Sept. 15, 2019          Lost and Found                                                            

Late Friday evening, as I was finishing up my paperwork at Casey’s, a young lady came into the store. She had short shorts on, lots of tattoos, glitter make-up on. As I sat in the office, I could hear her conversation with the girl at the register, it seems that she had just auditioned for a job at the local gentleman’s club, and felt really good about her chances. The girl working at the register, rung up the items, wished her well, and the young lady left.

After she left, I came out to the register to clock out, and the girl at the register said, “Can you imagine that, that girl had no shame, she just came up and told me…” and the register girl proceeded to tell me the entire conversation, which I had just heard.  Standing nearby, the other person working up front, waited till the story was finished and turned to me and said, “I thought we were supposed to pray for people like that..” And my reply was “yes, that, and offer them a job at Casey’s”  “What???” the girl at the register exclaimed! So I proceeded to explain.

We are supposed to pray for people like that, because they are far more likely to get involved with drugs, far more likely to be assaulted, far more likely to suffer health problems, and far more likely to end up in jail or worse. But we are supposed to do more than just pray, we are supposed to be a friend to them, we are supposed to offer them the opportunity to do something else, we are supposed to provide them a way out of such a life. After all, she isn’t just some foolish young kid, she’s somebody’s daughter."

Which is where we come to our gospel lesson this morning. I know that our reading is about the lost sheep, and the lost coin, but the extended version of the reading includes the story of the prodigal son. In these stories, Jesus is speaking to a crowd that includes the Pharisees. These stories aren’t about sheep, coins, or lost sons, they are about saving people, saving lives.

The Pharisees don’t save lives, they use the law to separate themselves from sinners. Jesus, on the other hand, is about reclaiming lost lives, and turning those who have gone astray, back to life, back to being children of God. The Pharisees are like the elder brother, unwilling to have anything to do with the younger son. But we are called to be like the Father, who is ready to welcome back his son, even though he has disrespected the father, and squandered all that the father has given him.

The Father is all about relationships, and restoring relationships that are broken. And the Father knows, that in order to do that, we must show mercy, even to those who have gone astray. For, as one commentator puts it, if we are unable to show mercy to others, we will be unable to receive mercy for ourselves, and without mercy none of us will be able to live together.

Now being a spouse, a parent, and a grandparent, I, like many of you out there, have experiences of being disappointed and even disrespected by those close to us. And to be truthful, I would have to say at times, I have disappointed and been disrespectful of others as well. But the ability to show mercy, to forgive those who have sinned against us, is the glue that holds families together, it’s the stuff that brings back the lost, it’s the stuff that gives life to relationships we long thought dead.

Our goal as Christians, is to be that glue, to show that mercy, not just to our own family members, but to all people, for each of them is someone’s son or daughter, and each of them could be a lost sheep, or a lost coin, or a prodigal that we could rejoice over, so that God could also rejoice in us! And that’s the good news of Jesus Christ. Amen.