Sermon Seeds: Joy in Heaven

Sunday, September 14, 2025
Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost| Year C
(Liturgical Color: Green)

Lectionary Citations
Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 and Psalm 14 • Exodus 32:7-14 and Psalm 51:1-10 • 1 Timothy 1:12-17 • Luke 15:1-10
https://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/texts/?z=p&d=75&y=384

Focus Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
Focus Theme: Joy in Heaven
Series: Raise Her Voice: Seek After God (Click here for the series overview.)

Reflection
By Cheryl A. Lindsay

As a high school student, one of the highlights of my year was visiting my sister on spring break. She attended medical school in Chicago so I not only did I get to see her, I was able to spend time in the heart of a fabulous city. The only part that drove me wild with frustration was that everytime we left her place, we had to look for her keys. She would drop them anywhere when we returned. Because it was not consistent, it could be anywhere…in a jacket pocket, her purse, on a counter, or even on the floor. After two to three days of this, I took hold of the situation. I asked for her keys to open the door after I had positioned myself to reach it first. Then, after I opened the door and let her pass me, I locked the door and placed the keys on the hook of the top lock. My sister looked at me surprised, and perhaps a little impressed, as she expressed she never thought of doing that.

When you hate to lose things, you find ways to keep them. Still, misplacing something valuable or functional cannot always be avoided. When what you are missing has the capacity to move on their own, the dynamics become even more challenging. The gospel narrative highlights two of three parables that have become known as the “Lost Parables.” Yet, the emphasis, particularly in the two examined here, is not on how something gets lost or even efforts to secure them in the future. The focus is on the motivation to seek after what has been lost.

Unspoken in the stories is the reality that loss is mutual. The sheep, we may comfortably assume, would have experienced some distress at the separation just as the shepherd acts on their concern. While the inanimate coin would not have an opinion, even the value of the purse diminishes in response to its absence. That point seems to be lost on the religious leaders who challenge Jesus’ judgement and character for associating with those the leaders deem undesirable.

In Luke 15, some Pharisees and scribes murmur against Jesus’ association with socially marginalized people. Jesus defends himself with three parables. The first puts his detractors in the shoes of a shepherd who rejoices over finding a lost sheep, makes divine rejoicing over one person who repents analogous, and thereby legitimates Jesus. The second makes a woman’s search for a lost coin analogous to Jesus’ mission and concludes, again, with divine joy over one person who repents. The first half of the third parable partially corresponds to the first two without an analogy to Jesus’ mission. A father rejoices extravagantly over finding his son. All three parables subvert expectations. The shepherd irrationally forsakes ninety-nine sheep in dedication to one. In a patriarchal culture, the second makes female characters analogous to Jesus’ mission and God’s joy.
Robert L. Brawley

In the first two parables, the found sheep and coin cannot express relief, joy, or contentment. The joy is found in the person representing Jesus’ love. Most interpretations of this text emphasize the divine love of Jesus, and while that is certainly present, it may be the human love of Jesus that is most note-worthy in the teaching moment. Jesus prefaces the parables with the question, “Who among you….” This phrasing invites his conversation partners and the audience to place themselves in the narrative, not just as substitutes for God, and not only to evoke their empathy for the Holy One’s compassion. The question challenges them to adjust their attitudes because the actions Jesus describes reflect the expected behavior of any human being. Sometimes, claims about Jesus’s example elevate their divine nature to the exclusion of their human one. Jesus’ framing suggests that this pursuit of the lost is very much a human thing to do. The problem is not that the religious leaders have lost their divinely inspired aspirational perspective. The issue is that they have lost a core part of their humanity. Who is really lost in the story that frames the stories when the religious leaders, rather than delighting that Jesus is reaching those on the margins, respond with scorn, condemnation, and ridicule?

The basic plot of the story sets the pattern for the rest of the chapter: loss of one sheep from a larger herd (v. 4a) → persistent search (v. 4b) → joy at finding the lost sheep (v. 5) → call to communal celebration of the recovery of the lost sheep (v. 6). Jesus then states the point of the parable: just as the community celebrates within the parable, so heaven delights in one sinner who repents, more than in ninety-nine righteous who do not have need to repent (v. 7; the line about the righteous is not repeated after the second parable [v. 10])….A distinctive element of Luke’s version is the detail that the man leaves ninety-nine sheep behind in the wilderness (or desert, erēmos), an image of vulnerability and exposure to danger (v. 4; cf. “hills” in Matt 18:12 NIV). No mention is made of others to whose care the shepherd entrusts the ninety-nine, although readers may fill this gap by assuming that the man is not acting alone with such a large herd and would not be foolish enough to abandon them in the wilderness. Still, the gap is suggestive, inviting reflection on the risk that Jesus has taken with his moves of gracious hospitality toward sinners, in relation to those who never left the fold—witness his need to tell this parable! Jesus’ mission seeks to restore persons who are lost and calls the community—including the righteous who have no need (or none yet acknowledged) to reorder their lives—to welcome them and celebrate. Intertextual resonance with Ezek 34:11–16 (cf. Isa 40:11), which employs the shepherd metaphor for God’s restoration of a lost and exiled people, reinforces the point that this activity of Jesus is furthering the gracious purposes of Israel’s God. John T. Carroll

This pericope cannot be fully evaluated without considering who the religious leaders defined and interacted with sinners. Tax collectors at the time worked as aggressive agents of the state who used extortion to exact royalties for themselves. Sinners were likely those who had not satisfied the requirements of the temple system in order to be reconciled with the community and presumably God. But, what was the state of the temple system at the time? It would later cause Jesus to turn over the tables in a display of righteous anger at the way that the system had been distorted in order to prey upon those seeking forgiveness and restoration. The religious leaders built and maintained this order and then demonized the people who they victimized with it. Jesus sided with those who those that the religious leaders oppressed, and oppressors always criticize those whose actions critique and challenge the status quo.

Jesus delights in upending the societal norms and cultural expectations that counter the Holy One’s realm. There’s no need for extortion when resources run abundant. Forgiveness and restoration should not be used for profit and personal gain. All of humanity finds a community of mutuality, belovedness, acceptance, and flourishing. And, every time the kindom moves in that direction, there is joy in heaven that responds to and reflects joy on earth.

For Further Reflection
“Pebbles that bring you joy are better than diamonds that bring you sorrow.” ― Matshona Dhliwayo
“Participate joyfully in the sorrows of the world. We cannot cure the world of sorrows, but we can choose to live in joy. The warrior’s approach is to say “yes” to life: “yea” to it all.” ― Joseph Campbell
“Spread kindness, caring, and compassion and create your own paradise. Infuse it with joy and you’ve created heaven on earth.” ― Amy Leigh Mercree

Works Cited
Brawley, Robert L. “Luke.” Gale A. Yee, Ed. Fortress Commentary on the Bible: Two Volume Set. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2014.
Carroll, John T. Luke. Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2012.

Suggested Congregational Response to the Reflection
During this series, Raise Her Voice: Seek After God, in the season after Pentecost, we encourage the local church to engage in spiritual practices to support faith formation and ministry engagement. This week, spend time discerning who is missing from the faith community and ways to connect in meaningful ways.

Worship Ways Liturgical Resources
https://www.ucc.org/worship-way/after-pentecost-14c-september-14/

The Rev. Dr. Cheryl A. Lindsay, Minister for Worship and Theology (lindsayc@ucc.org), also serves a local church pastor, public theologian, and worship scholar-practitioner with a particular interest in the proclamation of the word in gathered communities. You’re invited to share your reflections on this text in the comments on our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/SermonSeeds.

A Bible study version of this reflection is at Weekly Seeds.