What It Means to Be Lost…And Found

Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28; Luke 15:1-10

            I used to deer hunt with my father-in-law. Now, I need to be clear about this.  I wouldn’t have killed a deer if it had ambled up and licked my boots.  First, my daughters, who were young at the time, would have accused me of murdering Bambi.  Then my wife would have said, “David, you know there is plenty of food at the grocery store.”  So, I went deer hunting mostly to watch the sun rise and to spend time with my father-in-law.

            One day I got lost in the woods.  I mean seriously lost.  So I thought.  I was not to the point of panic, but I wasn’t far from it.  We were in thick woods down in Coosa County, where my father-in-law owned some property.  I had been walking for about thirty minutes, and I suddenly realized I couldn’t locate any landmarks.  Every tree looked alike.  I couldn’t see any of my hunting party.  I couldn’t hear anybody.  Nothing.

            I started walking in what I thought was the right direction.  After a while, I started calling out for anyone in our hunting party.  It wasn’t long before I heard my father-in-law’s voice, “Hey, boy, you lost?” He wasn’t far away, so I walked over to where he was. “What, did you get lost?” he asked.    “Oh, no, no, I wasn’t lost.  I just wasn’t sure where you were,” I said, not wanting to admit I was lost.

            Well, truthfully, I was lost.  It was still a little dark.  I was alone.  But here’s what I didn’t know.  While I felt lost and alone, I was actually very close to being found and didn’t know it.

            Lost and found have taken on a religious meaning because of our text from Luke 15, my favorite chapter in the Gospel of Luke.  It is a series of three parables.  The first is about a lost sheep.  Its twin is about a lost coin.  The lectionary does not include the third parable in Luke 15, but it is about a lost son, actually two lost sons.  That which is lost in each of the parables is found, and the entire community rejoices.  But notice where else rejoicing occurs.  “I tell you,” Jesus said, “there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”

            I want to ask this existential question:  what does it mean to be lost…and found?  Most of us grew up with Sunday School answers to that question.  It was a simple black and white answer.  You were either lost or found, saved or not saved.  Our answers today are probably more nuanced.  I’m going to give you my answer in a moment, drawn from my own personal experience.  You don’t have to accept my answer.  I only ask that you consider it.  I admit that it would probably be edited out of LifeWay Sunday School literature today, but I believe it is true.

            First, let me introduce you to the main characters in these two parables.  Let’s begin with the Pharisees and scribes, whose murmuring against Jesus prompted the telling of the two stories.  The Pharisees were a deeply religious and respected order of men who devoted their lives to God.  We often speak critically of the Pharisees today because of their legalism, but they were highly regarded in their day.  They studied the Hebrew scriptures and maintained purity in all matters.  Because of their concern for purity, they lived separate from the impure population.  Eating a meal with impure folks?  Not an option. Pharisees ate meals only with those who, like them, observed the laws of purity. 

The next group is the scribes.  The New International Version refers to them as “the teachers of the law.”  That’s who they were.  Since they had extensive knowledge of the Law of Moses, they actually carried dual roles.  While they were religious figures, they also functioned like a lawyer in our day, drafting legal documents for marriages, divorces, sales of land, etc.

            Here’s what happened.  Luke says “tax collectors and sinners” were so attracted to Jesus’ teachings they drew in close to listen to him.  The Pharisees and scribes saw this.  Apparently, they also saw Jesus eating meals with these impure people.  That did not match their definition of a “religious person.”  So, Luke says they murmured about Jesus saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

            Let me give you the David Freeman translation of that verse, “This fellow welcomes the lost and even eats with them.”

            You probably know how reviled tax collectors were back in biblical days.  They were shady characters, the ones everybody loved to hate.  Here’s how their tax system worked.  A tax collector paid the Roman government in advance the tax that was due from his region.  To front that kind of payment meant that tax collectors had to have significant resources.  Once he paid the Roman government, he then had to go out and collect the taxes, replenish his front money, and then make a profit, the emphasis being on the later.  Tax collectors were notorious for abuse, corruption, and their wealth.

            The other group the Pharisees and scribes murmured about is referred to generically as “sinners.”  This is probably a reference to people who broke moral laws and who did not maintain ritual purity.

            The stage is set now for the two parables.  The first is about a shepherd who had a hundred sheep.  One became lost.  Jesus said the shepherd left the ninety-nine in the wilderness and searched until he found the one that was lost.  He called all his neighbors and friends together saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.”  Jesus then said that there is joy in heaven every time one who is lost is found.

            The twin parable is about a woman who lost a coin. The lost coin was one of ten coins.  Today it would be worth about $300.  I don’t know about you, but if I lost $300 I would look diligently for it.  Jesus said this woman sought until she found her lost coin.  She too called her neighbors and friends together saying, “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.”  Again, Jesus said there is joy in heaven when one who is lost is found.

            So, here’s my question: what does it mean to be lost…and found?  Here’s my answer.  To be lost means to be unavailable to the one to whom you matter.  All of the sheep mattered to the shepherd.  One was unavailable.  All the coins mattered to the woman.  One was lost to her.  It was unavailable.  The lost sheep and the lost coin represent the lost people of their time, the tax collectors and sinners, people who were unavailable to God.  They were lost to God and lost to the community.  The searching shepherd and the searching woman represent God.  Don’t overlook this feminine image of God.  They are few, but there are feminine images of God in the Bible.  This is one of them.  The shepherd and the woman didn’t just search until they grew weary.  They didn’t search until the sun went down.  They searched until they found.  Then the celebration began.  These two parables highlight the pleasure, the absolute joy of God, when one who is unavailable to God and the community is recovered, i.e., found. “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents,” Jesus told them.

There is something scandalous about this text, something the Pharisees and scribes could not grasp.  These parables do not celebrate the purity of the Pharisees.  They do not throw a party to rejoice about the scripture knowledge of the scribes.  No, they celebrate reviled tax collectors who found welcome in the presence of Jesus.  They celebrate morally loose sinners who found welcome in the presence of Jesus.  Those who were unavailable to God were listening to Jesus, coming in close, and becoming available, about to be found.

Now, let me take this one step further.  This certainly would be edited out of the Sunday School lesson.  My experience has been that any of us can become unavailable to God, even after we’ve been found.  That one sheep may have run away every week, and every week it had to be found again.  Lostness is not a once and done transaction, i.e., you were lost and then found never to be lost again.  My experience is that we can be lost and found and lost again and found again and then lost and found yet again.  Religiously speaking, to be lost means to be unavailable to God, the One to whom we matter.  Maybe you spent last year unavailable to God.  The pandemic and other losses in your life caused you to close off, to put up a stiff arm.  But then healing came, and along with it grace.  You were found, available again, and the heavens rejoiced.  Maybe you spent five years or ten years unavailable to God.  You felt very lost.  Then some light shined upon you, and along with it grace.  You were found, available to God again, and the heavens rejoiced. 

This may be the best part of all.  When we’re lost, unavailable to God, when it’s dark, lonely, and we’re about to panic, we don’t realize how close we are to being found. 

            May I make it personal now?  Are you available to God?  Notice I didn’t say, “Are you lost?”  I know our answer to that: “Oh, no, no, I’m not lost.”  Are you available to God?  If you are in a season of life where you are unavailable to God, be aware of how close you are to being found.

Closing Prayer 

            Lord, we thank you for the good news of Jesus.  We’ve been lost and found.  Some of us are lost today.  Help us to see how close you are.  Amen.