Noticing What Is Lost
Yeshua: The Jesus We Never Knew - Part 4
Sunday, January 30, 2022
Luke 15:4-32
But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’”
Luke 15:32
Listen to this week’s sermon here:
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We often understand the Father of the “prodigal son” as an image for the God who stands ready to welcome us home with loving arms of grace and forgiveness. While this is certainly true, we must remember that parables are intended to carry multiple meanings and it may well be that this direct connection to God was not part of what Jesus’ original audience may have heard. Many textual scholars note that the verses connecting Jesus’ three parables to “one who repents,” are likely later insertions by Luke to make just such a point about God’s mercy.
In truth, neither the sheep nor the coin are “repentant,” nor could they be. They did nothing wrong. In fact, it was the owner who lost them. If we’re honest, the “prodigal” doesn’t exactly “repent” either. He comes home primarily out of desperation for a hot meal.
How might these observations expand our thinking on these three parables?
At the very least, if we insist that God is the Father, it opens up the scandalous possibility that God’s mercy and forgiveness is not dependent on the actions of the one who is “lost.” The prodigal is loved and forgiven long before he or she comes home. In fact, the father never stopped loving at all.
A second reading invites us to consider another question. What if the owner of the sheep or the coin or the father of the son is actually meant to teach us something about ourselves, not only as individuals, but as Christ’s body on earth. If we put ourselves in this role, we begin to recognize that we bear some responsibility in losing the sheep, the coin, and even the son to begin with. This is not a comfortable realization.
It also begs the question of what it will take for us to notice what, or who, is actually lost? When we gather around the Lord’s Table, who is missing? Who have we not set a place for? Have we become so content with having only 99 sheep, or 9 coins, or even only one son, that we have stopped looking for the lost?
Yes, God seeks and saves the lost, but God also invites us to do the same. The church always exists for those who have not yet found their place at the table.
Who is lost in your life, in your family, in your church…
…and how far are you willing to go to find them?