What Did You Lose Now?

Luke 15

Lately when we have been with friends, someone is sure to tell a tale about losing his keys or wallet or some important paper. A couple of our friends have tracking devices so they can find the things they have lost. We enjoy some laughs about these stories as we all navigate aging and not remembering as well as we did ten years ago.

Beginning with the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, and ending with Luke’s story of the prodigal son, there is good news all the way in this scripture reading. Everything that was lost is found. God’s talent for finding us proves greater than our talent for getting lost.

We are all familiar with these stories, partially because we imagine ourselves on the receiving line of them. I once was lost as well, but the Savior made sure I was found and brought into the light.

And yet, at the beginning of the chapter, Jesus is criticized for the third time by the Pharisees for spending His days with sinners, for eating meals with them in open defiance of Jewish law. The sinners are fascinated with His treatment of them. They draw near to Jesus while the scribes and the Pharisees choke on their rage.

These holy men are God-fearing people. They live a life of faith, giving the laws their full respect. They mean to offer a healthy alternative to the ways of the world.

They are not uninterested in sinners, but they believe that in order to help them, the sinners must be held to a high standard. They feel they must tell the sinners where they fall short, until finally, they are challenged to become the best that they can be. In the minds of the Pharisees, they make the rules clear and reward those who obey the rules. They stick with their own kind, and they know who they are.

But Jesus comes along and begins to mess with the system, treating sinners with special care and making them think they are on equal standing with other people. Jesus actually socializes with them! If you receive sinners and admonish the righteous — when the system has clearly been set up to work the other way around — then what about the good people?

I think Jesus loves to tell these stories exactly as we have them and was content to let us figure them out for ourselves. Maybe they aren’t parables about lost sheep and lost coins but about good shepherds and diligent sweepers. If you are willing to be the shepherd, this story sounds a little different. The story isn’t about mending our ways but becomes a story of seeking, sweeping, finding, rejoicing. The motivation is not about being found again and again. Instead, it is an invitation to join Jesus in rounding up His herd and His treasure. It’s about questioning the idea that certain criteria have to be met before they can be found. It’s about trading in some of our high standards on a good flashlight and discovering the joy of finding.

Maybe some of us are destined to be shepherds while others of us are the lost sheep. It’s difficult not to judge the ones who seem to capitalize on staying lost. I guess I want at times to just write those people off and save myself some grief.

And yet, it seems that when I have that attitude, I hear someone behind me calling me by name or else I am hauled through the air by loving hands, and I am laid across strong shoulders. Then I am so surprised and relieved to be found that my heart beats loudly and somewhere far off I can hear an angel rejoice.

And I can rejoice as well. Jesus tells us these parables using familiar images that we can relate to, and we know that He is the one who will always seek us out. Perhaps it is knowing that fact that makes each day worthwhile. Knowing we are perfectly loved and cherished by the ruler of the universe, and He would never let us get completely lost.

My mind goes often to John 3:16,17: “ For God so loved the world that He gave His only son, so that everyone who believes in Him may not perish but have eternal life. Indeed, God did not send His son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.”

We are loved, we are saved, and we are found. In this we can give thanks.