Suppose someone among you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them. Wouldn’t he leave the other ninety-nine in the pasture and search for the lost one until he finds it? And when he finds it, he is thrilled and places it on his shoulders. When he arrives home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Celebrate with me because I’ve found my lost sheep.’ In the same way, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who changes both heart and life than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to change their hearts and lives. – Luke 15:4-7 (CEB)
I just stopped by 7-Eleven next door to get some iced tea. I decided to buy a can of Arizona Green Tea this time, something I’ve not done in quite a long time. If you are not familiar with the Arizona can, they are the tall ones with “99 cents” in large font, proclaiming it a Great Buy! Of course, right under the cans is the price, listed as $1.29. When I took the can to the register, the scanner made a loud sound, obviously signaling some sort of issue. The cashier tried two more times, with the same result each time. Finally he looked at the cashier and read, “Item not found.” Not found? Obviously the can is right there. It clearly exists! What’s the problem? Soon another employee walked over and pointed at the 99 cent label, and said, “Someone just put that case out. It’d been lost in the back for a while. It’s listed at 99 cents.” The cashier adjusted the price and I saved 30 cents.
I appreciated the irony that the computer said the can was not found precisely because someone had found the can. It had been lost but now was found; yet its being found is what made it unrecognizable to the computer system and so the computer called it “not found.” In the narrow construct of that computer program, something lost and then found again was unrecognizable because it did not meet the parameters of what the program was searching for.
I can’t help but think our life with God is similar. We can feel lost and forgotten by God. We can feel as if we have wandered so far away that we could never be found, or even like we are a forgotten case of cans of tea hidden in a storeroom corner. Yet God never loses anything. God rejoices in recovering us. Yet when we are found, we may no longer be recognized. God finding us pulls us out of synch with the parameters of the world. It makes us just a bit off from the normal operations. We may set off harsh alarm buzzers signaling some sort of issue. Our being found can make us appear lost to the narrow definitions the world prescribes. Yet there we are, found and ready to be used.
The good news is that God rejoices in us being found. God transforms us and claims us and puts us to use in new ways. Luke 15 is the “lost and found” chapter of the New Testament, with several parables from Jesus about lost things being found. The focus on these parables is the joy in the finding. Particularly this first one, the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus connects the finding with a transformation of the heart. It is this transformation that brings celebration, and it is worth much more than saving 30 cents.