Broken and Renewed

Today we’re going to take a closer look at a sermon Jesus taught to some religious rulers. You may have heard these stories a hundred times, I know I have. However recently , the holy spirit has been revealing the implications of Jesus’ words. 

 “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

 Then Jesus told them this parable:  “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?  And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders  and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.’  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.”

Luke 15:1-7

I hear about following the one lost and leaving the 99 constantly, it's a beautiful image but I don't know that we always draw attention to the exact point that Jesus is trying to make. 

One thing that’s clear is that leaving the 99 sheep to find the 1 in real life  is a really bad idea. I’m not a shepherd but I understand sheep are kinda stupid and you can’t just leave them and hope to find them in the same state and place that you left them.  I think most would agree with the statement: the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few. What Jesus is saying here really does go against that logic. It’s puzzling and like many of the things Jesus said, it's supposed to be. Many jewish Rabbis of the time would make ridiculous binary claims and then elaborate by challenging the original claim. The question we are initially left with is why on earth one lost lamb is more important than an entire flock of 99? We aren’t meant to come up with a quick simple satisfying answer. We are meant to contemplate it. 

Then he elaborates with another story

“Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Doesn’t she light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it?  And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.’  In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

This story is a little different, The coin that matters is the one that is lost. And we get the important detail that the kingdom of heaven actually rejoices more over a lost sinner repented. This one makes more sense than the first one. We do generally pay more attention to things that are lost.

Then to complete the thought, we get the prodigal son. 

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.  The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.

 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 1He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.

 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!  I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.  I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’  So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.  For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.  ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’

 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.  But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’

31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

This story is even more unique than the first two. The father went all out for the return of his son. We heard it from the other son's mouth, the father had never done anything this extravagant before to honor his son who remained faithful.  Removing this story from its prominent religious context in christendom, if you were to give a similar situation to a random person on the street. I’m sure most would say that the faithful son deserves more reward than the son who returned. I would agree with them as well.

Now these stories do have a context of Pharisees challenging Jesus on associating with sinners. He gave many reasons as to why he did that but this one may be the most puzzling. Are lost people more valuable than those that are found? There is nothing about that that makes sense to us. 

I believe most of us just gloss over this peculiarity and move on. The thing is, I don’t think you can dance around this. Jesus is pretty clearly saying that there is more joy over the lost found than those that were never lost. 

If I take Jesus at his word here, what are the implications? I’m still discovering that myself as I write this. 

What I do know is that our experience in life supports this. Ask yourself, have you ever watched a movie or read a story where there was no conflict? Where nothing bad happened at all? I can say almost assuredly no. More importantly I think we rarely see a well made movie where the main character(s) didn’t develop throughout the story. If nothing ever changes, we don’t care. We want a story that is changing and dynamic. 

Wrong or right, we all look up to the guy with the cool christian conversion story, he was a drug addict and tried to kill himself but failed, or the staunch atheist that in a deep hatred of God tried to disprove his existence and failed. These are the types of people that go on speaking tours because we want to understand the kind of power that can make something like that happen. 

I think we are a direct reflection of our creator in this. I believe that God values things that are broken and repaired more than things that were never broken. Just think about this passage.

John 20:26-27 (Jesus Appears to Thomas)

"A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' Then he said to Thomas, 'Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.'"

Jesus, after being fully restored, still had his scars. God could have healed him to be completely flawless but he has retained his scars.Why?

I think his scars bring great honor to him. Which is weird to say because how could Jesus deserve more honor than he already did? Because what he went through built character. 

We build muscle and grow stronger not by being genetically gifted with a beautiful physique. We build muscle by breaking down the little muscle we have in order for your body to restore it to be greater than it was before. If you look closely this idea is woven into the very universe we live in. 

It’s a deep part of the whole biblical story from beginning to end. 

Isaiah 54:11-12 (Restoration of Jerusalem)

"O afflicted city, lashed by storms and not comforted, I will rebuild you with stones of turquoise, your foundations with lapis lazuli. I will make your battlements of rubies, your gates of sparkling jewels, and all your walls of precious stones."

Revelation 21:1-4 (The New Heaven and New Earth)

"Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, 'Look! God's dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death' or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away."

This is the garden of Eden part 2 but this is the rare occasion when the sequel is better than the original.  It's still not that simple to wrap my mind around it but looking at the world with this perspective is a big deal. I like to challenge people to take these ideas into their world and use it as a measuring stick with which to judge things. We so often say oh that’s nice, move on and never think about it again but this is really a crucial part of the christian worldview. It certainly helps answer the question why God allows suffering, a question I love to address as often as possible. 

Like I have said before in earlier podcasts, God allowed suffering because There had to be an alternative to him but this principle adds another facet to this answer.

 Women want diamonds that were made by natural processes rather than lab grown ones. We want to look at art made by human hands rather than AI. We value handwritten notes to emails. And God prefers authentic love that comes from a terrible and beautiful story of struggle and death and restoration than a easy love. 

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