We are up to the ‘Lost’ stories of Jesus:
the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin which are followed by the Lost Son, also known as
the prodigal son.
We talk about the keys being lost, or
a child being lost
Lost friendships and lost opportunities
A battle that was lost
A lost day
Being lost in a book
Lost friendships and lost opportunities
A battle that was lost
A lost day
Being lost in a book
Can you remember when you have lost something?
Here again is the story of the Lost
Sheep, this lost sheep even has a name: Cecil.
Cecil
the Lost Sheep – from Lost Sheep series [
Do you think this story is about a
lost sheep? Or the 99 sheep? Or the mountains? Or the shepherd?
Is the other story Jesus told, the one
about the woman and the lost coin, about a coin? Housework? Or the woman?
“….these stories aren’t about a lost
sheep or coin, not really. They’re about a shepherd who risks everything to go
look, and about a woman who sweeps all night long to find. These stories are
about a God who will always go looking for God’s lost children.” [i]
Neither the coin or sheep repents,
both would still be lost without the one who searched and searched until they
were found.
In my reading this week, I saw a phrase
I haven’t seen for a few years and I thought I would tell you about it. You may
already know about prevenient grace, but it is a phrase I rarely see.
Sometimes I hear of people talking about
finding God. Prevenient grace says God was there. Prevenient Grace is the “grace
that “goes before”—that grace which precedes human action and reflects God’s
heart for his creation." [ii]
Another story - this one
about a father and son.
Shortly after we’d moved to Minnesota,
I took my then four year-old son out to the Mall of America, an enclosed
shopping centre so large it had an amusement park at its centre. Which is
where, of course, Jack wanted to go. So we did, wandering the park, looking at
the various rides, and eventually ending up at one of those open tracks where
you can drive little remote-control cars. Jack was too little to operate one,
but he was fascinated watching them. Initially I was holding his hand, as I
almost always did, but after a few moments I let it go, as he was right beside
me and pretty much glued to his spot. Until he wasn’t. I looked down for him,
as I did every few seconds, and he was gone. Not there. Missing.
I frantically looked all around our
area and couldn’t find him. I began cautiously expanding my search, sure I
would find him any moment. But I didn’t. Initially I was anxious, after a few
moments, scared. I’d heard the stories. Every parent has. How it only takes a
few minutes for someone to abduct a child and get him or her completely out of
a store. After a few more minutes of frantically searching, I went to a
security guard and admitted what had happened: my son was lost. Lost.
I gave a description, the guard called
it in. Within about three minutes – that seemed far, far longer – they had
found him. He had wondered over to another ride, used his height – or, rather,
lack of height – to worm his way to the front, and was glued to that spot
watching in fascination, pretty much totally oblivious, I’m sure, that he’d
just caused me a near heart attack.
I suppose I could have been mad at him
for wandering off, or upset with myself for letting him, or embarrassed that
I’d recruited security guards when he was so close to me all along. But to be
honest, none of these emotions were mine. No, I was just relieved and, even
more, joyful. My son, who had been lost, was found. Safe and sound. Back with
me. It was pure joy.[iii]
This father describes being reunited with
his son as pure joy. In both the stories Jesus told “… call your friends and neighbours
together and say to them, ‘I am so happy I found my lost …. Let us celebrate!’”
and
“…there
will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine
respectable people who do not need to repent.”
I wonder
how do we celebrate, and what do we celebrate?
We are good
at celebrating birthdays and anniversaries, Christmas and Easter, but what
about
·
restored relationships
·
renewed faith
·
being found
·
seeking and finding
How do we celebrate the moments of
grace we recognise in our lives?
We have looked briefly at these two
stories about the lost being found, but can you remember why Jesus told them in
the first place. It wasn’t because he was rostered at the local library for
storytelling duty.
Listen this paraphrase: Laughing
Bird
For much of the time, a crowd of
people hung around Jesus, listening to everything he had to say. The crowd was
full of disreputable characters whose lifestyles were offensive to the more
respectable members of society. The Pharisees and religious experts got their
noses out of joint over this, and began denouncing Jesus. “He keeps company
with people whose behaviour is beyond the pale,” they said, “and he doesn’t
even draw the line at sharing meals with them.”
Jesus responded to their objections by telling this story:[iv]
and
“Jesus said, “Let me assure you that
it is just like that in heaven. One screwed-up person getting back on the right
track causes far bigger celebrations than ninety-nine respectable people who
never left it.” [v]
Another thing I think is important in
these two stories, is that the lost sheep re-joined the 99 to make the whole
flock. The woman put the found coin with the other nine, so her ten coins were
together.
When God searches, and people respond,
God leads them to join in with other parts of the church. Do we welcome and celebrate with God and the
heavens?
As with much of Scripture there is a
lot in these 10 verses we could look at.
We
can read these two parables, and be reminded of how much God loves us.
We
can think about how we welcome people who respond to God’s prevenient grace and
want to be part of community.
We
can think about when and how and why we celebrate.
We
can think about ways in which we join with God in searching for the lost
And
for each one of us, the Spirit will focus us in on a different aspect of the story.
Where
is the Spirit touching your life today?
