Opening Prayer:
Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.
Luke 15:1-10 In our society today, whom do YOU believe are “the least, the last, and the lost”?
Jesus is keeping company with “tax collectors and sinners”, people avoided and despised by apparently godly people like “the Pharisees and the scribes” (v. 2). Their observation (v. 2) begs the question: are any beyond God’s mercy? Tax collectors were known for their unethical behaviors. The Roman authorities contracted out collection of taxes; how a tax collector got the money was up to him. Usury, fraud and excessive profits were common. They were ritually unclean.
Now Jesus defends associating with these people, using parables. Our reading includes two: vv. 4-6 and 8-9. Jesus asks if you had many and lost one, wouldn’t you search until you found it? expecting the answer of course I would! He explains the parables in v. 7 and v. 10: God is shepherd/housewife; the lost sheep/coin are people who repent, who turn to God. God willingly accepts them; in fact, he rejoices, as does the community (“friends and neighbors”, vv. 6, 9)! Neither the sheep nor the coin can find their owner; God cares about those unable to find him; he seeks them. But, as so often in a parable, there are twists to them which helps people remember them: what shepherd would leave his flock “in the wilderness” (v. 4)? (The coin, v. 8 was a drachmas, a day’s wage.) Would a shepherd really care about one sheep out of 100? God is like that!
1 Timothy 1:12-17 Do you have a sense of gratitude to God for the pardon you’ve received, as a sinner?
The author has warned against false teachers (“teachers of the law”, v. 7) who indulge in elaborations on, and deviations from, the faith rather than living the kind of life these truths demand. “Love” (v. 5) should be the basis for Christian conduct – through personal integrity, “a good conscience” and “sincere faith”. Mosaic “law is good” (v. 8) but those who have “understanding” (v. 9), who lead Christ-like lives, have no need of it. God has given his free gift of love to Paul, even though he previously distorted God’s message (“blasphemer”, v. 13) and persecuted Christians. God showed him mercy because he did not know Christ, “had acted ignorantly in unbelief”. The doctrine that “Christ … came into the world to save sinners” (v. 15) is found in the gospels; it is worthy of belief (“sure”). Paul is the greatest of sinners (“foremost”) for his pre-conversion activities, but God pardoned even him. (God did seek out Paul.) As such, he is a prime “example” (v. 16) for all who come to believe, who are converted. May he be treated as a fellow Christian. V. 19b may indicate that Philemon came to Christ through Paul. Paul is “confident” (v. 21) of Philemon’s “obedience” to Christ.
Closing Prayer
Persistently forgiving God,
we are a stiff-necked and stubborn people
who try your patience;
yet, instead of giving us up for lost,
you seek us out until we return to you
Break our willfulness
and bring us back from our wanderings;
bend our pride and create in us pure and faithful hearts, which rejoice in your forgiveness
made known through Jesus Christ. Amen.