Lost and Found: The Gem in God’s Crown

September 19, 2004

The Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Godlefski, Pastor

Montgomery United Methodist Church

Luke 15: 1-2, 8-10

1Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them."

 

8"Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' 10In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! This morning I would like to talk with you about this beautiful Gospel story that we touched upon last week. Yes, those of you who were here last week or read last week’s sermon, this sounds familiar. We talked about the first part of this Bible reading, about the good shepherd who leaves the ninety and nine sheep and pursues the one. This second story that Jesus told is just too wonderful not to have its own sermon.

Let me remind you of what’s going on. People were coming to Jesus – outcasts, misfits, the broken, the rejected, those who were rejected by polite society but yet found within their hearts a glimmer of worth. And that glimmer of worth was resonating like a magnet to Jesus. So they came out to be with Him. Jesus welcomed them. He talked with them. He shared meals with them.

Now, the Pharisees, remember, are the religious legalists who believed that the only way to get close to God was to obey the law every bit, with perfection, and then – maybe – God would love you. And they were disdainful of anyone who didn’t live that way. They rejected ordinary folks like you and me, and they criticized Jesus, because He welcomed people who were not like them. He welcomed people and He cared about them, and the Pharisees criticized Him for it.

As you recall, instead of criticizing them back or chastising them, Jesus told them two beautiful stories. Out of that negative situation came two of the most beautiful glimpses into the mind of God that we have. One is the story of the shepherd who finds the lost sheep and brings it home. And the other is the story of the woman and the coins.

Now, I have to tell you, Jesus is so amazing! If the Pharisees were so upset with Him for eating with sinners, think about this: here comes Jesus who compares the Creator to a woman! Isn’t that wonderful? Today we read that and say, “That’s terrific.” Back then, my friends, I assure you that the Pharisees, listening to this story and hearing Jesus compare God to a woman made their eyes spin like slot machines and made steam come out of their ears. It was amazing! But Jesus did this, and it is so beautiful that He did. Lost and found, and rejoicing in the heart of God when the lost is found.

I want to share a funny story with you. I am convinced that God let this happen to me to make me laugh when I really needed to. It’s kind of embarrassing, but we’re all friends here. You won’t tell anybody, right? I was working in the office this week, and I lost my shoe. Really. It was a time when the phone kept ringing and difficulties kept piling up and I was trying to endure them and deal with all the things a pastor needs to deal with. But it was weighing heavily on my shoulders.

I stood to get ready to go home, and I realized that I’d lost my shoe. Now, you say just look for it, Pastor. I did. I searched under the desk for it with my foot, and I couldn’t find it. I figured, time to get on all fours and look around. So I did. I crawled under the desk but I couldn’t find my shoe. I crawled to the chair I sit in when I’m talking to people, but I could not find my shoe. There’s a trash basket under my desk. You know how sometimes when you talk on the phone you dangle your shoe off your toe? It wasn’t in the trash basket. It wasn’t behind the chair.

It’s not a big office! It’s not a small shoe! I didn’t know where else to look. It was gone!

So I did the only thing I could do. I sat down in my chair and just burst out laughing. God was playing a joke on me. Where could this shoe be? And then my second question – I wonder if Jill, our church secretary, is still here? Is anybody coming to church? This is going to look really good, hobbling out to the parking lot with one shoe off and one shoe on.

So I said, “Okay, Lord, I believe you’re saying, ‘Anthony, lighten up. Relax. We’re going to get through this.’” So I decided to look one more time. And it just so happens that there is a front part on my desk with a shelf where you can rest your feet. Sure enough, the shoe was sitting on the shelf.  I put my shoe back on and I felt my dignity restored.

The truth of it is, sometimes we feel lost. I want to talk about feeling lost. God is looking for you, and you are loved. Friends, sometimes we feel lost like that lost coin, don’t we? Sometimes we feel separated from God for some reason. Oh, my heart aches when I hear about friends from years ago who’ve moved to a different town and they have not found a church home. I wish they would. But more important than my wishing they would, God wishes they would. That’s the point.

Sometimes we feel separated from God. Sometimes somebody says something, and we feel broken-hearted. Or somebody discourages our faith, and we feel lost. Jesus knew about that. Sometimes we feel lost because we feel separated from our dignity. Something happens in our lives that shakes our dignity, our self-worth, and we feel distanced from what God wants us to be. Sometimes we feel distanced from success as a person, or we try something big and bold and it doesn’t turn out quite right. We feel lost and disillusioned.

Sometimes we feel lost. But hear the good news: God is looking for you! Jesus said it twice. This isn’t me speaking; this is coming from the Gospel. He told two stories so we wouldn’t miss the point. The shepherd is looking for the sheep. The woman is looking for the coin. God is looking for you. There is an anxiety, there is an energy, in the heart of the universe that wants to be united with you. It isn’t coming from us. It’s coming from God. And when you feel an inkling to get closer to God, when you feel a knock at your door, when you feel some of that magnetic pull toward God, that’s God working through you. God is looking for you. That is the clear message of Jesus.

The Pharisaical message of Jesus’s day was that if you were good enough, if you obeyed enough laws, and if you came crawling, maybe God would accept you. Jesus said no, it’s the other way around. God is looking for you. The heart of God is seeking His children.

The people of Jesus’s day knew exactly what He was talking about with the lost coin. It wasn’t just any lost coin. You see, the women of the day had a certain coin, a crown of ten coins. That was essentially their wedding ring. The crown of ten coins signified the woman’s marriage. Even if the woman was in the greatest of debt, no one could take her crown. It was forbidden. That was her mark of dignity. It was one of those coins that was lost. The Bible says she lit a lamp and looked for it. I bet she did. You see, the houses of the time were of such an architectural structure that they could only support one 18-inch round window for the whole house. Can you imagine how dark the houses were? And the floor of the house was made of beaten earth, covered with straw. So looking for a coin the size of a dime was literally like looking for a needle in a haystack. So, yes, she swept the straw and combed through it by hand and looked and looked and looked.

So the first thought is that sometimes we’re lost. You can picture the face of the woman anxious about the loss. And God is looking for you. You can picture her looking around that dark house with her lamp, just as God looks for us. And third, you are loved. You can picture her finding that coin and holding it up to the light, filled with joy that radiates from her face. She calls her friends and says, “Look, look, the coin is returned. It’s back in my crown. Celebrate with me.”

The Bible says that that’s how God feels when we get back to Him. When we are reunited with Him, all is forgiven. When we are reunited with our sense of dignity, when we finally forgive ourselves with the forgiveness with which God forgives us, there is joy not only in our hearts but in heaven itself.

You see, my friends, you are a gem in God’s crown. When God looks for you and you are reunited with Him, with your sense of dignity and worth, with His grand plan for your blessing, there is joy in heaven. And the crown is complete, because God loves you. I do, too. Have a blessed week. Amen.