So Jesus told them this story: “If a man has a hundred
sheep and one of them gets lost, what will he do? Won’t he leave the ninety-nine others in the
wilderness and go to search for the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it,
he will joyfully carry it home on his shoulders. When he arrives, he will
call together his friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me because I
have found my lost sheep.’ In
the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost sinner who repents and
returns to God than over ninety-nine others who are righteous and haven’t
strayed away! Luke 15:3-7
The Word of God
for us, the People of God .
In my reading of this parable I was reminded there is
a lot of lost in this chapter. There is a lost sheep, a
lost coin, and a lost son – the
Prodigal one; lost, lost, lost! With all
the information that is at our fingertips these days, it just seems backward
that anything could go lost. But our President
got lost a week ago…in my bride’s dream the night before her
birthday. Here’s how she described it:
"I
had this really strange dream where I woke up laughing my head off.
In
the dream I went out to the mailbox to check if the mailman had come.
While I was there, I heard a noise, and when I turned around there was a
big, dark limousine that had pulled up behind me. The back window rolled
down and there was the President and Melania in the back seat.
The
President stuck his head out the window and said to me, 'Hello; I'm President Donald
Trump, and we're just driving around North Carolina.' He smiled, and I
just said to him, 'Hello Pumpkin'.
And
then I died laughing so hard I woke up."
A lost President, coin, sheep, and son, these set the
stage for the lost brother Elizabeth Clephane wrote about. Her brother, George Clephane was a remittance
man, a dubious distinction.
Remittance men (a term used in the 19th
century) described men who were commonly ill-behaved children of wealthy
English families. They would agree to
leave England and never come back. In
return for their compliance, the rogue royalty would receive either a lump sum,
or a monthly “remittance”.
George was no different. His alcoholism was out of control at age 23,
and his family gave up on him, sending him to Canada in 1842, where he became
an unsuccessful farmer of 60 acres. His
only memorable success was the ability to consume large quantities of cheap
whiskey.
Written-off as hopeless by friends, family, and
farming, to say George Clephane made a mess of his life is an understatement. Although the news never reported so, the end
to his life was probably in a drunken stupor.
So much so, that his horse couldn’t bear to have him on its back; he was
ejected from the saddle and died a few days later from the injuries.
We probably would never have heard of George if every
member of his family gave up on the drunk.
Elizabeth, 12 years younger, loved her big brother. And, within a few days of hearing of his
death in 1851, she wrote the poem The Ninety and Nine, in memory
of the kind of “ONE” Jesus, the
Good Shepherd would have gone after. You
can just hear the pathos of Elizabeth Clephane describing George in the third
stanza of the poem – sick and helpless and ready to die.
Indeed, if Jesus got through to George Clephane on his
deathbed (and no one really knows), surely, with his resume of failure,
disappointment, and disgrace, the last stanza tells us the rejoicing in Heaven
over that one lost sheep coming home would have been a thunderous chorus of
angels, the likes of which we’ve never heard before!
Now, that is the story behind the hymn; what do we
make of Gospel that inspired the hymn?
There are the facts of the
Gospel, and then, there is the deep meaning of the facts.
Seeking the Lost, Least and Last
In the Gospel account the Pharisees represent the lost
coin, lost sheep, and the lost son.
They’re the ones who are grumpy over the company Jesus is keeping,
prostitutes, tax collectors, drunks, gluttons, and all sorts of seedy
sinners.
In the debate Jesus shows them how the woman had to
look for the coin in the dark and dusty corners of the house, and how the
shepherd had to search for the lost sheep in the rocky, lonely places, and how
the father had to wait patiently for the lost son to make his way home.
The meaning of the facts is that you will not find
those who need to hear the Good News inside the temple walls on Sunday at
11am. To seek and to save those who are
lost means you’ll be willing to go find them where they hang out.
