Grace, Mercy and EVANGELISM! In today’s gospel Jesus continues his journey to Jerusalem and the cross, teaching his disciples and the crowds on the grace and mercy of God and the importance of sharing God’s story with all people not just the faithful Jew. The Pharisees and the scribes are grumbling, talking about Jesus behind his back and even within his hearing. If Jesus is really a holy man, a man from God, then why does he persist in keeping company with tax collectors, traitors, the unclean, the sexually immoral, sinners! Jesus doesn’t just talk to them and teach them and proclaim the gospel, Jesus touches them and even eats with them. Really! What is Jesus thinking! At another time Jesus teaches that, healthy people don’t go to doctors, sick people go to doctors. In the same way Jesus has not come to save those who are already saved, those who are already reconciled to God, to those who already have a positive relationship with God, Jesus has come to proclaim the Good News to those who have never heard the Good News and to those who do not understand or believe the Good News. Jesus has come to heal those who are sick from physical ailments, emotional ailments, social ailments, and spiritual ailments. Jesus has come to welcome the outsider, the foreigner, the marginalized, the desperate, the poor, all those shunned by polite society. As we discussed last week, all are sinners and fall short of the mark, but today’s gospel assures us of the grace and mercy of 1

God who at the first sign of our turning away from our own desires and turning to God welcomes us with wide open arms, providing us with the best of the kingdom of God. God does not wait for us to admit all our faults and sins. God does not wait for us to humble ourselves and crawl to him begging for mercy, but loves us and welcomes us unconditionally. We just need to turn to him. Continuing on with the gospel, Jesus tells three stories. In the first, a man has 100 sheep and one goes missing. He doesn’t say, “Oh well, a wolf has probably got it.” No, he leaves the 99, probably in a pen with a shepherd, and goes to look for the missing sheep. That one sheep is valuable. It is probably worth three month’s pay, probably has many productive years ahead of it in providing lambs and wool and is important to find. Not even one sheep can be dismissed as unimportant. The second story is about a woman who has ten coins, all her savings, and she loses one coin. She cannot afford to write-off ten percent of her holdings. If you lost ten percent of all that you owned, would you just write it off as easy come, easy go? No, you would try to find it, you would search high and low, you would call the bank and try to find out what has happened and like the shepherd and the woman you would rejoice when you found it, just as God and all in heaven rejoice when even one sinner repents and is reconciled to God.

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The third story is about a good man and his two sons. His youngest son is incredibly cruel, wishing his father dead so that he can have his inheritance now, not in some distant future. Amazingly the father gives him his share of the land and the son sells it and goes off and squanders his inheritance with an outrageous, destructive lifestyle. Not only has the son insulted his father by wishing him dead, the son has also done the unimaginable and sold his share of the land, his share of the Promised Land from God, turning away from the security of his family, the land and his God. All communication and ties have been severed! We don’t always think about it, but sadly, the oldest son’s relationship with his father is not much better than the younger son’s. I remember how shocked I was the first time someone suggested this to me. The older son has stayed at home, doing all that his father asks, but he is full of resentment. He does not talk to his father about his dreams for the future. He does not talk to his father about his needs and desires. He does not even ask for a goat to have a meal with his friends. Why not? Is his father stingy? It doesn’t appear so from the story since he gave his younger son his inheritance. Does his father favor his younger brother? Does the older brother resent his younger brother? Sons tend to become independent and self-sufficient. This is a good thing. Teenagers and young adults even distance themselves from their family; this is part of growing up and building a life for 3

themselves. The older son now will inherit all that his father owns, land and property. Surely the father and son must talk to each other about how to manage the land and their herds and flocks, what crops to grow and harvest, the timing of shearing, the hiring of shepherds, the timing of removing the calves from their mothers, all the tasks of running a profitable farm. But do they really talk to each other, do they know each other, does the older son know how much the father grieves for his younger brother, does the older son consider loving his father? The older son is also distant and absent from his father. The third person in this story is the father who loves his sons and gives them the freedom to make their own choices and make their own way in the world. The father appears to be patient and watchful, waiting for the return of his sons. When the younger returns, he sees him while he is still a distance off and runs to meet him and welcomes him home with open arms. He does not wait for explanations or apologies, but accepts him at once. He does not welcome him grudgingly or with recriminations, but with generous love with the best robe, a ring and sandals and the fatted calf, the father receives him as a beloved son, not as a slave or an ungrateful son, but as a beloved son. The father’s love does not extend just to his younger son, but also to his older son. When he returns from a hard day’s work, the older son is jealous and angry to hear 4

that his brother has returned and that his father has thrown a party in his honor. The father goes out to his older son and asks him to join him in welcoming his brother home. He assures the older son that he loves him and that all he has belongs to the older son, but the father desires him to join him in celebrating the return of his younger son, who was lost and estranged, but now is found and safely home.

