Lost and Found
Luke 15:1-10
Rev. Beverly Weinhold
September 16, 2007
Several
years ago Paul Newman started a food company called “Newman’s Own.” With profits from the business Newman helped
build a camp for critically ill children.
The name, “Hole in the Wall Gang Camp” was taken from his film, “Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.” One day
Newman was sitting at a table with a camper who asked him who he was. Reaching for a carton of “Newman’s Own”
lemonade, he pointed to the picture on the container and said, “That’s
me.” Wide-eyed the camper looked at the
carton and then turned to Newman with the question “are you lost or something?”
In Luke 15,
our Scripture for this morning, Jesus speaks to the experience of being
lost. He describes three situations in
which precious possessions are lost; a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost
son. This morning we will focus on the
first of these, the lost sheep.
Have you
ever been lost? Your stomach feels
anxious, your life seems aimless. You
lose your way, experience self doubt, feel at loose ends and your sense of
well-being disappears. Being lost is bad
news. But the good news of the gospel, and the point of this parable is this: that God came to seek and to save the lost. In the Old Testament God says through his
prophet Ezekiel that “I will seek the lost (34:16)” and in the New Testament
Jesus tells the Syrophoenician woman that that he was
sent for the lost sheep of Israel (Matt 15:24).” This truth is the centerfold of Christianity.
It’s an awesome image that every one of us as Christians should cherish.
There is no
valley so deep, no mountain so high, no hiding place so remote and no sin so
grave that God cannot reach you. Whether
you’ve ever been lost or someone you love is lost right now, it is a great
comfort to know that if you’re lost you get God’s full attention.
I.
But who are
the lost? Since all of Jesus’ parables
were pulled out of familiar situations, sheep are lost in this first story in
Luke 15. Sheep are clean, domesticated
animals that have been around since antiquity.
Despite their harmlessness, sheep are known to suffer from a lack of initiative.
They appear weak and aimless and like you and me, they are easily led astray
and lost. So it was a common picture that Jesus paints in his parable. An
immediate image would have come to mind for every listener. Pasture land in
It’s easy
to think of the lost like the Pharisees in Jesus’ parable: that they’re the
tax-collectors, the sinners, the cast-offs of
society. But the point of the parable is
that it’s not so black and white. It’s not just those in dire trouble or those
that do not know God, but there are times in life and parts of every person
that are “lost.” Divorce can make us
feel lost. Estrangement from our
children can make us feel lost. Losing
our job can make us feel lost. Hurting
another and not meaning to makes us feel lost.
The trouble with “lostness” is that we and
others can associate it with worthlessness. That was the mistake the Pharisees
made. In the movie “Saving Private
Ryan,” a captain leads seven men on a fool’s mission to bring back a soldier
from the front lines. Private Ryan’s
three brothers have been killed in the war.
An order comes down from the chain of command to go and get the last
brother to save his mother from the heartbreak of losing all 4 sons. The Captain of this detail, reflecting on the
danger, made this statement: This Ryan better be worth it. He’d better go home and cure a disease or
invent a longer-lasting light bulb or something.
Like this
Captain and like the Pharisee of Jesus’ parable, they missed the point. Every person no matter what our lot in life
is a created in God’s image. Each of us is a child of God who is due dignity
and “worth it” even if we never cure a disease or invent a longer lasting light
bulb. Listen to Henri Nouwen’s words about our worth
in his book “Life of the Beloved:”
Over the years, I have come to realize that the
greatest trap in our life is not success, popularity or power, but
self-rejection. Success, popularity and
power can indeed present a great temptation, but their seductive quality often
comes from the way they are part of the much larger temptation to
self-rejection. When we have come to
believe in the voices that call us worthless and unlovable, then success,
popularity and power are easily perceived as attractive solutions. The real trap, however is
self-rejection…Self-rejection is the greatest enemy of the spiritual life
because it contradicts the sacred voice that calls us “beloved.” Being the Beloved (of God) constitutes the
core truth of our existence.” We are
worthy not because of performance but because God says so.
II.
Who are the
lost? Not just those in dire need but
every one of us. Which naturally suggests a second question: If we are lost,
how can we be found? Our parable this
morning offers two options: the way of
the Pharisee or the way of the Shepherd. The Pharisee’s would keep the letter
of the law; dotting all his ‘i’s and crossing all his ‘t’s. The way
of the Pharisee was by keeping the rules at the expense of valuing
relationships. In Jesus’ day, those who
did not keep the law were called the “People of the Land.” And the Pharisees had strict regulations
about how to relate to them. Here is some of what their regulations said. When a person is one of the People of the
Land, entrust no money to him, take no testimony from him, trust him with no
secret, do not make him the custodian of charitable funds and do not accompany
him on a journey.” In other words
keep them at arms’ distance and avoid them like the plague.
By
contrast, the way of the Shepherd is very different and all in Luke’s audience
would have known it. Almost all of them
would have known the 23rd Psalm by heart: The
Lord is my Shepherd. And all would have known that the role of every
shepherd was to be personally responsible for the sheep. There wasn’t a
shepherd who wouldn’t risk his life for his sheep. Many of the flocks were communal flocks belonging
not to individuals but to villages.
Therefore, there would be 2 or 3 shepherds in charge. Those whose flocks were safe would arrive
home on time and brings news that one shepherd was still out on the mountain
side searching for a sheep which was lost.
Then the whole village would be on watch. They would line the streets and sides of the
hills waiting together for the shepherd and the lost sheep to come home. They
would not sleep until they saw the shepherd striding home with the lost sheep
slung across his shoulders. It was then
that a deafening shout of joy and thanksgiving would arise from the whole
community. With whom do you
identify? With the
lost or with the found? With the 1 or with the 99?
With the Pharisee or with the Shepherd?
]
Years ago Caryll Houselander wrote some
beautiful and disturbing words in the book, “The Reed of God:”
If ever you have loved anyone very deeply and then
lost them through separation, estrangement or even death you will know that
there is an instinct to look for them in every crowd. The human heart is not reasonable and it will
go on seeking for those whom it loves even when they are not there. It will miss a beat when someone passes by
who bears them the least resemblance; a tilt of the hat, an uneven walk, a note
in the voice.”
This is the
picture of the intimate love of God in the Shepherd of Luke’s parable. And this is a shadowing of Christ on the
cross dying to save humankind; like the Shepherd risking all to find the lost
sheep.
Summary
There is a
tremendous truth here: God is so much
kinder than you and me. The Pharisee in
all of us would write off those we see as beyond the pale of caring about, but
not so with the Shepherd. Not so with
God. Are you feeling lost today? Is life getting you down—friends letting you
down—family leaving you out—co-workers shutting you out? There are a thousand ways we can feel lost
when we sit in these pews on a Sunday morning.
There is only one way to be found.
Yield all your grief to the Good Shepherd. Exchange your self-rejection
for the great love of God. For God’s
love according to the great hymn is “divine, all loves excelling.” Listen to these words of another great hymn:
Souls of all why will you scatter
Like a crowd of frightened sheep?
Foolish hearts! Why will you wander
From a love so true
and deep?
Was there ever kindest shepherd
Half so gentle, half so sweet,
As the Savior who would have us
Come and gather round his feet?
For the love of God is broader
Than the measure of man’s mind;
And the heart of the Eternal
Is most wonderfully kind.
Amen.