The text for this sermon is Luke
15:1-10. Pastor Jim Kniseley presented
this sermon at Resurrection on September 16, 2007.
Dear Friends in Christ,
The fifteenth chapter of Luke’s Gospel
contains three great lost and found parables:
the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the
parable of the lost son. Today our
gospel reading covers just the first two, probably because the length of the
reading is about right for a Sunday morning worship service.
There is a common thread that runs through
these three parables: something or
someone is lost; someone becomes almost
irrational in their longing search for what is lost; and, there is tremendous
joy when the lost has been found.
When I think of parable of the lost sheep,
I cannot help but remember a little African pigmy goat named Jimmy. Jimmy became a Lutheran when we were in need
of a little sheep to participate in our choir musical on a Sunday morning in
1976. I was the youth pastor and the one
playing Jesus, complete with long hair, beard, robe and sandals. The heart of the musical was the parable of
the lost sheep. I was selected to go
find and purchase a lamb or young sheep at a good price. In Los Angeles County that was difficult and
I ended up purchasing this little African pygmy goat for a pretty reasonable
price.
I still can’t believe that the church
allowed us to do this. We covered the
first 4 pews with plywood and then put a piece of carpet over that to look like
grass. I had about 10 children sitting
around me listening to the stories…the lights would fade over us and come up on
the chancel where the drama of the story would take place…meanwhile the adult
choir was on risers behind the drama.
I still remember the action on stage when
the teenage shepherd was looking all over for that lost sheep and then came the
dramatic moment when the sheep was found.
The shepherd came on stage holding little Jimmy, this small pygmy goat,
and wouldn’t you know, right on cue it
seemed, he let out his little bleat…Then hundreds of balloons were released to
rise up to the top of the church and the choir sang their hearts out. Well, you have to realize we were near
Hollywood.
Our congregation owned our own camp, so we
retired this great little actor to the camp to be the mascot. He was named “Jimmy” by the teenagers for a
couple of reasons. Because I was driving
a GMC Jimmy at the time and they thought it was hilarious to name a goat after
me.
Jimmy became beloved at the camp for all
ages. He was gentle and loved kids of
all ages to pet him.
Here’s the part of the story that I really
want to tell you. Jimmy was at camp when
a giant rainstorm came and caused a devastating flood to wreck the camp. It was so fortunate that it was winter and no
kids were in camp. Thanks be to God that
the caretaker family, the husband and wife and their two young children, had
practiced an escape route as part of the accrediting for the American Camping
Association, and so were safe. But Jimmy
was nowhere in sight. He was presumed
dead. A few days later when folks from
the church were able to get to the camp site and view the rubble that was all
that remained of the two dormitories, the lodge and the caretaker residence,
they saw a most amazing sight. Across
the valley, on the other side of the still raging river, on top of a mountain
of debris, was Jimmy, alive and well.
The next Sunday in church, not only the
caretaker family, but Jimmy was brought into that Lutheran service for a joyous
celebration!
I want to lift up something very important
about Jesus’ parables of the lost and found.
You and I would do well to read those parables closely and see that the
real message is about the heart and nature of God. It is God’s need and desire and inclination
to find us. We can certainly dwell on
who the lost are, whether it’s us here today or folks out there. It’s better to stop and just enjoy this great
truth that the universe is driven by the need of God to find all of us in our
lost-ness. God wants no one to be lost.
Does it make a difference to you that Jesus
reveals how overjoyed God in heaven is whenever anyone who has been lost is
found? Whenever anyone who has lost
touch with the faith returns?
When I think of Jimmy the African pygmy
goat and his story, I think that if God could care for one of the least of his
creatures, how much more does he care for all of us who have been created in
His likeness?
Let me end with a cute story. A pastor posed this question during a
children’s sermon, “Would you go after the one lost sheep or stay with the
ninety-nine?” One boy quickly responded,
“I’d go after the one lost sheep, but I’d take the other ninety-nine with me.”
Amen!