LET YOURSELF BE FOUND

 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them…” Luke 15:4a                              

 The past two weeks you may have followed, in the news, the search for millionaire adventuress Steve Fossett,  missing in the rugged terrain of southwestern Nevada after taking off in his little plane for what was to be a rather routine two-hour flight.  The Civil Air Patrol has done a comprehensive search of thousands of square miles to no avail.  One authority said it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.  One result of the search is that several plane wreckages from over 40 years ago have finally been found, clearing up several long standing mysteries.  No one knows what happened to Steve Fossett or how he got lost. 

I wonder how that sheep got lost.   I wonder if he got DISTRACTED.  Perhaps it appeared that the grass was greener over the next ridge.  So he went to check it out and wandered away from the flock when the shepherd wasn’t looking.  He might have thought, “What harm will it do to go and check.”  But when he got there, to his amazement there was another ridge, and then another and another and another - and before he knew it the sheep was separated from the flock - and lost.   Then he became afraid, because he suddenly realized he was alone, and there were predators around, and his life was in danger and he didn’t know what to do or how this happened.  

 Of course, you know I am not talking about sheep but about how we get lost.  That’s exactly how we sometimes get lost.  We get DISTRACTED.  We see all the stuff out there that makes big promises for life and fulfillment and happiness – and we say, “I need to try that.  I need to do that.  I’ll worship next Sunday.  I’ll focus in on matters of faith in good time.  I will.  But right now I need to go do this other thing.”  So we go and do it.  And we get there, and to our amazement there’s another thing, and then another, and then another and we continue to follow our distractions and the mostly hollow promises they make,  until one day we wake up and we feel empty, alone, forsaken, disappointment, shallow, afraid, ill-equipped, and confused.  And we don’t know exactly what to do or how this all happened.

 There are so many distractions are there not:  Money?  Material things?   Sports?  Job?   And each one makes its own set of big promises that at best are half-truths and will in the end – finally let you down, and like a predator, even consume you! 

 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them…”

 I wonder how that sheep got lost.  Perhaps it was a STRONG-WILLED AND DEFIANT sheep that wasn’t going to listen to anybody, who thought of himself as smarter than all the other sheep and refused to remain under the authority of the shepherd.  What does the shepherd know anyway?  He’s an idiot!   So away he went to do his own thing, kissing off the shepherd, being guided only be the fickle and unpredictable currents of his inner passions and desires.  It didn’t take very long and this sheep was completely adrift in the wilderness, but for awhile he didn’t even know it because he was trying so hard to convince himself he was having such a good time living a free, unbridled, in the moment kind of life.

 What he failed to recognize was that he was so uprooted from anything wholesome and permanent and truly enriching that he was losing himself inch by inch.  He hardly even knew he was a sheep anymore, living without any real purpose or any real identity. 

 Again, you know I am not talking about sheep but about how we get lost.That’s exactly how we sometimes get lost.  Rather that being distracted, we willfully leave the flock; willfully turn our back on the things of faith; willfully forsake the shepherd to live what we perceive to be freedom, being guided only be the fickle and unpredictable currents of our inner passions and desires.   But the problem is, and this is a problem because it happens every time - is that we end up slaves to those very passions and roads they put us on.  This is the –oholic road:  alcoholic, work-oholic, drug-oholic, shop-oholic, tv-oholic, sex-oholic, sports-oholic, getting-high-oholic, thrill-oholic, being-popular– oholic.  It’s insidious, for the more we crave the more we need, the more we need the more we crave, the more lost and more empty we feel - and in fact really are.

 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them…”

 I wonder how that sheep got lost.   Maybe he got angry, hurt, disappointed, or grieved; or a trust was broken – somehow and someway his soul was wounded.   So he left - to go – somewhere?  Who knows where?  Nowhere really, just as far from the others as he could get because he couldn’t bear the sight of them.  There was no coming back either.  There was no way that sheep could ever come back on his own because you see, even though he was trying to run away he had taken the anger, hurt, pain, disappointment, broken trust, and grief with him – and it shadowed him wherever he went, and even into whatever other flock he might get hooked up with in the future.

 That’s exactly how we sometimes get lost.   We get angry, hurt, betrayed, disappointed or grieved and we deal with it, by not dealing with it, and we leave the flock – we suspend matters of faith and defer to our anger, pain, hurt, lack of trust, grief, whatever.  For awhile it feels pretty good to stew in our own hot juices, but we just keep dragging it around with us wherever we go.  And only if you are really blessed will you come to the awareness that you are the only one who is really miserable.  You are lost and alone in your misery and pretty much out of reach of all the other sheep; lost and all alone fostering your pain and personal misery.

 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them…”

 I wonder how that sheep got lost.  Perhaps he felt inferior to the others so he left the flock.   Perhaps he felt superior to the others, so he left the flock.

 That’s exactly how we sometimes get lost.  We feel inferior; that we don’t measure up; aren’t gifted; have nothing to offer the flock or the shepherd, so we withhold and separate ourselves. 

 Or perhaps we feel superior to the flock.  They don’t measure up to us.  They are the ones who are inferior, so we separate ourselves.  It’s called arrogance and self-righteousness. 

 “Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine…  and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?”

 The point is that no responsible shepherd ever did that!  Any respectable shepherd guided by logic and good sense would simply cut his losses and stick with the ninety-nine. 

 But not our shepherd; not the Good Shepherd; not the shepherd who was willing to give his life so that the lost sheep might be brought home; so beautifully rendered in the cross that stands high above us all this morning. 

 Let him bring you home.  Allow yourself to be found!  Don’t hide from him.  Don’t run away any longer.   Don’t stay lost.  And if you don’t think you are not lost, then you are more lost than ever.  We all get lost.  We human beings have a propensity for finding new and ever more creative ways and places to get lost.

 Jesus Christ is the shepherd looking for the lost sheep.  Jesus Christ is the woman looking for the lost coin.  He leaves no stone unturned to find you, not even death and sin.  He will not rest until he finds you and wraps his arms around you.  So, let yourself be found.