice people made to make the world better for themselves, despite a loss no one else would ever comprehend. The Amish of Pennsylvania had it right. They too met unspeakable loss with gentle forgiveness and love. It is not a black thing, or a white thing, to forgive – it is a Christian thing, enabled only by a true reflection of the love of Christ. Perhaps it is time now, to seek out those lost sheep, and look to love them back into the flock. Perhaps it is time not to let the stupidity of our lives cloud the pathway to His love, sharing that love all the way with those we think deserve it the least. To cradle the mother of the taken in one arm, with the person who did the taking in the other, is to bring healing in the name of Jesus, of a love only He can truly enable within us. You will notice, that every life matters to Jesus, particular the lost ones. And I am most glad, that is so.
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