Lost

Delivered October 9, 2011

Luke 15

This morning, I am going to tell some stories that Jesus told. They are stories found in Gospel of Luke chapter 15. On this particular occasion Jesus told three stories. The first one was about a lost sheep. Luke 15:4-7 :

⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? ⁵ And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. ⁶ And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷ I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.

Once upon a time there was a shepherd. This shepherd had a flock of one hundred sheep. Middle Eastern sheep are not like the nice well-fed sheep we have here at the fair. There is not a lot of grass in the Holy Land; it is a very arid place. It was hard to find good grazing land. The shepherds had to lead the sheep far into the wilderness to find a place to graze. He would stay out in the wilderness with his flock for days or weeks at a time, eating and sleeping in the wilderness. Each night the shepherd would gather his sheep together and count his sheep. That is where the whole idea of counting sheep to go to sleep came from. You have heard it said that if you can’t fall asleep, try counting sheep. That is where it came from. This guy was counting his sheep one night, and no matter how often he counted them, he always came up one short. He only had 99 sheep. He had lost one.

What does a shepherd do who has lost a sheep? Back then there were a lot of predators in the wilderness. The chances were that if he left his flock of 99 sheep in search of the one lost sheep, that he would come back to find only 98 or 97 sheep left. A wolf or a lion would have caught and eaten one while the shepherd wasn’t there to protect them with his rod and staff. That is what the famous 23^rd psalm is talking about: ”Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me.” If he went off looking for a lost sheep, not only would one or more other sheep be eaten, but the remaining sheep would be scattered. He would have a lot more than one lost sheep. And he would have a heck of a time getting all those sheep back together again.

Therefore most shepherds back then, if they were alone in the wilderness and lost a sheep, they would simply right it off as a 1% loss. Unless there was another shepherd around to guard the remaining sheep, he would not leave the 99 to go in search of the one lost sheep.  He would be taking a big chance to go looking for one lost sheep. But that is exactly what the shepherd in Jesus’ story does. Jesus says, ⁴ “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?” The audience would be shocked at this suggestion! The normal response to this would be “No! None of us! We would not leave the 99 and go in search of the one!” So this shepherd in Jesus’ story was doing something shocking. Jesus would be telling this story in this manner to get a strong reaction from his audience. His audience would disagree and shout in protest. “No, don’t do it, shepherd.” They would think that this shepherd was crazy to leave the 99 to go in search of the one. And yet that is what the shepherd does.

Jesus tells this story to show us how radical God’s love is. God cares so much for the one who is lost that he does not count the cost. He is willing to do whatever it takes to recover the lost sheep. That is what God has done for us in Jesus Christ. That is what the cross is about. God is willing to do whatever it takes to find us and save us. This should sound shocking to us – as shocking as that story was to Jesus’ hearers. The cross is a shocking sight! It is not pretty or peaceful or beautiful. It is a man being tortured and killed. Why was it necessary for Christ to die? Why not just have some nice teachings about love and compassion, the Golden Rule and the Ten Commandments. Isn’t that enough? It is enough for the 99 maybe, but not for the one who is lost in the wilderness. The one sheep lost in the wilderness has no chance of survival unless the shepherd searches for him and finds him.

That is what the gospel is about. That is what Jesus Christ did. Christ is the good shepherd. Jesus said his mission was to seek and save the lost, not counting the cost to himself. He said, “I did not come for the righteous, but to call sinners to repentance.” He says at the end of this story, “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance.” God is reckless in his love for us. He was even willing to send his only Son to die that we might have eternal life. That is how much he loves you. And when he finds you he carries you in his arms, and there is a party in heaven. He shouts to all who will hear, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ ⁷

The Lost Coin

Next he tells the story of a lost coin. ⁸ “Or what woman, having ten silver coins,^[a] if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’ ¹⁰ Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

Women back then in that Middle Eastern culture usually did not have much to call their own. There were exceptions, of course, but most money and property were owned and controlled by men. But one thing a woman had was her jewelry that she wore. That was hers. In ancient times a woman’s jewelry was made of gold and silver, often in the form of coins used as decoration on clothing. When a woman was married, she was given a ring of coins as a headband on her wedding day. Gold coins were preferable for husbands who could afford it; the bigger the coin and the more coins the better. Kind of like diamond engagement rings today, the bigger and more expensive the better. But the minimum was ten silver drachmas. These were hers no matter what. Her husband could not take them away from her. These were her insurance policy that she kept for a rainy day, in case of emergency or if her husband divorced her.

This woman in this story was not wealthy. She had the minimum of ten silver drachmas. A drachma was about an eighth of an ounce of silver. Silver prices today are about $30an ounce, which would make this coin worth less than 4 dollars. Not a lot by today’s American standard. It cost you more than that to get into the fair. But to the very poor in the world, that is a lot of money. And to this woman these coins were everything she had.  So the coins in this story were not just some loose change. To lose one of these coins would be shocking. For one thing it would be obvious to everyone since she wore them regularly.The closest equivalent would be if a woman today lost her engagement ring or her wedding band. If you lose your diamond engagement ring, then you turn the house upside down looking for it. That is what happened in this story.

