20 June 2021
Text: Luke 15:1-10 (Mic 7:18-20,
1 Pet 5:6-11)
In the name of + Jesus. Amen.
Our Gospel consists of two parables of our Lord that are actually part of a three-part series with the theme of being lost and found. The first parable is the Lost Sheep. The second is the Lost Coin. And the third – which is not part of our reading, is the Lost Son, which we know by its more common title, the Prodigal Son.
And the Lord gave these remarkable teachings in response to a, what else, a grumbling Pharisee. This man was offended by Jesus because He “receives sinners and eats with them.” This was a scandal, for to eat with such people as “tax collectors and sinners” was just not done – especially by a rabbi.
And it sounds like there may have been a little jealousy as well, as the Pharisee observed a group of such outcasts “drawing near to hear Jesus.”
The two stories in our reading are essentially the same story just using different things to make the point.
In the first story, Jesus speaks about a shepherd. He has a hundred sheep. But, as sheep tend to do, one of them wanders from the flock. So what does a shepherd do in such a situation? He certainly doesn’t just write off the lost sheep and leave it to the wolves. No, he goes out looking for the lost one. The shepherd herds the ninety-nine into a group, and he actually leaves them to seek and save the lost one.
It’s not that he doesn’t also feel a responsibility to the ninety-nine, but the one that is really in danger is the one that is isolated. And so the shepherd goes out searching. It is a race against time, for a lost sheep is prey to a predator. He has to hunt while it is still daytime.
And when the shepherd has located the errant sheep, “he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” The shepherd rejoices because the sheep could well have been lost forever, or he might have been eaten. But no, in this case, he has found his lost sheep, and “comes home” with it. The shepherd is overjoyed, as this was the best possible outcome – to save the lost one.
And so the shepherd doesn’t grumble about the extra work. He doesn’t complain to his friends about it. He doesn’t punish the sheep. Instead, he is happy. And in fact, he “calls together his friends” and says, “Rejoice with me.”
And Jesus then says that this natural rejoicing over a lost sheep is like the “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” – even more joy than “over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
And in case the grumbling Pharisee missed the meaning of the story, in case he didn’t figure out that our Lord is criticizing him for grumbling instead of rejoicing, Jesus sets up a similar scenario. This time, the parable is not about a lost sheep, but a lost coin.
So a lady has ten silver coins. Somehow, she loses one. And again, no normal person is going to just shrug and accept that the coin is missing for some reason. We don’t like things to be lost, especially our money. That coin represents her labor, and it is the means by which she will eat and buy needed supplies. So what does she do? She lights a lamp and sweeps the house. She looks under the bed, in the cracks of the floor, under the table – anywhere that her coin might possibly be.
And after seeking diligently for her lost coin, she finds it! And like the shepherd, her attitude is not one of grumbling. She doesn’t grouse that she had to sweep the floor and waste oil in the lamp. She doesn’t complain about the lost time. No indeed! She “calls together her friends” and says, “Rejoice with me.”
And once again, our Lord reiterates that “there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
For when something is lost, it means that it is not where it should be. There has been a deviation from the plan. There is chaos where there should be order. Lost items can cause a chain reaction of bad events, like dominos tipping one another over. Lost keys could mean sleeping outside, being too tired to perform well on a job interview, and missing out on an opportunity. A lost check can result in not having money to buy food, resulting in the humiliation of begging, and perhaps scandalizing one’s family when word gets out. Losing a precious item entrusted to a person by a friend could result in a destroyed relationship that may never be healed.
Spiritually, being lost means to be outside of God’s divine protection – like a sheep that has wandered away from the safety of the flock of the church to be isolated and hunted by the devil, who “prowls around like a roaring lion.” Being lost spiritually is to take oneself outside of God’s grace, for He is “pardoning iniquity and passing over transgression.” But putting oneself outside of His mercy is to be lost, and in need of a shepherd to come and bring you back to the flock.
For God has a will and a plan for everyone and everything. His plan is perfect, and nobody and nothing is lost according to His merciful will. But in our sinfulness, we wander like a sheep going astray, falling into the danger of being prey, or in danger like a coin that slips through the cracks of the floor and is never recovered – thus being useless to the owner.
God’s merciful and loving plan even includes knowing the number and placement of each hair of your head, and looking out for the welfare of even every sparrow and every flower, every molecule and every atom. And it is only our foolishness and sin that separates us from the glorious sense of belonging and fulfilling what it is that God calls us to do.
When we rebel, when we are like the greedy tax collectors, like the sinners that everyone in the community knows, and yes, when we are like the grumbling Pharisee who is self-righteous – we are lost. And we cannot “find ourselves” – no matter how many self-help gurus tell us to do just that.
We can’t rescue ourselves any more than a little lamb, who is far away from his shepherd and flock, can save himself. We can’t help ourselves any more than a silver coin wedged in the crack of the floor can leap into its owner’s purse.
We need a shepherd willing to leave the ninety-nine, a Savior willing to risk offending the Pharisees, who will come and rescue us. We need a Savior who is willing to sweep the floor and shine light on us until we turn up out of the dirt and darkness.
And what happens, dear friends, when we are lost, but we are found? When we fall into sin, but when we repent? When we have wandered away, but our Savior throws us over His shoulders and carries us back to where we belong?
There is rejoicing – even in the heavens. And so should we also rejoice – even when someone we cannot stand repents, even when someone that we think has no business in the church repents and is kneeling next to us receiving the body and the blood. We should never think that we deserve more than anyone else, nor should we begrudge our work in the church, whatever that work is, for it is all centered on the reality of forgiveness of sins and the rejoicing that all creation joins in over “one sinner who repents.”
And most of all, we should repent, and we should rejoice when we go from being lost to found. We should take comfort in being where God wants us to be, when we experience His love and care that is even greater than that shown to flowers and birds. For Jesus has searched for you, has found you, and has brought you home. So let us rejoice! For we were lost, but now are found.
Amen.
In the name of the Father and of the + Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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