Luke 15:1-10
Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
This lesson highlights two ways to get lost. Neither recommended and yet both universal and unavoidable. The first is like a sheep. Head down, eat some grass, spot the next tuft, move, munch, repeat until one day you look up, have no idea where you are, and discover… you’re lost. The other way we get lost is to be suddenly and unceremoniously dropped by life right on our heads… or on our tails… like a coin. In one sudden and painful crash, sometimes followed by a brief or extended, wobbling roll… we find ourselves concussed and wedged in some unexpected, unknown, and very undesirable spot. Head spinning. Lost.
I see you all nodding. We’ve all wandered off like sheep. We’ve all been dropped on our heads by life, like a coin. We’ve all been lost. Many of us feel lost right now! So why do we pretend for the world that we are not? Why do we, like the Pharisees and the Scribes in this story, not admit to wandering off inadvertently or that life has dropped us on our head and we feel like we’ve rolled into some deep, dark, life-crisis crevasse? Why is it, that when we are asked, “how are you doing”, we automatically respond with, “Oh, I’m Okay… I’m fine… I’m hangin’ in there… doin’ good” or some other culturally appropriate BS when the truth is… I’m LOST!
Jesus knew being lost was not just a “tax collector” thing or a “sinner” thing… it was then, and is now, an every human being thing! Every single solitary one of us wanders off and gets lost… not just once in a while… but all the dang time! Every single one of us goes from being just fine, safe, and secure in the cozy-coin-purse of life one minute, to being suddenly and terrifyingly dropped hard on the floor, rolling to who knows where, and completely LOST in the next. And sometimes it feels like we aren’t just the coin of a careful, tidy, woman who only drops us once. No! All too often this life feels like we’re a coin belonging to Major Shaky McFumblefingers who drops us hard on our heads, over and over and over and over again!
With that in mind, I’d like to propose that in this room… in this “flock” we all just agree to say “I’m LOST” when that’s what we are. No more “I’m hanging in there” when you’re only hanging on by your fingertips. No saying you’re “Okay” when you feel painfully alone. As individuals, there ain’t nobody here who has never been LOST… multiple times… some of us multiple times this week! Yes, I’m suggesting we face a scary thing… Both being LOST and more so being HONEST about it! But here’s why I think we can do both. Because it is BOTH God’s Speciality AND God's Great Joy to find the us when we are lost, scoop us up, bring us home, and throw a universe-thumping party to celebrate! This Gospel tells us that God is both GOOD at finding the lost… and LOVES doing it! I think we can brave being honest because getting lost is simply part of being human AND finding the lost is simply part of being The Divine. It is literally a match made in heaven!
But, you say, what about when it’s my fault I got lost? Maybe I wasn’t just dropped by life. Maybe I wandered off? THE DIVINE DOES NOT CARE! Because finding the lost, however they got that way, is the Divine’s Great JOY! But, you say, I get lost all the time, for the same reason, over and over and over again and never seem to learn my lesson. Again, I can’t emphasize this enough… THE DIVINE DOESN’T CARE! Because it is God’s HEAVEN-SIZED, CALL THE ANGELS TO REJOICE, GREAT JOY to find you over and over and over again just as often as you might wander off or as often as life… a.k.a. Major Shaky McFumblefingers drops you on your head (or your tail) like a coin. How many ever times you get lost… THAT is how many times God will REVEL in the JOY of finding you, bringing you back, and throwing another party!
In Church-y lingo, we call that Grace, and you and I… EVEN as highly imperfect, perpetually lost, and repeatedly dropped on our heads followers of Jesus… You and I are NOT ONLY called to give thanks for the Grace that finds US over and over and over again… BUT WE ARE ALSO called to make Grace OUR Speciality and OUR Joy as well. Of course, individually we have absolutely no chance of finding our way out of a paper bag let alone a lost sheep, coin, family member, friend, or neighbor. Individually we are just as lost as that joker sitting right next to you right now! Yeah, that one.
Individually we are indeed nearly perpetually LOST… but together… OH, TOGETHER… we are nothing less than the Body of Christ! Together, in some mystical way, we are the Good Shepherd with the fully developed specialty of finding the lost, hoisting them on our shoulders, and bringing them home to a party! Together, in that same mystical way, we are caught up with the Divine in Feminine form, lighting the lamp of unrelenting Grace, expertly searching the darkness, lifting the lost back to life again, and celebrating with the heavenly host! Individually we are, and can only be, completely and totally lost. But together… Oh TOGETHER… together, members and friends, both new and old... Together we are nothing less than the Body of Christ, gifted with the power to bring God’s unrelenting Grace to our neighbors... and Grace, it turns out, is exactly what our world most desperately needs right now. Amen.
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