Lost and Found – in Love!
I knew a woman once who told a story that perplexed and deeply concerned and moved me. She grew up in a particular part of Western Sydney considered impoverished, challenging, rough and where, of course, no-one of any capacity would emerge.
She and a small group of young people in her local high school defied the norm and went on to complete the HSC – and do very well! When they were applying for university or jobs, they were strongly advised to use the address of a grandparent or aunt/uncle. There was considerable evidence that young people using their postcode were discriminated against. Such people would be trouble and no use, seemed to be the general opinion. I was flabbergasted and couldn’t believe this was the case. She told several stories that revealed its truth.
This week Luke’s story of Jesus (Luke 15:1-32) has Jesus confronted by religious types who challenge him for eating and engaging with people who are on the edges, outcasts, sinners, prostitutes, tax collectors, anyone who was suspicious and obviously beyond God’s grace and love. The fact that he ate with such people meant that these were the ones he must truly identify with and this is who he is, what he is like. Jesus is tainted with the brush of those with whom he associates. His response is to tell them stories…
The first is of a lost sheep and the shepherd who leaves the other 99 to go off and find the one lost. On finding that sheep, there is great joy and celebration! The story has an edgy, risky feel to it. Would you leave the 99 in the open whilst wandering off to find the lost – is that not a risk? But that is the very point, I suspect, because Jesus suggests that there will be more rejoicing over the one sinner who returns than over those already ‘in the fold.’
The second story is about a lost coin, perhaps part of the woman’s dowry. When she discovered it is lost, she turned the house upside down until she found it. Then she threw a party for the neighbourhood, to celebrate the lost coin being found. Again Jesus suggests that there is rejoicing in heaven when the one lost, finds their way home into God’s grace.
Finally, the well-known story often called the ‘Prodigal Son.’ A boy wants out of the provincial life on his father’s property. He wants to explore the world and discover himself, have a good time. He went and asked his father for his share of the inheritance – effectively wishing his father dead! Surprisingly, the father complied and the son took his money and set off into the world. This story has different dimensions and one of them is that this is a story we all follow, setting off into life, as youth/young adults, to discover what life means for us. We push out gainst the barriers and rules, driven by ego and ambition to ‘become,’ whatever that becoming might mean. We journey into the world and try out anything and everything, pushing the limits far and wide in order to build the container of our lives.
At some point we encounter challenges, struggles or suffering. It might also be a great sense of love or awe, something that squashes the ego down and reveals our vulnerability. This doesn’t always happen. Sometimes we can avoid the pain, excuse it, hide from it or simply get angry and rage our way through it, never really engaging with it. We may remain ego-driven. If we do allow this suffering to change us, we discover a second journey that leads us back to where we began and to fill the container of our lives with that which is truly important – relationships, love, sacrifice, care, justice, kindness… We grow and mature.
In this story, the boy spends his money, is caught in a famine and has to work for a local landowner in a far-off country. He is sent out to feed pigs, the ultimate shame for a Jewish boy. Worse, he even wishes he could eat the food they are eating! It is in this lowly place that he realises even the servants back home are better off and decides to return home and beg a place in the home as a servant.
One of the deeply surprising and wonderful parts of this story is when we realise the father has been watching out for his son everyday and when he saw him coming down the road, ran and threw himself at his son, with joyful tears. When the boy apologised and begged to be a servant, the father told him that he was his son and always had been – even when he wished his father dead! He then declared that a party was in order because this son was lost and found, dead and now alive. The party began!
Meanwhile the older son was working in the field and missed the return. When he came back, he heard the music and asked what was going on. A servant explained that his brother had returned and his father had thrown a party. The older son was angry! He refused to go home. He refused to acknowledge his younger brother. He complained and resented the fact his father welcomed this wayward boy back home. He remained outside the house!
In the light of Jesus’ opponents who seek to define him through his engagement with others, whom they have already judged, we are invited to enter into this story for ourselves. How might we understand ourselves as being lost – a lost sheep, a lost coin or a lost son? What does it feel like to be lost? Our sense of being lost can vary from being lost on a journey to being lost in our sense of being – who are we? Where are we heading? What is it all about? There is a lostness in relationships that are challenged or change. There is a sense of being lost, spiritually, disconnected from that deep part of ourselves that is spirit, soul, deep being. What does it feel like to be lost and how do we respond?
What if we put ourselves into the role of those who seek that which is lost? How do we feel in losing something important and significant? What is the desperation we feel and how do we frantically look? I often go in circles, defying any logic or rational approach as I panic search. After a while I quieten down and try to think my way through the possibilities. What does it feel like to lose something and to search? What is it like when we find it? Relief, joy, excitement… It feels really good! Do we ever feel like celebrating?
Jesus was deeply concerned about people who were lost, often within a world that was harsh and difficult. They found their way into the dark places and did what they could to survive. Others were greedy or sought power and might, wealth and ripped the poor off to get more. All were lost and their deepest loss was having ventured far from home – the heart of God who loves them profoundly. Jesus knew that it is in the rich flow of grace and love, out of the heart of God, that life finds it deepest and richest meaning and joy. This is the home for which we yearn but so much keeps us away from home, seeking, searching for that something in a far-off land…
Then there is the elder brother – what is it like to be him? Too often I am him, in offering judgement or assumptions about people that isn’t fair or true. Too often I am the entitled one who doesn’t recognise the journey another person is on or the challenges they face and the love they need. Too often I am the one who refuses to enter the ‘house’ because of my own ego and ignorant stupidity – and I need the forgiveness and mercy of God.