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Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28;  Psalm 14:1-7;  1 Timothy 1:12-17;  Luke 15:1-10

“Didn’t know you’d taken up dumpster diving” quipped a neighbour as he backed out of his carport, still laughing as he waved and drove off to work.  “I had a husband like that once” joined in a passer-by, “always throwing my things away—in the end I chucked him out instead”.  (Ever noticed how some days everyone is a comedian?)  On my knees, frantically scrabbling through the week’s garbage that I had upended from our wheely bin onto newspaper, I was working up quite a sweat when our neighbour the other side came and asked, Lost something? Before I could reply “No Sherlock it’s my new spiritual discipline”, she said “I thought you were heading away today”.  “Just as soon as I find my earrings” I cried, feeling the tears well up, “you know the pearl ones I always wear—the ones Andrew gave me on our tenth anniversary.  Last night I put everything ready for us to leave early: cases, shoes, sandwiches, sunglasses and my earrings which have now vanished.  I’ve checked on the floor, under the bed, in the bathroom and even looked in the mirror to make sure I wasn’t wearing them—then I remembered Andrew had put the garbage out. This is my last hope”.  No sooner were the words out of my mouth when I spotted them, joined together as if clinging to each other scared of going to the landfill.  Seeing my relief, she set to work saying “Go on, get going.  I’ll clean this lot up—just go and have a nice few days away—looks like you need a break!”  “Thanks ever so much” I said gratefully, “but we’ll celebrate when we return” I promised—and we did, sharing the spoils from our trip in an impromptu patio party.

If you have never lost something you really treasured, this may sound silly to you, and perhaps in a throw-away society many people might think I could have replaced the earrings, but they hold a lot of sentimental value—perhaps like the coin that Jesus may have been talking about, the type that was often part of women’s dowries which they wore as a headdress, (a practice you still see in certain parts of the world today).  However, earrings or coins don’t just suddenly grow legs and walk off.  Something happens to them like being accidentally swept into the garbage or the thread that attaches a coin to a headband wears thin and breaks.  Clearly, Jesus told parables to make us think.  In the case of the coin, could the point be that some folk cannot help falling by the wayside in terms of their faith, or in failing to live goodly, godly lives because they have been treated like garbage?  Perhaps they lacked the kindness and care that should have linked them to a loving family or community, or it had worn thin, or worse still, maybe abuse had broken the bond.  Unlike lost sheep that may stray of their own accord searching for greener pastures, some people, like the coin, feel they have no choice and that is why they feel lost.  But the good news that seems contained in the two parables we heard today, is that God, like the shepherd or woman, treasures everyone, and goes to great lengths to find those who get lost, whether they could help it or not.  What’s more there’s great rejoicing when they are found and returned safely to where they belong.

Is that it?  They all lived happily ever after—end of story?  Fine for those who are rescued, including wayward sheep who foolishly or willfully get into trouble, but what about the ninety-nine others who stay with the flock?  Does God abandon them?  Or is it enough that they have each other?  And how come God doesn’t throw them a party and heaven doesn’t rejoice over them?  Now we get into the nitty gritty—different notions of justice versus grace, and that’s what upset folk like the Pharisees who objected to Jesus associating with outcasts and sinners—or Jeremiah who despaired at people acting as if there were no God, so doing their own thing and getting into all sorts of trouble.  Yet Jeremiah also knew the nature of God’s grace in forgiving foolishness, as did Jesus who prayed from the cross Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.

Unfortunately, for those who think grace is in short supply, it must seem crazy to waste it on ne’er-do-goods, yet forgetting their own good fortune.  Take the story about a farmer out working in his fields when one day God appears and says he will be granted three wishes, but his neighbour will be given double whatever he asks for.  For his first wish, the farmer asks for a hundred gold coins, and is absolutely delighted until he learns that his neighbour received two hundred.  Next he asked for a thousand acres of prime pasture which he got, but his pleasure soon evaporated—jealous of his neighbour being given twice that.  He thought long and hard about his third wish and finally asked that he might go blind in one eye.  And God wept.

Yes it’s just a story, but story-telling can be thought-provoking, instructive and inspiring as well as fun and entertaining, like some of the tales we can all tell or remember. The Bible is full of all kinds of stories.  Besides parables and prophecies today we heard part of Paul’s autobiography a bit exaggerated in his claim to be the worst sinner in the world perhaps, but still a beautiful testimony to God’s amazing grace in turning his life around after he came to believe in Christ rather than persecute Christians.  On the other hand, parables are real brain teasers, for example: another way of looking at today’s parable of the lost coin is for the coin to symbolize faith and for the woman to represent someone who has lost their faith, perhaps after losing someone they love or something precious like their health—or perhaps because they simply lost sight of God.  That could apply to many people today as it did back in Jeremiah’s time.

Plenty of people say they believe in Something/Someone bigger, better and beyond their ken, even if God is not a word they choose to use.  But, like back in ancient Israel, if folk lose the sense that God matters in their daily doings, they may also act as if there is no God.  The prophet calls that a form of foolishness, but if taken to extremes it can descend to wickedness when we become a law to ourselves, or caring only for ourselves.  Living in a society that regards autonomy as a virtue, many of us have been conditioned to think that self-sufficiency is what young people should aim for and life’s goal is self-fulfilment or self-actualization.  This makes sense on one level, but if we don’t need others, perhaps we feel we don’t need God either, so are just left with some vague longing for mystery or notion of the divine that we generally ignore.  Yet even if we achieve such rugged individualism, can we really remain uninvolved with others or unaffected by what’s going on?  Ultimately, who or what is there to feed our soul?

Whichever way we look at today’s parables—whether we feel like lost coins ourselves sometimes, or regard the coin as faith that seems to have lost its sparkle for some reason, perhaps because we’ve lost sight of God in our daily lives—take heart.  The other side of the coin is that God never loses faith in us, never gives up on us.  God is always ready to help us, rejoicing to see us and welcome us back.  And no matter where you fit into the story, perhaps simply as one of the friends and neighbours who has come to join the party, friends, it is good to see you—welcome back!   Now let’s celebrate!