Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time/Proper 19 (C), September 11, 2022—Jeremiah 4:11–12, 22–28; Luke 15:1–10

Jeremiah 4:11–12, 22–28

Weatherman

 

You don't need a weatherman 

to know which way the wind blows,

Yet Jeremiah even knew

Wherefrom hot wind to come arose—

And why! And yet, his people failed 

To grasp the reason for the storm,

Since how they'd lived, revealed they hadn't

Let the news of God transform

Stupidity of feeling best

Into awareness they were blessed.

 

Scott L. Barton

 

At that time it will be said to this people and to Jerusalem: A hot wind comes from me out of the bare heights in the desert toward my poor people, not to winnow or cleanse— a wind too strong for that. Now it is I who speak in judgment against them. 

 

“For my people are foolish, 

they do not know me; 

they are stupid children, 

they have no understanding. 

They are skilled in doing evil, 

but do not know how to do good.” 

 

I looked on the earth, and lo, it was waste and void; 

and to the heavens, and they had no light. 

I looked on the mountains, and lo, they were quaking, 

and all the hills moved to and fro. 

I looked, and lo, there was no one at all, 

and all the birds of the air had fled. 

I looked, and lo, the fruitful land was a desert, 

and all its cities were laid in ruins 

before the Lord, before his fierce anger. 

 

For thus says the Lord: The whole land shall be a desolation; yet I will not make a full end. 

 

Because of this the earth shall mourn, 

and the heavens above grow black; 

for I have spoken, I have purposed; 

I have not relented nor will I turn back.

 

+ + +

 

Luke 15:1–10

Tissot, James Jacques Joseph: Lost Drachma

(between 1886 and 1894) Brooklyn Museum

 

Coming Near to Listen

 

If anyone is “Bible believing”

It seems it would be well worth receiving

This news that Jesus has about sinners,

Which illustrates the meaning of “winners”

As people who would dare to go seeking

The lost, because our God is still speaking;

The question now, which this text is whisp’ring,

Is who, out there, among us is listening?

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Found

 

What sin did the lost sheep commit?

Sins are intentional, right?

Sheep are just plain stupid.

It's in their nature to get lost.

Likewise, what sin did the coin commit?

They get lost, period.

(Think of how many times you've lost

Your keys, or your cell phone.)

So was it a bad analogy?

 

Or did Jesus mean that

The + very + definition + of + repent =

God + has + found + you.

 

The very definition of repent

Is God's joy!

Repenting = rethinking your life

To the point of imagining God's joy

That you are! That you are God's!

You don't have to do anything

You don't have to do anything

You don't have to do anything!

God found you!

 

No point being sheepish about that,

Or chintzy—now—with anything!

(You still don't get it?  Well, there was this father, 

see . . . .)

 

Scott L. Barton

 

Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus]. 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.”