All We Like Sheep

Scripture Lessons: Ezekiel 34: 11-16 and 20-24, and Matthew 25: 31-46 Sermon Title: All We Like Sheep Preached on November 26, 2017 The book of Genesis begins our Bible, and tells us that out of an outpouring of love, God created the heavens, the earth, and the living things who inhabit the earth. On the earth, the Creator set a garden, and in this Garden, among other things, there was notably a man, a woman, a serpent, and a forbidden tree. You know the story – you know that the Creator said to the man, “You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” This was clear enough instruction, drawing the line between obedience and disobedience, but of course, the serpent suggested to the woman that they eat from it, and she did. Then she took some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate. This was wrong, but it gets worse for after they ate they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. The Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?” They were hiding, because that’s what people who have been disobedient do. Years ago, we were 10 or 11 and had the great idea that we’d explore the great big storm drain running beneath the Charlton Forge neighborhood where we lived. I don’t remember that we were explicitly forbidden from doing so – maybe our parents never imagined that we’d do such a thing, but we didn’t want to risk missing out, so without permission we explored the underbelly of our neighborhood and when I went back home my parents asked me what I had been doing. Assuming that they didn’t want me exploring the sewer, I told them I had just been over at Matt Buchanan’s house, which was sort of the truth, though it didn’t explain why I smelled so bad, so I was then grounded for two weeks, not only because I had disobeyed, but because I lied about it too. Such a two-fold ethical failure is what Church history calls the Fall of Man. And since the beginning, since the 2nd chapter of Genesis, we have been falling and falling again – first with an act of disobedience, then the cover-up which always makes things worse. This is the human condition. All we like sheep have gone astray. That chorus was in my mind this week as I read two of the many passages of Scripture that describe God’s people as sheep. This morning we have two Scripture passages where humans are personified as sheep, and so the song that was in my mind reading this last week was that great chorus from Handle’s Messiah: “All we like sheep, have gone astray.” That’s true. And what’s worse, is that once we’ve gone astray, we lie like Joe Evans or we hide like Adam and Eve – and why would we hide? We hide, because we misunderstand love, assuming that the natural result of going astray must be rejection, but that’s not so with a loving God. Here’s another familiar Bible story – a young man asks for his inheritance before his father has even died. Then he takes the money and squanders it on loose living – and loose living is exactly what you imagine it is – all the money’s gone, spent on things that nice people don’t spend money on. Assuming that he’ll be punished by his father for losing everything he’s afraid to return home. So, instead, he works as a laborer for so little that he winds up jealous over the pigs, who at least have pods to eat in their slop bucket. Only in desperation does he return home. Realizing that his father’s hired hands live better than this, and hoping to become one of them he goes back – but upon his return his father rushes out to embrace him, and treats him like a long-lost prince. Why? Because this is who God is – this is who the Bible describes God to be – not just the one who created us and legislated the great commands to guide our behavior, but the God of Scripture is also the Father who so deeply longs for his son to return home that he is full of forgiveness – the God of Scripture is a husband who’s love for his wife can never die – the God of Scripture is a Shepherd who goes after the lost sheep even after they’ve gone astray, then become trapped in the brambles of fallen-ness. All we like sheep – have gone astray – and the great God of heaven and earth longs to gather us in – “For thus says the Lord God (from the book of Ezekiel): I myself will search for my sheep, and will seek them out. As shepherds seek out their flocks when they are among their scattered sheep, so I will seek out my sheep.” That’s God. That’s Scripture. Can you believe that? I hope you can – because it’s hard for me sometimes. Sometimes I go back to that image of God that I remember from fiery, manipulative preachers – who convinced me that the question was not whether or not I’d be going to Hell, but how soon. However, the message of Christianity as recorded in Scripture – is not condemnation for the imperfect. The Bible is not a record of continued abuse on the fallen. No, in the pages of Scripture are the magnificent stories of grace for the lost, and so that great hymn goes like this: Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound That saved a wretch like me I once was lost but now am found Was blind but now I see All we like sheep, have gone astray, and the Shepherd longs to bring us home. That’s Christianity. Not perfection, not condemnation, not self-righteousness, not judgmental legalism that calls some good and some bad – no – this faith of ours is all about the Great Good News that Jesus Christ, Lord of all, created you and redeemed you, and now wants you to come home, and if you’re too ashamed, the Good Shepherd will even go out to find you so that he can bring you back. Here’s again what we read from the book of Ezekiel: I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep…I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak. But there’s a catch. The catch is in the next verse from our 1st Scripture Lesson: “but the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them with justice.” And our Second Scripture Lesson put it another way. In this last parable of the 25th chapter of the Gospel of Matthew, the separation of the sheep and the goats, we hear that there will be no entry into the Kingdom of Heaven without a recommendation from the poor, the imprisoned, the sick, the least of these – for if you believe that all we like sheep have gone astray but are welcomed home, if you’re ready to accept that kind of grace and that kind of undeserved salvation, then the requirement is that you remember that once you were lost – that once you were blind – that once you were wretched - so how can you not offer your kindred lost sheep the same grace that you have received? If you believe that all we like sheep have gone astray but are welcomed home, then you have to be ready to pass grace on to some other people who don’t deserve it either. And that’s hard – because once you’ve made it, it’s easy to forget where you came from. Think of Middle School – she was our best friend one minute, but the second she got caught picking her nose in class we all pretended we’d never met. Now we know that’s wrong, but it’s easy to keep doing it. If all we like sheep have gone astray – then we all have to remember who we were. So, life of a redeemed sheep has to look different too than that of the self-righteous. Those who won’t even speak the word divorce. Who pretend like their houses are always clean. That relative who makes you feel insecure when she asks about your children because you know what she’s really listening for. You know this lady – you probably saw her at Thanksgiving. There are too many like her – and there are far too many who call themselves Christians but who rejoice in pointing out the speak in their neighbor’s eye, blind to the log in their own, having long forgotten that all we like sheep have gone astray – and even they were once lost but have been found. We, who have received grace, cannot disassociate from those who need it. We cannot operate according to the rules of middle school or proper society. Because while many are mindful of being seen with the right kind of people, who you are seen with matters to Jesus too, but he expects you and me to be seen with the lost. His law is so different from the law of Middle School, for according to Scripture, the hand extended with dirt under the nails and no shoes on his feet is the one who holds the Keys to the Kingdom. The voice that’s dry and raspy, lips cracked – “sir, if only I had some water to drink” – it is this one who shows us the way to Eternal Life. The stranger who walks into town with a name that no one recognizes from a place that no one has ever heard of – she has an opportunity to offer you and me. For some who sought salvation asked: ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ These are questions that the condemned ask, because they failed to offer their kindred lost sheep the same grace that they once received. May these words guide your behavior: ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’ All we like sheep have gone astray, and we can’t forget it. Because the lost sheep who has been found is obligated to share the same grace that she once received. Amen.