Brothers and sisters in Christ it is easy to resent those who don’t play by the rules. We have all seen those who drive up in lane closures to merge at the very front of the line instead of waiting with everyone else. It is easy to mistrust those who have such different values in life that little things you value seem to mean nothing to them.
In our gospel reading from Luke, the Pharisees and Scribes are struggling to see Jesus befriending those who don’t [play by the rules or value what they value. Jesus is eating with tax collectors, and sinners!
They begin to 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. They have made their choice long ago to only spend time with those who appear to be flawless like them.
Jesus answers with three parables that illustrate how what looks to be an undesirable choice from the self righteous is actually a clear the choice. The clear choice is for God to seek after and rescue those who are lost.
Jesus shames their hasty choice to cast off any consideration for the outcasts of their day. He states in his parable of the lost sheep that it is self evident that any of them would seek after one of their 100 lost sheep and bring it safely back in the fold. The value of the 1 sheep is significant, and the 99 are not necessarily in greater danger in seeking after the one.
A shepherd will without hesitation 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.
The Pharisees likely did not have seen things that way. They might count their losses and conclude that having 99 sheep that are safe is good enough. Their perspective on the scenario is about self interest or business management.
Jesus is providing a divine perspective that is grounded not in self interest but in God’s steadfast love. 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 any one person who is lost and without a right relationship with Jesus, being found and rescued by Jesus brings a complete change of fortune. For this reason when a person who has been lost, is found by Jesus, it is cause for great rejoicing. The choice for God is clear cut, spare no expense to save the lost. There is no comparison or cost benefit analysis about how the person who is lost is worth less than all those who are safely in the fold.
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.”
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 no different than the lost. 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.
Our gospel reading implies a few application takeaways for us the church. First of all, don’t take for granted the joy Jesus has in us, as he rescues us from our state of lostness and celebrates that we have been found. 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.”
When my wife and I only had our oldest son, he was at the age where he liked to hold onto a car or two on a shopping trip or whatever errand we went on. Since I remembered these cars from when I was young, I was sad when it seemed like they were gradually disappearing one by one. I checked under couches, in our cars and in his room and only found one or two more-but probably at least 7 unaccounted for. Son, did you ever put any of your cars in the garbage? Have you been leaving them at stores? Do you remember where you put them? Week and weeks passed by and I concluded that one way or another I would not see them again.
Until one day my wife began a yoga or pilates video in our family room. While laying on her mat she was face to face with a hot wheel car- inside our bass speaker. The bottom of the speaker was just wide enough for a 2 year old arm to fit in. A few shakes of the speaker and everything lost and then some was found.
How much greater is the joy when a person who was lost is found! There is joy in telling the lost about Jesus. 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. Nothing helps us to know and understand Jesus love for us more than learning how to describe to others what we believe Jesus does for us.
Who in our surrounding community do we tend to write off as lost causes in our world today? Those who say they don’t believe in God? Those who simply give no thought to spiritual matters in their life? Those who are bitter over life circumstances and feel they would not trust others in the church- they will hurt me like everyone else has hurt me in my life.
Do we consider any of these 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 the gift of saving faith in 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- and great was the rejoicing in heaven when we were found. Remember 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. However in the context of all of the scripture and the rest of the gospel of Matthew it is clear that the most 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 a wonderful perspective on how God sees us. An invaluable perspective in our proclaiming the good news of the kingdom to the lost. 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. Not just a lost coin but a lost jewel in the radiant setting of the church’s crown. May God grant us faith that helps us to speak about this love of Jesus and show this love in our lives.