Luke 15:1- 10Lost and Found
Have you ever lost something? Of course, that’s a trick question because we’ve all lost something at one time or another. So let me ask a different way: Have you ever lost something important? Again, a silly question, because even if it’s not something exotic or valuable, if we’re looking for it, it’s important, at least at that moment. I could tell you a hundred lost and found stories, some of them sad, some of them silly. But none of them really measure up to the lost and found stories Jesus told that day, when he was caught hanging out with people from the wrong side of town.
Jesus told stories to teach lessons. But they are really more than stories – they multi-layered morality plays, used to teach theological lessons in everyday terms that ordinary people will be sure to understand. At this point in his ministry, Jesus already has a reputation for hanging out with the wrong crowd. Again and again, the religious leaders accuse him of welcoming and eating with sinners. But Jesus has countered this argument saying, the doctor needs to be with sick people, not those who are well.
Today, he tries to make them understand this concept in a different way. He tells three stories about lost-ness. The first two we will study this week, and we’ll tackle the third one next week.
Story 1: A man has 100 sheep, but one of them becomes lost. Jesus asks,” If this were you, wouldn’t you leave the 99 in safety to go and look for the one who was lost? And if you found it, wouldn’t you have a party with your friends and family to celebrate the lost coming home?”
Story 2: A woman has 10 precious coins, and loses one in the house. So she sweeps and cleans and looks high and low until the coin is found. And like her shepherd friend, she invited her friends and family to rejoice over the lost being found. And then Jesus ends both parables with the following sentiment: “Joy breaks out in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who changes both heart and life.”
In each story, rejoicing takes place after both the sheep and coin are found. Yet the Gospel is not about finding lost property or things, neither sheep nor coins. Instead, it's about finding the least, the lost, and the last among us. The sheep and coins are simply an analogy of the extent that God will go to find us and reach out to us.
Think about the joy you felt when you found something that was previously lost or missing. Maybe it was a favorite piece of jewelry or a well-loved book or maybe it was reconnecting with an old friend you hadn’t seen in a long time. There is the well of joy that springs up within us when that which was lost is found. In finding the lost, we become whole.
The good news in this passage of scripture is that God actively seeks us out when we have wandered away or are lost or absent. It is almost as if God is incomplete when one of us is missing. In God's eyes everyone has value! Each one us! God will never stop reaching out for us! Regardless of what we have done or ever might do. "We" might stop looking for our "stuff" or our "things" when they are lost, but God never stops looking and waiting for us!
We live in a what some call a throwaway society. When we lose something and can't find it, we generally replace it with something new. We even give up on people when they disappoint us or fail to live up to our expections. But God never gives up on anybody. God doesn’t replace us, or stop looks for us. He doesn’t throw us away or write us off.
He goes out and finds us, and is filled with joy at our return. In theological terms, this is called repentance, which is not just about coming back, but about coming to or back to the life that God designed for us from the beginning of time.
In the 51st Psalm we hear powerful words of repentance from the lips of the psalmist as he prays to the Lord, pleading for forgiveness and restoration. He says:
Have mercy on me, God, according to your faithful love! Wipe away my wrongdoings according to your great compassion! Wash me completely clean of my guilt; purify me from my sin!… Create a clean heart for me, God; put a new, faithful spirit deep inside me! Please don’t throw me out of your presence; please don’t take your holy spirit away from me. Return the joy of your salvation to me and sustain me with a willing spirit (Psalm 51: 1-2, 10-13 CEB)
These are words from one who knows a loving and forgiving God.
The writer Paul confirms God's undying devotion in reclaiming us as he writes to his friend and fellow sojourner Timothy:
I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength because he considered me faithful. So he appointed me to ministry even though I used to speak against him, attack his people, and I was proud. But I was shown mercy … [because] “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners”… (1 Timothy 1:12-13, 15 CEB)
Both stories in today's Gospel tell us that God will never give up on us. They remind us that when we turn our lives over to him, there is rejoicing in Heaven.
