Loss: a sheep, a coin, a son.

The Biblical book of Luke, chapter 15 contains three short parables, all on the same theme. In each something or someone is lost and the caretaker, owner or parent is in distress until the lost is found and jubilant when this happens.

I don’t know about you, but if I were in a paddock of one hundred sheep, I’d not be able to tell one from another, let alone know if one was missing. In this case the shepherd is intimately connected to his flock- he knows them all, protects and cares for them and is not content to let any one stray without searching for it.

For the woman who had the ten silver coins, the loss would be more easily apparent. These have value and represent what can be purchased. If one is missing there may not be enough food in the house, or clothing for its inhabitants, or money to pay taxes. They are security against trouble and want.

The third parable, that of the prodigal son, is well known. Here we see a great loss, that of a son, a young man who requests his inheritance early (an insult to his father in that culture) and disappears to a distant country.  His father’s pain is that of every loving parent who sees a child go astray. The father never ceases to hope, wait and watch for his son’s return and welcomes and blesses him when he does so.

When we think about loss, it can range from the small and irritating to the most profoundly life changing. It can be material, like an earring or set of car keys. It can be psychological, like the loss of self-respect or innocence. We can lose youth and health, friendships and jobs. By far the worst losses must be the loss of those we love through death.

What do these parables teach us about loss?

Firstly, they reveal how valuable each of us is to God.  With God, you are not just another sheep in the flock. God knows every person on this earth. Jesus said “I am the good shepherd. I know my sheep and my sheep know me- just as the Father knows me and I know the Father – and I lay down my life for the sheep.” (John 10:14)

Just as the woman with the coins placed value on each one, so God has a plan and purpose for each of us. There is not one of us committed to Him whom He will not use to glorify His name and further His kingdom. The Bible tells us “ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:11-13)

Secondly, these stories reveal the longing for relationship with us that God has. The father in the story of the prodigal son gave the boy material wealth, but knew that would not satisfy for long. His true inheritance was the unfailing love of his father, love that received him with all his faults. There is something infinitely tender in the image of a strong Shepherd carrying home a frightened and hungry sheep, and a father racing along a road to gather a tattered and weary son in his arms.  God is saying “It’s alright. I know you. You are forgiven. You are loved.”

Finally the parables describe the joy and blessing that accompanies the finding of the lost. When the lost is found, those seeking have two desires- to celebrate and to share the discovery with others. The Bible tells us in Luke chapter 15 that there is rejoicing in Heaven when one sinner repents. When we commit our lives to Christ, we are invited into a totally new life in relationship with Him. We still face troubles and challenges in this life, but we do so with Christ- He goes before, walks alongside and attends to all we leave behind. His is the promise of life in Heaven after this earthly one, where sorrows are forgotten and tears wiped away. He is in the business of finding and restoring that which was lost.

“I have loved you with an everlasting love;

I have drawn you with unfailing kindness.

I will build you up again,

and you, Virgin Israel, will be rebuilt.

Again you will take up your timbrels

and go out to dance with the joyful.

Again you will plant vineyards

on the hills of Samaria;

the farmers will plant them

and enjoy their fruit.

There will be a day when watchmen cry out

on the hills of Ephraim,

‘Come, let us go up to Zion,

to the Lord our God.’ ”

This is what the Lord says:

“Sing with joy for Jacob;

shout for the foremost of the nations.

Make your praises heard, and say,

‘Lord, save your people,

the remnant of Israel.’

See, I will bring them from the land of the north

and gather them from the ends of the earth.

Among them will be the blind and the lame,

expectant mothers and women in labor;

a great throng will return.

They will come with weeping;

they will pray as I bring them back.

I will lead them beside streams of water

on a level path where they will not stumble,

because I am Israel’s father,

and Ephraim is my firstborn son.

 “Hear the word of the Lord, you nations;

proclaim it in distant coastlands:

‘He who scattered Israel will gather them

and will watch over his flock like a shepherd.’

For the Lord will deliver Jacob

and redeem them from the hand of those stronger than they.

They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion;

they will rejoice in the bounty of the Lord—

the grain, the new wine and the olive oil,

the young of the flocks and herds.

They will be like a well-watered garden,

and they will sorrow no more.

Then young women will dance and be glad,

young men and old as well.

I will turn their mourning into gladness;

I will give them comfort and joy instead of sorrow.

I will satisfy the priests with abundance,

and my people will be filled with my bounty,”

(Jeremiah 31:3-14)