Too many churches that have spider webs on the pews
where there ought to be joyful worshippers thought that hanging out a church
sign that says y’all come is sufficient…they know where we
are.
Jesus didn’t do it that way; wonder how we ever got
that idea? Our job is to seek!
Loving the Lost, Least and Last
Sheep are incredibly cute; they’re
also stinky, stupid, and prone to wander.
Frankly, I’m not sure there is a shepherd of sheep that enjoys the
problems that are associated with difficult animals. It’s a 24-7-365 job…and then some! It is no accident Scripture calls people who belong to
God “sheep”. Like sheep we have all gone
astray…left home like a prideful, ungrateful prodigal, gotten lost like a coin,
being a stubborn sheep about coming back when there must be some good grazing
land out there somewhere.
How do you know where to find a sheep wandering from
God’s purposes and plan?
Look for the list of the seven deadly sins (Greed,
Sloth/lazy, Lust, Gluttony, Pride, Wrath/anger, Envy). You start to put faces on those names, and you
won’t ever ask that question again. Your
dance card, learning to love and care for wandering sheep, will keep you engaged
like someone trying to herd housecats.
They never appreciate your efforts, but your job, as one of God’s
under-shepherds, is to seek them…not please them.
And that leads us to the final thought about
seeking. The facts
of the Gospel have:
·
the woman turning
her house upside down, frantic to find that coin. Dust flies everywhere as the broom
swirls. Dark places are searched with a
floodlight. She will not rest until that
coin is in sight.
·
The shepherd is off
in the wilderness, climbing over rocks, crags, fording streams, fighting off
mountain lions and bears. He’s listening
closely for the lonely sound of a bleating, caught in a thicket. He won’t quit until he finds the remains of
an ear or hoof, proof the animal is gone forever; he will press on until he
finds a live animal to bring home.
And if a sheep is
still stubborn, tending to run off every chance it gets, shepherds have been
known to break one of its legs on purpose, so it can’t wander away. And during the time of healing, the shepherd
will carry that stinky animal on his shoulder everywhere he goes. The bond that develops is unmistakable; the
sheep will never be the same again.
·
The father of a
prodigal will stand by the fence every day until that son is seen in the
distance coming home. Then he will break
into a run, fall into an embrace, and shower the lost that is now found with
kisses of thanksgiving!
The facts of the Gospel are also the deep meaning of
the Gospel. Like it was one stormy night
on the Sea of Galilee, when Jesus walked on the water to get to the worried
disciples in the boat, Jesus will do whatever is necessary to get to his own.
He came after you, didn’t he?
Elizabeth Clephane wrote at least 7 other poems of
which the words were set to hymn tunes. Beneath
the Cross of Jesus is one of those, and a favorite of mine.
This hymn stands as a guide for what to do, if in your
heart you sense you are one of those sheep for whom Jesus needs to seek.
It tells you
·
where to take your
stand,
·
how to see the
suffering savior on the cross,
·
and where it will
lead you to rest in your soul.
It’s all there, beneath the cross of Jesus.
Our Prayer
Father
God, for any of us who has come to the point of truly surrendering our will and
life to You, we understand what Elizabeth Clephane knew was the condition of
her brother’s soul, sick
and helpless and ready to die.
Lord, help us to be ready to really live. Help us embrace Your loving embrace. Let us not be satisfied to be a lost coin,
hiding in our 401K, protected from the offering plate. Help us to be wide awake like a Prodigal finally
realizing what a pigpen smells like.
Help us to swallow pride, come home, and take our stand beneath the
cross of Jesus.
And, for those of us who have already been there, help
us to help others. Plant the seed of
seeking in our hearts and bones, that we might be like Jesus – ready to
hang-out with those who need some Good News.
For the glory, honor, and praise to which You alone are worthy, o
Lord, we pray in the Name of the Son, cooperating with the Spirit, to honor and
exalt the Majesty of the Father.
Let
it be so in each of our lives…Amen!
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