Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen

My sophomore year in college, here at the University of Texas, I lived with seven other guys in a large house not far from here in West Campus.  When we moved in as you would expect, and wisely I might add considering you are renting your house to a bunch of boys in college, the landlord required a security deposit of one month’s rent.  Now, on a college budget, my share of the deposit was a significant chunk of change for me, and one that I was counting on getting back when we moved out of the house.  Fortunately that year, I lived with a relatively, and let me stress relatively, neat and considerate group of guys who like me at least intended to get our deposit back when we moved out of the house.  Too make a long story short, when move out time came we all worked hard to clean the house up, fix the cracks in the bathroom tile, patch a hole or two in the walls, etc…in hopes of getting the deposit back, and, believe it or not, we did a pretty good job.  In fact, the landlord came by and was actually surprised at how good the house looked, and he told us that we would be getting just about all of our deposit back. 

But, the check never arrived in the mail.  Again showing an assertiveness that betrayed our maturity level, we did not let it go.  We called and called the landlord with no luck.  We wrote letter after letter with no response.  Finally, we actually consulted and hired an attorney who wrote a demand letter and even threatened a lawsuit.  We sought diligently for our lost money.  When the landlord still did not respond, we actually had to file a lawsuit and received a summary judgment from the court forcing the landlord to pay our lawyer, cover our court costs and pay us, the tenants, three times the original amount of the deposit.  Our persistence in seeking after our lost money had paid off.  It was time to celebrate.  In fact, I think I blew through most of the once lost and now found money the first few days after receiving it celebrating with my friends.  Oh well!  The joy I received in finding what was once lost was worth celebrating, even if it took a toll on my new found fortune.

That experience in my life has always paralleled for me the two short parables that Jesus tells in today’s Gospel lesson.  They are both stories about a person losing something they value.  Therefore, they seek after what is lost diligently.  And finally, when the thing that was lost is found, they are filled with joy and call together their friends to celebrate. 

So how do you usually react when you finally locate something that’s missing?  Like most of us, you’ve probably lost and then found not only coins like the woman in the second parable, but keys, glasses, watches, pens, books, socks (that’s a big one at least for me), wallets and a myriad of other things.  But, how often have you felt a party was warranted when you found them?  So when Jesus asks at the close of his parable, “Which one of you would not have a party to celebrate finding what was lost?” most of us would have to confess that we would not.

When we consider these two parables by themselves, at face value, one could argue that throwing a party after finding a lost sheep or a lost coin might be a bit over the top.  The way both of these parables end in a party, actually, seems unrealistic, and there is a reason for this.  It has to do with identification.

To begin with, it is difficult for us living in Austin during the 21st century to identify with a shepherd like we encounter in Jesus’ first parable.  It might prove helpful if we consider the shepherd’s relationship with his sheep in light of how we feel about our pets.  I think it is safe to say that a lot of us are really attached to our pets.  I catch myself actually talking to my Bassett Hound Leroy and my pug Maggie all the time.  They have no idea what I am saying.  However, in my mind, Lee Lee and Magpie, as I call them, are more than just dogs.  They’re my friends and companions, no different, other than all the hair of course, than my human friends.   It’s not unreasonable to assume that the shepherd actually cared about the individual sheep in his flock.  With that in mind, the shepherd’s searching for the missing sheep was more than just trying to maintain the productivity of his flock—more sheep means more wool.  Assuming the shepherd actually cared for the animal, finding the lost sheep becomes a source of joy because the flock would otherwise feel incomplete to the shepherd and the loss would be painful. 

So which pet owner of you, after losing and then finding your animal companion, might, if not throw a party, at least call someone close to you and tell them how happy you are?  I remember once when a roommate of mine, William, lost his dog Harris.  He said to me, “If I don’t find Harris, it’s going to ruin my whole year.”  I am happy to say that after several tense days man and man’s best friend were reunited, and we did celebrate.

In addition to the trouble we have identifying with shepherds, it is, also, difficult for us, who live relatively comfortable lives, to identify with people who have only a few things.  I think it is safe to say for many people in this church losing a coin, even one worth a dollar, is not a seriously distressing circumstance.  Or consider something simple like a pen.  We have dozens of pens, and if we misplace one, it’s no big deal.  We just pick up another one.  Even some things that we don’t necessarily have a lot of, it’s often easier to simply go buy another than to spend time searching for the wayward one.  In my life, sunglasses are a great example.  I plan on losing and then buying a new pair of sunglasses about every six months.  But it was not so in the first century.  People owned far fewer things.  In Jesus’ second parable, the lost silver coin for which the woman searches is a lot of money to her.  Perhaps the coin was the equivalent of a week’s or even a month’s worth of work.  If I lost my monthly paycheck, it would be a real problem for me.  It would certainly be something worth searching for and celebrating once found.

One minister tells of working at a church camp that hosted children from low-income families—kind of like Good Sam camp at Camp Capers and Camp Allen.  Before arriving, each child received a list of items they should bring—flashlight, soap, towel, rain gear and so forth.  But as the kids arrived, many simply did not have some of the things on the list.  Their families simply did not have the resources to get them.  One boy proudly showed the minister his toothbrush, explaining that it was on loan from his brother since he did not have one of his own.  What child in those circumstances, having misplaced his toothbrush and then finally finding it, would not say to his brother, “Rejoice with me, for I have found what I had lost”?

By placing these parables in a different context, perhaps you agree with me that, in fact, finding the lost sheep and the lost coin are, indeed, events worth celebrating.  Now, let’s take these parables to an even different level of meaning.  These parables are not about animals, even our beloved pets, and they are not about money, even a million dollars.  Jesus is speaking of something that is lost which is of infinite more value.  Jesus is using the sheep and the coin as a metaphor for you and me and every single human being created in the Image of God.  On this level, the shepherd and the woman in the two parables are a metaphor for God who is desperately, diligently seeking after His lost and beloved children—including every person in this church. 

Jesus says, “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”  The word repent is often associated with punishment for misdeeds; however, what it means is to turn.  Repenting is reorienting our life toward God.  The word sinner is often associated with those people who are considered of low character or who lack moral discipline; however, a sinner is really any person who is separated from a loving relationship with God.  Jesus is saying in effect, “I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God ever single time an individual person turns their back on separation with God and, instead, turns toward God’s waiting, loving arms.  And, indeed, this is worth celebrating.

Now, before we think that these parables don’t apply to us because we are baptized, or have excellent church attendance, or, at some point, invited Jesus into our lives as Lord and Savior, beware.  All of us, even the most faithful, turn our backs on God.  Through thought, word and deed, we all, time and again, separate ourselves from God.  We are all from time to time a lost sheep or a lost coin.  The Good News is that God, like the shepherd and the woman in the parables, is always desperately, diligently seeking after us.  God is eternally offering us the gracious opportunity to turn again and face God the Lover of our soul.  And, indeed, this is worth celebrating.  So much so, that, in fact, every time a relationship with God is restored, every single time, there is rejoicing in heaven and joy in the presence of the angels of God.  Amen.          

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