St. John’s Lutheran Church, Toluca, IL – 14th Sunday after Pentecost
Exodus 32:7-14; Psalm 51:1-10; 1 Timothy 1:12-17; Luke 15:1-10
Gospel: Luke 15:1-10
1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to [Jesus.] 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
3So he told them this parable: 4“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? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
8“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? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
NRSV
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The Relentless Pursuit of the Lost
Grace and peace to you, God’s beloved, from our savior and Lord, Jesus Christ.
I don’t know if you have watched it, but there is a flick currently streaming on Netflix called “Uncharted.” The movie stars Tom “Spiderman” Holland as the younger of two orphan brothers who always seem to get in trouble for the despair of the nuns running the orphanage.
They are a treasure hunt team of sorts that tries to steal a map that would point them in the direction of riches of unimaginable amounts. They get caught. The older brother takes the fall but decides to run away rather than go to a juvenile facility. Holland’s character grows to become a low-level hustler who is later approached by a higher-level international hustler, played by Mark Wahlberg, who convinces him to pair up and seek the treasure he and his brother once dreamed of. It is at the beginning, before the two brothers split, that we first hear the line that becomes a refrain as the movie continues, “lost, not gone, there is a difference, if something is lost, it can be found.” The scene sets in motion a globetrotter roller-coaster relentless pursuit of this unbelievable treasure, with its twists and turns and a hint of to-be-continued as the credits roll.
I am mentioning this unpretentious but fun piece of CGI magnificence this morning because it somewhat reminds me of the relentless pursuit that God unleashed for the best of God’s creation, lost but not gone, us.
Such pursuit, as accounted in the History of God’s Salvation, also known as the bible, begins in the third chapter of Genesis, when human beings were first separated from God. We know that story. God kicked us out. However, I always wonder if that was the first time God had a change of heart and showed compassion for humankind. God did send human beings away to bear and raise our own children and earn our own living, but first God clothed us and then sent us with the promise of being able to one day reach out our hands, eat for the tree of life, and live forever (Genesis 3:22). God definitely did not think of us as gone, at least not too far, but we have been lost for a long while.
After that was jealousy, betrayal, and murder among humans. God then showed compassion again for a banned Cain with a mark that would protect him from being harmed by other human beings (Genesis 4:16). Things apparently got really bad. God was so taken aback by the amount of evil going on that God’s heart was broken. The best of creation had become the worst of it. Overcome by grief, God decided to put an end to it. However, I guess God again kind of had second thoughts because not everyone and not everything perished. God presented us with an olive branch, put a rainbow in the Sky, and promised to never again destroy what God had made.
More jealousy, betrayal, and hustling with God followed among humans, and eventually, God’s people found themselves enslaved. Then God heard the cries and intervened, freeing his people and again promising them life if they would listen to him. They almost put everything to lose (Exodus 32: 7-14). God, perhaps overwhelmed with painful images of the past, wanted to destroy them. Thanks to Moses’ intercession, God remembered God’s promises and had a change of mind.
They complained a lot after that but survived. Then they fought many battles, saw a lot of blood, and did some unspeakable things. More jealousy, betrayal, and murder followed until God raised a wise ruler, but later many stopped listening. Prophets were raised to hold the people accountable for their promises and point to their dereliction of duty. The failure to love God above all things, to love their neighbors as themselves, to bring good news to the poor, the sick, the orphan, the widow, and the oppressed. However, that did not stop God’s people from taking lives away. Most turned their backs on God and lost themselves into ruin and exile in a strange land, prisoners once more.
Again, God heard the cries of the people, had yet another change of mind, too many to count now, and raised prophets to announce their freedom and the return to their ancestors’ land and the rebuilding of their ruins. Then God announced something else, a new covenant, a new promise. God would no longer count any of our trespasses against us. The word of the Lord would be placed in our hearts. He would be our God forever, longing for our return, arms wide open, ready to celebrate again. God would do what is necessary to restore what is broken and gave us no choice but to be soaked in his love and mercy (Jeremiah 31:31-34).
Once again, God was faithful. God came into the world in the form of his Son, and his relentless pursuit of the lost led him all the way to the cross and to the fulfillment of the promise for the ages. The tomb is empty. The fruit of the tree of life, a treasure of unspeakable riches, is placed in the palm of our hands, as promised from the beginning.
But God was not done. Somebody needed to embody what the Lord has done. Someone who is almost too far gone, a blasphemer, a persecutor of the church, a man of violence and murder, was transformed in the proclaimer of God’s lavish grace (1 Timothy 1:13), the assurance of all things hoped for, the return to the place where hunger, thirst, and tears will be no more.
Beloved, God is not done, not yet, not even close. No one is too far gone. They might be lost, but not gone. There is a difference. What is lost can always be found. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Bridging Faith 