Are You Lost?
As a part of my ministry here at Shepherd of Life I work very hard to make sure every possible safeguard is in place. We fill out registration forms, health forms, consent forms, and I always make sure that we have plenty of adult help. I am very careful to make sure everyone knows where to go and that there are always eyes watching. All this planning, all this time, all this carefulness and guess what happens occasionally? We get a code red. Someone decides to wander off. It never fails that every once in a while someone decides that what we are doing isn’t that cool anymore. They want to stay behind and do their own thing. These times are the one of the most unsettling parts of my ministry. The thing that raises my anxiety level the quickest is when one of the kids is not where they are supposed to be. The youth can tell you that I very rarely have to raise and add tone to my voice, I don’t ever yell, but when I don’t know where you are and then I find you… there is definitely an edge to my voice. You can tell that I am disappointed and upset. What they can’t tell you is the immense sense of relief I feel when I see the face of the kiddo that I’m looking for.
We come today in the gospel of Luke to two very well known parables of Jesus, the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin. We see again how those dang tax collectors and sinners are coming to Jesus, wanting to hear what he has to say. The Pharisees and the scribes are a little grumbly about that. These aren’t the kind of folks Jesus should be hanging out with, much less eating with them and welcoming them as friends. Then Jesus tells two ridiculous parables. That’s right, they are ridiculous. Jesus begins “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?” The real answer? No one! No one would leave 99 sheep by themselves out in the wilderness. That’s just asking for trouble. Jesus then continues “Or what women having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?” Again the answer? No one! Putting off an entire day’s work or even staying up all night to search for one coin? Yeah…sure…it’s worth a day’s wage, but still! Not gonna happen. When we read these parables, we think “Oh yeah. I could see doing that. Sure.” That’s because we put ourselves in the place of the shepherd and the woman. We understand losing things. It’s a part of the human experience. So that is the role we automatically see ourselves in..the one who is searching for what is lost.
That’s not the role Jesus has us in. We’re the sheep. We’re the coin. We are the ones that are lost. Now you might be sitting there thinking, “I’m pretty sure I’m one of the 99 or even one of the 9. I’m not wandering off. I mean I’m here at church this morning. It may not have been the easiest to get up and get here, but I’m here!” Sure. You’re here. But that doesn’t mean you’re not lost either. How many of us absorb ourselves in work at the expense of other things, chasing after that promotion or next big thing. How many of our schedules are controlled by an extracurricular because of the way it will prepare our child for the future. How many of us are tormented by the way people think about the way our house looks, the way our car looks or what stuff we have, playing that comparative game in our minds. How many of us pride ourselves on being independent, answering to no one, doing it all ourselves under our own steam. How many of us our stressed, tired, anxious, worried, afraid, angry or hurt about one thing or another. Just plain burned out. Sounds like the one sheep out there by themselves to me. The one sheep knowing that the way that they are going is the best. I’ve got this…no problem.
When I was in late elementary school and early Junior High I remember something my parents used to say when I lost something. As they were helping me look and listening to me claim over and over again “I don’t know where it is! I don’t know where it is!” they would eventually lose their cool a bit and say “Well it didn’t just up and roll away or walk off” We are a coin that can just get up and roll away. If we choose to and often we do, we can hide ourselves pretty well. We hide ourselves away because we are afraid that we’re not good enough. We’re afraid of messing up. We’re afraid that if people saw the real us they would reject us. Or what’s worse if God saw who we really are, that love wouldn’t come so easy.
When we are in the role of the sheep and the coin, God fills in on the role of the shepherd and the women. Remember how I said earlier that the parables where ridiculous? Well they are, because the truth is that is how ridiculous God’s love is. God cares so much about you that the 99 get recklessly left behind in the wilderness just so that God can come find you. God cares about you so much that the house gets swept and searched over and over and over again until you are found. Even though other things preoccupy us, God comes after us again and again with love. Even though we may hide inside ourselves and not let anyone know who we truly are, God searches and pulls us out of hiding. Then, God rejoices. God calls together everyone and says “Rejoice with me because I have found what was lost” and they rejoice too. You can’t imagine the immense sense of relief that God feels when God finds us and gets the chance to see our face again.
Personally I think our world needs a bit more ridiculous. I mean, it’s already pretty ridiculous in a lot of ways, but what if it was more ridiculous with the radical love of God? Friends, we get the opportunity to help bring the message and signs of that ridiculous love to a world that is full of lost people. I’m not talking in the sense that they are lost and it’s our job to fix them because let’s face it…we’re lost too. What’s nice though is we can walk and be lost together. Even in our lostness God will work through us to bring the kingdom. A new path that is paved with love and care. Walking and turning away from the things that hold onto us and turning towards God. What is lost won’t be lost forever because with God doing the searching we can be confident that all will be found and rejoiced over. Amen.
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