As 99 red balloons go by

Luke 15:1-10

           There is a message here about how much God loves you, even if you are that lone sheep who may have lost its way.  I also wonder if there isn't an early message here about conformity. All 99 nice little sheep and the one that has strayed. Ah, if only all the sheep would stay together. I have a vision of nice little Christian soldiers. I have visions of the good nuns trying to get the left handed child to conform to the '99' right handers. We are all good little boys and girls. We will try to save the one that has good astray.

          Is it that Jesus is carrying the one sheep back to conformity? Or is it that God is saying to us that he welcomes even the small minority that is different? Is God telling us something about the outcasts? Is God saying something about the fact that we are in fact not all the same? After all, God made us all different. Some of us more obvious, some less. Black, white, brown, red, different talents, different shapes, sizes, temperaments etc.  Jesus called all to his table and associated with the so called outcasts. Were tax collectors automatically guilty of evil by title? Are left handed people 'of the devil' as they used to think? Are they welcome to God's table and banquet in heaven if they do not force themselves to write righty?

         I was thinking of the song, 99 balloons? Those 99 caused a stir, perhaps even a panic. Relatively harmless flying balloons causing a stir. Even those balloons are not the same. Some filled more than others, some tied differently perhaps, some fly high, some fly low. Are we all called to be uniform? And if they are all the same, those 99 caused a stir. Is that a message for us?

        Jesus actions towards the outcasts of society speak of inclusiveness and diversity that are welcomed if not celebrated. Science plays it's role in discovery of God's created world and shows us the diversity of elements, atoms, animals and cultures. 

         Are we called to uniformity? God's world is not so. Jesus' actions were not exclusive but abundantly inclusive. Our God (the sheepherder, the potter, the light) carries the one sheep home to the rest but he lifts it high and carries it on his shoulders elevating the one, celebrating the one.

          If you are the 'one' sheep that feels God has forgotten or you feel lost, know that God always is seeking you out and wishes to carry you, hold you high and celebrate you, not as a faceless sheep of 100 but as a uniquely created and loved creation. Perhaps not as alike as the 99, who knows, but certainly loved and celebrated.

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.

And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them."

So he told them this parable:

"Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?

When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.

And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

"Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.'

Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."