The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin.

Sometimes I wonder why we always refer to these parables by focus on the negative - the lost sheep, the lost coin. I wonder what effect it would have to our understanding of these familiar parables by referring to them as the parable of the found sheep and the found coin. For the focus of both these parables is on the finding not the losing. We don’t know how the sheep and coin were lost but we do know how they were found. Not by chance, not by a quick glance round but by someone who searched carefully, meticulously and did not stop until they found it. I’m not very patient with finding things. I tend it give up and hope that the thing I’m looking for will turn up eventually when I stop looking for it. This usually works well in the case of Lego bricks, gloves and Flora’s homework book. But these parables tell us that God doesn’t work like that. Because he loves us God seeks out what it lost with determination and perseverance, carefully and meticulously searching until what is lost has been found.

And when it is found, there is much rejoicing. Both of these parables end in joy. Both the shepherd and the woman call to their friends and neighbours to come and rejoice with them. They are so full of joy that they cannot contain it and keep it to themselves, one person alone cannot adequately celebrate it, they must invite others to come and in the party. Finding and restoring the lost gives pleasure to God and to those who love God. ‘Just so I tell you there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who righteous people who need no repentance.’ ‘Just so I tell you there is joy in the presence of God over one sinner repents.’

If we call these parables the found sheep and the found coin it shifts our focus from the grief of being lost to the joy of being found. Thy Kingdom Come is all about focusing on that joy, both for those we pray for and for ourselves. For we are all sometimes the sheep who wanders off or the coin that falls down the back of the sofa, but we have a God who knows us and loves us, who will not stop searching for us and who always welcomes us with joy.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

Yesterday I talked about the parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Lost Coin. I wanted to rename them The parable of the Found Sheep and the Found coin to change the focus from the grief of being lost to the joy of being found. Today we heard what is usually referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal Son and again I would like to rename it. I would prefer to call it the parable of the Loving Father. For whilst most of the parable is given over to a description of the younger son’s actions, prodigal or otherwise, the focus of the parable is the Father’s actions and his love towards both his sons. The parable is about him and this is emphasised by how it begins ‘There was a man who had two sons.’ A man who loved both his sons equally and unconditionally.

Both sons, in different ways are lost. The younger son knows that he is lost, ashamed of his actions he returns home seeking forgiveness. The elder son also is lost, lost in jealousy and resentment. It is the party that really upsets him. Accept the wayward son home to pay his dues yes, but throw a party for him? But as we saw from the sheep and the coin, this is what God does when the lost are found, he rejoices. The Father wants both sons to join the party, he comes out to seek them both. The younger son on the road and the older son outside the door.

Henri Nouwen writes that ‘The joy that the Father feels at the dramatic return of the younger son in no way means that the elder son was less loved, less appreciated, less favoured. The Father does not compare the two sons. He loves them both with a complete love and expresses that love according to their individual journeys. He knows them both intimately.’ The Father wants to celebrate the return of both sons. ‘The return of the younger son makes him call for a joyful celebration. The return of the elder son makes him extend an invite on to the full participation in that joy.’

God invites us all to participate in this joy. The joy of being found, known and loved. The voice of the shepherd, the woman and the father who call others to rejoice with them are the voice of God. God wants everyone to share in this joy. ‘God’s joy is the joy of his angels and his saints; it is the joy of all who belong to the kingdom.’