Sermon Notes/ September 16, 2007/ Luke 15:1-10

Although not many of us have 100 sheep, I think we get the message of this parable quite clear. The same message is repeated in the second parable of the lost coin.  Jesus will go out of his way to find the lost and will rejoice when the lost one is returned. Regardless of it being sheep or coins, we all know that feeling.  We all know what we feel like when something is lost—be it money lost, cars that are broken, cows that have run away, bundles of hay that were stolen, students that don’t understand, or someone in our community diagnosed with a deadly disease or someone lost in an accident.  We all know the feeling of loosing one of a group.

 

The fact that there are many coins, sheep, or people does not lessen the feeling of loss.  There is still pain.  And when the lost item is found, or the disease cured, or a recover after an accident, our rejoicing knows no bounds. We all know that feeling. Likewise, Jesus taps into that feeling to tell us that he cares for all the lost.  While we can understand that, we still have our distain for those that are our modern day “tax collectors” and “sinners.”

 

But Jesus eats with those sinners.  Jesus seeks the lost. I think that if Jesus were here today, he would be at the Wolfes Den talking to the people there and trying to find some way to connect with them.  And if he was, we would be perturbed that he is not here hearing our wonderful music and our prayers. I’d be mad.  “Jesus why are you not with us?” Why do you not care what happens here? Why are you spending time—precious time—with those that do not care for you?

We are your fan club, aren’t we?

 

If I am honest with the Gospel, I find myself acting like, thinking like, and as bull headed as a Pharisee.  I always want to know why Jesus is always stretching the bounds of convention.  He is always steps ahead of my thoughts and my way of thinking. 

 

This morning is no different. I want attention too, after all, as the saying goes, who am I, chopped liver! I want to say, Jesus we can have a good time without them. I want to say, Jesus get over it, be grateful for us 99 that are here. I want to say, Jesus its time to cut your losses and move on. I can think of many things to say to help redirect Jesus back to us.

 

But I am cut to the quick by the fact that I was once lost –and may be lost again. That I may need Jesus to save me. And it is Jesus reaching out to me that saved me in the first place.  I did not come to Jesus ---Jesus came to me. At one time, I was that lost sheep and I am eternal glad that Jesus came for me. So while I cringe with the thought of going into the Wolfes Den in my clerical collar—while I chill at the metal clinging of the locking of the door behind me in prison

—while I am grossed out at the living conditions of a shelter or group home—while I feel weird going to a group of high school kids or college kids and asking them about God—this morning Jesus shows me that is where I am to be. 

 

It was because of someone who went to the Wolfes Den of my life in Jesus name that saved me. 

It was someone who came and unlocked me from my prison in the name of Jesus that saved me.

It was someone that overlooked my grossness and weirdness in the name of Jesus that saved me.

 

The reading from Timothy containing some autobiographical musings and confessions of Paul highlights this very idea. Paul is grateful to Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened him, because he judged him faithful and appointed him to his service, even though he was formerly a blasphemer, a persecutor, and a man of violence. Paul says Jesus found him and saved him.

 

One of the more moving songs of San Antonio for the youth is called “You Found Me” by Jeremy Deibler because it shares the feeling of Jesus finding each of us.

 

You found me/ You found me and You called me from the wilderness/ From my cave of emptiness/ You, You found me/ You found me in the places of my loneliness
You told me there is more than this/ You captured me with tenderness/ You found me

We are all found by Jesus and thank God Jesus goes out looking for the lost. Because we are both the sheep in the fold and the one lost in the wilderness, We are both found by Jesus and lost in the world, We are both in need of grace and full of faith, We are both saint and Sinner alike.

 

Thank God in Jesus Christ for finding us.

Be Glad that Jesus is the good shepherd.