Lost and Found

This is the message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on Sunday morning, November 13, 2022.  The Bible verses used are Luke 15:1-10.

When I was about eight years old, I went to a high school basketball game with my folks in my old home town of Delmont.  I did that a lot, of course—I loved sports even then, and my oldest brother was on the team—but I remember this one particular time for a reason. 

After we got to the game, I did what most eight-year-olds do at a basketball game.  I went off to play with my friends.  Eventually the game got over, everybody started leaving, and I went to find my parents so we could go home.  I got near the exit, where I thought they’d have to come, but I never saw them.  Either they went out a different way, or I just missed them somehow.

Once I realized that, I went out to where I knew the car was parked.  As I approached it, I saw the car start to move.  I thought Dad was just playing a trick on me, pretending to leave to make me scared, but the car kept going.  I started running after it, but apparently Dad did not check the rear-view mirror and did not see me.  The tail lights got smaller, and eventually disappeared.  I had been left behind.

Well, they did not do it on purpose, of course.  When they did not see me, they figured I’d gone home with my brother.  My brother, of course, figured I was going home with my folks.  It was just a mistake.  I probably should’ve been smart enough to figure that out, and if I’d stopped to think, maybe I would’ve been.  At the moment, though, all I could feel was fear.  There I was, eight years old, left alone on the mean streets of Delmont.

It all worked out, of course.  I walked to a friend’s house, they called my parents, and they came and got me.  I probably got some sort of a lecture about not wandering off, but I really don’t remember that part.  I just remember how scared I was when I thought I was lost, and how relieved I was when my parents came and I was found.

That’s not the only time in my life I’ve felt lost and alone.  It’s happened to me several times at various points along the journey of life.  I’ll bet it’s happened to you, too.  That’s why these stories Jesus tells about a lost sheep and a lost coin resonate so well with us.  Most of us know what it’s like to be lost, and most of us know what it’s like to be found, too.

As I was thinking about these stories Jesus told, there were a couple of things that struck me about it.  One of them is how persistently the lost item is looked for.  The searcher never gives up.  In fact, it looks like it never even occurs to the searcher to give up.  Listen to how Jesus put this:  the man who lost a sheep will “go after the lost sheep until he finds it.”  The woman who lost a coin will “search carefully until she finds it.” 

Think about that.  They search until they find it.  They don’t just search for a little while and then quit.  They don’t just check a few likely places and when they cannot find what they’re looking for go on about their business.  They look until they find it.  It does not matter where they have to go.  It does not matter what they have to do.  It does not matter how long it takes.  It does not matter what else they might have going on.  They look until they find it.

That’s how it is with God when we get lost.  God will look for us, and God will keep looking until God finds us.  It does not matter where God has to go to find us.  It does not matter what God has to do to find us.  It does not matter how long it takes for God to find us.  It does not matter what else God might have to do.  God will look for us until God finds us.

God does that for the same reason the man looks for the lost sheep until he finds it, and the same reason the woman looks for the coin until she finds it.  God does that because each one of us is that important to God.

Maybe you wonder sometimes, why are we that important to God?  I mean, God is so much bigger and more powerful than we are.  Why should God care about us so much?

Well, think of that story of my getting left behind in Delmont.  Suppose I had not thought to go to a friend’s house.  Suppose, instead, I had just started aimlessly wandering those mean streets of Delmont.  What do you think my folks would’ve done?  They’d have gotten back to Delmont as fast as they could.  They’d have looked everywhere they could think of.  They’d have gone to everyone in town to ask if they’d seen me.  They’d have gotten the police involved.  They’d have done everything they could possibly do to find me.

Well, that’s obvious, I suppose, but why?  Why should they have done that?  I mean, my parents were so much bigger and more powerful than I was.  Why should they care about me so much?

Of course, you know the answer.  It’s because I’m their son.  That’s all the reason they needed.  It did not matter that they were bigger and more powerful.  In fact, that made them care about me even more.  They knew I could never make it on my own.  They knew I needed them to take care of me.  Because I’m their son, they were going to do everything they could to take care of me.  In fact, all these years later, Mom still worries about me and wants to know that I’m okay, just because I’m her son.

You and I are God’s children.  That’s all the reason God needs to care about us.  It does not matter that God is so much bigger and more powerful than we are.  In fact, that makes God care about us even more.  God knows you and I can never make it on our own.  God knows we need God to take care of us.  God takes care of us through our whole lives, because we’re God’s children.

Remember, though, I said there were two things about this story that struck me.  Here’s the other one.  The man will look for the sheep until he finds it, but what if the sheep decided it did not want to be found?  What if the sheep purposely hid from the shepherd?  What if every time the shepherd got close to finding the sheep, the sheep ran farther away?  Or, what if the shepherd found the sheep, only to have the sheep run away again?

            Sadly, that’s what we do sometimes.  We deliberately keep ourselves from God.  And the thing is that God allows us to do that.  God gives us free will.  God will never give up on us, and God will keep trying to get us to come back, but God will not force us.  God allows us the power to separate ourselves from God if that’s what we choose to do.

It’s such a sad thing when we do that.  It’s tragic, really.  It’s tragic in the eternal sense, of course, but it’s also tragic right here on earth.  God wants so much to take care of us.  God wants so much to help us.  We don’t even have to do anything, really.  All we have to do is stop resisting, stop hiding, and stop running, and let God find us.

If that’s what anyone here has been doing, why not stop?  Why not just stop where you are, turn around, and wait for God to find you?  It probably won’t even take very long.  And if you know someone who’s been doing that, try to get them to stop.  I mean, don’t try to force them, don’t try to threaten them or anything like that.  Just ask them to stop, turn around, and wait for God to find them.  After all, God already knows where they are.  All we need to do is stop resisting, stop hiding, and stop running.  All we need to do is turn around, and there God will be.

Jesus said there is a huge celebration in heaven and among the angels when just one person who was lost finally allows themselves to be found.  Let’s find a way to help kick off a party in heaven today!