These stories tell us what the kingdom of God is like. God is a loving god, full of mercy and grace, who longs for a deep relationship with his people. God continues to love and wait patiently for the obvious sinner who wastes his God given gifts through gambling, drinking, shooting up drugs, hating, stealing, committing immoral acts and promiscuous sexual acts, who runs after fame and fortune and illgotten gain. God watches for this sinner and at the first sign of turning from his ways, welcomes him back with open arms. The younger son has still lost his inheritance and will suffer the consequences of bad choices, but has returned to a father who loves him, receives him back as a long lost son and will provide for his needs. The repentant sinner will find a God who still loves her and accepts her as a long lost daughter, a daughter that may still need to do prison time or face the social and financial consequences of poor decisions and immoral activities, but a sinner who is still loved and accepted. 5

The surprising thing is that this story tells us that God also loves and waits patiently for those of us who relate more to the older son. We are productive, law-abiding citizens. We love our spouses, our children, grandchildren and even our less fortunate neighbors, feeding them, providing medical care, an education and shelter. But we also seek fame and fortune, a bigger house and nicer car while there are still those who have no home or a broken-down car, families who cannot afford healthcare even with the Affordable Care Act, children who do not know what it is to have loving parents, to know loving discipline or to even want an education. Do we work on our relationship with God with worship, prayer and our actions? Do we build relationships with our neighbors, do we speak to the stranger in the grocery line, and do we care for ourselves? Do we understand that God’s love, grace and mercy extends even to us, that God waits for us to turn from what we think is important in our lives, to turn from what drives us from sun rise to sun down and waits for us to turn to him so that he can welcome us too. Jesus tells these parables to the religious leaders, the crowds, Jews and gentiles and to his disciples. Jesus is telling them that all people are in need of the grace and mercy of God and that God loves all people, that God’s love, grace and mercy is available to all people those whom we consider wicked sinners AND those who think they are good and not in need of healing or saving. Jesus is also telling the 6

Pharisees and the scribes that all people need to be told this good news, not just the good Christian or the good Jew, but the good news of the Kingdom of God needs to be shared with all people. God calls us to turn to him and receive God’s love and mercy and grace. God calls us to evangelism; God calls us to share the good news with our family, our neighbor, the sinner and the stranger. God is merciful. God is gracious. God loves all people. God welcomes all those who turn to him. God loves those who waste and spurn their God given gifts. God loves those who make good use of their gifts, but believe that they are the result of our own hard work. God loves us when we recognize our need for each other and our need for God and turn to him. God loves us no matter what and wants a relationship with us. God calls us to share this good news with others, those who come to worship on Sunday morning, those who do good, but do not feel the need for God, to those who repent and ask for God’s help and to those who are deep in their sin and feel no need for help from others or from God. God loves us all. God loves. God is gracious. God is merciful. Praise God.

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Lent 4, Year C, RCL St. James’, Albion, MI, 03/06/2016 RCL Joshua 5:9-12 2 Corinthians 5:16-21 Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Psalm 32

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Motto: “Living our Faith - Love, Teach, Feed”; “A Warm Welcome to All” Vision: A Christ Centered Community, loving God, our neighbor, ourselves and all of God’s creation Ministry: Our ministry is to build relationships within our St. James’ family and with our neighbors through our Food and Education Ministries. AIM, Community Suppers, Community Garden, Albion Reading Camp, Third Sunday Missions Mission: The mission of the Church is to restore all people to unity with God and each other in Christ. Sustainable Development Goals SDG #2 – Zero Hunger SDG #4 – Quality Education Albion Faithful Families Education on healthy eating, growing vegetables and exercise Diocesan Goals  Communication – building relationships  Welcoming the Young  Food, Water & Shelter  Deacons  Inventory of skills and physical possessions My 2016 Resolution is to get to know Jesus better and to share my insights with you. Epiphany I – The Baptism of Our Lord – Why Was Jesus Baptized? Epiphany II – Jesus Turning Water into Wine – Why Does John Have Jesus Do Miracles? Jesus the Miracle Worker, Marriage Epiphany III – Jesus Reads From the Scroll of Isaiah – Jesus Fulfills the Scripture, Episcopal Worship Epiphany IV – Jesus is rejected by his home town Last Sunday after Epiphany – The Transfiguration, the Exorcism Trouble in the Bible, Grace in the Bible. Trouble in the World, Grace in the World. Situation, Complication, Resolution, Celebration! Bartlett, David L. and Barbara Brown Taylor, Editors, Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary: Feasting on the Word, Year C, Volume 1, Advent through Transfiguration, Baptism of the Lord, p 218-241, Westminster John Knox Press, Louisville / Kentucky, 2009. Lincoln, Andrew T., Black’s New Testament Commentary: The Gospel According to Saint John, Water Into Wine at Cana, Hendrickson Publishers, Continuum,. London, New York, 2005, 124-136. Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our redeemer. Amen. 8