Sermon -- Sunday, May 17, 2020
/Luke 15:1-10
By: Rev. Gene Dyszlewski
Today’s is another well known shepherd story. It is a story that people frequently quote or reference. Most people make the assumption that they are one of the 99 saved. They are pleased that God is always willing to make the extra effort to find the lost sinners, especially since that could happen to anyone, even to me. For the most part I’m okay with this take on the story. Everyone seems to get the main message. God does make an extra effort to find and include everyone in God’s loving embrace. And furthermore, God wants everyone to be part of the family.
There is another interesting level to the lesson. In Aramaic, the language that Jesus spoke, the word for lost is also the word for wrecked or broken. From Jesus point of view to be an outcast is to be injured. To be detached from the community is to be wounded. Jesus recognized that any form of excommunication or shunning is psychologically damaging. The “lost” people that the shepherd was seeking were the very people that others deemed to be less valuable than they were for some reason. And the largest group of excluded people were women.
If the first story is one of God’s commitment to the radical embrace of all people, the second story is about the importance of community. Community doesn’t just spontaneously happen. Community requires diligence and care to create, uphold and sustain.
To us today, the story of the lost coin and the message it conveys about the importance of community may not be clear and evident but in the ancient world it was. In Jesus’ day, property was scarce. Many people lived at or just above subsistence level. There were strict laws regulating lost property and the fear of starvation helped people internalize the value that some goods have in the life of a household.
Being caught with lost property was considered theft. Since this was 2,000 years before the assembly line, all items were handcrafted and no two tunics or water jugs were alike. In the countryside people gathered and shared stories and rumors at the town gate or at the well. When you went to the village well, you got more than water.
When you were a the well, you were expected to pass along reports of lost animals or objects to all you met that day. When things were found and returned, village elders were often involved in the transfer of property, to keep everyone honest. If no one reported the object lost, the elders allowed you to keep it. So, if no one came forward to claim a lost chicken, it was yours. Everyone helped in the recovery of lost possessions; it was a matter of survival. Coins, however, presented a unique problem.
In the countryside coins were rare; the village was mostly on a barter system. Coins tend to look alike. If a coin was seen in the ground, it was to be left alone, untouched. It was to be reported to the village elders. The owner was expected to retrace her/his steps to find the lost coin. If the coin was lost in a house, things got really complicated.
In the ancient world in he Middle-East, few houses had doors no door had a lock. In addition, few coins were round enough to roll any distance, coins in those days were lopsided and of imperfect shape. So, either the coin was still in the house or everyone who visited that house that day was suspected of being a thief. In the ancient world, you were not innocent until proven guilty. If a coin was lost in a house, everyone who visited that house was a suspect. Since there was a fine line, if any, between suspicion and guilt, everyone who visited that house became a social outcast, a lost or wrecked one.
So the woman in the story ransacked her house searching and sweeping every nook and cranny. When the woman found the coin, she was obligated to tell everyone. There would indeed be a celebration or party after such an announcement, because the suspects were now declared free of guilt. It wasn’t so much about the value of the coin as it was about the adjudication of a crime, a removal of suspicion. It was a celebration of the integrity of the community and the return of trust in those who were wrecked. I am told that this story contains an additional pun. The Aramaic idiomatic word for little coin is also the same as the word for lost or wrecked. A coin was lost by no fault of its own; a suspect was lost by no fault of their own. Being returned to their rightful place was cause for celebration.
So, from our vantage point of living in the 21st century we might look back at the people in the story as being quant. We don’t sit at the well and gossip. Well, not so fast…seems to me that the internet is our well…that includes Facebook, twitter and other platforms. Unfortunately, at our well truth does not always prevail. It is particularly tragic when information that has been demonstrated to be false gets repeated…over and over again.
Perhaps the most insidious are the conspiracy theories. These are circulated by pathetically insecure people who try to convince us that they know some secret that most people don’t know. The conspiracy message is designed to make me feel important and special because I now supposedly know a secret, but actually I’ve been duped.Truth is vital to the health of a community. When false information is shared, it is not only misleading, but it also, decreases trust among members of the community. When trust erodes, social bonding weakens and when social bonding weakens, community implodes. The woman with the coin, ransacked her house to stop any suspicion and mistrust among the community members. We need to do the same.
We have a moral obligation to be honest…too share only what we can verify, or don’t share at all. Jesus wants us to heal community not to damage it. Let us be diligent housecleaners for the community’s sake.
