'Lost and Found'

Picture the scene in Luke 15 where we see Jesus teaching. Tax collectors and sinners are gathering around to hear Him — not to be lectured at but to hear Him and His message which was different from the Pharisees, who were also there. Off to the side, the Pharisees and teachers of the law are muttering talking about the crowd, dismissing them outright. That specific word for "muttering" shows up in the Old Testament: Israel grumbling in the wilderness. The religious insiders have become the wilderness generation without ever noticing it happened, while the very people they'd written off are the ones finding life in what Jesus says.

Taking this all in, Jesus begins to tell a story: "Suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one" (Luke 15:8). And here's what's worth sitting with — this coin didn't do anything. In the story just before this one, a sheep wanders off; it made some kind of choice, however small and instinctive. In the story just after, a son packs a bag and leaves entirely on purpose. This coin didn't wander and didn't choose anything. It rolled under something or slipped through a crack in the floor. No fault of its own. It just got lost.

Some people carry a dramatic story about how they got lost — a rebellion, a specific wrong turn they could point to and explain in detail if you asked them to. Most people don't have one. Most people just drifted. Got busy. Life happened the way it happens to everybody, and one day they looked up and realized they were a long way from where they started, without ever having decided to go anywhere at all. Here's the good news hiding inside Jesus’ story: you don’t have to have a dramatic story to be found by Jesus. Being found and being celebrated was never contingent on having an interesting explanation for how you ended up lost. Whether you are stuck in a crack in the floorboards, inadvertently swept under the rug, or between the cushions of the couch, Jesus is coming for you. He loves you and there is nothing you can do about it. And when you are found in Christ there is an enthusiastic celebration for you.

Have you drifted and realized that you are far from where you were and where you want to be? You can bank on the fact that Jesus is enthusiastically searching for you. Will you turn to him?

Blessings,

Jonathan