Messages, Meditations, and Musings on the Life of Faith by Rev. Dr. Scott E. Olson, Interim Pastor, Christ Lutheran Church, Preston, MN

Sunday, March 3, 2013

"Lost" - Sermon for the Third Sunday in Lent


Lost
Lent 3 (Narrative Lectionary 3)
Luke 15.1-32
March 3, 2013


We need to recognize at the outset that the parables for today are fundamentally about God’s amazing grace. The actions of the shepherd, the woman, and the father show God’s almost obsessive compulsive drive to seek out those who have strayed away and bring them back into relationship with him. God’s reckless love is so great that it results in even greater reckless celebration when one lost soul returns to God’s fold.

We also need to recognize how powerful these parables are and the emotions they raise in us. If we can’t relate to the dogged pursuit of something precious that has been lost to us, we have no trouble relating to characters in the parables, especially in the so-called “Prodigal Son.” I say so-called because “prodigal” means extravagant and the parable is more about the extravagance of the father more so than the son. Even so, many of us can relate to the younger son who has dishonored his father by his actions. Or we can relate to the father, whose heart breaks when his son wants no more to do with him. Or, perhaps most of us can feel the anger of the older son, who not only watches his father get hurt and made a fool of, but who also cannot understand the lavish celebration and the slight it implies toward him.

Having said these things about the text, this week I found myself thinking about what it means to be lost. Did the sheep know that it was lost? It might have been munching happily away, oblivious of its danger. One of my colleagues told about how she was playing with a new-found friend at a fair oblivious to the fact that she had gotten separated from her parents, who were looking frantically for her. She waved merrily to them when the walked by. The story reminds us of Jesus in the temple as a young boy. Certainly, the coin didn’t know it was lost. What about the younger son, when he “came to himself?” Was that an indication he knew he was lost or was he just planning to play on his father’s sympathies? Then there is the older son who, in standing outside the house, is lost in his anger and bitterness.

7th Heaven, a TV show that aired from 1996-2007, told the stories of a minister’s family. In one episode, the oldest son, Matthew, is talking to a young woman who has had a series of broken relationships and is now seeking more intimacy from him than he is willing to give. Finally, as he points out that this kind of familiarity hasn’t helped in her previous relationships, he says, “Why don’t we try it my way” meaning that they should slow down and let the things develop. The young woman may have had a vague sense that “things weren’t working” for her, but through Matthew’s presence she began to see that there might be a more life-giving way to live. She was lost, and God through Matthew, was seeking her to bring her back.

I have mentioned before the agnostic/atheistic period I spent outside the church following Confirmation. Although there were parts of my life that I wasn’t very happy with, most of my life was pretty good during that time. As I look back on it, there were many aspects of my life that were “lost,” though I didn’t realize it. Yet, and here’s the important part, I can see how God had never let me go and through the Holy Spirit and other various ways was working in me to bring me back into his loving embrace.

There was a popular bumper sticker in the 70s, which tickled me no end: “I found it!” The message expressed the driver’s finding of God. However, not only was that bumper sticker bad theology, it put far more emphasis on our ability than we deserve. The sticker should have read, “God Found Me,” because even when we “find God” we come to realize that God has been working tirelessly to bring us back into relationship with him. It’s like the little boy who gets separated from his parents in the store, is brought crying to the information center where his parents are paged, and when they arrive exclaims, “I found you!”

Jesus tells parables to stretch our imaginations in ways that don’t usually happen in other ways. So, here’s one way I’d like you to consider how these three parables might be stretching you today. You may not be totally “lost,” but is there some part of your life that God desires to bring back into relationship with him, perhaps a part that you have hidden from God (and maybe yourself)? Can you feel God working in you some way, longing to welcome that part of you back home?

I ran across another way to define repentance, aside from the usual way think of the word, saying you are sorry. We have also learned that to repent means to change your mind or turn around and going the other way. Richard Jensen defines repentance as our acceptance of being found. It’s the realization the God through Jesus Christ accepts us. Or, as Paul Tillich says, “Accept the fact that you are accepted. Isn’t that wonderful? As you journey with Jesus on the way to the cross and empty tomb, may those lost things be crucified and raised to new life. God is welcoming you home with open arms, all of you. Amen.

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