Sunday worship
10:30 am
Sunday School
9:30 am

The Joy of Being Found (Luke 15:1-7, Ezekiel 34:1-16)

-- by Pastor James Kang, based on the sermon delivered in August 2005

This parable in Luke 15 speaks of a universal human condition. Our problem is not simply that we make mistakes or choose wrong things. It is not simply that we violate God's commandments. It goes deeper than that. Our problem is that we are lost.

And there are many ways of being lost.

I used to work in Silicon Valley in a high-tech company. I was enjoying all the benefits of an affluent, upwardly-mobile society. But I was lost in a world of cut-throat competition, where competition was valued more than compassion, profit more than people, and winning the deal more than justice.

Some people have everything they need. They have social status, education, and money. But they are lost in the abyss of selfishness, thinking only about how to promote themselves, how to secure their status, and how to build up their fortune.

Some people are lost in resentment and anger, accusing others for their problems and blaming their past, their parents, and their situation.

Some people are lost in the streets of Newark, trapped in impersonal systems, bureaucratic institutions, numbers and statistics.

Some people are lost because they have been abandoned by others, terribly lonely, completely unloved, and completely left alone.

Being lost is a universal human condition.

In the Gospel of Luke 15, Jesus tells a parable about many ways of being lost. One was a sheep that strayed away from the flock. Another was a coin that rolled away into a hidden corner of a house. Another was a younger son who walked away from his father. Yet another was an older son who has been enjoying all the comforts of the father's house but is lost in a tragic way. Indeed, there are many ways of being lost.

But the good news is that regardless of how we are lost, God searches for us and reaches out to us. Regardless of how far we have gone astray, God never gives up on us and goes after us until He finds us. Regardless of how hopelessly we are lost, God is able to find us and to bring us home. Our salvation belongs to God who never gives up on us, and that is a good news for us.

The Setting of the Parable

The parable in Luke 15 is familiar to most of us, but it has often been interpreted apart from its original setting. If we read the first part of Luke 15 (vv. 1-3), we might be surprised to find that it is told to the opponents of Jesus. This parable is Jesus' response to the grumbling of the Pharisees and the scribes, a weighty theological confrontation between Jesus and the religious leaders. Once we realize this, we can see it from a different perspective. It is not merely a comforting message for those who are lost. Yes, the message of comfort is there, but in light of its original context, it is ultimately a call for the hearer to reach out to the lost.

What was the controversy that prompted Jesus to tell this parable?

The Pharisees and the scribes were very concerned about living a holy life in the midst of their daily activities. For them, holiness was to be practiced not just in the Temple but also at home, at every meal, and at every social interaction. Certainly, their intention was commendable. But their understanding of holiness focused on the externals. In order to keep themselves pure, they would carefully control whom they interact with, and they would avoid like plagues those who did not conform to their standards of holiness.

When they saw Jesus hanging out with the tax collectors, the sinners, and the least in the society, they thought only about the violation of the purity law. So they grumbled: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

But they are the ones who are supposed to reach out to the sinners. They, the shepherds of Israel, are called by God to reach out to the lost, invite the lost to their fellowship, and eat with them.

In the book of Ezekiel 34:1-16, God speaks to such leaders of Israel:

themselves

Then God says:

I Myself

Jesus is saying to the Pharisees and the scribes, "You accuse me of welcoming sinners and eating with them. You are absolutely right! That is exactly why I came. I have come to find the lost. But you are concerned only about yourselves and have no concern for the lost. So I Myself will search for the lost and bring them back."

God's Concern for the One Lost Sheep

So the parable begins:

"Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?"

The irony of this question is that most shepherds would answer no. No reasonable shepherd would leave the whole flock out in the open country. The word translated as "open country" literally means wilderness. In the Bible, the wilderness is a metaphor for a place of insecurity and danger, lurking with wild beasts that can devour the flock. It seems reckless to risk the lives of so many for the sake of one.

Moreover, it does not make sense economically. The sheep that gets lost is often a sick one that is disoriented by the illness. It makes more sense to protect the ninety-nine healthy ones and let the single sick one die. That's what we would do if we are concerned about the bottom line.

But the surprise in this parable is that the Shepherd goes after the one lost sheep. He is not interested in the bottom line. He is not concerned about the economics of numbers. His only concern is the wellbeing of the lost sheep.

Once I read a story of a young doctor, who worked with children with serious conditions of epilepsy. One day, a wealthy businessman was being shown through the hospital in the hope that he might be persuaded to support the work. After the tour of the hospital, the wealthy businessman asked the doctor, "How many of these children might eventually lead normal lives?" And the doctor replied, "Perhaps, one in a hundred." "What?" said the businessman, "One in a hundred! Is it worth the effort?" Then the doctor answered, "Maybe not. But suppose that one in a hundred were your own child."

That's how it is with God. God would go after the one lost sheep among us because we are His sons and daughters. He searches for us just as a mother searches for her lost child. He doesn't care about the economics. He cares only about the wellbeing of His child.

The Cross of the Shepherd

When the Shepherd finds the sheep, He puts it on His shoulders and brings it back home. He does not simply herd the sheep back. He lifts it up and carries it on His shoulders.

