Seeking and Saving the Lost: A Meditation on Luke 15

In Jesus' parables of Luke 15, there are three examples He gives of seeking and saving the lost. The first is a shepherd who goes out pursuing one of 100 sheep; the second is a woman who searches for one of ten coins; and the other is a father who searches the horizon for one of two sons.  In each case, there is a primary focus on the pursuit of the lost, and tremendous celebration over every lost one that is restored.

This focus on seeking and saving the lost can seem smugly quaint to us-- particularly those of us who sit comfortably in our Sunday pews, and figure we don't need saving. Isn't it nice, we may think to ourselves, that Jesus goes out into the darkness and tries get back those wandering lost souls. Of course, He wouldn't have to, if they would just come back and be good little Christians.  So, when Jesus finally gets back with those lost souls, sure, we'll throw a little party, but we'll also have a good dose of snooty "told-ya-so" to meet out. After all, if they had been safe and sound where we are, Jesus wouldn't have had to go out in the first place.

All along, we're revealing quite a bit about ourselves, not least of which is pride and ignorance. First, we think ourselves good and safe and righteous, elevating ourselves over our fellow man. Second, we fail to remember that on our own, we're nothing but lost and condemned sinners ourselves. And lastly, we forget that we are daily losing ourselves in sin and evil, and that daily Jesus must plunge into the darkness to retrieve us by His grace and mercy.

Oh, yes-- make no mistake about it.  We are the lost sheep Jesus has gone out to find. And for good reason, too. You and I, lost in the dark domain of sin, death, and the devil, are easy prey for the one who prowls ceaselessly about the world seeking someone to devour.  We are slow and clumsy, selfish and self absorbed, prating on and on regarding how great we are while wolves lick their lips in anticipation.

Imagine how we look from Jesus' perspective. Lambs we are, defenseless, dirty and weak, with no particular strength to resist the wolves closing in. To compliment our weak physical and spiritual powers, we add to them a mind that is clouded and delusional, holding up our certificates and worldly honors, as if all the forces of good and evil somehow quake when they see our "I-love-me-wall".  And if we have been brought safely within the Ark of the Church, we often disdain the troubles from which we have been saved, thinking lightly of our own culpability and destitution.

But it is for lost souls like you and I that Jesus has come-- lost sheep who neither understand their decrepit condition, nor their enemies which surround them on every side. For sinful, ignorant, prideful people like us, who will never really know this side of heaven, either the depth of the danger we have been saved from, or the Sacrifice made for our salvation.

But be of good cheer, little flock, for it is His good will to seek and to save even you. To you He has come through the crucible of the Cross, put you upon His shoulders, and carry your sinful, prideful, arrogant self to the gates of His heavenly Kingdom. And there you can hear the revelry of countless others whom Jesus has brought there before you, joined with the shouts and cheers of the whole Angelic Host, that one more who was dead, is now alive forevermore.

Thanks be to God. Amen.