The Joy of Being Found
How does it feel to lose something, like your car keys or worse, a child? What emotions do you feel (anger, fear, frustration, anxiety, panic)? What emotions do you feel when you find something or someone that was lost (relief, exhilaration, joy)?
Today’s Gospel passage is about the emotions we feel when people are lost and when they are found.
“Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.
And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying,
‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” So he told them this parable:
Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the 99 in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?
When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices.
And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,
‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over 99 righteous persons who need no repentance.
Or what woman having 10 silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?
When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying,
‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’
Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
September 15, 2013
Luke 15:1-10, The Joy of Being Found
Doug Scalise, Brewster Baptist Church
[vimeo 74630406 w=500&h=375]
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The tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus and therein lies the problem for the Pharisees and scribes. They’re upset that Jesus is welcoming and accepting and eating with people who are, in their eyes, sinners and not godly, moral people. Anyone who is a parent has little trouble understanding the point of view of the scribes and Pharisees. One of the concerns that parents share is that they hope their kids turn out to be good people and they want their children hanging out with young people who the parents consider to be a positive and not a bad influence. There are families in this church who know the heartache that comes when children start to spend time with the wrong crowd or the wrong person and now that often happens first online.
Parents and Pharisees are right to be concerned about this issue because who we spend time with shapes the future of our life. Psalm 1 and Proverbs 1 both warn about the dangers of associating with evil persons. The Apostle Paul quotes several Old Testament passages in urging the church in Corinth (2 Corinthians 6:14-18) to be separate from unbelievers and not to touch anything that is unclean. We can readily understand why the Pharisees and scribes are not alone in believing that separating good and bad people is essential for teaching the young and preserving a community’s sense of righteousness and safety. After all, birds of a feather flock together, evil companions corrupt good morals.
Jesus’ failure to observe such distinctions seems radical and dangerous; rather than separating himself from those perceived to be sinners or unrighteous, he welcomed, accepted, and ate with them. Fred Craddock, a great teacher of preaching, speaking about when his son and daughter were teenagers, said he found himself much more frequently quoting the conventional wisdom of the scribes and Pharisees than the sayings of Jesus. He observed some of the boys his son John was hanging out with and said to him, “You’re associating with publicans and sinners. I teach at a seminary, c’mon.” Other times he would look at some of his daughter’s dates and think, “My goodness. This isn’t Halloween, what is this?”
Only by getting inside the wisdom and logic of the position of the scribes and Pharisees, a position many of us can easily relate to, can we hear the offense of the gospel and the nature of what Jesus is calling us to do. The good news is that sinners are welcomed and forgiven in Jesus’ presence. As Jesus said elsewhere, the healthy have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. For those of us who are sinners, we need to be in the presence of Jesus and there we will find a welcome and forgiveness. The difficulty for the church has been that sinful people, rather than being welcomed, accepted, loved, and forgiven too often have been shunned, condemned and judged by the church so they can never get to Jesus. In our desire to be holy, orthodox, separate from sinners, there is the possibility that the mission to reach the lost and the helpless gets forgotten or ignored.
Jesus attracts the tax collectors and sinners and he receives and welcomes them. Pharisees and scribes criticize his receiving and eating with such persons because it sets a bad example, could be morally dangerous, and is potentially destructive for the faith community because it may blur the lines that clarify who is part of the “in” crowd and who is outside. They had already labeled Jesus earlier (Luke 7:34), ‘a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ Jesus responds with a parable that becomes the church’s response to critics both within and without who find in the presence of sinners around Jesus or in the church something inappropriate, repulsive, or in violation of true religion.
The parables Jesus tells of the found sheep and the found coin have a similar theme. It’s interesting that the church has named or known the parables in Luke 15 as parables about the lost. The three parables are known as the lost sheep, the lost coin, the lost or prodigal son – yet the emphasis is not on being lost but on being found. In both parables the sheep and coin are lost – like the sinners who come to hear Jesus. The sheep is lost and the coin is helpless. A sheep may wander away and may wander back to a point where it is found. However, a coin that is dropped and rolls under a piece of furniture cannot roll itself back into view. The sheep and the coin represent something of value to their owners, just as we are of value to God. Percentage-wise, the coin is of greater value because to lose one of 100 sheep is a loss of 1%, but to lose one of 10 coins is a loss of 10% of what one possessed.
