The Parable of the Lost Sheep
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
Let us pray.
God of grace and goodness, be with us on this beautiful Sunday morning that we might hear your Word and ponder it in our hearts together so that we might leave this place to more fully and confidently do your will. Amen.
Grace and peace to you from God and from all of our students and board members at Jacksonville Campus Ministry! It is good to be with you this morning, and I am so thankful for your hospitality and for Pastor Adam’s invitation to be here. I am also so thankful for your generosity in partnering with our campus ministry.
For those of you who are not familiar with Jacksonville Campus Ministry, we are an ecumenical campus ministry that started in 1972 with the vision of Dr. Ed Albright, a fellow presbyterian here in Jacksonville. His vision was to bring to the forefront the spiritual health and formation of young adults, but this would be a unique ministry in that it would not be defined by one single denomination, but by the partnerships between several denominations. Imagine— a semblance of Christian unity in the 1970s— they had brought together Lutherans, Episcopalians, Methodists, the United Church of Christ, and Presbyterians so that mainline protestant students would have a spiritual home at Jacksonville University and University of North Florida.
Over the last 50 years, our partnerships have expanded to include Cooperative Baptists and Disciples of Christ. We serve young adults from all over Jacksonville and we have about 30 congregations that partner with us in various ways from all across the state.
It is with partnerships like yours that we are able to do the important work of nurturing and forming young adults in their faith. So again, thank you.
…
I almost couldn’t make it through the gospel reading the morning because it hits so close to the work that we do in campus ministry.
We have a student who grew up in the church his entire life. He went to a Christian school, and probably has more verses of the Bible memorized than I do. But when he began to understand who God was calling him to be, he was excommunicated from his church and not allowed to speak about his experience and his identity in his own community. He wasn’t lost. He knew exactly who he was and who God was calling him to be. Instead, he was kicked out.
In undergrad, he attempted to get back into a faith community, but wasn’t able to find one that allowed him to be fully himself. Eventually, wandering far enough and long enough without a community to call his own, he did become lost.
This is a similar story for many of our students. Whether they intentionally distanced themselves from Christianity or they were cut off from their communities, so many of the young adults I encounter seem to be wandering outside of the flock.
In some ways, this is common for this age group. Around late adolescence, we tend to push back on the teaching of our youth, and especially what our parents taught us. We start to ask big questions and many times we might begin to wander away from the tradition we have known our entire lives.
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
The story that the people of Jesus’ day were used to hearing was that sinners and tax collectors don’t make very good dinner partners. They are not the kinds of people you want to be associating with if you want to be taken seriously as a rabbi or a religious leader. There was this expectation that only the clean and righteous are deserving of good company, and perhaps even good food.
This is the story that so many of our students have heard as they grew up. I have had too many conversations to count with students who grew up in places with exactly this kind of mentality— sinners deserve nothing and only the upright and righteous, the clean and “good” people are the only ones who deserve good things or God’s love.
Here, Jesus tells a different story, a distinct story. A story in which God’s grace reaches to the margins. Indeed, God does not forget about the sheep who has been lost or wandered off or scared off by the other sheep. But God cares deeply about this lost sheep and searches endlessly until they are found again and rejoices in the sweet reunion.
“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.”
For our students on campus, there are a lot of stories being told by a lot of different people. There are preachers who come onto campus to harass the students and yell at them that they are going to hell. There are other ministries on campus that claim to love everyone and then kick students out for being a part of the LGBTQIA community. Sometimes the story being told on campus is that students are good enough if they don’t make certain grades or play certain sports or pledge certain fraternities.
Here in this place, we have the opportunity to tell a different story. We have the opportunity to tell the story of Jesus. We have the opportunity tell about a God whose love reaches to the margins, whose love pursues us until we are found.
What does it look like to be like this shepherd Jesus describes and reach toward the margins, looking for the lost sheep and coin?
In campus ministry it looks like…
Clarity so that our students know what we believe and what we stand for in ministry.
It looks like genuine welcome, affirmation, hospitality for all people, regardless of their history with the church, their identity, their sexuality, or wherever they come from in life.
It looks like listening, and having hard conversations, and asking big questions and feeling okay just sitting with them.
It looks like deep care and authenticity, confessing that we will often disappoint one another but we are going to keep showing up anyway.
I want you to know that your community here, South Jacksonville Presbyterian, is one of the very few communities I point my students toward when they are asking about safe congregations in Jacksonville.
Not because you have it all figured out or you do any of these things perfectly, and not because you won’t challenge the beliefs of those who enter here … but because you continue to be honest about who you are and what is important to you. I can see that you are a community where people can come after being hurt by the church and you will welcome them, indeed you already have. You are a community where you ask big questions and talk about difficult topics because you know it is important to be a part of these conversations.
This is how we care for one another. Not only because we are for the one who is lost, but because we care for the other 99 as well. When one is missing from our flock, our flock is lacking. When a piece of the body of Christ is missing, we all suffer. Look around here this morning. Who is missing? Who are we lacking? Who has yet to become a part of this community? Who has been cut off from the body of Christ?
How do we care for them and bring them back in? Perhaps we should begin with this new old story, the story of a God who is persistent and loving, a God who is not only present in Spirit but in flesh in blood in Christ Jesus. A God who reaches out into the wilderness to find us and asks us to do the same. Amen.
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