Who Is Lost

 Pent. 14C - Luke 15: 1-10

The affluent and privileged were in the street grumbling, complaining that ‘this guy’ welcomes and eats with the marginalized, the lowest, the least. This group was nattering that ‘this guy’ was bringing these ‘lost’ people into their backyards. How dare ‘this guy’ do that?! So, they doubled down on being NIMBYs; not-in-my-backyard kind of people.

 

‘This guy,’ Jesus takes them on. Speaking directly too them, they do not understand. They have no concept or inkling of the point. ‘This guy’ is a wild man with crazy unsettled ideas:

Of course you don’t go get one sheep, you let it be lost. You write it off as a business expense.

Of course you don’t waste all that profit-making time looking for a simple lost coin. You get on with making more.

You don’t celebrate a lost sheep, that you let get away. You put in measures so that it doesn’t happen again.

You don’t celebrate a lost coin, that you had responsibility for losing. You have someone sew up the holes in your pockets and put your money into stocks with higher rates of return.

Rejoice in one sheep. Why? That is food for one corporate business dinner.

Rejoice in one coin. Why? That is less than the cost of coffee on the way to the office.

 

Hold on. Sheep and coins were the appetizer. ‘This guy’ is just getting started …

 

Which one of you, having an apartment and losing it through reno-viction, does not leave your possessions and go find an affordable place to live? Once finding a place the renter moves their possessions in and invites friends and family to a celebration dinner.

Which one of you, having three jobs to make ends meet, when losing one, doesn’t take time to search until you find more work? Rejoicing in making enough to survive.

 

What family having a home, if they lose that home and safety, becoming refugees doesn’t seek asylum?

What woman after losing her reproductive rights, doesn’t persist in getting them back?

What Indigenous chief living on their unceded and ancestoral territory, having land stolen- doesn’t pursue its return?

 

Hold on. Housing, jobs, rights, land. ‘This guy’ really needs to get off the street, move somewhere else, Not-in-my-backyard. … sigh…and there’s more:

What community having a hundred healthy members, losing one to drug overdose does not set up mental health and addictions programs?

What country having women, and losing them – missing and murdered, does not go digging to find the Indigenous women and bring them home?

What general after losing one soldier to PTSD doesn’t leave the troops to go and seek out that one soldier?

What city with beautiful leisure parks lost to muddy tent-encampments does not go find adequate housing for those getting lost in the mud?

 

And there it is - ‘This guy,’ Jesus is in our backyard; in the middle of our grumbling.

Jesus is present welcoming and eating with the marginalized, the lowest, the least.

 

 

What is going on is that Jesus’ words are ‘lost on them’ – the affluent, the privileged, the scribe, the Pharisee.

Jesus’ words are lost on us.

 

There was a time when I heard the words: which one of you having used up your student food budget for the week, doesn’t pick up coins you find on the street. Rejoicing the student rolls their pennies and nickels, knowing they can redeem one roll each time they buy groceries.

When did this practice get lost on me. When did affluence settle in, that now I walk over coins. In my smug privilege saying to myself someone needs that coin more than me. And I wonder what denomination of money would I stoop to pick up?

 

What does our affluency allow us to loss? What do we easily write off as a business of life expense?

How many jobs need to be lost, refugees lose their homes, soldiers die or suffer, people lost to addiction, lost to mental health crisis; joy of life lost, homes lost, parks lost, systems lost, social safety nets lost, dignity lost, before we will stoop to pick up the cause and find that which is lost. When is loss not my loss, but communal loss, our loss.

‘This guy,” Jesus tells parables to penetrate our hearts, to find our lost souls, buried in affluence, under layers of ashes we’ve heaped upon ourselves. We have lost grace, lost compassion, lost mercy, lost love, lost faith, lost hope; lost relationships, lost reconciliation, lost redemption, and lost kindom.

 

Hold on. There is ‘this guy’ whom I have found in the ashes of my affluence, whispering “all is not lost.” You are not lost. Jesus tells the story of the lost sheep and the lost coin because the lost matter to God. The lost are found, embraced, returned to the fold, returned to be with the other coins. The sheep, the coin, look the same but have changed. The sheep is a tad woollier, the coin a little shinier – reflecting the love of a newly risen Christ. Where experiencing God’s love has changed everything.

The lost -those of us who have lost our souls - receive welcome and communion, sitting with Jesus we are found. When entombed in affluence and Jesus rolls the stone away – one is found, reconnecting with God’s grace and unconditional love- the lost is redeemed.

 

I get it! There is ‘this guy,’ who keeps telling the story of the lost sheep and lost coin directly to the privileged and affluent. Entombed in their affluence, covered in layers of ash, they do not comprehend, until, one day, when the stone rolls away and they find themselves buried and lost. Ash is cleared by the breath whispering the words, “you are not lost.”

And it is then that ‘this guy,’ Jesus proclaims:

Just so - I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one NIMBY who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance.

Just so - I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

 

Thanks be to God.

Amen.