Today's Sermon

 

"Lost and Found: On the Road Series"

 

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 sheep that was lost.’ 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? 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.”

Note – the sermon began with a video clip from songwriter Cory Asbury talking about his song, “Reckless Love,” which was inspired by this reading from Luke’s Gospel.  You can find it here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sri6F9ZH0uk&list=RDSri6F9ZH0uk&start_radio=1

This is the last Sunday in our worship series titled, “On the Road.” And certainly as we journey through our lives, we are going to get lost.  Like the sheep was lost.  Like the coin was lost. There are oh, so many ways to get lost on the road.  Lost in our faith.  Lost in our relationships.  Lost morally or ethically.  Being a human is hard and it is so easy to lose our way.  Thank goodness God is always ready to seek us out. Thank goodness we can never stray so far that God cannot find us.  Thank goodness God always wants to seek and find us, no matter how badly we may have messed up.  Praise be to God for God’s reckless love.

That is a very important message in this scripture passage.  But, it is not the only message. Let’s listen again to how this passage begins – “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.”  And we know that it was not only “sinners” who Jesus ate and spent time with.  He welcomed all the outcasts of society. People who were shunned by those in power.  People who were overlooked.  People who were alone.  People who had nothing to give him in return. People who were lost.  Jesus gathered them all in, and those in power were upset by that. Let’s not overlook that part of this passage.

The traditional reading of this passage is that the seeker in these parables is God.  God is the shepherd who seeks the lost sheep.  God is the woman who seeks the lost coin.  (Side note: how great is it that Jesus tells a parable where the God figure is female!)  When we are feeling lost, God will stop at nothing to find us. But, let’s take a moment and put ourselves in a different role in the story – not as the one being sought, but as the seeker.  The passage begins with Jesus welcoming and eating with all.  Jesus is the seeker of the lost.  If, as followers of Jesus, we are called to do as Jesus does, are we not then also called to seek out the lost?  To be the shepherd looking for the sheep?  To be the woman searching for the coin?

In order to do that, we need to ask another question … who in our society needs to be found and welcomed in with God’s unconditional love? Who are those currently being shunned or outcast whom God is calling us to seek out?  Who has been shoved aside and made to feel lost, whether or not they actually are lost?  I think about our immigrant neighbors.  I think about our transgender neighbors.  I’m sure you have plenty of others you might add to that list.  How do we show them the reckless love of God?

Or, are the lost those who have power?  The scribes and Pharisees who hold their privileged status with such a tight grip that they cannot fathom Jesus deigning to welcome the riff raff.  Have some our leaders currently in power, regardless of political affiliation, wandered so far from God’s love that it is they who need finding?  How might we seek and find and share the reckless love of God with all people?

Did you notice that this passage focuses quite a bit on sin.  Jesus ends of both of his stories by saying there will be much joy over one sinner who repents.  Who are the sinners?  The assumption might be that the sinners are the ones who are reallylost, which can make it easy to just point the finger at someone else – they’re the sinner. My seminary preaching professor, the Rev. Penny Nixon says that the sinners in this story are the ones who need repentance, who “need their minds changed.”  Which, let’s be clear, is all of us.  Nixon says, “God rejoices when we change our minds about who is in and who is out. The rejoicing happens when community is complete and there is no such category as the oneand the ninety-nine. True repentance happens when our minds are changed to such a degree that we cannot see a community as whole until all are included and none are ‘lost.””[i]

I want to sing through the entire “Reckless Love” song and as you listen, I encourage you to think about not only the joy of receiving that love from God, which is very important, but also how you might offer that love as well.  How you might help to gather and create that community where none are lost?

Reckless Love, by Cory Asbury

Before I spoke a word, You were singing over me
You have been so, so good to me
Before I took a breath, You breathed Your life in me
You have been so, so kind to me 

Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God
Oh, it chases me down, fights 'til I'm found, leaves the 99
And I couldn't earn it, and I don't deserve it, still, You give Yourself away
Oh, the overwhelming, never-ending, reckless love of God

When I was Your foe, still Your love fought for me
You have been so, so good to me
When I felt no worth, You paid it all for me
You have been so, so kind to me

There's no shadow You won't light up, mountain You won't climb up
Coming after me
There's no wall You won't kick down, lie You won't tear down
Coming after me

We receive God’s love and we share God’s love.  Both important pieces of this passage from Luke’s Gospel.  There is a third piece to consider that is highlighted in our passage from the prophet Jeremiah.  Listen for what the Spirit may be saying through these words – “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.”

When we are lost, we don’t have to just sit around waiting for God to find us.  Yes, God will find us, but we can also seek out God.  God wants us to seek!  I will hear you, says God.  You will find me.  This is not a game of hide and seek, for God is not hiding.  God wants to be found.

Pastor Molly Baskette wrote a book about 10 years ago titled, “Standing Naked Before God: The Art of Public Confession.”  In it, she retells stories and testimonies that her congregants have shared publicly in worship or in other settings about seeking God and being sought by God.  One of these stories recently caught my eye, shared by a 29 year old woman named Alissa. She was walking home from work one evening and was hit by a car while crossing the street in the crosswalk. The driver did not stop, but instead drove away, leaving her there on the street. Luckily, she was not badly hurt. The angle was such that she bounced off the bumper, rather than being run over.  She was wearing a thick winter coat that buffered her fall, so she was not badly injured.  Alissa remembers, “I thought I should feel grateful for all the ways that God was looking out for me. But I did not feel grateful: I felt defenseless, scared, sad, and furious.  How dare the driver be so careless? How dare that person run into me and then drive away, like it was nothing? Like I was nothing? Why does it feel like there is no one watching out for me? I didn’t even know whom to call.  I didn’t have a capital P Person and God wasn’t showing up for me in any of the ways that I wanted, namely in the shape of a human who could give me a hug and see me home safely. Why was I so alone?”

Alissa was lost, in many different ways.  What did she do?  She went to church the next Sunday, as she usually did on Sunday mornings. When she arrived, she noticed a new mother sitting in the back corner with her baby twins who were both looking very awake and needy.  Alissa asked the mom if she needed a hand, and she responded that it would be really helpful if Alissa would hold Paddy while the mom fed his sister. She says, “I picked Paddy up and his tiny fist grabbed a handful of my sweater and he fell fast asleep.  I got to cuddle him for the rest of the service.  And as I looked down at him, so innocent and vulnerable-looking in his slumber, I realized: that sense of comfort that I’d wanted to feel after the accident – I hadn’t received it when I wanted to, but when I gave it to someone else, I felt it too. In some mysterious, cosmic way, giving Paddy warmth, safety, and love actually made me feel safe and loved.  This sense of God’s love didn’t erase the vulnerability I’d felt after the hit and run, but it came alongside the negativity of that experience, and made it bearable.”[ii]

When she was feeling lost, Alissa sought God in the presence of her church community, shared God’s love with a new mom who herself was feeling lost, and ended up found by God through the peace and comfort of a sleeping baby.  As we journey on the road, may we seek, may we find, and may we be found by God’s reckless love.  Amen.

[i]“Feasting on the Word, Year C, Vol. 4,” pg. 73.

[ii]“Standing Naked Before God,” by Molly Phinney Baskette, pp. 67-69.