LUKE 15:1-10

15:1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.

2 And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

3 So he told them this parable:

4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?

5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

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

7 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.

8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it?

9 And 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.’

10 Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Do you remember this song from your childhood?

We're poor little lambs who have lost our way, “Baa, baa, baa.”
We're little black sheep who have gone astray, “Baa, baa, baa.”

I remember singing that song when I was little.  It makes you feel sorry for the poor lost sheep, but what about the sheep that are old enough to know better? What do you do if the lost sheep is a member of your family? How about your friends?  Are any of them lost? What about the lost sheep that you see everyday in the newspapers?  How about those three teenagers who ordered that pizza and then killed the delivery man when he knocked on their door?  They killed him for $20 and a couple of slices of pizza.

What do you do with all those lost sheep? The Pharisees didn’t have any trouble answering that question.  Luke tells us that when they saw sinners coming to Jesus they were downright indignant.  They grumbled and said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 

The Pharisees were always quick to point out the sins that they saw around them and they were always quick to put down the people who committed those sins. When it comes to the Pharisees I am reminded of the story about the tourists who went on a pilgrimage many years ago to the Holy Land.  One day while they were riding in their bus they saw a herd of sheep along the side of the road.  One of the tourists shouted and asked the bus driver to stop the bus so they could take some pictures.  Her excitement quickly turned to horror though when she saw a shepherd whacking the sheep with his staff.   “How can he do that?” she asked.  “A shepherd is supposed to be gentle and he’s supposed to take care of his sheep.”  The bus driver shook his head in disbelief.  “Lady,” he said, “that isn’t a shepherd.  That’s the butcher!”

The Pharisees were like that butcher.  When it came to people who had gone astray they could have cared less.  That’s why Jesus told them that parable.

Jesus said, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.

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

If you’re serious about Jesus then you’re not going to do what the Pharisees did.  You’re going to do what Jesus did.  You’re going to reach out to the person who has gone astray.  You’re going to reach out and offer them kindness and compassion.  Now I will admit that that isn’t always easy to do.   How do you have compassion for the son who broke your heart?  How do you have compassion for the friend who betrayed you?  How do you have compassion for the neighbor who has made your life miserable?  How do you have compassion for those kids who killed that pizza guy?

You do it by remembering something the Parable of the Lost Sheep.  You do it by remembering something St. Augustine said 1500 years ago. “Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum.”  Loosely translated it means, “Hate the sin and love the sinner.”

That’s what Jesus did.   Do you remember the story about the woman who was caught in the act of adultery?  The Pharisees wanted to stone her to death.  When they asked Jesus what he thought, Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone.”  Jesus reached out to the woman with kindness and compassion.  At the same time Jesus made it clear to the woman that he didn’t approve of the way she was living her life.  Do you remember what Jesus said after the Pharisees dropped their stones and walked away?  Jesus looked up and said, “Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?"  When she replied, “No one, Lord” Jesus then said, “Neither do I condemn you; go and do not sin again.”  (John 8:1-11)

Just because you embrace someone who has gone astray with kindness and compassion that doesn’t mean you have to ignore what the person did.

Consider if you will the case of Frank Dyman.  His story appeared in the newspapers a couple of months ago. Frank Dyman was hitchhiking out in Montana back in 1951. When a man by the name of Clarence Pellett stopped to give him a ride Dyman pulled out a gun and ordered him to get out of the car.  He then shot him in the back and killed him. Dyman went to jail but then while he was out on parole he skipped town and disappeared for forty years.  He ended up in Arizona where he changed his name to Victor Houston.  He remarried and began a whole new life.   All of that changed though when Clem Pellett, the victim’s grandson, tracked him down.  Dyman is back behind bars and he’s convinced that he’s the victim now.  “I didn’t shoot that man in the back,” he said, “That wild kid did.  That’s not me.  Victor Houston tried to make up for it by being an honor citizen.”

Just because you embrace someone who has gone astray with kindness and compassion that doesn’t mean you have to ignore what the person did. Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum. Hate the sin but love the sinner.

If you’re serious about following Jesus then you’re not going to  do what the Pharisees did that day.  You’re going to do what Jesus did.  You’re going to do what a little girl did one day.  In her book “Angels In Pinafores” Alice Lee Humphres tells the story of this little girl who went to school one day wearing a white angora hat with white mittens and a matching muff.  When she got to school one of the boys in her class grabbed the white muff and threw it into the mud.  A teacher who saw what happened immediately disciplined the boy.  She then did her best to comfort the little girl, but the little girl didn’t need any comforting.  She wasn’t crying and she wasn’t angry either.  Instead she looked at the teacher and said, “Sometime I must take a day off and tell him about God.”

Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum. Hate the sin but love the sinner.

Those words of wisdom certainly apply to a young man by the name of Jim Baines. Jim became a lost sheep on the night of July 15, 1984.  That was the night that Jim and a couple of his friends ran into Charlie Howard.  Charlie was walking across the State Street Bridge up in Bangor, Maine when Jim and his friends attacked him.  They punched him and kicked him and threw him off the bridge into the Kenduskeag River.  Then they laughed about it and walked away.  They walked away even though they heard Charlie Howard screaming for help; screaming that he didn’t know how to swim. Jim Baines and his friends attacked Charlie Howard and let him die because he was gay.

Jim and his two friends went to jail. Because he was only 15 years old Jim ended up at the Maine Youth Center in South Portland.  While he was there he began to come to terms with the terrible thing that he had done.  He became depressed and thought about killing himself.  Then something happened to him. With the help of Birger Johnson, the chaplain at the Youth Center Jim found God or maybe it would be more accurate to say God found him.  Jim decided to turn his life around. He knew that he couldn’t undo the terrible thing that he had done.  So, he decided to do what he could to make sure that others didn’t make the same mistake.  He went and spoke about tolerance to high school students around the state.  He also went to the state legislature to speak in support of the states’ first hate crimes law.  He also told his story in the book “Penitence.”   It’s important to know that Jim didn’t make any money off of the book.  Instead he took his share of money from the sale of the book and used it to establish a scholarship at his high school in Charlie Howard’s name.

Have you ever met and talked to a murderer?  I have.  It happened when Jim Baines came to speak to my youth group at the Congregational Church in South Portland.  Cum dilectione hominum et odio vitiorum. Hate the sin but love the sinner.  Jesus said, “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Amen.

Rev. Dr. Richard A. Hughes

September 12, 2010