He Won't Ever Lose You

Pentecost 14 Proper 19 

September 11, 2022

Fr. Tim Nunez

When the Pharisees grumble about Jesus eating with tax collectors and “sinners,” which implies people they regard as notorious, the gravity of the scene is a bit hard for us to grasp on both ends. The tax collectors were despised because they worked for the hated Romans and the extorted extra money from people who had no defense. The “sinners” were people shunned because of their living outside the Law of Moses.

That was a line “religious” people didn’t cross. But Jesus did. His explanation as to why bears some further discussion because the shepherd’s care for the lost sheep and the woman’s hunt for the lost coin may not hit home with us as it did to first century Palestinian Jews.

Friends of ours had a child suffering from Graves’ disease, a form of hyperthyroidism.  His metabolism was too high.  He couldn’t gain weight.  He was fidgety and nervous much of the time.  Everything is going too fast for him. Everything in his body was growing at an accelerated rate. His bones hurt with growing pains. Even his teeth were growing.  His medication made him miserable.

Put yourself in their position. What would you do to get your child, or anyone you love, the help he or she needs? You’d do everything you can imagine and have the capacity to do. Love demands it and drives action.

That’s the first point to learn from these parables. It’s not just a matter of being a diligent shepherd who might say, “Well, I’d better get that sheep!” To understand that Our Lord’s love is not a matter of him sitting high on his throne and waiting for us to approach him.  His is a love that pursues the lost, the broken, and the outcast. It’s not just that he doesn’t want to lose us. His love pursues every one of us.

This was a scandal to the Pharisees. In their view, acceptance was based on following the rules and regulations. Jesus explains that it is a matter of the heart. These sinners have already taken the first step by coming to him. Now Jesus can turn their hearts, and then real healing and real reconciliation with the Father will follow.

Our friends had just recently moved to Orlando. They quickly found a specialist in pediatric endocrinology, but not just any pediatric endocrinologist. He recommended removal of their son’s thyroid.  That was very scary. Thyroid surgery can be dangerous.

Then the doctor told them two things that really helped.  First, he has done a significant number of these procedures and has seen excellent results.  Second, he himself had Graves’ disease as a child, and he said he could not remember ever feeling well in his entire life until he had his own thyroid removed.  His desire to become a pediatric endocrinologist and surgeon is entirely driven by his passion to help kids who suffer the way he did as a child.

That is still a very hard circumstance.  Mom & Dad were anxious as they approached the surgery date. They had to bring their son to the hospital and release him to the doctor’s care – telling him “See you later” from the pre-op room.  They waited for hours in the surgical waiting room for the surgery to finish and for him to revive in the recovery room.  Then they camped out in his hospital room, sleeping on a hard couch/bed, watching and waiting for him to feel better, to eat, to smile, to go home.

But can you see what a difference it made to know that the doctor himself had been right where their son was.  There are other doctors who could have done this same procedure, I’m sure, but this one knew.  He knew.  That helped the parents and the boy say “yes” to a complex procedure that would change his life for the very much better, and probably saving his life.

This is the next point I’d like to bring out of this Gospel. The parent’s love drove them to seek the very best for their son. They found a doctor who was not only experienced in operating on children but who had been there himself, which helped to make the decision to go through with it.

His parents’ love met that challenge and opened a renewed path of life and health. He is doing very well. He also survived a lightning strike a couple of years ago, which is a whole other story. He earned a master’s degree in social work last May. He is working in the judicial system to connect people who accept pre-trial diversion with the right program. How many lives will he touch for the good?

Do we have the confidence to be found by Jesus, to be helped by Jesus, to be healed by Jesus, and to answer any call that he places on our lives??

As Paul reminds us in this passage from his first letter to Timothy, he is a most compelling example of a lost sheep that was found and put to great purpose. You’ll recall that Paul was a Pharisee and a zealous persecutor of the earliest disciples of Jesus. He was so lost that he was literally hunting them down for arrest, torture and even death. So when he says that “…Jesus came into the world to save sinners – of whom I am the foremost,” he is not exaggerating. He was trying his level best to destroy the Body of Christ. It is as though he were pounding the nails into his hands and feet or plunging the spear into Jesus’ flesh all over again.

But Jesus would not lose him, would not let him go, in large part to make him the most striking example of salvation.

He will not lose you. He will pursue you. Remember he has that in mind for others, too. He may use you to reach them!

AMEN