Lost and Found
(Luke 15: 1-10)
Back when I was a criminal defense attorney practicing in Tyler, Texas, I took court appointments as a way to guarantee a regular cash flow. I would get appointed by judges to represent indigent people who had been arrested and charged with a crime and who were currently being held in jail on a bail that was well beyond their capabilities of posting. I was officing with a couple of younger attorneys who were Christians, I was teaching an Adult Sunday School Class at First Baptist, and I was attending the seven-year Bible Study Fellowship course every Monday evening and leading one of the classes. I didn’t know it then, but God was taking what I was learning and placing me in a position to take his word to the lost. I wouldn’t exactly call what I was doing a prison ministry, but when the opportunity arose, I would feel them out about their relationship with God. Initially, I would talk to them about their legal situation and what I could do and not do for them, and then somewhere during the conversation an opportunity would present itself for me to inquire about their faith. Usually, they would make it easy for me saying something like: “I don’t know why God is doing this to me.” But other times, after the legal business had been concluded I would ask them about their faith and offer them one of the New Testaments I carried in my briefcase and still do. To my recollection, I don’t think my offer of a New Testament was ever refused and I was never told by anyone in authority at the jail to stop handing out New Testaments. These weren’t my sheep, but I now realize that God was sending me out to look for his lost sheep and, because of my job, I had easy access to a place where his sheep had strayed and needed to be found.
And that’s what Luke is reporting to us in the 15th chapter of his Gospel. Many of God’s sheep had wandered from the fold and nobody, at least none of the current religious leaders, were making any effort to find them and return them back to the fold, rejoining the sheep who had not strayed.
Luke sets the stage by telling us that all the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around Jesus to listen to him. The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. It begs the question of: Why were the Pharisees and teachers of the law bothered that Jesus associated with these people? Well, my Study Bible says that the religious leaders were always careful to stay “clean” according to Old Testament law. They went well beyond the law in their avoidance of certain people and situations and in their ritual washings, as if you could catch something from them. By contrast, Jesus took their concept of “cleanliness” lightly. He risked defilement by touching those who had leprosy and by neglecting to wash in the Pharisee’s prescribed manner, and he showed complete disregard for their sanctions against associating with certain classes of people. But I think it goes even deeper. The Pharisees didn’t refer to Jesus as a rabbi, only this man, as in who does this guy think he is? And, in the back of their minds, they are thinking that if these people really want God’s forgiveness they know where the synagogue is and what they must do to purify themselves before entering.
Jesus sees this as a teachable moment and uses a parable, a common teaching method, to get his point across, primarily to the Pharisees who were watching and listening intently to see if Jesus was teaching any false doctrines. He says: Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, “Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.” It’s important to understand that he was relating this parable for the benefit of the Pharisees as the sinners and tax collectors at the table would not have sheep, but the Pharisees would. If they understood the parable, the sheep would be their responsibility as religious leaders, as shepherds of God’s flock. Those around the table would have readily recognized themselves as the sheep who had gone astray and were probably wondering why nobody was looking for them, or even cared. And, just in case the Pharisees didn’t get it Jesus continues by saying: In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. He’s basically telling them that God has ordained them to preach and teach his word, to tend his flock, and that they are failing. They are paying too much attention to the flock that is firm in their faith and not getting out of their comfort zone to look for the sheep that have wandered off and are now lost.
And, on the off chance that this parable wasn’t clear enough, Jesus follows it up with another and says: Or what woman, if she owns ten silver coins and loses one of them, won’t light a lamp and sweep the house, searching her home carefully until she finds it. When she finds it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, “Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost coin.” It’s pretty much the same theme with the only difference being that the main character is a woman. Luke, in his gospel, makes women a central figure in his writings as he picked up on how Jesus saw them as important and crucial to his growing ministry. Up until this time, it was rare to see a woman as the central character in even brief anecdotes in ancient literature. Jesus wanted the Pharisees, and us, to understand that there would be no church without the involvement of women and Luke picked up on what Jesus was saying.
Jesus’ intent was to move the second group, the Pharisees and teachers of the law, from grumbling to rejoicing. The Pharisees should have seen themselves as the “friends and neighbors” in these two parables rejoicing with the one who found what was lost, but they didn’t. It just aggravated them. The nerve of this country rabbi from dusty out-of-the-way Nazareth telling us Jerusalem rabbis what we should be doing and who we should be ministering to! You would have thought that maybe they would have gone back to the synagogue and discussed what they had just heard and how it fit in with their Old Testament teachings and consider where they were falling short. Afterall, these sinners and tax collectors that were sharing a meal with Jesus were legitimate sons and daughters of Abraham and their God was the God of the descendants who Moses led out of Egypt. It’s easy to lead followers who want to be led, but what about the ones who have strayed? That’s the question Jesus was asking them.
To the Pharisees it may have seemed foolish for the shepherd in Jesus’ parable to leave ninety-nine sheep to go searching for just one. It didn’t make good business sense. It was just the cost of doing business. There would be losses and there was a bottom line to consider. But the shepherd knew that the ninety-nine would be safe in the sheepfold, whereas the lost sheep was in danger. Because each sheep was of high value, the shepherd knew that it was worthwhile to search diligently for the lost one. The point Jesus is trying to make to the Pharisees and to us, is that God’s love for the individual is so great that he seeks each one out and rejoices when he or she is found. Jesus, the Son of God, associated with sinners because he wanted to bring the lost sheep, people considered beyond hope, the gospel of God’s kingdom.
This is a difficult concept for some Christians to wrap their heads around as I have heard more than one self-righteous Christian proclaim that these people who have stopped coming to church, who have gotten out of the habit, just need to come back. We, like the Pharisees, can easily understand a God who would forgive sinners who come to him for mercy, but a God who tenderly searches for sinners and then joyfully forgives them must possess an extraordinary love. Don’t worry, God is never in short supply of love and forgiveness, and there is plenty for everyone. Each individual is precious to God, and he grieves over every loss and rejoices whenever one of his children is found and brought into the kingdom.
Perhaps we would have more joy in our churches if we shared Jesus’ love and concern for the lost, diligently seeking them, and rejoicing when they come to the Savior. What better way to show your love of neighbor than to go out searching for him or her so that the once lost can be found and returned to the Savior.
Let us pray.
Savior, like a shepherd lead us, much we need thy tender care; in thy pleasant pastures feed us, for our use the folds prepare. Yes, gracious and loving Father, lead us by your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. How blessed we are to be a sheep in your flock, safe in the fold of Jesus Christ. Keep us mindful of our responsibilities to look out for one another and that when one of our brothers or sisters wander off, leaving the fold, we must do all we can to find them, minister to them, and bring them back into the fold. And move us by your Spirit to find ways that put us in the places where your lost sheep have gone that make them all but unreachable. This we pray, in Jesus’ name, Amen
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Lost and Found
A God who tenderly searches for sinners and joyfully forgives them must possess an extraordinary love.
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