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Texts: Luke 15 and The Invitation by Oriah http://www.oriahmountaindreamer.com/

I have read a couple of articles lately that talk about the Middle Eastern proverb that states, "I saw them eating and I knew who they were." I wonder if someone passing by our potluck would have said to themselves or to the person next to them, "I know who they are," just because we were eating together. I wonder which one or two of us would have stood out to them as the indicator of the group's status. I wonder if how we eat as a group defines us in some certain way so that someone not of our community would say, "I know who they are." Everyone has something they are looking for. Probably each one of us meets some kind of criteria for someone else's judgment. And probably we each have some criteria we look for too.

Jesus is being judged according to his eating with tax collectors and sinners. In response Jesus tells three stories, the last of which is the story of the prodigal. The first story is the story of the lost sheep. The second story is the story of the lost coin. In each of the three stories what was lost ended up being found. The finding of what was lost ends up in rejoicing and calling people up to have a party. "I lost something that was important. Now I've found it. I'm so happy. Come rejoice with me." In the first two stories the party is called and there is no conflict. In the third story, there is conflict. The older son is furious that his younger brother who was irresponsible and selfish comes home and is received with rejoicing. There is no punishment meted out. There is no reconciling rights and wrongs. There is just rejoicing.

The Pharisees and scribes grumbled saying, "This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them." The older brother refuses to go inside to his younger brother's party. He will not eat the fattened calf with them. The father goes in without him. The Pharisees and scribes do not rejoice that those who they label tax collectors and sinners desire to be with a holy man who heals and teaches. Instead of rejoicing over the sheep that Jesus has found, they categorize Jesus as being like unto a tax collector and sinner. Just like the older brother does not rejoice with his father that his once-dead brother has returned, the Pharisees and scribes do not rejoice with Jesus.

We are categorized and we categorize according to type. In this scripture I see a call to stop looking at the superficial categories that we create and to come together. I also see a call to live into the truth of our being children of a magnificent, abundant, powerful, and extravagant divine parent. The older brother is told by his father, "You are always with me and all that is mine is yours." Do we live, though, like the older brother ... our nose to the grindstone and our hearts weary with work and resentment? Do we obey commands and yet not celebrate?

The older brother and the Pharisees worked hard and followed all the rules. But they did not see the abundance that was right in front of them. All they could see were the rules and the work. The younger son saw all the abundance and didn't see the work at all, that is, until the abundance ran out. Neither perspective is full.

Jesus calls us to a new perspective, one that obliterates our superficial categories altogether. This perspective calls us to see each other more deeply and to respond to each other with more innocence. When the shepherd lost and found his sheep, when the woman lost and found her coin, they rejoiced and called their friends to come party with them. When the father lost and found his son, he rejoiced and began organizing a party.

Can we shed our need for the categories that keep us walking with folks that look and talk and eat like us? I'm not suggesting that we put ourselves into situations where we will be abused. But, can we risk getting to know people and really caring about them ... even rejoicing with them ... who are not like us? Can we reach deeper and look for the similarities that are more at our core.

Can we learn to work hard and to party hard? Can we see and feel deep in our soul the abundance that is ours simply because of our relationship with God? Can we also see and feel the power that we have to be a part of the work in bringing the Realm of Heaven here to our earth? Can we do this work by shattering the categories that keep us isolated, but that feel safe?

This poem by Oriah, called The Invitation, inspires me to the deeper calling that I hear Jesus teaching. This teaching that asks us to transcend our boundaries and to rejoice with those who have found what they have lost, whatever that is.

How can we do this? How do we get to know people who are not like us? We have to lift up our eyes ... maybe the eyes of our soul. We have to go outside of our daily patterned life.

What is the real risk of getting to know others who are not like us? Is it that our own soul will be bared? Is it that we will have to redefine what is good and holy and wonderful?

There are stories to be told, stories to be heard, joy and pain to be shared; parties to attend and burdens to bear.

When we find ourselves either being shut out by someone or shutting out someone, we can pause and open our souls to the call of Jesus. If we are being judged, the call is knowing that even if the person in front of us can't rejoice with us, that our Messiah is and that we have a community here that will. If we find ourselves being critical of others that Jesus is spending time with, we need to lay down our categories and step over the boundaries that are superficial.

In truth, I don't think we have to go too far out of our way to simply share the lives of those not like us. We don't have to become best friends with someone to appreciate a moment of life.

What we have to do, is open ourselves up to the moments as the present themselves.