Ordinary Saints - 1

Pentecost 16 (C)
Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’
So he told them this parable: ‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
‘Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.’

Sermon
This week we begin a series of sermons, called "Ordinary Saints" based on the lectionary but looked at through the lens of Christian vocation. Today and for the next three weeks, we are going to commemorate and celebrate the various vocations in our community. One of the special features of our Lutheran perspective is that we happen to believe that it is not only the pastor who stands up front in the nice white alb and stole that is called to serve God in ministry. It is all of us. We are all called. Each of us in this room is a priest, a pastor, a bishop, and a pope. God calls each of us to serve. And the various ways we serve are called our vocations. You may serve God as a doctor, or teacher, or electrician, or janitor. You might also be a mother, father, son or daughter. These are your vocations, the ways you live out your call to help advance God’s work in the world. Your lives are an extension of the life of Jesus Christ.

Today, we lift-up and give thanks for educators, anyone involved in the systems of education in our community. When I think back to my favorite teachers, one comes to mind – my brother, Bobby. He is a gifted teacher, a music teacher, a band director. In fact, he is one of the very best band directors the state of Texas has ever seen. His Middle School and High School were legendary, award-winning, and stunning. People would travel across the country to see him rehearse his kids. He was the cream of the crop.

He once told the story of one of his first days on his first job at Jefferson Junior High School in Abilene, TX. He walked into a band hall full of 200 kids, stepped up on the podium, picked up his baton, ready to begin teaching. Suddenly, he noticed at the back of the room a student, we’ll call him a knucklehead, who wasn’t quite getting with the program. Wasn’t quite engaging in the learning process. Wasn’t quite getting the whole idea of being attentive and participating. My brother hurled his music stand aside and made a “b-line” right through the middle of the band, stomping and snorting like a raging bull. When he gets to the kid, he gets to within an inch of his nose and dressed him up one side and down the other. He made sure the budding knucklehead knew what was expected of him and who was in charge. Then he returned to the podium. Needless to say, he had their attention. And they performed as he expected.

But know this: what makes my brother such a gifted teacher is not that the kids feared him. What makes my brother such a gifted teacher is that he FREED them. For him, teaching is an act of liberation. It is to free them from the lack of awareness of the deep joy of music. It is to free them from the peer pressures of band not being “cool”. His teaching removes the blinders that keep people from seeing clearly. His teaching removes the shackles that imprison the mind, heart, and soul. Teaching, at its heart, is an act of liberation. And because of that, it is subversive and even dangerous.

How else can you explain what happened to Jesus? He was, after all, a teacher . . . the Master Teacher. Everywhere he went people pressed in upon him to hear him speak, to hear the words come from his lips. They wore out their sandals walking great distances to be schooled by him, taught by him. The Bible tells us that when he taught, people were amazed. The Bible tells us that people disassembled houses to get near him. He would read or recite scripture and then tell people what it meant. And when he did people were liberated. They were freed. Teaching is an act of liberation.

In today’s text from Luke 15, we see three things that Jesus frees people from.

First, we see that Jesus frees you from yourselves. The first line from the reading says it all “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. Jesus drew a crowd, but not just any old crowd. When Jesus drew a crowd, the people who came to him didn’t always have their acts together. The people who crowded around Jesus were people who tended to shoot themselves in the foot in life. They were people with bad habits, bad judgment, and bad reputations. They were the spiritual rednecks of the day. They were religious hillbillies, not respectable like the Pharisees and all.

Why do you think people whose track record in life was a little spotty came near to Jesus? Probably because of the same reason you and I seek him. Because, when we are near him, he has a way of bringing something else out in us. . . . The places we go and the people we see draw something out of us, something lovely and noble or something dark and self-destructive.

When Karin and I moved from Iowa to Greenwood, IN to start this church she joined a play group and made some new friends. She made one friend in particular that always has a lasting impact on me. We see her once a year or so now, but anytime we cross paths I always feel like I just walked into a beam of sunlight. She seems to convey a real holiness from God.

When Jesus taught, he didn’t just pour new ideas into the minds or lay a new program of spiritual insight. No, when he taught, something happened to the people on the inside. They were freed from themselves and drawn away from their self-destructive habits.

A second thing we see is that Jesus frees you from living for the approval of others. Did you see what it said in verse two? “And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” Just as surely as there were people being liberated by Jesus’ teaching, there were people being offended by it. I don’t know if you know this or not, but there will be people who will not approve of what you do. There will be people who may not approve of some of you decisions. There will be people who will be critical of how you operate in life.

Listen to me . . . Jesus frees you from living for others’ approval. One of the things that I have shared with about my family growing up is that I grew up in a family of mouthy women. Most all the women in my family have been strong-willed, opinionated, and outspoken. They just say it. Whatever they happen to be thinking, it just comes out. There is no pause or delay. It just comes out in all its glory. I thought all women were that way. But as it turns out, that’s not the case. My mother, I am told, started out in her marriage to my father on the quiet side. She held her tongue and bit her lip to keep from disagreeing too much or causing a stir. But after a while, she’d had enough of that and settled into a way of expressing herself that was honest and genuine.

Maybe you know what it is like to constantly watch what you say. Perhaps either at work, with friends, or at home, you walk on egg shells. People can become so sensitized to their environment that they are immediately aware anytime someone is unhappy with them. What a nightmare! What a prison! When Jesus teaches he liberates and frees you from the chains that keep you from enjoying an honest and genuine life.

A third thing we see is that Jesus frees you from all kinds of religious baggage. Over and over again in the gospels, Jesus is teaching, in the synagogue, at the beach, in a home, at dinner. And he is teaching people who have been taught before. They knew the laws. They said the right prayers. They had been to synagogue. They weren’t complete ignoramuses. But often what they were taught was sucking the life out of them. They had to unlearn some lessons. When Jesus taught them he freed them from a religious world that organized life in nice little boxes and categories, where there was no mystery, no adventure, no drama. He took the shackles off them so they could join the whirlwind tour of God’s work in the world.

When Karin and I moved to Greenwood, one of my earliest experiences of education in our community was when I went to join one of my daughters who was then in second grade for lunch. When I arrived at the school, I was impressed by the freshly painted walls and the clean will-lit hallways. In the cafeteria, I was amazed at the sense of order. Children stood in straight lines, looking ahead quietly. They took their seats at the appropriate table for the meal and polite conversation. When it was time, they were instructed to rise and exit. At the head of the cafeteria was a tall lady with a microphone and what looked like military boots. She was clearly in command. Her cafeteria was a work symmetry, balance, and decorum. There was even a special booth and table to honor those children who excelled at the fine art of etiquette, politeness and decency. It was called the Manners Matter table.
At first glance, you might walk away from such a well-controlled, tightly run cafeteria or classroom, whether in Abilene, TX or Greenwood, IN and think that’s what education is all about.

But you and I know better. Beneath the kind, polite, and disciplined surface of every teacher who is called by God is a liberator, whose very presence brings hope and new opportunities for a better world.