Jesus Finds Lost Sinners
Luke 15:1-10
July 7, 2019 anno Domini – Redeemer
There is only one thing worse than being lost, being lost and not knowing it.
The coin did not know it was lost because coins don’t know anything. A coin has neither spirit nor life. It is an inanimate object. The coin could not wave to the lady of the house or yell, “Hey! Over here. I fell under the couch.”
What do you think Jesus is telling you with the coin? You have no life in you. Being born sinful you are born lost, born dead to God. That means you cannot find Jesus. You cannot give your heart or life to Jesus. You cannot raise your hand and make Jesus your Lord and Savior. You have no life in you.
What is Jesus telling us about His Father with the coin? You are valuable, not because you are so great or even good or better than others. You are valuable because God for some mysterious reason created you (all of you) in His image and then, even though you killed that image and lost the spirit of life through your sin, He still loves you, enough to tear the whole world apart to find you. He made you in His image. He made you for Himself and He wants you back. Like that woman in the text.
She wants that coin back. It’s a day’s wage. It’s 1/10 of her two week paycheck. So even though it’s the end of the day and the house is dark, she lights a candle. She goes to every corner of her house. Takes the cushions off the couch. She finds cheerios and paper clips and hair ties and the TV remote that has been missing for six months. She goes to the darkest, dirtiest places until she finds that coin because it is valuable.
So our Father in heaven lit into this dark world with His Son. Jesus Christ is the light of the world and He went into the dark places. He went where demons possessed, where people were blind and crippled, dying, and dead, where unclean lepers gathered. He sat down with the filthiest, darkest sinners in the world. He came to seek and to save the lost – to save you.
You’re lost because you are a sinner. That has robbed you of life. If you’re not going to ever die then you’re not a sinner and you don’t have to listen to the rest of the sermon. If you know that one day you will die, then you are a sinner and Christ came to find you by dying for your sin. If you think death is natural, that death is part of being a human, that death is the answer to your suffering or problems, then you’re lost and you don’t know it.
Christ finds you by getting lost Himself. Christ lights the way by being snuffed out. Christ makes you alive by dying. We might say that God the Father tore heaven apart to find you – in a mystery that faith can only believe God the Father lost His only-begotten Son at the cross. Jesus suffered the hell, the casting off, the eternal darkness and suffering of being lost for our sins. God the Father extinguished the Light of His Son, so that His face and mercy could shine on you in love. Why? Because He values you, every one of you and all of you – Pharisee and prostitute, pastor and pervert, gardener and gossip.
In some ways the sheep is worse than the coin. Because the sheep is living and the sheep is responsible for getting lost. How do sheep get lost? They start munching on some really luscious grass – some two-row barley destined for wonderful pale ale. They are so busy concentrating on their stomach that their ears fail to hear the voice of the shepherd and their eyes fail to see that they have wandered far from the flock. Dumb sheep – imagine letting your consumption of pleasure take you away from the Shepherd’s voice and the gathering of the congregation (oops I mean flock).
I’ve always wondered about Jesus’ question to the Pharisees, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it?” What answer is Jesus expecting? At the Galilee vocational college where they teach Sheepology I think they would say, “Never leave 99 sheep alone for one sheep. One sheep is not worth endangering the 99. Remember, you want the greatest return on your investment.” On the other hand perhaps Jesus is hoping for this answer. “The 99 are together. They are in the congregation (oops I mean flock) and there is safety in them being together. But the one is lost. And one is valuable. Every one is valuable. The littlest one is valuable. The old one is valuable. The suffering and dying one is valuable. The middle class overweight one is valuable because the Shepherd wants every one of them.
The word Pastor means Shepherd and I neglect most of you most of the time, but there are some of you with whom I have spent much time –when you are hospitalized or in danger or when you are unable to come to the Lord’s house. There are about 20 members of Redeemer who get a visit every month from either me or Pastor Haake. Why? Because they cannot get to the Lord’s house. They are unable to be with the 99. So they need to hear their Shepherd’s voice and graze on the life-giving pasture of His Holy Supper.
Even though the sheep got lost by its own fault the Shepherd goes after it. The Shepherd crawls into the thorny thicket where the little lamb is trapped. He wades out into the raging river to pluck the sheep from safety. He climbs out on the ledge to pull the sheep back in. Whatever mess that sheep is in – and in case you haven’t noticed we’re a mess, Jesus climbs right down in it. He bears a crown of thorns at the cross. He drowns and dies under the flood of God’s anger over our sins. He is cast over the ledge into death and hell. And then risen from the dead He carries us home.
Jesus finds us. He saves us. He carries us home. He does all the work. And heaven rejoices, not over you, but over Jesus finding you, saving you. When a little child is lost because he stopped in the candy aisle at Coburn’s and mom rounds the corner in a panic and finds him, she doesn’t say, “Oh Bruce, you did such a good job of being found.” No, she says, “I’m so glad I found you.” And then adds, “Next time Bruce, get your eyes off the candy and keep them on me.”
There is only one thing worse than being lost, being lost and not knowing it. The Pharisees to whom Jesus spoke of the coin and sheep did not know they were lost. They thought they were right in God’s hand because they were so good and valuable in their own eyes. The prostitutes and sinners knew they were lost – for God’s word and their own consciences convicted them. Jesus sought them both and would carry them both home, just as He seeks you this morning – with His Word to turn you from your sin, pick you up, and carry you home. All so that the angels can rejoice over one sinner who repents in the name of Jesus. Amen.