“God’s Lost and Found Department ”
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Amen. Our text is today’s Gospel Reading, two parables Jesus tells about,
“God’s Lost and Found Department.” “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep.” Throughout the Old and
New Testaments, the one image used most to symbolize the relationship between
God and his people is a Shepherd and his sheep. “We are his people,” Psalm
100 says, “and the sheep of his pasture.” Jacob describes the Lord as “the
Shepherd . . . of Israel.” Joseph says, “God has been my shepherd all my
life to this day.” Jeremiah says, “He will watch over his flock like a
shepherd.” Isaiah says, “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers
the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart.” And, of course
Psalm 23, “The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.” Isaiah tells us, “We all like sheep have gone astray.” Sheep are
notorious for straying and getting lost, and we all like sheep have strayed
spiritually. If left to ourselves we would be lost forever. But, the
parable Jesus tells about the lost sheep harkens back to the Lord’s promise in
today’s Old Testament Reading from Ezekiel: “’As a shepherd seeks after his
scattered flock when he is with them, so will I seek out my sheep and rescue
them . . . I myself will tend my sheep and have them lie down,’ declares the
Sovereign Lord. . . ‘I will search for the lost and bring back the
strays.’” Micah prophesies the coming of the Good Shepherd, the Messiah: “He will
stand and shepherd his flock in the strength of the Lord, in the majesty of the
name of the Lord his God. And they will live securely, for then his
greatness will reach to the ends of the earth. And he will be their
peace.” “I am the Good Shepherd,” Jesus says, “and I lay down my life for the
sheep.” Your Good Shepherd loves you so much that he laid down his life
you, by his sacrifice paying the penalty of your sins and earning you
forgiveness, bringing you back and giving you a place again in God’s flock.
As Peter says, “You were like sheep going astray, but now you have returned to
the Shepherd and Overseer of your souls.” “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep.” Jesus is the Good
Shepherd, and in his preaching recorded in the Gospels, and in the writings of
his Apostles, Jesus’ followers are often described as his “flock.” Jesus
says, “Do not fear, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you
the kingdom.” And Paul tells the pastors at Ephesus that they are like
undershepherds of the Good Shepherd, “Keep watch over yourselves and all the
flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the
church of God, which he bought with his own blood.” So, the “hundred sheep” in the parable is the Church, Christ’s
followers on earth. This parable isn’t about those outside the Church,
being found by the Good Shepherd and then coming to faith in him. This
parable is about us, within the Church, and what God’s attitude is toward us
when we go astray. “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them.”
In one of our other orders of service we quote the Apostle John in the
confession of sins, “If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the
truth is not in us.” John was writing those words to Christians. We
should not think that as Christians we are now immune to the disease of sin.
We do have assurance of the ultimate cure for sin, in heaven. But, until
then, as long as we remain in this life, we are only in remission. Our sin
sickness is always with us, and along the way to heaven sin can and does erupt
in our lives again. As Paul says in Romans, “What shall we conclude then? Are we any
better? No, not at all! We have already made the charge that . . . all alike are
under sin.” Luther puts it this way in the Small Catechism, “For we sin
much daily, and deserve nothing but punishment.” That is why we begin our
worship services with a confession of sins: “I, a poor, miserable sinner,
confess unto you all my sins and iniquities with which I have ever offended you
and justly deserved your temporal and eternal punishment.” Paul says in 2 Timothy, “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful.”
That is the point Jesus is getting across with the two parables in today’s
Gospel Reading: “If we are faithless, he will remain faithful.” Do not
fear that when you fall he will turn you away in anger. “Whoever comes to
me,” Jesus says, “I will never drive away.” As the Apostle John continues,
“But if we confess our sins, God, who is faithful and just, will forgive our
sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” “Dear children,” John says, “I write this to you so that you will not
sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an Advocate who speaks to the Father
in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning
sacrifice for our sins.” That is the point of the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin
in today’s Gospel Reading, and also the third parable immediately following
which Jesus told that day about God’s attitude toward those who go astray, the
Parable of the Prodigal Son. With these three parables, Jesus is assuring
his followers, “Whoever comes to me I will never drive away.” Paul puts it
this way in Galatians, “Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are
spiritual should gently restore him.” “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear
him. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law complained, saying,
‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” Sometimes people both
within and outside the Church get the same distorted idea the Pharisees had in
today’s Gospel Reading, that the church should have a sign above the door which
says, “Sinners Need Not Apply.” “So he spoke to them this parable.” With these parables, Jesus is telling us that over the door of this
church there could instead be a sign which says, “God’s Lost and Found
Department.” For, that’s really what the Church is. Here today Jesus
once again “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Like the shepherd
rejoicing to find his lost sheep, like the woman rejoicing to find her lost
coin, like the father rejoicing to welcome home his lost son, when you go astray
your Savior rejoices to forgive you and receive you back again. “In the
same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.” Return to Top | Return to Sermons | Home | Email Church Office
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