EXODUS 32:1,7-14

PSALM 51:1-11

1TIMOTHY 1:12-17

LUKE 15:1-10

Sermon – September 12, 2004

MERCY. It’s a huge and crucial biblical concept at the heart of all of today’s Scriptures. Is God merciful? Is God “too merciful”? Perhaps it’s selfish human nature for people sometimes to want mercy for themselves – and justice for other people!

Moses shows his quality as a spiritual leader in today’s first reading by not yielding to this temptation. This passage from the Book of Exodus comes after the people of Israel have been liberated from slavery in Egypt by God, have been provided with water, food and guidance in an unfamiliar wilderness by God, have been given the 10 Commandments as the foundation of their religious and community law by God, have been given an outstanding leader (Moses) by God...and when that leader finally gets to spend some “quality time” alone with God on top of Mount Sinai, the people get bored and persuade Aaron to make pagan idols for them to worship. They then feast and “revel” around these golden calves, and some of the “revelry” may have been of the X-rated variety.

God, understandably, is really, really ticked off. The people have been grumbling repeatedly despite all the aforementioned blessings he has showered on them (in addition to having chosen them out of all the peoples of the earth to be God’s special people centuries before). “What have you done for me lately?” seems to be the first thing in the minds of the people each morning – something that’s been in the minds of similarly forgetful and ungrateful people since. God has “had it” and is prepared to “wipe the slate clean and start fresh” – wipe out the people and just work with Moses’ children and their descendants.

But Moses, who also has plenty of reasons to be aggravated, persuades God to change his mind. Divine justice for this bunch of debauched idolaters might have meant extermination, but God chose mercy for the nation instead, and as time went on chose to judge people on an

individual basis not on a clan or national basis and to defer ultimate punishment to the afterlife instead of “bringing it on” here and now.

Good thing. If God were to judge the entire world today based on the evil which exists in the world and hold the entire world responsible...none of us would have much chance.

Which doesn’t mean we should all be blasé about our behavior. Today’s Psalm is the great penitential Psalm which we also use in the Ash Wednesday liturgy; we are all invited to reflect on our lives and ask God’s forgiveness for how each of us, by what we have done and by what we have left undone, has failed to live up to the greatest commandments: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

We can be assured that God does forgive those who truly repent and ask for forgiveness; as it says in today’s Epistle, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners.” And even the saints, like Paul and Peter, were forgiven sinners. In the glorious release made possible by God’s forgiveness, they let God make them new and accomplished extraordinary things.

The temptation for those now living righteous lives, however, is to want the “club” to be exclusive now that we are in it. The Pharisees and Scribes – people learned in and devoted to keeping religious law – criticized Jesus for associating with so many people who, in their lives, had in the past disregarded religious laws.

Jesus emphasizes that he is making an extra effort to reach those who have gone astray from the path toward God. God is not like a shepherd who ignores a lost sheep and “writes it off” as a business loss without seeking it out. Indeed, God shows extravagant caring, by human terms “irrational” caring, by in today’s parable leaving 99 sheep in the wilderness and going after the one which was lost! No human shepherd would do that; he would safeguard the 99 and consider it an accomplishment to lose only one sheep in the wilderness.

But God does not think like a rational entrepreneur. God does not think in economic terms of “reasonable losses” or “acceptable attrition”. To God, every person is priceless and worth reaching out to. No matter how far off the path they seem to be by human standards.

Christ could have concentrated on those who were already righteous by contemporary religious standards, but he wanted to change lives, to bring people to God who had strayed. He did that, and he still does.

My question is, how do people today find this out? Mine is just one voice – and most of the people I talk to in a given week are either already in this sanctuary, associated with this church, or with another religious community.

So if this news of God’s willingness to reach out to people who have strayed away from God’s path or simply been away from church is to get around, I think the best way to spread it is by word of mouth.

If we were a sneaker company, or a fast food giant, or a car manufacturer, we would have millions to spend advertising some miniscule “tweaking” of our product line and over-promising what impact it can have on people’s lives.

But we’re the Church, and we don’t have millions, or even thousands, to spend on advertising. But we do have something which really can change lives in a big way: the news of God’s radical extravagant love to each person and all people, God’s invitation to a life-changing, personal relationship with God which offers forgiveness, strength, renewal and hope.

If you know people who you think feel weighed down and need forgiveness and/or love, community, strength, renewal and hope, tell them this story about the lost sheep. And invite them to come here, or to the church of their choice, for a fresh start.

No need to feel “sheepish”. Many of today’s church members have been among the dropped out, alienated, fearful or discouraged at some time in their lives. But there’s nothing like being found by the Good Shepherd and being brought to good pasture as part of a good flock tended by Christ, who gave his very life so that we, and all people, might have a chance for abundant life.

(The Rev.) Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church