September 12 - Pentecost + 16

Jesus Finds the Lost
Luke 15:1-10
Pentecost 16 – September 12, 2010

One beautiful spring day when I was in kindergarten, my class took a trip to this little local place that was designed just for kids. You know the kind of place I'm talking about. This one was called Fairyland Forest, and it lived up to its name. It was complete with scenes straight out of Mother Goose, different nursery rhymes and fairy tales brought to life, and a petting zoo to boot! It's long-since gone out of business, and most of that field trip is a hazy memory, but one thing sticks out... I remember being in one of these little nursery rhyme scenes (you could go into the houses) and looking around and realizing that I didn't recognize anything or anyone. Somehow, whether it was because I was lolly-gagging around looking at something, or just thought I could catch up with the group in a minute, whatever it was, when I came out, my whole group – classmates, teachers, volunteer parents – everybody was gone. Out of sight. I was all alone. I knew where I was, but even so, I. Was. Lost. I was confused and scared and worried – what would happen if I didn't find my group? Did they even know I was missing? How would I get home? Who would take care of me? It's a scary experience to be lost.

In the gospel story from today, Jesus talks about some things that get lost. He's got a crowd of people standing around listening to him. On one hand, he's got the tax collectors and sinners who can't get enough of what Jesus has to say, and on the other, he's got a bunch of Pharisees and scribes muttering and complaining about the kind of company Jesus is keeping. And so he tells these parables about a lost sheep and a lost coin and about the way the people responsible for them – the shepherd and the woman – search and search until they find them. He doesn't say too much about what the lost sheep and the lost coin go through. The sheep may not even realize that it's gotten lost & the coin definitely doesn't have a clue – but we know that Jesus isn't talking about literal sheep & literal coins. He's talking about lost people.

Now because of the 2 crowds he's talking to, and because the story is so familiar to many of us, and because he ends his parables talking about sinners repenting, we usually think lost people = sinners. And so we may put ourselves in the position of the Pharisees and the scribes, who can only see the lost as people who are different than us, people who got themselves into their own mess, who made their bed and now they'll have to lie in it. But if we only think about sin, we may miss seeing the lost-ness that is in each of us. Because being a lost sheep or a lost coin isn't just about being a sinner or not. We all feel lost sometimes... like a kid in the department store or on the school field trip who didn't mean to get lost, who didn't mean to get separated from everyone else – but that's how lost feels. Lost is that feeling of separation and isolation and aloneness. It's that place of confusion and anxiety and uncertainty, of not knowing where to turn next or if anybody has even realized that you are missing.

And we've all felt that, even when we're standing still, but the world around us twists and turns. Many of us felt that way watching the events of 9/11 unfold 9 years ago... lost in confusion, lost in grief, lost in fear, lost in anger; lost in the uncertainty of what would happen next and what had just happened. But it doesn't take a tragedy on a national or global scale to plunge us into lost-ness. It happens much closer to home – when we lose a job, or lay awake nights worrying about how we're going to keep the house or pay the bills; when the doctor calls and says they found cancer, or when your kid calls to say they're in jail, or when your ex sues you for custody. All of these things, well, they just turn our world upside down. We come out of the house and look around and wonder where everyone else went, and who's going to take care of you, if you'll ever find your way home again.

Lost and alone is no way to feel. But it's a powerful feeling – it sticks with you, just like my trip to Fairyland Forest all those years ago, even though I wasn't even “lost” for very long. But you know, as scary as that was, I don't think I even had time to cry that day, because about the same time I realized that I was lost, my teacher noticed that I was missing too – and Mrs. VanDerwen came right back to find me. What a relief to see her walking across the way, straight for me – as glad to find me as I was to be found.

In the end, you know, these parables aren't really so much about the one lost sheep and the one lost coin. They're not really about the 99 un-lost sheep and the 9 un-lost coins either. When Jesus tells these parables, all of the focus, all of the attention, all of the action is on the shepherd, who, first of all, notices! that one of his 100 sheep is missing. Only 1 is gone, but the shepherd sees that it's missing. And then, when he sees it's gone, goes to crazy lengths to go find it again. Jesus asks, “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?” Well, probably not too many of us – we wouldn't be inclined to leave the 99 behind in the wilderness, risking their safety and our livelihood, to go look for 1 measly sheep, at least not til we put the other 99 safely in their pen. Yet that's just what the shepherd does.

Jesus' other parable puts all the focus on the actions of the woman looking for her coin. Of course, we'd look too if we lost 10% of our savings, a whole day's wages... but how many of us would throw a party after we found it – inviting the whole neighborhood to a shebang that probably cost way more than that one silver coin was worth to begin with?! It's too lavish, over-the-top!

It's beyond what we would expect any human being to do. But these parables aren't about us – they point us back to the heart of God, to what God is like, to what God is doing. And they remind us – and boy do we need reminding – that no matter how lost we feel, no matter how lost we may actually be, God knows. God knew we were lost before we even realized it ourselves, and God sent Jesus to find us. Jesus is like the shepherd, who will risk anything to find one lost sheep. Jesus is like the woman who searches and hunts and looks and will stop at nothing to find that one lost coin. Jesus is the one who thinks each and every lost person is worth finding – and just when we start to wonder if we'll ever find our way home again, we see Jesus walking across the way, straight for us, as glad to find us as we are to be found... And so he does what only Jesus can do – he throws a great big party for every single one who is found – a party that starts here on earth and reaches to heaven, a party that's open to everyone. “Rejoice with me!” Jesus says! Everyone's invited – scribes and Pharisees, tax collectors and sinners, lost and found alike. The table is set, the meal is prepared – come join the feast and celebrate and give thanks to Jesus who never stops looking for us. Amen.