Finding the Lost
Having Words with Jesus FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST, YEAR C Luke 15:1-10
The Story of the Lost Sheep
15 1-3 By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
Intro: This text would not be considered one of the difficult sayings of Jesus by most folks. We are happy to look for the lost. We are happy that Jesus, at least, is willing to venture out to find those who have strayed and to bring them home for a celebration. The problem is, at some point, many of us give up on the loss when they have been sick for a lot of years, when the drug issues don’t get better when they keep on Tax collecting or working in Pay Day Lending even when they know it's usury. We give up, but Jesus Goes to get you, to find the lost.
“All the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near in order to hear him” (15:1).
Some leaders will ask, “Why? What is it about Jesus that attracts tax collectors and sinners to him?”
Some others might ask why it is that Jesus tells this story of sheep's commitment. In Luke 15, Jesus tells a group of tax collectors and sinners a series of stories, or parables, about finding something that was lost. It begins with the parable of the sheep. While this story sounds like bad business, it is really the story of how far Jesus will go for you and me.
A shepherd in the Middle East was not an independent farmer. He worked for a master who expected his sheep to be well-tended. If one wandered off, the shepherd had no choice but to go after it. In other words, shepherds were just a part of the economic systems. They were not the queen. They were palace staff who had someone to answer to. The Shepard did not own the sheep; he was more just a part of the wool industrial complex. I wish more church members realized the preacher doesn’t own the sheep. They are just working for the lord to try and build the kingdom.
Let Me see if I can explain how this works in 3 quick points.
Before he left, the shepherd would surround the flock with piles of sticks and stones to give the sheep a sense of boundaries. And believe it or not, the sheep typically stayed put. Then, the shepherd would go after the one sheep that was lost.
He would take his shepherd’s staff with him. The top of the staff had a curled end that he used to wrap around the sheep’s horns to help pry it free from bushes or pull it up out of a hole. He would then take the sheep back to the flock, where he would use the rod, or handle, of the staff to conduct a headcount of all the sheep. The shepherd was very diligent in making sure all the sheep were with him in his care.
The shepherd would do whatever it took to keep his sheep with him. So, if the same sheep tended to wander off, the shepherd would leave the flock, find the misbehaving sheep, and break its leg.
Yes, you heard that right. I wish I had time to tell some of us today at Wesley that sometimes God must break our legs to keep us from running off. I wish I had time to tell the church that sometimes the shepherd has to say no to the sheep to keep the sheep from running off into danger, Lord I wish I had just a little more time to deal with the fact that sometimes the preacher has to do things that the sheep don’t like in order to befit the 100 sheep and not just the 1. Oh, I really wish I had time to tell some of these folks trying to disaffiliate that there are consequences to running off.
Do You hear me?
1. The shepherd needed to teach the sheep a lesson. It wasn’t a lesson of punishment but rather one of obedience.
2. The sheep needed to realize it needed the shepherd’s care.
3. The Sheep needed to learn that wandering away was very dangerous and that staying with the shepherd would ensure its protection.
So, over the weeks of healing, the shepherd would carry the sheep every day on his shoulders, gently caring for the sheep until it could walk again. As a result, a bond grew. The sheep developed a caring relationship with the shepherd, and it learned to stay with him. Sheep learn to trust the care of their shepherd.
Though Jesus based His story on actual shepherd practices, the theme of the story is still true.
• God isn’t waiting for you to come to Him. God is willing to take the initiative and send shepherds after you wherever you are.
• God’s not waiting for you to return to the flock on your own, even if you might. God is sending guidance for you.
• God’s shepherds are already chasing you with His love and grace, and He won’t stop until He finds you and rescues you.
He might allow certain unpleasant circumstances to happen to you to get your attention, maybe even allow a broken bone. He does this so you would understand your need for His loving care. Jesus desperately wants you to grow a relationship with Him.
You can be sure Jesus will do anything to find you and to get your attention. Here is this story from 9-11!
Twenty years ago, Genelle Guzman McMillan had been in New York City for two years after arriving from her native Trinidad, working on the 64th floor of Tower 1 in the World Trade Center as an office temp for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and "loving it," she says.
On September 11, 2001, at 8:46 a.m. ET, a jet hijacked by Islamic terrorists, hit the top floors of her 110-story building, also known as the North Tower. It shook her floor.
Feeling a second shake that Guzman McMillan, 50, later realized was from another hijacked jet hitting the second tower next door, she and a coworker named Rosa decided to walk the staircase.
In high heels and with feet aching, the then-30-year-old stopped on the 13th floor to take them off. Then the tower collapsed at 10:28 a.m.
