(Luke 15:1-10)

             Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him.   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.”

            The parables of the lost are among my favorite passages of scripture.  There are the two that you heard today and, then, probably the most famous, the Prodigal Son, or better named, the Loving Father.  That parable comes after these two in the Gospel of Luke.

Today’s text, as you’ve already heard, begins by contrasting two groups of folks who were showing up when Jesus was preaching.  First, the tax collectors and sinners were flocking to be near Jesus, and then there were the dreaded scribes and Pharisees who were grumbling about how Jesus was not only welcoming sinners but was sitting down and eating with them.

            After setting the stage in that way, Jesus tells two beautiful stories of how precious is that which is lost, how devastated one feels with the loss, and, then, the overwhelming joy when the lost is found.  The parable of the lost sheep highlights how the shepherd will leave the other 99 alone in the wilderness in order to find that 1 because each one is so very precious.  And so it is, we are told, when one sinner changes both heart and life; it gives so much joy in heaven.  This one that is found is contrasted to the 99 righteous folk who have no need to change their hearts and lives (at least in that moment).

            The parable of the lost coin is similar to the lost sheep because we can see that that coin is so precious that the woman lights a lamp and searches carefully until she finds it.  She must have been very poor or this was a very rare coin.  She invites everyone to rejoice with her when it’s found, and we are told that “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents and changes both heart and life.”

            So, what does all this mean for us?  Well, first, it is directly about us: we who are lost.  It tells us a whole lot about how God views us when we are lost.  I’m guessing that each of us knows what it feels like to be lost.  We have felt lost, especially as children, if we couldn’t find our loved ones in a store or mall or outdoors or even at home when we expected they were there but couldn’t locate them. 

We have felt lost in a different way if we’ve been unemployed, laid off, miserable in our work or schooling, caught in a hopeless marriage, trapped in a terrible web of bad behavior, conflicted with friends or family, felt low and depressed, or even doubted life’s meaning…. 

And when we get on the other side of these times, it is as though we have been found.  The lyrics to “Amazing Grace” describe being lost and, then, found, beautifully.  “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me.  I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.” 

            Yes, we all have been lost and, yes, we are all sinners, not just the 1 sheep but the rest of those 99, as well.  So, the incredibly good news in all this is that God finds us, no matter how lost we are.

            Another way of hearing this text is to understand ourselves as the body of Christ in the world and that it is our calling to be in the world as Jesus was.  Now hear the introductory words to this scripture lesson with this in mind: “Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus.  The Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying: ‘The body of Christ, this Church, welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” 

In other words, as the body of Christ, we need to make it our mission to reach out to the lost and help them to be found.  The Church, the body of Christ, exists in order to find the lost—and, then, walk beside them on their way to be found.  REALLY, friends, we have no other reason to be in business.  We are to be Christ’s presence in the world.  We know that he sat down with everyone and ate—I mean everyone.  He reached out to those who were in trouble, who were desperate, who were lost, even of their own accord.  And he offered them God’s amazing grace.

            That Amazing Grace is not membership in a club.  It’s not a group where everyone thinks the same, acts perfectly and never ruffles anybody’s feathers. 

Instead, Amazing Grace is God’s unconditional love.  It’s there for us as we repent and turn toward God’s light and love.  God’s unconditional love is there for us as we turn away from the desperation of feeling lost and hopeless, as we turn away from thinking that if we don’t figure this out ourselves, we’ll be lost forever. 

The vision that God has for us creatures is Community.  The gift the Church has to offer is that together we can do this.  Together we can show God’s grace to all.  Together we can show unconditional love to everyone.

            …Now, folks, that’s hard.  But the thing is, these all are just pretty words if we don’t engage with this huge task.  A few days ago we observed the 25^th anniversary of the September 11^th terrorist attack on our nation.  This was perpetrated by people who were seduced into thinking that this was God’s will.  It’s difficult to even think that they and their leaders as God’s creation—but they were.  Jesus would have sat down to eat with them.  And so, as the body of Christ, that needs to be our approach as well.  Don’t get me wrong.  Their acts were heinous, unbelievably horrible, and our nation had a right to respond.  But as Jesus People, we exist under the banner of Amazing Grace, grace for all.

            …Personally, today, I am struggling with the killing of Charlie Kirk.  This guy was racist, hateful, misogynist.  He was in the business of inspiring meanness and divisiveness in our young people, and, yet, we are being encouraged to think of him as a martyr.  …No way, I think.  This is a bridge too far, and it is. 

…And yet, if I think of him as a lost sheep, yes, I’m making a judgement, but I’m also admitting that our Christ would never have stopped searching for him, that he is within the embrace of God.

            This sort of thing is what a text like this calls on us to confront.  I’m sorry.  It would be so much easier to think of this in black and white terms: Charlie Kirk bad.  Us good.  …Jesus is challenging us to put our faith in front of our every thought.

            Now, has Charlie Kirk done damage in America?  I believe he has.  We people of good will need to be working our brains out to tell the truth about America and about democracy.  Our First Responders and military folk did not sacrifice themselves in the wake of 9/11 for nothing.  Freedom and democracy and the rights of individuals to vote, to have rights and to be looked after is valuable beyond belief.  It is who we are as Americans.  But will Jesus continue always to seek the lost?  Absolutely yes!

            Back to “Amazing Grace.”  You’ve probably heard the story of its writer, John Newton.  The short version of this is that he worked on and eventually captained ships that carried slaves from Africa to England.  At some point he had a change of heart and life because God had entered into his soul, and so, he became a minister just because God had turned his life around.  His heart and life were turned around.  Through telling the truth about his story, he was able to write those wonderful lyrics, “I once was lost but now am found, was blind, but now I see.”

Meanwhile …it is our mission, our calling as Jesus People to do whatever it takes to reach out to the lost and lonely, the hurt and the deprived.  It is our mission to care for the hungry, the hurt, the lonely, the poor, the poor in Spirit, the desperate, the homeless, the imprisoned, the lost—that’s our calling.

            I challenge you today to see where God is leading you, to begin to be aware of the gifts that God has given you and to answer God’s call with courage, with joy and with enthusiasm.  Amen.