It's God's nature to save

Fr. Henri Nouwen told a parable about an old man who used to meditate each day beside the Ganges River in India. One morning this old man saw a snake floating on the water. The snake became caught in an eddy nearby. The ancient rose and went to the river’s edge to rescue the creature. When the snake drifted near the old man he reached out his hand to retrieve it but was bitten by the snake. A bit later he tried again and was bitten again; the wound swelled his hand giving him much pain. Another man passing by saw what was happening and yelled at the mediator, "Hey, old man, what's wrong with you? Only a fool would risk his life for sake of an ugly, evil creature. Don't you know you could kill yourself trying to save that ungrateful snake?" The old man calmly replied, "My friend, just because it is in the snake's nature to bite, does not change my nature to save."

Ultimately this is what Luke 15 and indeed the message of the Gospels is all about. It is God’s nature to save. We see it in three different parables in the chapter. First there is the shepherd looking for and finding the lost lamb. Then there is the woman who discovers her money gone and sweep the house clean by the light of lamp because the coin is part of her present and her future. And last but not least is the tale of two brothers – one prodigal and the other just hard headed.  And while the parable of the Prodigal Son is probably one of the best know parables from the Bible, the two others with which it is connected have a lot to say as well.

First, there is the misdirected shepherd. The shepherd acts foolishly in the eyes of those around him because he risks the life of the flock and of himself for the life of one wayward lamb. The conventional wisdom is that it is the lamb’s fault that it wandered away, following his stomach from blade of grass to blade of grass. He has dined his way to his destruction and we should just let him go to it. It is an acceptable economic loss to stay and protect the 99 who have done as they were supposed to. Only that is not the nature of the Good Shepherd. He is willing to risk leaving the flock and go and find the lost lamb. Not because the lamb is lost but because it is his nature to go and find the lost and bring them home. And notice that the shepherd does not return the lamb to the fold. He brings him home to his family so that there can be joy and feasting noting that there is a relationship between this found lamb and the Good Shepherd.

Second we are taken even deeper by the parable of the intensely devoted housewife. Having been married for such long time, having cared for those coins for the length of her marriage knowing that is represents her relationship to her aged husband, she is more than just determined to find that one coin lost on the dirt floor of their home. She lights the lamp and she goes to work sweeping out every nook and cranny of the house until she finds her coin. And then in celebration with family, friends and neighbours spends twice what the found coin is worth celebrating the fact that the coin has been found. Moreover, it should not be lost on us that this is a woman who makes this search and not a man. A man would stand in the middle of the house and exclaim, “Honey, do you know where my tenth coin is?” Come on now guys, we have to admit there is truth to that. It is also true that the woman represents the church and there is a reminder to us as Church that we need to be diligent in our work concerning the mission to bring others home to God. We need to fell the desire to bring people home not to get people to feel the need to belong.       

The power of any parable is not to tell us about us but rather to highlight the nature of just who God is and who God is in relationship to us. So what do these two parables teach us? God desires to save whether we are interested in being saved or not. God is lovingly relentless in his pursuit of that which has been lost relationship with his creation and us in particular. God exerts all the power he can, extends all the mercy he can offers all the peace he can so that we might have the life he calls us to live with him and to live it forever. And the bringing to bear of all of this mercy, grace and peace is a costly venture. God surrendered his only Son to death that we might live. God created a community where his grace love and mercy can be celebrated and where the found ones are welcomed home with exuberance and extravagance because of what God has done in the life of these people. Let us take the time to be like Mary and exclaim, “My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour, because he has visited and redeemed his people.”