Care and Joy

15th Sunday after Pentecost
Luke 15:1-10

There is an odd pair of emotions in this reading: great care and great joy. The shepherd and the woman both show that careful attention to detail that is also known as hard work. Think of all that hiking over hills, the scrambling down creek banks and climbing through brambles: all in search of a sheep that could have nibbled itself into trouble a thousand different ways. Or think of all that housework! Sweeping, moving furniture, rearranging clutter, crawling around on the floor. Often this kind of physical labor coupled with careful attention to detail can lead to grumpiness. We can live our whole lives this way, always diligently searching for lost items and responsibly returning them to their correct location: a place for everything and everything in its place.

Are we having fun yet?

That everything-in-its-place kind of responsibility is not what these searches are about. Instead, the search of the shephard and the woman are all about joy, a joy that overflows into the cheerful disarray of a celebration. Friends and neighbors celebrate. Care and joy flow out of the same person, and it all ends in a party.

We are beginning a new school year at Luther Seminary. Committee meetings have started for faculty. Students are buying books and organizing their calendars around the due dates of assignments. Classes begin for all of us this week. There is a temptation in this work for carefulness to lead to grumpiness. "Why is that teacher/student being so irresponsible, or so high-maintenance, or so…well…lost? Why do I always have to be the responsible one?"

In the midst of this drift toward surliness, we get three pictures of joy on the other side of care: (1) the joy of the shepherd, (2) the joy of the woman, and (3) the joy of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

Comments

[Matthew Diegel]

Having just returned from another meeting to check on Fall ministries, I appreciated the emphasis about celebration, instead of having everything in order. We don't need to 'have it all together' to rejoice. Instead, it's the loose ends, the lost sheep, the missing coin, that actually enable us to do more ministry.
It's 'Welcome Back' Sunday in our parish (Sunday School starting, etc...) Do I preach about repenting, or about keeping going, finding persons to share God's message with, those who are lost, and finding the loose threads in me that need to hear the good news as well?
About Moses -- is this a model for parish/synodical leadership?! (it's been a long day!)
Matthew Diegel
Getting ready in Thunder Bay