God’s Preference for Wholeness

“All the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” From Luke 15:1-10

This week’s gospel has the well-known parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. It reminds us that God will go to extreme lengths to search out the lost and restore wholeness. I think this is true for us as individuals as well as our communities. If there are parts of ourselves that we think are not welcome, how can we be fully present for God? It also reminds us that the entirety of our lives is what God sees and honors.

My father recently died after a long season of illness, and I ended up finding it extremely cathartic to work with family members to write his obituary. What was wonderful is that we had the ability to step back and see the full arc of his life: to remember who he had been in different seasons and see a fuller picture than the way he was in the past few years. It was also deeply meaningful to remember with one another the stories and memories that we each held most dear. The notion that all of us are more than just one season of life, and that all these seasons are held in the gaze of God’s love, can be deeply healing, especially when we are in a hard season.

The more comfortable we are being cared for by God, warts and all, the more we can welcome others. The Pharisees and scribes feared the arrival of the tax collectors and the sinners. Key in the passage is the phrase “the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen.” If the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near, they were by necessity displacing others from a place of closeness. Could it be possible that part of the grumbling we hear is based on the fear of their own displacement? While we may rejoice that the shepherd is willing to seek one missing sheep, when we identify with the 99 who’ve been left behind, we might be more uncomfortable with the scenario. But if the shepherd has gone to seek out the lost, maybe the 99 found new ways to care for one another until the shepherd returned?

As a community we are invited into the dual task of seeking our own wholeness and also making sure our community is welcoming to all. If we find ourselves uncomfortable or fearing our own place might be lost, perhaps we can become curious about that feeling. It is human to wonder whether there is enough room for us. Over and over again, God invites us to remember that God’s gaze is far reaching. My spiritual director is fond of saying that God’s love is like the sun: It has the capacity to give light to the whole world while still ripening an individual grape. May we have the grace to know the wideness of God’s love so we can offer love with abandon to others.

Peace, Beth +