God’s dream is to reconcile all people, all things, into God’s life and toward each other in love: you are now an ambassador of that dream.

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
The Fourth Sunday in Lent, year C
Texts: Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 (ref. to 4-11 as well); 2 Corinthians 5:16-21

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen

This is not a moral story of a kid who messed up, repents, and is forgiven.

Jesus doesn’t tell that story.

The two preceding parables we didn’t read, the ones Luke adds a moralistic repentance tagline to, have nothing to do with repentance. The lost sheep doesn’t repent, the shepherd finds it. The lost coin can’t repent (it’s an inanimate object), the woman finds it.

But this third parable broadens the problem of lost ones. Jesus tells of two lost sons who also show no repentance. If the younger son had repented, he’d have said, “I really messed up. I need to see if my father will forgive me.” But he calculates how to get three square meals and a roof. And nothing the elder brother does in this story reveals repentance.

So this is also a story of lost and found. And Jesus tells these three parables to two groups at once: people that others called “sinners,” including tax collectors, and righteous religious leaders who actually care about doing God’s will. Both are there, and there’s a message for both: God loves you all extravagantly. Will you love each other?

This is reconciliation. And these two sons need it.

The younger son won’t stay another minute in the family house. He wants now what he’d inherit when his father dies. Then he’s out of there.

And all the servant tells the elder is that his brother returned and his father’s throwing a party. For all the elder knows, his brother came back wealthy. He assumes the worst: his brother wasted all his wealth, and on prostitutes. Prostitutes were never mentioned in the story until the elder brother started imagining.

Jesus’ audience has the same problem.

The group stereotypically called “sinners” is outcast and hated by “good” people. Jesus’ welcome might have been the first sign of God’s love they’d heard. The religious folks likely have anxiety about doing what God wants. But they’re certain how bad the others are.

But Jesus is declaring the reign of God. All are welcome, loved, blessed. As long as these beloved children of God listening to Jesus don’t love each other, aren’t reconciled, God’s not happy. So Jesus tells a painful story of a father who loves his sons and wants them both at the party, loving each other. He wants reconciliation.

Paul powerfully trusts this is God’s heart.

God’s ministry in Christ is reconciliation, Paul says, reconciling the world to God’s own self. And therefore, Jesus says here, reconciling the world, God’s children, to each other. Reconciliation of the creatures and the creation has been God’s dream, our Jewish siblings have told us, since creation. Ever since a brother killed a brother, starting a world of violence that thrives today, God has longed for this.

In Christ, God’s reconciliation is embodied. Jesus doesn’t slap the religious leaders. He loves them. He wants them to remember what they already know from their Scriptures, they are loved forever by God. And that all God’s children – even these they call sinners – are part of that love and welcome. Jesus needs them to find this reconciliation with their siblings.

He needs that other group to find it, too. They certainly have no reason to love the “good” people who judge them and marginalize them. Jesus wants them to know it’s not enough to know the love of God. God needs them to love even those who despise them.

This is the reign of God Christ reveals.

Christ rules through love and reconciliation, and here’s Paul’s surprise: you and I are ambassadors for this realm, for God’s reign. We are ambassadors of God’s reconciliation.

Take that word seriously. Paul uses the same word used for legates of the emperor, envoys of rulers. And an ambassador is not a free agent. The ambassador acts on behalf of the one who sends them. They only convey the message they are given to convey. They can’t abandon it, or change it, or apply it only to some. Their only job is to perform their diplomatic mission faithfully, as it is given.

So Paul has jumped us way past the end of this parable. He’s given us the answer – God’s dream of reconciliation – and said, “you’re on the job now. You’re reconciled with God, now go out and be an ambassador of reconciliation.” But it’s God’s way, not ours. So as ambassadors, we have to do it God’s way, not ours.

And that creates a particular challenge for our ambassadorship in these times.

It’s not about either of Jesus’ groups. It’s about American Christians who are now saying empathy and compassion are toxic and not of Christ, and need to be rejected. Christians who’ve acted against Christ for years and now have power to harm, cause great suffering, even to kill. We don’t have the authority to kick anyone out of Christ’s body. In fact, as ambassadors of God’s reconciliation it’s our job to love these siblings, pray for them, seek reconciliation with them. It’s God’s way.

But as baptized ambassadors of the God who died and rose to bring reconciliation to all people in Christ, whose love is comprehensive, extravagant, even foolish, for all, we also have to find the courage to name this evil and wickedness. To say “what you are proclaiming is not of Christ” whenever we can. When friends ask us how we can still be Christian when Christians act that way, we have to boldly tell our friends that these people are acting against Christ, against Scripture. When we have a chance to speak with someone who believes these things we have to have the courage to be an ambassador of God’s reconciliation and declare with love that hatred and bigotry and exclusion and rejection of any of God’s children is not of Christ.

We definitely need the Spirit’s help, strength, and wisdom with this. But if we don’t find the courage to love these siblings and to challenge them, then who in this country will be ambassadors of God’s reconciliation?

