"Temporarily Lost"

A Sermon |July 13, 2025
Heidelberg Beach. OH

"The Lost Coin"
Credit: Unknown Artist

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Scripture: Luke 15


I am forever losing things. Which one of us doesn’t lose things from time to time? Hopefully, when we do lose something, we will find it again. Most often, although it may take some time, we do.

In our scripture reading this morning, we have the story of something lost, then found.

We have the lost sheep that wanders off and after a relentless search by the shepherd is found.

We have the story of a woman who loses one of her ten coins, and after a relentless search the coin is found.

And lastly, we have the story of the younger son who lost his way in riotous living, but then found himself.

Each story ends with a party being held.

What are we to make of these stories, or parables?


Traditionally, we understand these parables as teaching that God values every individual and rejoices when they recognize God as Lord.

While certainly true, I suggest that there is more to the stories than this. We might begin by asking, why did Luke group these three parables as a response to the mutterings of the Jewish leaders?

In the Gospels Jesus often begins a parable with, “The kingdom of God (or heaven) is like…,” indicating that the parable in some way describes the kingdom of God. Although the phrase is not used here, it still, I believe, applies to these parables or stories. [There are two references to heaven in the first two stories.]

So, what do these stories tell us about the kingdom of heaven?

In context we see that the specific complaint of the Jewish leaders was that Jesus was partying with sinners.

Luke, however, does not actually use the Greek word for “sinner.” Rather, he uses the word which give us “scandal,” scandalize” and “scandalous.” The Jewish leaders were complaining that Jesus was socializing with the scandalous, and that in itself was a scandal.

In making these folk “sinners,” we miss a deeper truth. The scandalous were the outcasts of society, the poor, the lame, the hungry. the little child, the widow woman. These were the people the self-righteous Jewish Leaders turned their backs to.

Jesus begins his response with the story of the lost sheep. No shepherd wants to lose one of his sheep. Not to go looking for it would be scandalous. To make this point, Jesus interjects that there is more rejoicing (1) in kingdom of heaven over one outcast – one of these scandalous people – being found than there is over 99 righteous ones.

The Jewish leaders were the “righteous ones.” But what is important in the kingdom of God is not righteous acts, but the FINDING – the caring for the outcast, the oppressed.

The prophet Micah tells the Jewish people of his day that God doesn’t want their worship, their prayers, even their tithes. God wants his people to live justly, to give compassionate mercy, and to walk humbly before God and their fellow beings.

The kingdom of God is justice for the oppressed. Compassionate mercy for the needy, being as humble as a servant.

This in the eyes of the world – is scandalous.

The kingdom of God is in itself, scandalous.

And if the Jewish Leaders missed the point with the lost sheep, there are two more stories, and you can’t get much more scandalous – from their perspective – than the story of the younger son. What could be more scandalous to a Jewish person than cohabiting with prostitutes and ending up living with the pigs and eating their swill?

For Jesus the kingdom of God was a present reality. It is not out there somewhere, or existing sometime in the future. It is now. And Jesus elsewhere tells us how the kingdom of God works in the present—both spiritually and physically.

it is about loving one’s neighbor (meaning those around us) as we love ourselves. Not only to want the best for them as we do for ourselves, but also to actively work for their betterment just as we do for ourselves. The Beatitudes lay it all out for us. The message of Jesus’ death, is to be willing to give one’s life, if needed, for the sake of the kingdom of God. These are physical actions.


But that’s not all we learn about the kingdom of God in these stories.

We learn that we have always belonged to – been part of -- the kingdom of God.

Something cannot be lost if didn’t belong in the first place, And, because we belong, if we are lost, we are only temporarily lost, we will be found!

It makes no difference the degree of lostness –

Something caught the sheep’s attention. Perhaps the grass appeared greener, and he wandered off and couldn’t find his way back.

The coin didn’t know it was lost; it simply was.

The younger son purposefully rejected his home, and in so doing became lost.

All three were lost, all three were found, and there was great rejoicing.


What we often miss is that there is fourth person that was lost. The elder son.

When the elder son complained about how his brother was being feted, the father said, “Son, you have always been with me. Everything I have is yours.”

The elder son belongs – always has -- yet at that moment was lost—even in his belonging.

The elder son is the Jewish leaders who muttered against Jesus’ concern for the lost, scandalous person. The elder son is each individual who thinks caring for the oppressed, the one who is outcast, or for the needy is not as important as their own need. The elder son is the one who refuses to join the party and celebrate with compassionate acts of justice and mercy. The elder brother could very well be us. I know at times he is me.

Still, as the lost sheep belong to the flock, and always has.

As the coin belong to the woman, and always has.

As the elder son belong to the family, and always has.

The elder brother belongs to the family, and always has.

br /> The Apostle Paul writes, “I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:38).”

We could just as well, rephrase, “The love of God,” as the “kingdom of God.”


In the eyes of the world, even often even in the eyes of the church, this is scandalous.

Nothing separates us from God. We are always – and always have been – members of the kingdom of God, even when we have lost our way.


Summing it all up:

In every way the kingdom of God appears scandalous. It just doesn’t fit into how we think things should be.

We ALL – everyone of us – always have belong to the kingdom of God, even when we had no knowledge of it, or rebelled against it.

If we are “lost” it is only temporary. We WILL be found.

Christianity is not about being saved and skipping hell. Christianity is about knowing that we belong to the kingdom of God, always have and always will.

But that’s only half of Christianity, and only half of the lesson found in these stories. Being “found” is about living differently than those who are “lost.”

When found, each contributed something: The found sheep gave his wool for fabric. The coin, when found, restored the woman’s livelihood. The younger son resumed to his family obligations.

The kingdom of God turns the meaning scandalous on its head. The younger son lived scandalously before returning home. To the Jewish leaders Jesus socializing with the poor was scandalous.

The stories say, “Hang on a minute. What you consider scandalous is what the kingdom of God is all about. The kingdom is about serving those you find scandalous.”


The question is, realizing we are part of the kingdom of God, how scandalously in the eyes of the world are we willing to live?

Notes:

1. Scandalous = σκάνδαλον (skandalon) Sinner & younger son’s “wild living” (“scandalous living’) from this word.
2. There are two Greek words for rejoicing. The more come means “to Welcome” (χαίρω / chairō) That is the one used in the story of the Lost sheep (v. 6,7). The other means to jump for joy, to celebrate (αγάλλομαι / agállomai). Most manuscripts that record the lost coin (v.9) use the same word as in the first use. Some manuscripts however use the Greek word for “Jump for Joy.” I think this idea is definitely implied in the younger son’s party. “Celebrate” in Greek, εὐφραίν (“make merry”).
3. Note comparison of 99 sheep to 99 righteous one, which I think we can gather from the story of the elder brother represented also the Jewish Leaders.
4. The coin was a Greek drachma, which for most women during Jesus’ time equaled two days’ worth of work (one day for men). She had only 10 coins, which makes the lost of one devastating.

Heidelberg Beach is a residential (full-time and seasonal) private beach community located on Lake Erie, just west of Vermilion, OH. Founded in 1924 by ministers from Reformed Churches in Cleveland and Birmingham, OH. They envisioned a "Christian atmosphere" with recreation for church members, purchasing land with a beach, apple orchard, and stream. The area developed with cottages, a pavilion, boat house, and landscaping, becoming a popular summer destination.