One day this woman noticed that one of the ten coins had come off her headdress. She panicked. Where was it? She retraced her steps from the last time she knew she had them. You know what you do when you lose something; you try to figure out the last time you had it and where you were. She figured that the coin probably was somewhere in the house. So she started looking.

Back then houses are not like they are today. There was no electricity, and often there were no windows. If there were any windows, they were small. So the house was dark. That is why the story tells us that the woman lit an oil lamp to look for the coin. You also have to remember that that most houses, except for those of the very wealthy had packed dirt floors. So if a coin dropped on the floor, it would be soon covered in dust or dirt. And if you swept it, you risked burying it even more. But she swept every inch of that house hoping to brush the dust off the lost coin. So picture her, bent over with an oil lamp in one hand (which doesn’t give off much light anyway) and a brush in the other, going over every inch of that floor looking for her lost coin.

Then suddenly there is a glimmer of silver and she finds it! The story says that she is so happy that she calls her friends and neighbors together and has a party. Jesus says, “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  Joy in heaven. That is how Jesus describes the reaction in heaven when one person comes to God. Jesus says that the angels throw a party in heaven when one person turns away from themselves and turns to God. He said the same thing in the story of the lost sheep.

You are of great value to God. Each one of us is a treasure in the eyes of God. It doesn’t matter what the world thinks or what other people think. It doesn’t matter how much money you have, property you own, or power you wield. In God’s eyes you are of eternal value. When we are lost under the dirt and grime of life – how the world has treated us or what we think of ourselves - he will keep searching until he finds us. And when he finds us, he will throw a party in our honor in heaven. This is how great God’s love is for us and how great his joy is when we come into fellowship with him.

The Lost Son  

The third story he tells is about a lost son. There was a man in those days that had two sons. He loved them both. The older son was the serious, responsible type. You know the way first-born children are. He helped his father take care of their large estate, which had many servants and workers. The younger son was not so responsible. He was restless. He wanted to get out and get on his own and see the world. So he went to his father one day and asked if he could have his portion of the inheritance early. Back then the inheritance laws gave the first born twice as much as the second son. But that didn’t matter. He knew it would be a lot no matter what. And he didn’t want to wait. He wanted his inheritance now. So he went to his father and asked for it.

Back then in that culture, that was not considered a very nice thing to ask. In fact in that culture, it would have been shocking. It was like saying, “I wish you were dead, dad.” But the father did not get angry or scold his son. He agreed to give the young man his share of the estate. That boy suddenly found himself very rich. And he went off to a far country to start a new life. But as I said, he was not very practical or responsible. But he liked to have a good time. He went through that money in a few years of living it up. Then the economy took a turn for the worse. Back then we are not talking about a stock market crash; we are talking about famine. There was a severe famine in the land, and this young man ended up with nothing. No food, no property, and no money to buy food, no family and no friends. The friends who partied with him during the good times were fair weather friends only. When the boy was down on his luck, they were nowhere to be found.

He finally found someone who would take him in as a hired hand, but he had to start at the bottom. The entry level job was to feed the pigs, which was not a good job for a nice Jewish boy. Pigs were considered unclean to Jews. And even that job did not pay enough even to put food on his table. Sometimes he was so hungry he wanted to eat the slop he fed to the pigs. He was in bad shape.

Then he thought to himself about the way it was back on his father’s estate. He remembered that even the servants had much more than he had now. And he was desperate. If he stayed where he was, he would slowly die. So he figured he would go back to this father’s house, and beg for a job as a hired servant. He knew that he did not deserve to be brought back as a son, but he figured that his father would allow him to come back as a servant. On his way home, he rehearsed the speech he was going to give. “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Please make me like one of your hired servants.”

But when he got within sight of his home, a startling thing happened. His father, who was a very dignified gentleman of high standing in the community, ran to meet him. He apparently had been waiting and hoping for his son’s return. He searched the horizon daily, looking for some sign of his son. And when he saw his son walking down the dirt road toward home, this old man was so overjoyed that ran as fast as he could. When he reached his son, he hugged him and kissed him and tears of joy ran down his face. The son gave his well-rehearsed speech but the father ignored it. He shouted to the servants to bring him his best robe to put on the son, to take the place of the rags he was wearing. He told him to put shoes on his bare feet, and to arrange a big feast in honor of his returned son. He said, “Let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”

Furthermore he told the servants to put a ring on his finger. This would be a signet ring; it took the place of a signature in those days. By giving him this ring, it was like giving him the family credit card. He was in fact welcoming this son back as a full member of the family, with a share once again in the family wealth. The younger son had been fully restored to his previous position.

We are loved by our heavenly Father. You are loved by God. No matter what we have done or where we have been. No matter how much we have spurned the God’s love, he loves us. He loves the one who rejects him and runs away from home, who strays into the far country. He loves the one who stays at the home, the responsible one, the one who does not feel loved. He loves us all. We simply have to accept that love. Then once again the lost shall be found.