Psalm 119:167-176 on March 23rd, 2025
Above is audio of the sermon pulled from the video and amplified.
Below is transcript pulled from the video and formatted by artificial intelligence. There may be inconsistencies or errors.
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Have you ever heard a story so many times that you just stop listening to it? You assume you already know what's going to happen and what it means. That happens a lot with the Bible and especially with today's readings from Luke chapter 15. The parables of the lost coin and the lost son are so well known that we almost just go on autopilot. Something gets lost, it gets found, there's a big celebration and the moral story is repentance.
Wait what? Repentance. I don't remember the stories being about repentance. But as I read the parables again, Jesus clearly states that these scenes are about one sinner who repents. So it made me wonder, did Jesus get mixed up? Did He not listen to the stories that He Himself just told? Because despite His giving the one sinner who repents explanation, when you look closely at the stories, the theme of repentance, turning around, confessing, changing one's ways, is barely there. In fact I'd say that it's completely missing.
Think about it. Does a sheep repent for wandering off? It doesn't do much of anything. Does a coin realize that it's lost and beg to be found? I don't think that's within a coin's capabilities. And even in the parable of the lost son where we expect that repentance is going to be a big theme, the moment the sun starts his confession, the father doesn't even let him finish. He said there is a feast before there's ever an apology.
So maybe the ones who need to repent are those who lost something in the first place. You know, learn your lesson and prevent this from ever happening again. Repent and pay better attention to your sheep. Repent and keep your coins safe. Repent and be a better father by challenging impractical plans and maybe notice a little sooner that your other son is missing from all the festivities.
The lost things are inanimate. There is no repentance whatsoever. And the sun, who at least tries, doesn't get a chance to repent. It seems to me that the parables emphasize the finding and the celebration. Rejoice with me, where I found what I lost, but we had to celebrate in rejoice. He was lost and he has been found. The stories themselves don't seem interested in blame for why things are lost or who lost them. Their emphasis is only on the urgency of finding them and then celebrating when you do.
All three parables share a common theme. Extrapagant, even illogical pursuit of what is lost. And when we link all three of them together like this, we see the truly wild and crazy love of God that makes no sense to humanity. The shepherd doesn't just notice that one sheep is missing and then hopes it finds his way back. He leaves the 99 in the wilderness to go after the one. It is reckless and even irresponsible by human standards, but it shows the depth of God's determination to bring each and every one home.
The woman turns her house upside down for a single coin. I mean, realistically, she still has nine. Why not just cut her losses? That's not how God works. Every single one matters. There is no acceptable margin of loss when it comes to God's beloved.
And then there is the father. The moment he sees his son in the distance he runs, not with caution, not with conditions, but with arms wide open. He throws everything else aside because the only thing that matters is his lost son has been found. He embraces him before the boy can even get through his rehearsed apology. There is no waiting period, no proving oneself worthy, just overwhelming immediate grace.
And by looking at the parables, it seems that Jesus tells these stories to reveal who God is, a God who relentlessly seeks joyfully finds and then extravagantly celebrates. This is gospel. This is good news.
So what is up with the repenting? Here's what I think. Jesus wants us to hear the gospel message loud and clear. But then maybe he also wants to add a little challenge that we don't often get in our already assumed and frankly self-centered lessons from these parables.
First that gospel message. Maybe that makes us want to repent, you know? It makes us want to be found. Even the parables repentance isn't about proving ourselves worthy or making the first move. It's about being found by a God who refuses to give up on us. And then when God does find us, there's a party, a celebration. There is much rejoicing. That doesn't sound too bad. And this finding, this rejoicing, this repentance is about being joined back to a community, back to where we belong. It's about restoration and in wholeness and joy.
But then to up the challenge you get a bit, maybe this is also a call for us as God's community to find what or who we are missing. Just as the flock is incomplete with one missing, just as the woman's purse is lacking, just as the family isn't whole without everyone. So are we as God's community. This isn't just about individual contrition. Repentance is about our communal responsibility to seek out and bring a foretaste of the feast to come to those who have been lost for gotten or pushed to the margins. Maybe we should repent of our failure to look for others and share this good news.
Jesus' parables today remind us that God doesn't wait for the lost to find their own way back. God goes after them and we are called to do the same. Who is missing from our community? Who needs to be reminded that they are seeing love and welcome? We don't just turn back. We open our arms as God does, ready to embrace with joy and without hesitation.
As in these stories aren't just about sheep or coins or even one wayward son. These stories are about God. A God who refuses to tally up sins, who refuses to wait for us to grovel our way back, who refuses to cut losses. God whose love is too relentless, too reckless, too full of joy for that kind of stuff. This is the God that we proclaim. A God who searches, who finds and who throws a feast every single time. And even now, God is still seeking, still finding, still celebrating.
That means we are called to do the same. Jesus gives us good news in these parables, but he also challenges us to join God in the search and to notice who is lost and to widen our circle of celebration until every last one is home. Because that's the heart of the gospel. We belong to a God who will never stop seeking, never stop finding, never stop throwing a party when we are found. So let's rejoice. Let's celebrate. Let's join in the search because we once were lost. But now we are found. Amen.