To leave 99 sheep in the wilderness doesn’t make great economic sense. What if an animal or robbers fall upon the unguarded 99? But the love of the shepherd is such that he is willing to put himself and the flock at risk to seek the lost. This is what Jesus did. He put himself at risk to find the lost and the helpless. The image of God as a tender shepherd is a rich one in the Bible that is found in Psalm 23, Isaiah 40 and 49, and Ezekiel 34.
The sheep and coin are lost and the shepherd and the woman seek until they find it. This is a hugely important part of the parables. In Matthew’s gospel, the story of a lost sheep is told and it says, “if he finds it.” Luke says the shepherd and the woman who are seeking don’t give up until that which is lost is found. It’s important to note the shepherd goes after the sheep, the woman lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully. The person seeking the lost takes the initiative. That’s what we who are believers are to do; it is what the church is to do – to take the initiative to find those who are lost. We sing the great old hymn Amazing Grace, “I once was lost but now am found.” That is theologically correct. It’s not that we’re lost and then we find Jesus. When people use language like, “Have you found Jesus?” I want to reply, “I didn’t know Jesus was lost.” We’re the ones who are lost and we are the ones for whom Jesus is seeking. A more accurate question is, “Has Jesus found you?” Or maybe, where are you hiding from Jesus?
The sheep and coin are lost, they are sought until they are found, but that is not the end of the story. The joy of finding is so abundant that there must be others invited to celebrate. Jesus invites us all to join him and all of heaven in celebrating the joy of being found. Finding and reaching the lost gives pleasure to God and to all who are about God’s work. Every time there is a story about someone who is lost or trapped who is rescued and saved we get caught up in it. Good news needs to be shared and celebrated with other people as we saw this week with folks who were rescued and then reunited with loved ones in Colorado after the terrible flooding.
I can’t believe that the Boston Bruins started training camp this past week. It doesn’t seem that long ago I was sitting in Boston Garden on June 24 for Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals when the Bruins season suddenly ended. It was a memorable night, with thousands of people making an unreal amount of noise. When Chris Kelly scored midway through the first period to give the Bruins a 1-0 lead thousands of people yelled and cheered, an incredibly loud horn or organ would blast repeatedly, and people celebrated. Whenever a hockey player scores a goal they always raise their arms and all the players on the ice, a group of strong, tough men, do a group hug kind of thing. Why does this happen? Good news needs to be celebrated with others. God has built this into the very nature of being human and it reflects the image of God.
God’s gracious mercy and forgiveness, the tenderness that causes God to seek for us when we’re lost and to celebrate when we’re found is not for us alone. It’s also for others who we may feel don’t deserve it like we do. We can forget the nature and depth of our own sin and we may feel God is too good to others and not good enough to us. Some people seem to want mercy for themselves and judgment for others. These parables invite us to celebrate that God seeks all who are lost, and helpless to find themselves. We’re to imitate the action of the tender, seeking God portrayed in these parables.
Unlike the English word repentance, which implies contrition and remorse, the Greek word metanoia has to do with a change of mind and purpose — a shift in how we perceive and respond to life. When God finds us when we are lost, our usual ways of perceiving and responding to life are transformed. Obviously a sheep and a coin can’t repent, but these parables are aimed not so much at calling sinners to repentance but at calling those who think they are “righteous” to join the celebration eating at table with Jesus and the sinners who are drawn to him. Whether we join the celebration or not is all-important because it reveals whether our relationships are based on merit or mercy. If we find God’s mercy offensive we may not be comfortable with searching until the lost are found nor with celebrating with the angels when a sinner repents.
There is joy in the presence of God every time a sinner repents, every time the lost are found, there is singing, and celebrating and joy in heaven. And we can get in on it. Personally, if we’re lost, we can allow God to find us. At least we can come out of hiding. If we begin a relationship with Jesus we’ll find welcome, acceptance, and forgiveness of our sins. When we do that we bring joy to God and to the angels. If we want to be part of giving that special joy to God again, then we need to help find others who are lost and bring them to a relationship with Jesus as well.