Year C
Season after Pentecost
Proper 19 (24)
The Cultural Context
Jesus is surrounded by people on all sides. Tax collectors and sinners gather to hear him, while Pharisees and scribes grumble about the company he keeps. Meals in the first-century Jewish world were not just about food. They were about community and belonging, about who was in and who was out. By eating with those labeled “unclean,” Jesus creates a scandal.
To explain himself, he tells two short parables. A shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to find one that has wandered off. A woman sweeps her house until she finds a lost coin. Both throw a celebration when what was lost is found. These simple stories echo the prophetic voice of Israel’s Scriptures: God does not abandon, but seeks, restores, and rejoices. Jesus is not rejecting his tradition; he is living deeply within it, reinterpreting it for the moment.
The challenge then was clear: God’s mercy stretches further than people’s categories. No one is disposable. Even one sheep, even one coin, matters. The reason people so often talk about who will go to hell is so that they can justify disposing of them in the here-and-now.
The Challenge Now
We still grumble when mercy stretches too far. Christian Nationalism draws lines around who belongs in God’s family, often excluding those deemed unworthy. But progressive Christians are not immune: we may quietly despise those whose politics or theology differ from ours. Jesus reminds us that true joy is found not in drawing boundaries, but in celebrating when anyone is restored.
Implications for Leaders & Communities
First-century hearers would have recognized these parables as critiques of whole communities that allowed some members to be written off as expendable. Leaders were responsible for ensuring that no one was lost at the margins. For us today, the challenge is clear: do our congregations, institutions, and civic bodies treat people as expendable, or do we rejoice when even one is restored? Communities reveal their character in whether they celebrate restoration or grumble at inclusion.
At Paths to Understanding, we’ve seen that trust begins when neighbors share meals across lines of difference. And through the Thriving Together Civic Innovation Network, we see how this widening of belonging strengthens not just individuals, but whole communities. As I wrote in Go and Do Likewise, discipleship is about refusing easy categories and instead entering the risk of love.
What I am learning is that this work is not easy. Staying connected to people often means hearing their grumbles, absorbing their suspicion, and risking misunderstanding. At the same time, staying differentiated means refusing to collapse into their categories or replicate their exclusion.
How can we, like Jesus, publicly associate with people outside of our own ingroups?
The question I’m sitting with:
How can we remain connected to people while also engaging in the hard conversations that challenge exclusion and invite deeper belonging?