"Everything just went boom," she recalls. "Everything was crumbling and was just coming on top of me."
Guzman McMillan would be buried for more than a day.
"I felt like I was there forever," she says. "I just thought I was dreaming. I just figured this has to be a dream. This is not happening. And I didn't know if anybody was going to find me. I just laid there."
"I heard everything that was going on. I heard someone cry out for help in a very faint voice. I would hear the trucks and the walkie-talkies going off," Guzman McMillan shares.
"But I couldn't call out for some reason," she says. "Dust in my mouth, my nose. I was just lying there. Just didn't know what to do, what to say."
"And the pain, it was shooting, like steel was like sticking at my side, by my stomach. I only had my left hand lose, I was trying to position myself to kind of ease that pain, but it didn't help," Guzman McMillan adds.
"I tried to put my head out, and I realized that it was really wedged and stuck. I thought I was going to die. I knew I wasn't going to get out. I'm preparing myself to die," she explains.
"But then I decided to pray. I just knew that I wanted to live because I wanted to see my daughter, Kimberly. She was 12 at the time. I just keep begging and praying, just asking God to show me a miracle," she says.
"And then I was giving up. And I said, 'Oh God, I can't take this anymore. When I heard someone call out to me, I feel like he said, 'I got you. My name is Paul,'" recalls Guzman McMillan.
"He holds onto my hand. And I hold onto his hands. Talking to me, telling me, 'I'm going to be fine. I'm not going to let you go,'" she remembers.
Guzman McMillan spent 27 hours in the rubble before rescuers arrived. Her right leg was crushed, her head swollen, and her face burned. She was hospitalized for over a month, and doctors at one point considered amputating her leg, but a fourth surgery saved it. She now has a permanent limp.
I have often struggled with the idea of leaving the ninety-nine to go and find the one and it was not until I began the think about Genelle Guzman’s story I began to interpret what Jesus was saying. I could only imagine as the 5th hour passed as the 6th hour passed as the day got dark, how many people had given up on finding anyone else, but I think she said his name was Paul, stayed on the task of finding the one that was still able to be saved.
Some of us may have already experienced God’s love, like the sheep and its shepherd. God’s Love is like the First responders on 911. God's love is like the Nurses and doctors that lost their lives working in the Covid-wards at the hospitals.
We know it’s not just words.
Still, it seems more spiritual than actual sometimes.
Yet, during His time on the earth, Jesus often went after a “lost sheep.”
A. Jesus left the 99, the crowds of people begging to hear Him preach back in Israel, to chase after this one man who, for years, wandered the cave tombs naked and out of his mind. But Jesus went after him. Through sea and storm, He refused to leave His sheep alone to fend for himself.
B. But then, one day, Jesus sat next to the well and asked for a drink. Within minutes, the Woman at the Well was crying and screaming her way back to town to tell everyone she had just met the Messiah. Her life was forever changed. Here again, Jesus left the crowds—the 99—to go after the one lost sheep. Yes, He was already planning to walk 70 miles back to Cana, but He took a specific side trip to Samaria to find this one woman.
C. We could say Jesus sought out each of His disciples- Peter, John, Andrew, Thomas, all of them. What’s important to note is that Jesus specifically searched for them, and He rescued each of them from a life devoid of true salvation. These were not men possessed or horribly oppressed. They were ordinary people just going about their business. Matthew. As you may know, was a tax collector. He worked for the Roman government. Not only that, but he would also often demand a little extra from the people to pad his life of luxury. Most tax collectors did. But then they met Jesus. The Shepherd had left the 99 and come, and He called each of them back to the flock.
“And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples, ‘Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (v11)
Jesus’ response sums up the very reason He leaves the 99 to go after just one sheep. He knows His sheep need Him. And He’s willing to do whatever it takes—walk 40 miles, take a detour through the wrong part of town, or even go to the workplace of the government.
He did it for the possessed man, the woman at the well, Matthew, and the other disciples, and He’ll do it for you.
If you’re feeling lost and away from God, you can be sure He is searching for you.
• He’ll go to any lengths to find you.
• The Shepherd wants to rescue you with His grace and love.
• He has His rod and staff ready to lead you back home.
• All you have to do is let Him.
Finally: Is that you today? Are you ready to respond to Jesus’ love for you? If you do, just grab hold of His staff.
• He’ll get you out of that pit.
• He’ll untangle you from the bushes.
• All you need to do is trust Him.
• He loves you with an everlasting love,
• and He’ll go to any lengths to prove it.
