“REJOICE”
SAINT LUKE 15. 1-10
The Third Sunday after Trinity: 12 June Anno Domini 2005
Fr Watson
Sheep are dumb. Coins are inanimate. It's a toss-up at which is more inept when becoming lost. But neither the stupidity of the sheep nor the lack of sentience of the silver coin can match the damning antagonism and the cussed rebellion of the pagan.
In Luther's Bondage of the Will, one of his works which he truly valued, he correctly elucidates the Scriptural doctrine of Sin and Grace. Man isn't born a dumb sheep; man is born an evil enemy of God. Man is not born an unmovable, "neutral" coin, brick or stone, man is born a fighting, kicking, biting, scratching, screaming adversary.
This is not a very flattering picture of the newbom babe, or of the teenaged or adult heathen; but it's the truth. Sin isn't sickness, it's death. Being without Christ is not a flaw, it's a fatal fracture. The lamb left out in the field by itself, lost, will not find its own way back, it will die. The newbom left out on a table by itself, will die. The silver coin wedged down in a crack between floor planks, or under the end table, will not "find itself" or roll over to its master and hop up into his hand or pocket. A non-believer will not "decide" to come to Jesus or "elect" to become a believer.
An unbeliever is antagonistic, not simply mute and useless such as a sheep or coin. A sheep will only collapse on the ground in fear and quiet. Whereas a pagan (at whatever age) will actively hide, stalk, and perform acts of perfidy. A piece of wood, dead wood if you will, will only float insensate in the water. To retrieve it one needs to swim out to where it is and pick it up; difficult but not necessarily dangerous. Whereas a pagan (at whatever age) is like a drowning non-swimmer. Lifeguards tell us that someone in a drowning panic will kick, punch, and resist with all their might the saving rescue which the rescuer heroically brings.
The un-baptized baby, the unbelieving "40-something," the "old Adam" in all of us, doesn't just sit there like a coin or sheep, but runs the other direction. That's sin.
Only Grace fixes sin. Only Grace, The Love of God in Christ Jesus, rescues one drowning in the sea of fire. The Lord's parable is a beautiful metaphor of all of you without Him, and of His Grace towards you. He didn't just stand there like an "omniscient" dog-owner whistling you back to His side. No, He is the shepherd, the Good Shepherd, for He sought that which was lost. Being a shepherd was a long, un-ending, grueling, dirty job. It was tough being a shepherd, not a job for whiners, weaklings or mamma's boys. It was a job for real men. Jesus is the truest real-man there could ever be. He voluntarily veiled His "spiritual-inter-Trinitarian-always-omnipotent condition" for a life-time existence in human flesh and blood. He became incarnate, and voluntarily refrained from using His "God-hood" for most of those long, dirty, tough, grueling 33 years.
He is not a neat and clean and nice and sweet God. He is a tough, dangerous, fierce, hard-working God-Man who became sweaty, dirty, blood-encrusted, and pierced to recover His lost lamb; you. He is not a proud, pompous, distant, aloof, and prissy deity. He is a hands-on, flesh pressing, physical and earthy God-Man. Even as the woman looking for the coin had to get down on her hands and knees and scour the house to find that hidden coin; your Savior got down on His hands and knees to wash the stinking feet of those 12 men, who usually just got everything wrong. The picture of Jesus cleansing their feet is the reality of what He does for you. He picks you up, a lost coin no more, and cleans and restores you to perfection; perfection in Him. Even as rock is cleansed and polished in a "tumbler" you too are buffed and sanded. Sometimes it feels unpleasant; it hurts, but you are being formed into His very image, first the "Cruciform," then the Throne-form.
This parable is the story, the true story of what Jesus did for you. His life of obedient service, of obeying the Father's Will, of self-sacrificial duty, compliance, perfection, is showed you in the woman who searches tirelessly for the one lost coin. The shepherd is Jesus. Even as the Shepherd David fought lions, wolves and bears, so too Jesus fought the hordes of hell, the ravages of the world, the wolf-pack of your actual sins when He met them all at Calvary. This was no high-tech mechanized push-button warrior who only fought and killed from a distance. This was the Man-God who got right into the devil's ugly mug and took everything he had. This is the Redeeming Warrior Shepherd who voluntarily took your place in the execution chamber to suffer your just fate. The Good Shepherd laid down His life, not only collectively for all His sheep, but also individually for you, a lamb who means everything to Him.
You were lost. But now you've been found. You were naked. But now you've been + clothed. You were enemies. But now you are kin, royal siblings. You were parched and starved. But now you are refreshed and fed. No wonder the angels rejoiced. No wonder the Seraphim, Cherubim and entire Sabaoth sing and cheer and toast you this morning at the Mass. The Shepherd lives, His beloved flock lives. There is joy, here, and in heaven.
In the Name of The Father and of The Son + and of The Holy Ghost