Jesus Loves to Find Things

Luke 15:1–10 The Message

By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story. “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue. “Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”

Luke 13:6–9 The Message

Then he told them a story: “A man had an apple tree planted in his front yard. He came to it expecting to find apples, but there weren’t any. He said to his gardener, ‘What’s going on here? For three years now I’ve come to this tree expecting apples and not one apple have I found. Chop it down! Why waste good ground with it any longer?’ “The gardener said, ‘Let’s give it another year. I’ll dig around it and fertilize, and maybe it will produce next year; if it doesn’t, then chop it down.’ ”

How many of you like to hear stories? Perhaps it’s because stories help us to imagine things in a way that is easier for us to understand. Maybe it’s because it’s fun to think about how people overcome obstacles to achieve great things, so that we can be encouraged to do so as well.

Jesus taught people by telling stories. He taught them about how God loves them, and how God wants them to trust in His love for them, and especially, that He, Jesus, has come to fulfill God’s promise to protect them from the hatred of Satan who wants to harm them. We call that promise, the Good News or “the Gospel.” The stories that Jesus told showed those who listened that God’s plan for them was good for them, that He was for them.

In the first story, Jesus told of how a good shepherd would not leave a lost sheep alone in the wilderness, but would go and find it and bring it home to the rest of its family. He wouldn’t just ignore that sheep, saying, “he should have stayed with the rest of the sheep!” No, he would leave and go look for that one lost sheep until he found it. He did that because even that one sheep was important to the good shepherd.

In the second story, the woman who lost a coin searched her whole house trying to find it. In the same way, the angels in heaven are so happy when a person believes the Good News that God loves them, and that Jesus, by dying on the cross, and being raised from the dead, rescues us from the sins that would cause us so much trouble.

Finally, the third story tells us about a tree that, for some reason, was not bearing fruit. The owner decided, after three years, that the tree was just no good and should be cut down, but his gardener suggested that he could try some special care and see if that would help the tree. If that didn’t work, then he would do as the owner asked.

This story shows us that when people don’t respond to God’s good Laws, by doing what is right, His Law says that they should be punished. Jesus gives us the Gospel, and shows His love for us by giving us His Word and His Holy Spirit and by placing us within the Body of Christ, the Church, so that we can learn how to live the kind of lives that God wants us to live. Jesus does such a good thing with us that, even people who were not doing anything good often do wonderful things.

Sometimes, though, even with Jesus’ wonderful words and His love, some people don’t want to be with Him, and so they refuse to love God and love others. They don’t “bear fruit.” God doesn’t let them ruin things for everyone who does love Him; instead He removes them from the others. We call that God’s judgment. God doesn’t take pleasure in doing that; He would much rather that we hear His Word and trust Him, so He surrounds us with people who encourage us to obey God’s Law and show love for one another. That’s what the Church is for, to help us live the kind of lives that please God and are good for us and for others. One day, when Jesus returns, He will bring all of His people together, and we shall live together always.

Blessed Lord, Heavenly Father, we thank you for loving us so much that you would not simply let us be lost. Instead, you came to find us and to bring us back home to our heavenly family. Help us, as we listen to Your Word and are purified by Your Spirit, to love one another as You love us. We thank You for Your love, for Your Word, for Your Holy Spirit, and for Your Church, through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, Amen.