September 14, 2025 Sermon
Sermon title: “Lost Sheep and Lost Coins”
Scripture: Luke 15:1-10
(Other lectionary suggestions include Jeremiah 4:11-12 and 22-28, Psalm 14, and I Timothy 1:12-17.)
Luke 15:1-10
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable: 4“Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8“Or what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The sermon title is “Lost Sheep and Lost Coins,” but it’s probably about more than that. Says N. T. Wright, “The three parables are told because Jesus was making a habit of having celebration parties with all the ‘wrong’ people, and some of the folks thought it was a nightmare.” By the way, doesn’t it just irritate you no end that there are some people who hate it when ANYBODY - except them - has a good time? Sometimes I wonder if Jesus was naive in wanting EVERYBODY to have a good time - or maybe part of him wanted to stick it to the high and mighty who thought NOBODY should have a good time if they didn’t “measure up” - whatever that means!
See, the truth is that all Heaven is having a party, and EVERYBODY is invited! Isn’t that neat? And Jesus had the temerity to suggest that heaven was having a great, noisy party every time a single sinner saw the light and repented. “If earth-dwellers wanted to copy the life of heaven, they’d have a party, too. That’s what Jesus was doing.”
What Jesus was doing on earth is exactly what God was doing in the heavenly realm. And when the shepherd found a lost sheep, he rejoiced! And the sheep was accepted just as he was! The sheep “didn’t have to earn God’s love or Jesus’ respect. He loved coming looking for them and celebrated finding them.”
You and I think that church is about us, but it’s actually about God. Says William H. Willimon, “Church is where we come to be reminded of our responsibilities, a place where we come to note where we have gone wrong and to get on the right path. No. Church is primarily about God. Church is where we come to learn the truth about who God is and what God is up to in the world. We like to think that God is much like us when we are at our best. We would reach out to those in need but not OVERreach. We would attempt to be gracious to the one who is lost and wandering but not OVERly gracious. We would be polite to the outcast and the downtrodden, but we would have our limits. Jesus says in today’s Gospel that when it comes to seeking out, searching for, and saving the lost, GOD is NOT LIKE US.”
I hope you noticed that it was the good, righteous, Bible-believing people who criticized Jesus. And what does Jesus do? He tells some wild little stories about a searching shepherd and a seeking woman. And these two individuals searched until they found what was lost. “He doesn’t say that the woman searched until she had spent a number of hours in the process before she gave up. He says she searched UNTIL SHE FOUND WHAT SHE WAS LOOKING FOR.”
What does that tell us about God? It tells us that God will not stop seeking and searching until God finds what GOD is looking for! Isn’t that great?
If you watch NBC News, you’ll remember that often the broadcast ends with.... “There’s good news tonight.” Well, William H. Willimon says the same thing: there is good news here! “God isn’t the God you expected. God isn’t the one who sits back saying, ‘They know my office hours. If they want to be with me, they know where to find me. Come to church between eleven and twelve and we’ll talk.’ No, God doesn’t wait for you to come to him. God....comes to you. There is great hope here. We have a God who is actively seeking to bring all things into communion and relationship. All, including you.” And me. Says Willimon, “Thanks be to God.”
Something else: Jesus did a lot of irritating things, such as tell stories about bad guys being the heroes of his stories. Look at the Good Samaritan story. Jesus’s listeners HATED the Samaritans, and yet Jesus made the Samaritan the hero!
How about this one that we call the Prodigal Son? “A loving father is insulted by his insolent younger son who abandons him and his elder son and wastes all of the father’s money. When the younger son returns home, the younger son is welcomed back with a party, and the elder son refuses to go to the party and stays outside pouting.”
One more quote from Willimon: “One of the reasons why Jesus was put to death was in order to stop the stories!” Isn’t Willimon great? Thanks be to God! Amen.
Pastor Skip
