Pentecost 15 8/9/2004
Jeremiah 4.11-12, 22-28, Psalm 14, 1 Timothy 1.12-17, Luke 15.1-10.
My sister sent me a very kitsch postcard a couple of years ago.
I have it here, but it’s a bit small for you all to see up here, perhaps you could have a look at it later if you like.
It’s a picture of Jesus with a lamb over his shoulders. Now it’s a very non-Jewish looking Jesus, and a very clean and happy looking lamb. I guess that part of the kitsch value of it. But I think the real kitsch value is this postcard is one of those funny 3 dimensional pictures. My sister sent it as a bit of joke, you see she loves kitsch, and I have to say I find rather amusing as well, it is rather funny too, but as with many things in life that at first seem a bit vacuous and shallow, there can be found a deeper meaning. It is a picture of a parable, a metaphorical explanation of the real kingdom of God, as opposed to the world we humans make for ourselves here on earth. Let’s delve into this metaphor a bit.
The idea of a messiah as a shepherd is scandalous. In Jesus time, shepherds were unclean, untouchable. They were not to be touched or associated with and it was especially wrong to eat with them, as it was wrong for a righteous person to eat with sinners. To touch an unclean person was to catch the uncleanliness, it would render one unclean. Even touching the same eating utensils would make one unclean. Shepherds were scum, in fact. A bit like Collingwood supporters. No, wait, scrub that. I really meant to say bikers.
I know a couple of guys who belong to a Christian motorcycle club. These guys are mostly hard core bikers who became Christians but didn’t want to give up their biker identity. Their club is more than a club, it is their church. Back before I was ordained, I used to go to their service occasionally. I once went to a Christmas service there, and one of the bikers spoke about that first Christmas in Bethlehem, and how the angels appeared to shepherds first. He then went on to say that he identified with those shepherds because bikers are regarded by many people as scum and dirty and untouchable. Now some bikers actively cultivate this image of themselves as a method of cultural identification, as a way of setting a clear boundary around their sub culture, but nevertheless the rest of the bikers do end up suffering from a generalisation such as this. For me, just the fact that I ride a bike is enough to make some people draw conclusions about me being a rebel or something. Anyway, what I’m getting at is that I think we can draw from this the idea that anyone who is outside the bounds of “decent society” could find a ready identification with the shepherds. The shepherds are the unemployed, the homeless, the depressed, the mentally ill, the poor, the uneducated, refugees, foreigners, immigrants – basically, as I said, anyone who does not fit into society. I’m sure we can all think of times when we have been in one of these categories. We have all, at some time or another, been excluded.
No to get back to my original point about the scandal of the Christ as a shepherd, if we bring this into our own time, then we could imagine Christ as a biker, or a refugee, or a homeless person, or an indigenous person. And we can also imagine Christ being found not in the cathedral but in a tin shed in Elizabeth somewhere, or perhaps asleep under the Morphett st. bridge beneath a pile of newspapers. The Christ we know and worship is the shepherd, the outsider, the scum. And it is with these people, the scum of society, that the Christ will be found. Jesus himself sums it up with this phrase “…. There will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents that over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” I can imagine him saying that with more than a hint of sarcasm in his voice. The righteous, the Pharisees, those who are excluding the “sinners and unclean” from the worshipping life of the community, are not righteous in God’s eyes, and Jesus doesn’t mind pointing it out.
Now what of the sheep?
The sheep in this metaphorical illustration represents us, humanity, the wayward and flawed beings that we are. Sheep, especially in this dusty country, are dirty and smelly and daggy and greasy and heavy and not very nice to hold really when they get big. This is not to say that we are all like this. We aren’t daggy and greasy and all that, although I’ve been called daggy before, but I think it was more my bad sense of humour than personal hygiene issues, I hope! It’s more about the brokenness of humanity, the fact that we all fall short of perfection. We all have our faults, and even if we look cuddly and harmless like a lamb, there are aspects of each person’s character and lifestyle that are not righteous. Now this for me is the crux of the metaphor. It’s not just that Jesus the shepherd will lead us back to the flock, to the right path, to relationship with God, but that Jesus will pick us up, lay us on his shoulders and carry us. He takes our broken selves with all our faults and failings and inadequacies and he embraces us intimately, and our lack of righteousness is not an issue. Jesus doesn’t care how bad we are, how unclean we are, how distasteful we are, and how much it rubs off on him. In Jesus, in the forgiveness he secured for us, we are all able to be members of the kingdom. All it takes is to admit we are lost, and then allow the good shepherd to gather us in.
It’s such a wonderful thing, this love that God has for us, all of us, the broken and imperfect. The fact that God values us, all of us, no matter who and what we are, what we’ve done, where we’ve been and who we’ve been with. We are of enough value for God to be concerned with each and every one of us, and to seek us out. Its not like the old testament understanding that we hear of in Jeremiah this morning, where God punishes the transgressors, it’s the God who constantly seeks reconciliation, who seeks to show us that all it takes is us acknowledging, just as St Paul does, our broken ness, and accepting Gods open hand. The God can work with us all, and as God did with Paul, make us all examples to those who would come to believe in God for eternal life. To the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only God, who takes us whatever and whoever we are, be honour and glory forever and ever, Am
