Brothers and sisters in Christ, we heard the words in our Introit so clearly. “You have turned for me my mourning into dancing.” I can’t picture more of a dramatic change than going from mourning and crying to dancing and celebration. What a joy to have one difficult outcome in place in a way that feels permanent, only to have something completely different happen instead.
Imagine if you invested a large amount of money into a stock for a company. Over the course of a year you see the share price go down lower and lower to the point that you think you have just about lost a fortune. And then things start to change, the stock is going up and the value is twice as much as you originally invested. Things went from disaster to rejoicing.
But a fortune lost and a fortune gained is not the reason for celebration in the setting of Psalm 30. Money, or the outcome of a sports event, or whether who you ask out to the prom says yes or no- these are not the swings of fortune that God’s Word is referring to when it says: “Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”
This joy, this dancing, this tremendous change comes for one reason and one reason alone, the salvation that Christ wins for us. The true cause of celebration in any of our lives is that Christ rescues us from death and brings us into his kingdom.
In our sinful nature we make other things more important than the cause for celebration that Christ’s victory on the cross brings to the world. We care about the outcome of things that are in our own control more than the most important things which are in God’s control. We make risk calculations to see if one choice is safer than another choice. We consider appearances, and what people will think of us as we make our decisions over the course of action in our lives.
In gospel reading from Luke, the Pharisees and scribes criticize the choice Jesus makes to eat with sinners and tax collectors. To their reasoning, why should Jesus eat with these sinners when there are plenty of righteous people to dine with? They don’t understand the choice Jesus made, and they assume it was a poor choice. Aren’t appearances more important than showing mercy to the outcasts of the world? And if you eat with such people, does that just encourage and reward their regrettable life choices?
Jesus answers their objections with three parables that illustrate how clear the choice is for God to seek after and rescue those who are lost.
Jesus states that it is obvious that any of them would seek after one of their 100 lost sheep and bring it safely back in the fold. A shepherd will seek after the 1 lost sheep out of 100. Likewise Jesus describes the woman seeking after the lost coin, and states that it is a given that anyone in the same position as the woman will look for the lost coin.
Finding the lost one out of 99 is a cause for celebration not because it represents a recovery of 1% of the owners assets, but because it means everything to that particular sheep which is lost. To the world you and I are just a number. Under difficult circumstances we are expendable in the world’s eyes. But to Jesus we are like the lost coin- we are well worth rescuing. Jesus values you and I so greatly that he died on the cross for us.
The cost of saving those who are lost is nothing else other than the life of Jesus on the cross. Jesus came to seek the lost, not those who consider themselves secure in their righteousness. The cost for paying for the sins of the lost and all of our sins was for Jesus to take on all of our sins on the cross.
The lost are not simply those outside of the church, but can also include us. Recall St. Paul’s confession of faith from our Epistle lesson: “”The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”
Like St. Paul we need to recognize the gravity of our sin. Every Christian must like St. Paul be able to recognize the ways in which you can see yourself as chief of sinners in need of God’s mercy. Satan wants us to think of ourselves in the church as firmly entrenched in the ranks of the righteous 99, in no danger of falling away.
But the reality is that we are safe only in our faith in Christ. It is a mistake to assume that simply belonging to a church and having an identity as a Christian is what makes us among the 99 described in the parable. If we are secure in our own righteousness and have no need of Jesus, then we are truly in a lost state.
Without the mercy of Christ, we are in a manner of speaking right at the edge of a cliff, susceptible to falling off and becoming one who is lost and separated from the fold.
When we recognize that we also can be among those who are lost, we appreciate even more the mercy of God that saves us. When we appreciate how Jesus has given everything to go after us and find us in our state of lostness, we desire to show the same to others.
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It would be a mistake to think that God does not take joy in us because of our failures to live our lives in unwavering faith. When we repent of the mistakes we make Jesus welcomes us back with great joy. The joy is not confused with emotions, of, “well I’m glad you are found again, but you never should have ran off in the first place.”
The Pharisees and scribes believed the tax collectors and sinners were lost causes. Perhaps the Pharisees and scribes convinced themselves that there was nothing in God’s Word that they could have said to change or convince sinners of their need for repentance. Jesus of course says, this is not so. It is not a thankless task to share the good news of the kingdom to the lost.
The joy of sharing the good news of the gospel with the lost is that some people do respond in faith through the power of the Holy Spirit. And even if we do not see people repenting in response to God’s Word, as we share God’s Word we are giving ourselves the chance to internalize in our lives the good news of the kingdom applied to us. The good news we share to others is also good news to ourselves whenever we lose sight of the saving work of Jesus in our lives.
I wonder, who do we tend to write off as lost causes in our world today? Those who consider themselves atheists? Those who are just having a good time with life and give no thought to God? Or what about those who say that the church is full of people who let you down, and those who say the Bible isn’t fair or God isn’t fair.
Do we consider such people lost causes? Jesus does not. Lost causes are His specialty. Lost causes are the ones who really give great reason for celebrating and rejoicing when they are found through repentance and new life in Christ.
Prior to our baptism, we were enemies of God on account of our sin. Jesus sought us out and called us through His Word and through the gift of new life in Holy Baptism. We were sought after as hopelessly lost causes- with nothing but the curse of sin running through our bodies. And great was the rejoicing in heaven when we were found. Recall the words from our Old Testament reading from Ezekiel: “I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out.”
God sent his own Son to us to search for us and rescue us. Just like in the parable of the lost sheep and coin, Jesus considered us so important that he rejoiced over finding us.
This unsurpassed worth in which God places the lost is described well in the short parable of the merchant in search of the pearl of great worth in the gospel of Matthew chapter 13: 45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all that he had and bought it.
We often read this parable as a lesson about valuing our relationship with God above all else, as in we should be like that merchant and recognize that our relationship with God is more valuable than any other pearls out there in the world. But the most specific and accurate meaning of this parable Jesus told is that Jesus himself is the merchant in search of us. The church is that pearl of great price that Jesus gave all he had to posses.
This is the wonderful truth on how God sees us. Jesus gives all he has for us. We can let those who seem like lost causes know that in God’s eyes they are of unsurpassed worth. They are to Jesus a pearl of great worth for whom Jesus gave up everything without a moment’s hesitation. May God grant us faith that helps us to speak about this love of Jesus and show this love in our lives.