Shoulds

As I begin this writing, I must say that I had the honor of hearing Desmond Tutu speak at Butler this past Thursday and was so happily surprised when he spoke on yesterday’s Gospel lesson as I was giving the sermon yesterday at Messiah.  Some of this is from Desmond Tutu, some from God and some from me to share with you as you journey through your week.  Here goes!

Grumble. 

Grumble. 

Grumble.

It just seems to come naturally at times.  All those things we don’t like to do and don’t want to do.  All those should’s in life.  I often grumble when I have to go somewhere especially overnight.  Then I go and have a great time and rejoice after that I went.  It happens all the time with me. What are some of the things you grumble about? 

Well, just think about the shepherd in the story of the lost sheep in Luke.

“Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law grumble that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!  So Jesus told them this story: ’If a man has a hundred sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t strayed away!’”

So, everything is going well for this shepherd.  The sheep are all together.  The shepherd gets to rest.  Everything is perfect until he does the head count.  …97, 98, 99…..one more time he tries it again…..97, 98, 99….imagine his dismay, maybe even panic that sheep 100 is not there.  Now he is grumbling instead of enjoying the evening.  Or is he…..our story doesn’t say that. It simply says he left the 99 and went after the one lost sheep.

Notice it says sheep not lamb. I always picture this story with a soft, cuddly, fluffy lamb.  The story doesn’t say that though.  It talks about a lost sheep who probably didn’t even know he was lost.  (I call him a “he” because he was lost and we all know men don’t ask for directions. *Smile*)

He just kept wandering and munching on grass always in search of the greener grass, because we all know the grass is always greener on the other side.  Who could blame this sheep?  Just wanting to get more out of life and better food and all.  Soon the sheep is far away though.  Wandered off and away from the rest.

The shepherd goes to find the sheep.  Notice again it is a sheep.  Not a fluffy white lamb.  It is probably caked with dirt, covered in burrs and bramble; maybe it has sores on it and is scrawny and definitely smelly with all that dirt and junk in its fur.   

And the shepherd finds it!  Notice what he does!

He puts this smelly, messy creature on his shoulders.  (I have trouble just walking through the sheep barn at the state fair let alone putting one on my shoulders.)

And does he return the sheep to the rest of the sheep?

Nope.  He takes it home and rejoices!

So, here we are all together in our sheepfold this morning.  Being fed with God’s word, bread/wine, body and blood.  Soon we will be sent out once again.  To do what? 

To lower our standards. This is what Desmond Tutu talked about.  Lowering our standards. Jesus did it and tells us to do so in this story.  He tells us to go search out those he hung out with – those with lower standards some of us might call the undesirables  - Jesus hung out with prostitutes, those who broke the law, those who had less than minimum wage jobs, women who were not supposed to be in conversation with a man -  and he did it all  to make sure they knew they were loved and cared for by the greatest Shepherd of all.  That God knew them and their situations by name and wanted them to feel a part of his family because they already were.  Jesus wanted to carry them home and rejoice with them. 

Not bring them back to the sheepfold but to bring them home.  Home to him where there is no grumbling but only rejoicing in heaven.

That makes me grumble a bit because it is a whole lot easier to hang out with people here in the sheepfold than to go out there and hang out with people who are not like me.  Yet what does God ask of me?  What example did he give me in this story of the lost sheep?

May our  journey this week allow us to find the joy in lowering our standards, not grumbling but rejoicing along the way,  as we find the lost for Jesus’ sake.