We could say that God is the untiring Pursuer who will never give up the hunt, until we turn and accept being scooped up in an embrace of Holy Love. There is nothing we can do to keep his extravagant loving care from us except to run away. Our own incompetence, our negligence, our rebellion, our misuse of talent and resources, not even our selfishness and sinfulness can keep God from seeking and welcoming us when we come back to his waiting embrace.
There is nothing we can do to detour God from loving us. Like the shepherd leaving the 99 behind and the woman diligently searching for her lost coin, God will not give up on any of us. God welcomes home all who turn to him, even when we or they are considered unworthy of the gift. God loves each one of us with a love so big that it more than fills this room, this base, this state, this planet.
The evidence of this is the most extravagant gift of all -- the gift of his Son, Jesus. His life and his ministry, his death and his resurrection are an deliberate demonstration of how valuable we are to God. They are witness to how far God will go to search out those who are lost, inviting us back into relationship with him and one another.
John Newton, writer of “Amazing Grace,” spent part of his life as a slave trader, transporting them from Africa to the Caribbean and then to the Colonies in America. Born in England, his mother died when he was seven. Away at school until age 11, John then joined his father's ship, living the life of a seaman. He described his early years as continuous rounds of rebellion and indulgence. Eventually, he served on several ships that worked on the West African coast, collecting slaves to sell to visiting traders. He later captained his own slave-trading vessel. His actions contributed to the buying, selling and transporting of some of the 6 million African slaves brought to the Americas in the l8th century. All of this from the writer of one of our most beloved Christian hymns.
So when John Newton mentions "wretch" in the first verse of his hymn, he knows what he’s talking about – he means himself. And yet, as the hymn says, all can be redeemed by the grace of God. In 1748, when all appeared lost during a stormy voyage returning to England from Africa, Newton began reading the Thomas A. Kempis' book, Imitation of Christ. Between the message of Christ’s love contained in this book and the crashing of the waves of around him, Newton believed the Holy Spirit sowed the seeds for his eventual conversion and personal commitment to Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior. And without even thinking about what he was saying, he prayed this simple prayer, “The Lord have mercy on us.”
This was the turning point in his life. He remained a slave ship captain for several years, improving conditions for the slaves on his ship. He held worship services for his ship's crew each Sunday, but soon knew that he could no longer contribute to such cruelty, and instead became a strong and effective crusader against slavery. He saw that before his conversion he had been lost in sin and blind to the truth of the Gospel. Newton found that even in a prayer of desperation, almost without meaning it, God answered. His sins were forgiven – once and for all.
When we are lost, any of us, God has already been looking for us. Our being found often comes because we are willing to identify ourselves as one of God’s children. When others are found, we are called to recognize them as members of our same family. We are called to love them with the same love God has for them – lavish, gracious, undeserved love represented by the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.
“Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost, but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”
The Christian life seems to have two distinct parts: the times when we recognize all that God has given us, and then the times when we convey that message to others, not just in words, but in the ways we live, each and every day. We live in a society which frames “Them versus Us” conversations at every turn. But Jesus knew something that we have to work hard to learn… There is no THEM … it’s only US.
These parables ask us understand that church is not just the place where we worship but the people God wants us to be. And to be those people, we are called to turn around and go back to the place where we started… sitting at the feet of Jesus, and anchored in the heart of God.
Next week we'll continue with this theme, looking at one of the most recognizable parable Jesus ever told, the one we call "The Prodigal Son."
Let us pray:
Gracious Lord, You who are the Good Shepherd, grant us a compassion and care that reflects who you are and who you have created us to be. May we be a people who welcome and encourage others to live a life of faith. May we have the courage to seek out all who may have wandered away from your love, who feel alone, and those who seek to know you but don’t know where to start. Remind us daily of your great love for us, and give us the grace to receive all into our lives who wish to know of measure of your peace. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.
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