Finding the One (33)
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 19
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 15:1-10
Who is missing? It is a question we pose in many different contexts. When we are making decisions, it is a question of who has been excluded from input and crafting outcomes. At the dinner table, it is a question of who has been excluded in fellowship or unable to be present. In a scientific or political poll, it is a question of which slice of the population is being ignored. In church or a social organization, it is a question of who has been disallowed to participate or who never got the message the door was actually open to them. Perhaps it is about those we would like to involve but can no longer be present for distance, death, illness, or some other factor beyond our control. At the end of the day, the real issue is that when we see that people are missing, what are we willing to do include them?
They weren’t jealous. It’s not that they wanted Jesus’ attention all to themselves. It’s that Jesus was not following the rules. He was not playing fair according to expectations. He was not requiring people to become acceptable in order to receive the benefits of society and God’s goodwill toward them. As such, he undermined their social standing, their self-importance, their sense of superiority. If Jesus had been a complete nobody, they could have ignored him. The problem was that he had gained national attention and was doing so while ignoring so many social norms and moving among the rabble as though they actually mattered to him and to God.
Jesus’ popularity was by now on the wane, but Luke wants us to understand this was in part due to his inclusion of people who were deemed unworthy of the attention of the righteous. Sure, Jesus was taking a stand in the line of prophets like Ezekiel who understood the sin of Sodom to revolve around how they ignored the needy in their midst and surroundings. Jesus stood in the line of Isaiah, whose words he had quoted at the be ...
Lectionary, Year C, Proper 19
Christopher B. Harbin
Luke 15:1-10
Who is missing? It is a question we pose in many different contexts. When we are making decisions, it is a question of who has been excluded from input and crafting outcomes. At the dinner table, it is a question of who has been excluded in fellowship or unable to be present. In a scientific or political poll, it is a question of which slice of the population is being ignored. In church or a social organization, it is a question of who has been disallowed to participate or who never got the message the door was actually open to them. Perhaps it is about those we would like to involve but can no longer be present for distance, death, illness, or some other factor beyond our control. At the end of the day, the real issue is that when we see that people are missing, what are we willing to do include them?
They weren’t jealous. It’s not that they wanted Jesus’ attention all to themselves. It’s that Jesus was not following the rules. He was not playing fair according to expectations. He was not requiring people to become acceptable in order to receive the benefits of society and God’s goodwill toward them. As such, he undermined their social standing, their self-importance, their sense of superiority. If Jesus had been a complete nobody, they could have ignored him. The problem was that he had gained national attention and was doing so while ignoring so many social norms and moving among the rabble as though they actually mattered to him and to God.
Jesus’ popularity was by now on the wane, but Luke wants us to understand this was in part due to his inclusion of people who were deemed unworthy of the attention of the righteous. Sure, Jesus was taking a stand in the line of prophets like Ezekiel who understood the sin of Sodom to revolve around how they ignored the needy in their midst and surroundings. Jesus stood in the line of Isaiah, whose words he had quoted at the be ...
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