Second Tuesday in Advent

Isaiah 40:1-11; Psalm  96; Matthew 18:12-14

Here’s what I’m wondering today: what about the ninety-nine?  I’m glad that the shepherd goes after the one lost sheep; I’m glad that Jesus goes looking for the “little ones.”  But what happens while the shepherd is out looking for that one?

Here’s where the metaphor breaks down.  What makes the ninety-nine safe to leave is that they are not lost - as far the shepherd is concerned.  She knows where to find them.  But the sheep don’t know they aren’t lost.  The sheep might look up and say, “The shepherd has left us!”  Some of them, who know where the shepherd went, might well feel abandoned or taken for granted.  I can hear the elder brother complaining: What about me?  

The problem arises when we don’t see the difference between how God works and how humans do.  God’s power is not limited in the same way as a human shepherd.  The shepherd cannot be in more than one place at once.  God can come to each of us as if we were the only one, the one lost sheep.  God can do that.  But are we in a position to receive that knowledge?  It’s so easy to think that God’s love is a zero-sum game; if those people are special, then I’m not.  I think this is part of the political dynamic in the U.S. these days: a lot of working- and middle-class white folks hear about the needs of people of color and they think it means their concerns aren’t important.  In a zero-sum world, that makes sense.  Being part of the ninety-nine can feel like being ignored.

In the same way, being one of the loved doesn’t make us more special than anyone else.  Today we begin the part of Isaiah known as “second Isaiah,” which is a call to those living in Babylon to get on the road and return to Israel.  Throughout these passages Isaiah promises the exiles that they will receive back what they lost, what “is theirs.”  Only problem: there are people who never left, the “people of the land,” who also love God.  Those people will experience the return of the exiles as an invasion and conquest.  The Samaritans are the descendants of those people who never left, looked down on by the returning “Judeans.”  So who’s lost, who’s found here?  Whose side is God on?

Jesus teaches us about God’s crazy sense of justice: the laborers who get paid the same no matter how long they work and the prodigal son are just two parables people love to hate.  In a zero-sum world, a world where we earn what we have and fight for our place, they sound unjust.  But God’s world is not like that.  We are all loved, all welcome, on the terms we need (not necessarily those we want).  The only catch is that we have to be with all those others to get the promise.  The elder brother can’t enjoy the party until he accepts his father’s love for the younger; the early workers can’t enjoy their pay as long as they are comparing to those who came later.  God doesn’t shut the door, but often we do.

Imagine the shepherd’s return with the lost sheep.  How do the ninety-nine respond?  If they do not receive the one back with joy, they will find themselves lost - and not even know it!

Of course, we aren’t sheep - right?  Right?