Jesus doesn’t end this story, or say what the brothers do.

He leaves it open, with longing. Jesus hopes that both will come to the party, love each other, know their father’s love. So, if you’re in any doubt of your place in this story or in God’s love, ponder that hope, and pray that the Spirit will draw you into the party of love God wants you to join with all God’s children.

And then it’s time to take on the role of ambassador of God’s reconciliation, proclaiming God’s love in your words and actions and your very life. This is your job. This is my job. Let’s get out there and let the world know of this reconciliation in Christ that will bring the whole planet into life and hope and healing.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

Midweek Lent, 2025 + Love Does No Wrong to a Neighbor +
Week 3: Your neighbor is more important than your convictions

Pr. Joseph G. Crippen
Texts: Romans 14:7-19; Luke 10:25-37

Beloved in Christ, grace to you, and peace in the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen

The priest and the Levite might have had theological or ritual excuses for not stopping.

If the man was dead, for example, they’d be unclean for service if they touched him. Maybe they objected to getting involved in messy things. Or they had things they needed to do. They had convictions, reasons, for not stopping.

And today Paul says, “who cares? Who cares? Don’t ever let anything get in the way of your love,” he says, “not your theology or convictions or practices.” And Jesus simply asks, “who acted as a neighbor?”

Imagine what the history of Christianity would look like if our passion as Church had been loving our neighbor, loving our siblings inside and outside the faith, even enemies, rather than fighting over doctrine or claiming individual salvation.

Maybe it matters what’s right and wrong in religious teachings or behaviors. But the last 2,000 years suggest we should have listened to what Jesus and Paul say is most important.

Paul understands our problem. It’s the same that faces his Roman friends.

Paul is exhorting against people in the community judging one another. Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians have profound disagreements with each other. There are arguments over Torah, over feast days, over kosher food, over drinking wine or abstaining. And it’s breaking up the congregations in Rome. People are losing their faith.

To this Paul says, “We do not live to ourselves and we do not die to ourselves. Whether we live or whether we die, we are the Lord’s.” It’s not about your convictions or mine, Paul says. Our life of faith is about living in Christ as Christ in love.

In fact, Paul never rules on which point of view on feast days or alcohol or Torah is right. Their differing theologies and practices are valid, Paul says. But like the priest and the Levite, those convictions are keeping them from loving each other in Christ. And nothing can excuse that.

That’s the heart of it all. We live and die to Christ, not ourselves. We can’t have a relationship with God in Christ without having a relationship with everyone else Christ loves.

But relationships are hard. And not just when our convictions differ.

We talk about this here at Mount Olive when our neighbors who are in need come for help. The easy answer is to give them enough to make them go away. But if we’re really Christ, we’ll have to have a relationship with them. And some days the flow of need is pretty strong. Whether it’s challenging guests on Sunday morning or the crowds filling our west lounge on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it can seem overwhelming.

Because it means developing relationships. We can’t shut off our care once we know someone. Having relationships with people as people costs much more than just giving something to anonymous faces. We’re obligated, invested.

That’s likely another reason the first two walked by. It’s not just that they didn’t want to help the man in the ditch. They could see it wouldn’t be a quick fix. It would mean doing what the Samaritan did. It would cost time to stabilize him, it would take time to get him somewhere, and they’d have to pay for his care. They’d have to get to know him. It would start a relationship.

It’s easier to walk by on the other side. Once you’re in a relationship, you can’t do that anymore. For any reason.

That’s what the lawyer needs to learn.

“What do I have to do to inherit eternal life?” he asks Jesus. But faith in Christ has never been an individual thing. Jesus always called individuals into community. Christian faith is only lived in community with others, caring for others as Christ, receiving care from others as Christ. That’s eternal life here.

The lawyer knew the answer to his question was to love God and love neighbor. But he asked “who is my neighbor?” maybe hoping to limit the damage, limit the list of those he needed to care for.

But Jesus reversed the question, like Paul. He said the thing that matters is, who acted as a neighbor. We do not live to ourselves. Jesus says “Stop asking how to get right with God and get into that ditch and start a relationship. Be a neighbor.”

And that’s what God wants you and me to learn, so we can change.

Every time we hear Jesus say, “if you did it to the least of these, you did it to me,” we have a chance for the Spirit to change us. Every time Jesus asks, “who acted as a neighbor,” we have a chance to let the Spirit make us a neighbor, give us a relationship. Every time Paul says, “quit fighting about your convictions because you’re hurting your sister’s faith, your brother’s hope,” we have a chance to be open to the Spirit’s wisdom and change our priorities.

Everything else, Paul says, is nonsense. Worthless. Like a clanging gong, as he told the Corinthians. Even worse, it’s destructive and damaging, as we see so strongly in much of American Christianity today.

Nothing can separate you from the love of God in Christ Jesus. It’s time we lived the other truth, that nothing must stop us from loving God’s children in Christ Jesus. Nothing.

In the name of the Father, and of the + Son, and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen