“Choosing Sides”

Fourteenth Sunday After Pentecost

September 14, 2025

Arrow signs: Choosing Sides

1 Timothy 1:12-17

Luke 15:1-10

Children’s Message:

Today we heard Jesus talk about leaving 99 sheep to find one sheep that was lost. What do you think it means to be lost? (can’t find way home, alone, abandoned, even run away)

Well, today I’m going to read you the story of the Runaway Bunny. Have you read this before?

“The Runaway Bunny” by Margaret Wise Brown

Was the bunny ever able to go so far that the mother wouldn’t rescue and love him? No. And we can’t ever escape God’s love, either.

Let’s pray. Dear God, sometimes we run away from you. Sometimes we wander away. Sometimes we lose our way. Remind us that ever time, you come and find us and bring us home. Amen.

Message:

Tax collectors and sinners; scribes and Pharisees. It’s like the playground game, Red Rover. “Red Rover, Red Rover, send Jesus right over.” Where will he go? Which side will he choose? Who will end up with him, after all?

At least, that’s how the ‘righteous’ see him—the scribes and Pharisees who are grumbling like their ancestors who wandered the wilderness. Mumbling and grumbling and complaining that this isn’t what they signed up for. I mean, come on Jesus! You’re on the wrong side! You’re with the tax collectors and sinners, sharing a meal, talking and laughing and (dare I say) rejoicing. If you’re going to hang with those people, you should at least be telling them how bad they are—how they need to change—and make sure they repent in order to warrant your presence with them at all.

You’re on the wrong side, Jesus. But that’s just it. That’s the problem we can’t find a way around. No matter who we are, when we look to those we don’t respect, those we don’t like, those who have hurt us, those we fear—no matter where we look, we see Jesus. And it’s not difficult to accuse him of taking the wrong side. Of eating with the wrong people. Of being FOR those whom we are against. I know I’m guilty of it.

And as long as we focus our gaze on the other, feeling resentment at Jesus’ presence there, we miss the comfort of finding Jesus’ presence here. And we miss wondering whether the ‘other side,’ so-to-speak, is thinking the same thing as they see Jesus standing beside us.

Because here’s the rub—and the good news: Jesus doesn’t choose sides. Jesus chooses people.

So, he tells three parables about lost things—two of which we hear today. He tells of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost sons. Each situation is different, but the reality is the same. The one who has lost the thing or person is desperate for their return. And when the lost has been found, everyone is invited to rejoice and celebrate.

Notice here—while the Pharisees and scribes grumble about whom Jesus spends time with, Jesus says that there is joy and celebration at the recovery of the lost. Grumbling and mumbling or joy and celebration? Righteous or sinner? Whose side do you choose? The lost…the chosen…the first…the last?

Perhaps it’s not a choice at all. Simply a reality that we have been all of these at one time or another. Growing up, sometimes I would try to get lost—to go on some grand adventure. But growing up in a small western Kansas town means that everything—from city streets to country roads—are set up in a grid pattern. As far as I can figure, it’s nearly impossible to get lost. But lost can take on a lot of different scenarios. It can mean getting left behind or locked out. It can mean being abandoned and alone. It can mean not feeling quite right in your own skin or among those you might call friends. What does being lost mean to you?

So, in many ways, it’s nearly impossible to NOT get lost along the way. And according to Jesus’ parable, Sin is equivalent to ‘lostness.’ Being confused, unseen, endangered, despised, discounted, and so on. Sometimes getting lost means wandering off, like the one sheep. Sometimes getting lost means being misplaced or displaced, like the coin. But it’s the reality of being lost that Jesus addresses—not the why or how of being lost.

And if it’s impossible to NOT get lost, then that means that every one of the 99 sheep that the shepherd leaves while searching has once been lost. And sought. And found. And returned. Every one of us has been on the receiving end of God’s pervasive and intrepid grace.

So, when we encounter another lost one, we need not sneer and grumble and wonder why Jesus might choose them and seemingly leave others behind. Instead, we can walk with them, sit with them, wait with them, until they are no longer as lost. For we who have been lost are most ready to recognize those who are now lost.

It’s not about sides. It’s not about the 99 sheep left behind and the 1 that warrants the shepherd’s full attention. It’s not about one coin when it will be spent celebrating its recovery. It’s not about a younger son or an older son, a wayward sibling or a faithful sibling. Jesus doesn’t choose sides. He chooses people. He even invites us to get lost, sometimes—to veer from the usual path—to experience and explore and go on great adventures. And in doing so, he prepares us to welcome and care for the lost among us—the strangers, the ill-at-ease, the seeking, the angry, the hopeless.

Jesus chooses people so that we can choose people, too. We can choose people over money and power and fear and scarcity. We can choose people over security and guarantees and systems and disagreements. We can choose sinners over the righteous because deep down we know, don’t we—they are the same people. They are us. And we are both the lost and found. And for that, Jesus calls us to this feast for a great and joyous celebration!

Pastor Tobi White

Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church

Lincoln, NE