Why Celebrations Cost More Than What We Are Celebrating But We Do It Anyway
Celebrations often cost more than they are worth. Think of a child’s birthday party. Chances are, you spend more on the party than the total money spent on the gifts that your child receives. Or, it comes awfully close. A city can spend a ridiculous amount on an Independence Day celebration with little return on investment.
Does that mean that we should stop having birthday parties for our kids and simply spend that money on the toys they would have gotten, saving the time and stress of putting the birthday party together? No, because there is something of value when it comes to celebrating.
Celebrating is a human way of allowing others to share in our good fortune, even if the way in which we celebrate costs us more than the reason we are celebrating. There is the intangible of what we are celebrating. A child’s birthday party is a celebration of life, growth, and love. The value of that cannot be measured by cake or toys received. Independence Day is a celebration of freedom and the American way. The value of that cannot be measured by the number of hotdogs sold or the price tag of a fireworks display.
In Luke 15, there are three parables which talk about celebrating something great. The first is that one sheep out of a hundred was found; the second is that one coin out of ten was found; the third is that one child out of two was found. In each of the stories friends were called together to celebrate with those who had found what was lost. Here’s the thing: how many celebrations have you been to that don’t involve food or music or some type of fellowship activity that has some cost involved in materials, time and labor spent, and other intangibles like electricity, water, etc.? If you add all of those costs up, they are the result of a significant investment. Do you sacrifice one sheep to feed your friends in celebration of finding one of the other sheep? Do you spend one of those coins to pay for the food and drink to celebrate finding another of the lost coins? When your son squanders half of your estate, how much more is added to that waste to celebrate his return?
Celebrations often cost more than they are worth. We like to be invited to a celebration. We like to throw celebrations. Notice in the progression of these parables that each of what was lost has a more significant value. In the first parable it was one out of one hundred. In the second parable it was one out of ten. In the third parable it was one out of two. The value of the sinner, or what was lost, grows in value over the course of the parables.
What we can learn from the implicit value of these texts is that God is willing to pay more for the celebrations than they would seem to be worth. It would be easier for God to move on to those who are already concerned with worshiping God. This was the way the Pharisees and other religious leaders viewed God. But God values even the sinner because He created them and desires that they not be lost to eternal punishment. When even one sinner repents, the celebration is worth so much more because what was lost is worth so much more than any earthly thing lost. Each of those sinners found is one spiritual soul bound for Heaven.
Ultimately, we find the fulfillment of this passage in Jesus Christ. Was the payment for sin worth the loss of the Son of God? To God, yes. In the case of Jesus, what was expended was worth so much more than what was lost. We are nothing compared Jesus Christ, but we are everything to God. He was willing to give what should have been non givable. That is why the angels celebrated His birth with such pomp and circumstance. It is why the earth shook when He died on the cross. What was given for the salvation of humanity far outweighed our worth. But the intangible is that God’s children know that they are loved and that they have freedom.
And so, the reminder for us is that we should be willing to celebrate in abundant fashion when even one that was lost has been found. We should go out of our way to call together everyone to rejoice, because God knows no greater reason to celebrate. If the angels in Heaven deem it worthy to celebrate something beyond their time of worship and praise of God, then we should honor that celebratory spirit as well. Amen.
Recent Comments