Proper 19 C Search and Rescue
Proper 19 C Search and RescueSeptember 14, 1986By Rev. Ernest F. Campbell
It should be comforting to know that 95% of the people who get lost are found within 72 hours. If you didn’t know that I’m glad you do now because if you are lost, staying calm and having hope are two of the vital ingredients in being found…. alive…. when you are found.
It should also be comforting to know that in this State (Washington), and all across the country, there are trained persons who have volunteered to be on call to participate in a search and rescue operation. Their dedication to these missions does not stop when the going gets tough. Even though they make every effort to avoid taking foolish risks, there are times when they know that their own lives are in jeopardy. So, if you should ever get lost, DON’T GIVE UP HOPE! A group of highly trained and dedicated persons are out looking for you and statistics are betting they will find you within 72 hours.
You may be wondering how I got on the subject of “search and rescue.” It was triggered by today’s Gospel – “The shepherd goes after the one that is lost until he finds it.” In William Barclay’s commentary he quotes George Adam Smith who wrote of the shepherd, “On some high moor across which at night the hyaenas howl, when you meet him, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, armed, leaning on his staff, and looking over his scattered sheep, every one of them on his heart, you understand why the shepherd of Judaea sprang to the front of his people’s history; why they gave his name to the King and made him the symbol of providence; why Christ took him as the type of self-sacrifice.”
Our God demonstrates “search and rescue” by seeking us out when we are lost from His mercy and love.
When God had every reason to be angry with the Israelites, who He led by His hand out of Egypt, who now in their fear and impatience had formed a golden calf to worship. This God who was ready to consume them with fire had only to be reminded by Moses that He was in the business of search and rescue. "Even though you are angry," said Moses, "don’t give the Egyptians the opportunity to say, 'He helped them escape and then he abandoned them in His wrath.' ”
Some would argue that it was Moses’ pleading that changed God’s mind. I personally think that Moses merely reminded God of His faithful intent towards the Israelites. One of my professors in seminary taught us that the wrath of God is His refusal to allow us to refuse Him.
That says to me that no matter how bad we may get – even if we turn our back on God and run after other comforts, God in His loving “wrath” has our name written in the palm of His hand. As one Psalmist put it:
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there.
If I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
If I settle on the far side of the sea
Even there Your hand will guide me,
Your right hand will hold me fast.”
It is not so easy for us to be so persistent and patient in our dealings with “people trouble” in our lives. We are often too quick to dismiss one another to seek other relationships that we hope will be less painful. Sometimes we simply lack the necessary perspective to see how things would evolve given time and tender loving care. That is why if you are the parent of teenagers, who are giving you fits, it would be wise to sit down with parents who have been through that stage with their own children – to learn from their experience and perspective.
Sometimes we dismiss others because it makes us feel superior. The Pharisees were masters of this and Our Lord went out of His way to help them see the end of that kind of…. exclusive and excluding behavior.
In today’s Gospel, Jesus is criticized because “He welcomes sinners and eats with them.” In order to understand what is going on, it is essential to know the mind sit of the Pharisees in His audience. The Pharisees had come to believe that anyone who did not follow the laws of Moses should be treated as outcasts. These so called “outcasts” were referred to by the Jews as “people of the land.” They were to be avoided like some deadly virus. All those who were not orthodox in their beliefs were considered “People of the Land.”
William Barclay spells out how “the people of the land” quarantine was lived out. “To marry a daughter to one of ‘them’ was like exposing her bound and helpless to a lion. The Pharisaic regulations laid it down in no uncertain terms: “Entrust no money to the people of the land – take no testimony from them – trust them with no secret – do not appoint them guardian of any orphan – do not make them the custodian of charitable funds – do not accompany then on a journey.” A Pharisee was forbidden to be the guest of any such person or to have them as a guest.
We will understand the parable of the Lost Sheep and Lost Coin more fully if we remember that the strict Jew would not say, “there will be joy in heaven over one sinner that repents.” They would say, “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated.”
In the parables Jesus told, there is great rejoicing over finding that which was lost.
That is the picture Jesus drew of God; that said, Jesus is what God is like.
It must be comforting to know that God is the ultimate model of search and rescue. Men may give up hope of a sinner, but God never gives up hope. And it is in God’s hope that we are saved. It is a thousand times easier to come back to God than to come home to the bleak criticism of men. God help us all to become more ‘Godly in the business of search and rescue'. For the love of God is broader than the measure of man’s mind, and the heart of the eternal is most wonderfully kind.
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