Really Lost Hopefully Found
1 All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3 So he told them this parable: 4 “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, 6 and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7 I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.8 “Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ 10 I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:1-10 CSB
These are familiar parables. What helps in understanding them is the larger context found in the previous two chapters. There we find some very important and repeated themes.
Let me summarize the several themes we find there (and please note these themes or teachings do not go over well today in culture – not at all! – nevertheless, they are themes Jesus himself taught.
Number one: There is sin, and it is everywhere and in everyone. Not just in the “sinners” Jesus had gathered with, and not just these plus the Pharisees that Jesus had to shoot down so they might recognize their self-righteousness and lack of love; but everyone. Desperately sinful. All of them by nature are lost.
Number two: Jesus says there is a well-deserved hell for all these sinners, a place where there will be an eternal “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” I don’t like this. Nobody does. But whether I like it or not is not issue. We sometimes laugh when we hear about “fire and brimstone” preachers, not realizing there is something to this, that there might be such a reality. According to Jesus, it is a reality.
Number three: There is an escape from the fate of hell, a rescue plan, a narrow door: Jesus himself, who by his suffering, death, and resurrection has fully prepared the great eternal banquet, prepared this escape, this everlasting rescue. The result of his work is wonderfully described in our Old Testament lesson for today:
“Who is a God like you,
Micah 7:18-19 (CSB)
forgiving iniquity and passing over rebellion
for the remnant of his inheritance?
He does not hold on to his anger forever
because he delights in faithful love.
He will again have compassion on us;
he will vanquish our iniquities.
You will cast all our sins
into the depths of the sea.”
This escape, this rescue, this salvation, is found in Christ, and him alone.
Number four (and this is this theme found in all these sections of Luke): Jesus has this deep desire and is making relentless attempts to save anyone and everyone. Again: Jesus has this deep desire and is making relentless attempts to save anyone and everyone. We call this evangelism. Listen again to these words of Jesus that show this desire and attempts: “But unless you repent, you too will all perish” … “Make every effort to enter through the narrow door” … “Jerusalem, Jerusalem…how often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings”…”Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the city, and bring in here [to the banquet of eternal life] the poor, maimed, blind, and lame.”
And that brings us to our text for today where the first two verses read, “All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” The Pharisees were offended that Jesus was hanging out with tax collectors and sinners. They were saying, “What are you doing, Jesus? Why are you hanging out with sinners?” And Jesus responds with the two parables.
In these two parables, Jesus is saying to them, “Don’t you do something similar in certain situations? What I am doing is how you yourselves live.” “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? … Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?”
You lose something really precious, and what do you do? You go searching for it, and you don’t stop until you find it.
We probably cannot relate to losing and looking for a lost sheep, but if a pet of ours has gotten lost, we practically organize a search party! We even operate this way with things that are not really all that precious. Think about how much time and effort we put into searching for a lost remote for the TV. I don’t know about your home, but in ours we sometimes (it seems) tear half the house apart until we find it! It’s like we lost a silver coin worth $1,000!
So, the question is, what is precious to Jesus? Especially when that precious thing gets lost.
The reason Jesus spends time with sinners and the Pharisees is because they are precious to him, because they are lost, and because he wants to find them. He is trying to save what is precious and what is lost. He has this deep desire, and he is making attempts to save the lost, anyone and everyone. That is what he’s doing with them. He is telling those who will listen, including the grumbling Pharisees, “You want to know why I am doing this? I am spending time with sinners, and with you, you blind Pharisees, because you are precious to me, because your sin is real, because hell is real, because you are really lost, because my cross will be real payment, because I will rise from the dead, because this is the only rescue plan that will work, because I want you to be found.”
It’s like Jesus is heading down a path in one direction and everyone else is going the opposite way. And as he goes, he’s stopping people and talking to them, very plainly but very earnestly. And some going the opposite way scornfully ask Jesus, “What are you doing? Why are you talking to people, especially these people?” And Jesus says, “Because you are all precious, you are all lost and going the wrong direction, and I want you to turn and follow me. I am going this way; I am going to the cross. In fact, I am going there for everyone, for all of you are lost. And when I get there, I will pay for all your sins, all by myself. So turn around and follow me. I want you to be found.”
You and me: we were lost, condemned creatures. But we are so precious to him. By God’s grace, we were found. We repented, we were baptized, and we believed in Jesus. And we still daily repent, live in our baptism, and walk by faith. And do you know what happens when this occurs? When sinners like us are found? When they repent, are baptized, and believe?
We have seen videos or newsclips of rescue operations, where a building, for example, has collapsed and the rescue workers are searching frantically for a child buried under the rubble with a crowd intensely watching and waiting. When the child is found and pulled out out alive, what happens? The crowd starts crying tears of joy, there’s a spontaneous applauding, hugging, and rejoicing like never before. They celebrate with their whole being.
But what we are talking about here goes well beyond that. The celebration enters into the celestial sphere. “When he has found the lost sheep, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance… When she finds the lost coin, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
Jesus is not physically present here today as he was back then, walking into the homes of tax collectors, sinners, and Pharisees and speaking to them so what happed then would happen today – so such lost sinners today would be found. But in another way he is. He still travels and speaks with the same clear and earnest message. Our feet are to be his feet. Our voices are to be his voice. He says, “Go and make disciples of all nations…” (Matt. 28:19). Jesus says this to his church, to believers who once were lost but now are found. Evangelism is the work of the church on earth and the responsibility of the Christian. Let us not pretend or act as if is not. The apostle Peter states the individual responsibility in his first epistle, realizing that telling others can be a scary and risky endeavor. He puts it this way: “Do not fear them or be intimidated, but in your hearts regard Christ the Lord as holy, ready at any time to give a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you.” (1 Pet. 3:14-15).
“Do not fear them.” I have a confession. I get scared at times to say to another what I could or should say. And afterwards I say to myself, “What is wrong with you, David Thompson? What are they going to do to you? Probably nothing. And even if they did, so what!” And I kick myself. But I also do one other thing. I say, “Father, forgive me.” And he does.
I share this with you not so you can look at my fear and justify yours, saying, “Well, if the pastor gets scared off at times, I guess I shouldn’t feel so bad when I say nothing when I could have.” No, you should feel bad. My fear should not be used to excuse yours. But I share this with you so you may join me in my repentance – for those times when maybe you should have said or done something to point others in the direction of Christ, but did not.
Many of you know that I became a Christian – or more accurately, was brought back to my baptismal faith – when I went to Bethany Lutheran College as a student. I became “found” because Christians there said something to me: students, professors, in the dorm rooms, in classes, in chapel. I came to faith in Christ because the message that I was lost and needed to be found was shared with me. There are a number of other people in our midst who also became Christians in their adulthood, and I have found their stories amazing: some coming out of pure atheism, some coming out of eastern mysticism. Somehow or another the message of Christ came to them. In fact, all of us who are Christians – even you have been Christians since infancy and never missed a beat – were lost and now are found because of other Christians – something they said or something they did: bringing you to baptism when you were one week old, nurturing you in the Christian faith, bringing you to God’s house to hear the message of Christ, talking to you one on one, giving you a Bible or something else to read or watch, or whatever. Evangelism is the mission of the church.
Sin is real. Hell is real. But we and our neighbors, including those still lost, are so precious to God that he sent his only Son to die for us all. And to this day, because our lost neighbors remain so precious to Jesus, and he is still hoping they will be found.
Amen.
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