Preached at First Presbyterian Church, Baldwin, NY, on September 12 2010
Little Belinda the sheep normally stayed with the rest of the flock. But this day there was a particularly nice fresh looking patch of green grass on the other side of the fence. And what was that? A hole in the hedge? "Maybe I could just squeeze through… there we are. And look, over there, right the other side of the road. That grass looks so good. Baa. I'll be O.K. Hey it's getting dark, I'll just take a nap and .. wait .. did I doze off.. what's that crazy shepherd doing, lifting me upon his shoulders, big smile on his face... saying "Welcome home".. Was I lost without knowing it?"
It's not a very exciting life being a coin. You are created, you get passed around, then you get melted down and made into something else. Some coins get to travel the world, but most just circulate their own neighborhoods. One of the things about being a coin is that you have absolutely no consciousness of your own worth or value. So when a woman drops you between the floorboards you have no realization that she is going frantic, sweeping, and shining lights into dark corners, all because she really wants you back. You have no idea that when she finds you she is going to throw a big party to celebrate. You're ‘lost without knowing it’.
It can be fatal to be ‘lost without knowing it.’
During World War II action in Northern Africa, a B-17 Flying Fortress, called "Lady-Be-Good" was on her way back from a mission. Guiding the plane was a radio beam from the desert airstrip where they were based. The crew didn't realize there was a strong air wind that night, and with no visual reference, they flew right past the airfield and landed in the Libyan desert. The men survived the crash landing, only to perish, in the blazing suns heat, of thirst. Sometimes you only realize how bad a situation is when it's too late. It can be a tragic thing to be lost without knowing it.
The problem with being lost without knowing it is simply stated;
You are lost and you don't know it!
You are lost and you don't know it!
There are times when the sense of being lost does break into our hearts. There are those times when things happen and we throw up our hands and say, "Why, Lord, Why?" There are those moments when we question what purpose life has, where our lives are heading, why we are here and a hundred other things. But we tend to push those moments aside. They become lost in the business, in the routines, in the every day-ness that getting by in life demands.
The remedy for being lost without knowing it
is to be found without deserving it.
is to be found without deserving it.
Belinda the sheep who strayed from the path could have been found by all sorts of things. Could have ended up as Roadkill mutton. Could have found a ditch to fall in. Could have been found by a passing wolf. Instead, a crazy shepherd endangers the life of 99 others by leaving them on a hillside whilst he searches and searches for her. Stupid sheep. It was her own fault. She was the one who walked away. She was the one who went off on her own. She was the one whose actions put her and the rest of the flock in danger. That crazy shepherd! Just holds her high and says "Come and rejoice… I've found my sheep!"
The old coin that rolled away. Do you think a coin is bothered whether it's lost or found? Even though it was totally incapable of realizing it's own worth, the woman who owned it did. And she was a bit of a crazy woman, because when she finds it, she ends up throwing a party for her friends that may well have cost more than the coin was worth.
The great statesman and theologian of the earliest church, St. Paul, made no pretense that his former position was one of being totally lost, without knowing it, when he writes to his young friend Timothy, "I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service; even though I was formerly a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent aggressor. And yet I was shown mercy, because I acted ignorantly in unbelief; and the grace of our Lord was more than abundant, with the faith and love which are found in Christ Jesus". (1 Timothy 1:12-14)
He acted ignorantly. He didn't know he was lost.
He had to be found without deserving it.
The remedy for being lost without knowing it;
Is to be found without deserving it.
When Jesus spoke those parables about the lost sheep and the lost coin, He did so in the face of murmuring religious leaders, who felt that He was the one who was lost. They believed that He was so lost that He was turning out to be dangerous. So they opposed Him and His crazy notions about God being like a shepherd or a woman who lost a coin. They never got the point that they were the ones who were truly lost without knowing it.
Parables are stories with many layers of meaning. We may well agree that the remedy for being ‘lost without knowing it’ is to be ‘found without deserving it’. Indeed we may identify with those who at times feel lost and know that they are undeserving of having received the grace of God. But if we leave it there... we're still lost.
So listen and hear these stories. A crazy shepherd leaves 99 in the fold and goes off in search of one. "I am the Good Shepherd" proclaims Jesus, "Who lays down His life for his sheep". A woman loses a coin and then throws a party when she finds it. "In the same way," Jesus tells us, "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents".
Friends, do we get it? God’s crazy about us. Even when we are not too crazy about the things of God’s Kingdom, God still calls out to us and seeks to be a part of our lives. God has a passion for our lives that they should be all that God first created them to be, a commitment so great that Jesus died upon the Cross of Calvary to kill forever any notion that God didn’t know what life was like for everyday people.
Don’t get lost without knowing it. As those airplane pilots I mentioned earlier, who ended up miles from nowhere, in the middle of the desert, being lost can cost you everything, even life itself. Today God is just waiting to take us by the hand and lead us home. And… no… it’s nothing we deserve. After all we are the ones who wander away from the path; we are the ones who can go through life remaining ignorant of the God who seeks us out.
Don’t be lost without knowing it. Allow the love of God to find you and welcome you and seek to live your life in the security of that relationship. Then your life will echo the words of the many in our world whose Christian testimony is simply “I was lost, but now I am found!”
May we find in the coming days that our lives are being made new in Jesus name. Amen.
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