Trinity III- Seeking the Lost

The Gospel for this Sunday is Luke 15:1-10 and contains two brief parables- the lost sheep and the lost coin. The context makes it clear that our Lord is talking about sinners lost to God. Some extreme approaches to this theme have left a bad aftertaste among both believers and non-believers. Because of this aftertaste, some sincere Christians hesitate to speak of people lost in sin. Yet, Scripture is not hesitant to speak of the lost and the condition of lostness. Indeed, all human beings have been lost, and apart from divine grace, remain lost. As the general confession in the Prayer Book Daily Office says, "we have erred and strayed from thy ways like lost sheep" (based on Isaiah 53:6 and 1 Peter 2:25). So all human beings participate in being lost and in needing to be found by Christ and His Church.

Seeking the lost has two important applications in our lives. First, each Christian should acknowledge that in differing ways and at different times we have all been lost and that we have tendencies to get lost repeatedly. As an old hymn says, we are "prone to wander," and we all depend upon divine mercy, grace, and persistence in seeking us out in the past and in each new day. God uses many means to seek us such as subtle promptings of the Spirit, life events, readings, or contacts with others, but chiefly He seeks us through Word and Sacrament. Thus, we should be aware that God is always seeking us, and we need to be open to being found by Him.

Secondly, as members of the Body of Christ, we are called to participate in the Lord's work of seeking and finding the lost. We are not to approach this calling with the wrong attitude. We are not to pretend to be some perfect paragons of virtue. Rather, we are to be humble. As sinners ourselves, we have benefited from the mercy and grace of God. We rejoice in divine mercy and grace, and we want to share that good news with others. We want each lost person to be found and to know the joy of returning to God. May each of us be found and do our small part to help others be found by God!