Therewill be more rejoicing in heavenover one sinner who repentsthanover ninety-nine righteous personswho do not need to repent.Luke15:7 (read 15:1-10) - NIVJesushad little interest in people who professed to be religious andpious. Staying with them was a waste of time. It was useless to dealwith people who are convinced that they are God's chosen ones and whoseparate themselves from others by looking down on them andconsidering them to be unworthy. Those "other sinners" weremore likely to be saved than the "ninety-nine righteous personswho do not need to repent." (irony) People who considerthemselves to be "saved" were more lost than theself-assumed sinners!Inthese parables, the lost sheep and the lost coin represented thepeople whom the Pharisees considered to be "sinners". Jesusused irony to identify the ninety-nine sheep and nine coins with thehypocritical Pharisees who were already saved. When theshepherd, filled with joy, returned home with the lost sheep on hisshoulders he called friends and neighbors to celebrate. Theninety-nine sheep were unable to celebrate the return of the lostsheep. The owner of the coins made a party with her friends andneighbors for the same reason.Ironicallywe tend to identify ourselves with the ninety-nine sheep and ninecoins. When we identify ourselves with them, we are unconsciouslyequal to the Pharisees, staying within the security of the sheepfold and rejoicing in our "salvation."Theheroes of the parable are the shepherd and the woman, not theninety-nine sheep and nine coins. Our place is not in the safety ofthe flock. It is in mixing with sinners and being equal to salt andyeast. Salt is useless as long as it is in the salt shaker and yeastas long as it is in the package. The shepherd of the story was withthe lost sheep, not with those who were in the sheep fold.Wherewould Jesus be today if He returned in the flesh? I doubt that he'dbe wasting his time clapping his hands in praise and prayer services,organizing mega churches, or promoting any kind of mega events topromote some cause or impress the general public. He would be withthose from whom the "good" people separate themselves.Instead of being in the houses of worship He would be close to theslum dwellers, the immigrants, the hungry, the sick, the landless,the homeless, those without family, the unemployed, the exploited andthe manipulated. Ironically, many American professing Christians arein favor of deporting immigrants (hiding behind the word illegal),denying assistance to the needy (considering them to be lazy) andkeeping the lower income people on less than a living salary.Theparable is a judgment against any kind of spiritual and socialelitism. Jesus introduced a new spirituality which is still notunderstood. The spirituality of Jesus challenges us to rethink ourpriorities and values. Jesus' church has no walls separating it fromthe mass of humanity. True Christian identity is not to be differentfrom or better than others, but to besupportive and transmit hope. To follow Jesus would mean to besensitive to the needs of the social outcasts and participating intheir struggles.Jesuswould not be holed up in some church striving for spiritualperfection and protecting himself from this evil world. Our challengeis to get out there where the