Luke 15:1–10
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
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? When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, 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 people who need no repentance.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
‘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 neighbours, 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.’
Reflection
God will seek you out and hunt you down. Even in the midst of your sinful self. Especially in your sin and the way you are, God will hunt you down. God knows more about you than you do and God still wants you to be with him throughout all eternity. God also gives you free will and permits you to make decisions on your own. Decisions that may even harm or hurt you and decisions that may hurt God, but God still loves you. God loves you so much that when you stray or get lost, he hunts you down to bring you back with him.
God loves us so much that he hunts us down in the flesh, in Jesus Christ and in the spirit, in the Holy Spirit. God hunts us down to save us from sin, death and the devil. God hunts us down to bring us back to him and to those who are his. What a love of God! A love that gives life for our life, a love that gives time for our time, a love that gives eternity for a moment with us. God comes to us, in love for us, to save us.
How will you respond, as a lost sheep, or a lost coin, to God's hunting? Will you resent being found and brought back? Will you run away or get lost again? Will you rejoice with God in the finding? How will you respond? God permits you to respond. Think about it, but realize that God loves you so much that he gave his Son to die for your being lost forever. Lost forever with no chance of survival. You can't continue to live on your own. You can't save yourself. Only God can save you and he does. But, how will you respond?
This passage of scripture comes on the heels of the parable of the heavenly banquet where the poor were invited. The Pharisees and the scribes were upset with Jesus and his presence with sinners. Why would Jesus, if he was a religious person, take company with the sinners? Why would Jesus go to the sick and the poor? Why would Jesus bother to seek those types of people rather than seek the approval of the religious leaders of the day? It's an insult!
But here in these two short parables, God speaks to his love for the lost through and in Jesus. Jesus reveals God's plan with Jesus' presence and God's presence in the flesh of Jesus on this earth. God will go to any and all means to reach out in love to sinners. God wants us sinners to be his. God comes to us, you and me, in our filth to be with us, to love us, to cure us, to live with us, to walk with us, to experience life with us and to suffer and die with us. Jesus is put to death for us and we give our life to God and die to self to live with God throughout eternity. Eternity that begins when God finds us and saves us. Eternity that begins here in this place and time. That's God's love. That's what is so real and important about being found and brought back.
God is overjoyed when he finds us and brings us back as lost sinners. God just loves to find us where we are and in the condition that we are in. Jesus' one desire is to save the sinner, of which I'm one. And Jesus will do whatever it takes to rescue me from my sin. Thanks be to God!
Prayer
Come, Lord Jesus, come... today... tomorrow... and forever. --- Amen
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