This may seem like a small gesture, but the early Christians saw a hidden message of the cross in the Shepherd's carrying the sheep. Of course, the word "cross" doesn't appear in this parable, but the message is there.

Today we are used to seeing the cross as a symbol of God's love for us. In a way, the cross has become a romantic symbol. We display it in our churches, we use it as a decoration, and we hang it around our neck.

But in the 1st three centuries, Christians did not have a cross hanging in their worship place. They did not dare to use it as a decoration. Why? Because the cross was still used at the time as a means of executing criminals. It was too horrifying a symbol for them too see. Imagine, in our modern day America, trying to worship in a church with an electric chair hanging in front of us. Only in the 4th century, when the crucifixion was officially banned by the Roman Emperor, did the Christians begin to use the cross as a symbol of God's love.

Before this time, what did the early Christians use?

One symbol that appears often is the Shepherd carrying a sheep on His shoulders. Such an image is found in Dura Europos in today's Syria. What is really interesting about this painting is that the sheep on the shoulders of the Shepherd is huge, drawn at least twice or three times the actual size.

Why would they draw the sheep so big?

They were emphasizing the weight of the burden that the Shepherd had to endure, the burden of the cross on His shoulders. While the sheep was too weak to stand on its own, the Shepherd lifted it up and carried it all the way home. As the Apostle Paul says in Romans 5:8, "God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."

The Joy of Salvation

Now, try to imagine the emotion of the sheep! "I'm going to live! The Shepherd hasn't abandoned me to die! I'm going to live!" There is so much joy - the joy of being found, the joy of being rescued, and the joy of coming home.

It is not just the sheep that is joyful, but also the Shepherd. The Shepherd is so joyful that He cannot contain the joy within Himself. He has to celebrate. He throws a big party. He invites His friends and neighbors, and says, "Rejoice with Me. I have found My lost sheep." "In the same way, there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent." Even one person returning to God will cause a joyous celebration in heaven.

What about you? Have you experienced the joy of being found? Have you experienced the joy of salvation? Have you experienced the joy of living with Christ?

Perhaps, some of us had experienced the joy of being found many years ago. But now, after years of church attendance, perhaps we have forgotten what that joy was like. Week after week, we come to church and go through the motions of worship, but the joy has grown stale.

The Apostle John in the book of Revelation warns us not to forsake the first love (Rev. 2:4). In the same way, we are not to forsake the first joy - the joy of being found by Christ. The Psalmist David prays, "Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation" (Psalm 51:12). Every morning, we need to come before the presence of God and be re-filled with the joy of salvation and the joy of living with Him. That joy will strengthen us, that joy will carry us through the day, and that joy will radiate from us as the light of Christ.

In the end, every parable of Jesus compels us to do something. It is not merely for our intellectual enlightenment. It compels us to live it out. As we noted earlier, the parable was told to the Pharisees and the scribes who excluded the lost from their fellowship. And Jesus is telling them that they are the ones to reach out to the lost.

Today, Jesus is telling us to go and do likewise.

As Pastor Tingson shared a number of times, the primary purpose of the church is mission - to reach out to the lost and to share the joy of Christ with them so that they too might experience the same joy. The church exists, not for the sake of its own, but for the sake of the lost.

Unfortunately, many churches have become an exclusive social club. They have good intentions. But they want to stay comfortable, they want the church to be their family business, and they want the pastor to be their family chaplain. The result is that they have little energy to reach out beyond the walls of the church.

God has placed Peddie Church in downtown Newark for purpose. There is reason for our being here. And that is, to reach out to the 3L's - the lost, the least, and the left-out - so that they too might experience the joy of Christ. If we loose sight of that vision, then we loose sight of the Gospel.

Our Lord Jesus commanded us to go and make disciples of all nations (Mat. 28:19). But this is more than an obligation. If we reach out to others merely because of obligation, it would be drudgery, and it would not last very long. But there is a deeper reason. And that is the joy of Christ. We reach out to the lost because we ourselves have experienced the joy of being found, the joy of His salvation, the joy of living with Him, and the joy of serving Him. I believe that joy is the greatest motivation for mission.

Mother Theresa said, "Our joy is the best means to preach Christianity to nonbelievers." She and the sisters in Missionaries of Charity worked among the poorest of the poor in India. They would do small things - helping children, visiting the sick, the isolated, the abandoned, and taking care of the dying that they might die with dignity. Some people would look at the small scale of their work and criticize that what they were doing was irrelevant and that it would be more effective for a government agency to dispose vast amounts of money and resources. But Mother Teresa would reply, what she and the Sisters had to offer was something else. It was the love of Christ. And she said, "Even if they helped only one person, that would be reason enough for their work." There would be a joyous celebration in heaven every time one person returns to God.

Christ does not look at the world as numbers and statistics. Instead, He looks at one person as a child of God. What we have to offer is something that the world cannot offer - the love of Christ, the joy of being found by Christ, the joy of living with Him, and the joy of serving Him. Let this joy compel you to reach out to the lost. Let this joy radiate from you as you go out into the world. Let this joy be your strength. Amen.

Notes: I owe much of the biblical and cultural insights to Kenneth E. Bailey, Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15.