Spring break has wrapped up, and many of us are settling back into our routines. You might have just returned from a family trip, catching up on accumulated emails, or simply enjoyed a quieter week at home. Regardless, there’s something about returning—the familiarity of your own bed, the comfort of regular routines, the sense of belonging that comes with being back where you’re known. Consider those moments when you’ve felt the relief of returning home after being away, or the joy of reconnecting with someone after a long separation. These everyday experiences echo through today’s scripture.
In Luke 15, Jesus tells three connected stories about things that were lost and then found—a sheep, a coin, and a son. These parables appear as Jesus is making his way toward Jerusalem, facing increasing criticism from religious leaders who disapprove of the company he keeps. When they grumble about Jesus welcoming “sinners,” he responds with these stories that reveal God’s heart for the lost. Each parable builds on the others, moving from a lost animal to a lost object to a lost relationship, showing us with increasing clarity how deeply God desires our return and how extravagantly God celebrates when we’re found.
Throughout our Lenten journey so far, we’ve watched Jesus move steadily toward Jerusalem, facing both welcome and resistance. We began with his courageous decision to set out, knowing the challenges ahead. Then we saw him expand our understanding of “neighbor” through the Good Samaritan and discover different ways to welcome him through Mary and Martha. Last week, we walked with Jesus through opposition and lament, seeing how God nurtures us patiently through difficult seasons.
Today’s parables of lost things being found reveal the heart behind Jesus’ entire journey. Each step toward Jerusalem shows God’s relentless love seeking what’s lost – crossing boundaries to find neighbors, nurturing us through valleys, and ultimately finding us no matter how far we’ve wandered. These stories illuminate why Jesus continues forward despite the cost – because the celebration when what’s lost is found makes everything worthwhile.
When Jesus shared these three parables, he was traveling through the Galilean countryside during the Roman occupation of Israel around 30 CE. Life under Roman rule was difficult, with heavy taxes and strict social divisions. Jewish society had clear boundaries about who was “in” and who was “out.” Religious leaders, called Pharisees and scribes, helped people follow detailed religious laws that governed everything from what to eat to who you could eat with.
These stories appear in the middle of Luke’s gospel, as Jesus moves toward Jerusalem. Luke, writing about 50 years after these events, carefully documented Jesus’ interactions with outsiders. In the verses just before these parables, Jesus had been welcoming tax collectors and sinners – people considered religious outcasts. The religious leaders were grumbling about this, which prompted Jesus to tell these three connected stories.
Each parable follows the same pattern: something valuable is lost, someone searches diligently, and when it’s found, there’s a joyful celebration. Jesus uses everyday images his listeners would understand – a shepherd with sheep, a woman keeping house, and a father with sons. But he gives each story an unexpected twist that would have surprised his audience. No shepherd would leave 99 sheep unprotected to find one. No woman would throw a party costing more than the coin she found. No respectable father would run to greet a son who had disgraced the family, as it was considered undignified.
These stories echo Old Testament themes like Psalm 23’s shepherd imagery and prophets describing God seeking Israel. They anticipate Jesus’ later teaching that he “came to seek and save the lost.”
The central message is revolutionary: God doesn’t wait for the lost to find their way back, but actively searches for them with persistent love. And rather than focusing on the sinfulness of those who wander, God celebrates extravagantly when they’re found. This reveals God’s heart of compassion that transcends religious rules and social boundaries – a theme that runs throughout Luke’s gospel.
These parables of lost and found resonate deeply with our modern search for belonging and redemption in a fragmented world.
For those going through major life transitions, these stories speak to the disorientation that often accompanies change. Whether you’re moving to a new city for work, adjusting to an empty nest, or rebuilding after a relationship ends, you might feel like that lost sheep—separated from familiar surroundings and unsure how to find your way back. The shepherd’s determined search reminds us that even when we feel most disoriented, God’s seeking love remains our constant compass. Your transition isn’t a detour from God’s care but an opportunity to experience it in new ways.
Many of us know what it’s like to feel devalued or overlooked in a world that measures worth by productivity and perfection. Like the woman sweeping her house for one coin, God sees value where others might not. When health limitations reduce what you can accomplish, when aging makes you feel increasingly invisible, or when mental health struggles leave you feeling broken—remember that God turns on every light and sweeps every corner to find you. Your worth doesn’t depend on what you produce or how well you function on your hardest days.
The prodigal son’s story speaks powerfully to those carrying the weight of regret or shame. Perhaps decisions from your past still haunt you—financial mistakes that altered your future, words spoken in anger that damaged relationships, or paths not taken that you still mourn. The father in this parable doesn’t minimize the son’s choices but transcends them with extravagant love. Your mistakes, however significant, haven’t outpaced God’s capacity to welcome you home with celebration rather than condemnation.
This week, consider these responses that embody the heart of these parables:
First, practice radical welcome by noticing who might feel excluded from your circles. Invite someone different from you to share a meal, intentionally learn about a culture or perspective unlike your own, or simply make eye contact with the person others typically avoid.
Second, join God’s search-and-rescue mission. Reach out to someone who has drifted from community. Send that text, make that call, or extend that invitation without agenda except to say, “You matter and you’re missed.”
Finally, participate in celebration. In a world quick to critique and slow to affirm, deliberately celebrate someone’s journey—not their achievements, but their courage, growth, or simply their inherent worth as God’s beloved. When we celebrate others being found, we experience the father’s joy as our own.
The good news is that God’s love relentlessly pursues us. These three parables reveal not just isolated moments of finding, but God’s eternal character and ongoing redemptive work. Throughout scripture, from Eden to Revelation, we see this consistent pattern: God creates, humans wander, and God pursues with unrelenting love.
When Jesus tells these stories, he’s revealing the very heart of God. This isn’t a new divine strategy but the unveiling of what God has always been doing. The God who walked through Eden calling “Where are you?” is the same God who sent prophets to wayward Israel, the same God who becomes flesh to seek and save.
Christ’s entire ministry embodies these parables. His journey toward Jerusalem, which we’re following this Lent, is the ultimate expression of a shepherd leaving comfort behind to find what’s lost. His meals with outcasts mirror the celebration feasts in these stories. And his willingness to be counted among sinners on the cross represents divine love that will go anywhere to bring us home.
The resurrection we’re moving toward this season is God’s definitive statement that nothing—not sin, not death, not human rejection—will prevent the divine celebration when what was lost is found. These parables give us a glimpse into heaven’s economy, where the recovery of the lost causes more joy than the maintenance of what’s secure.
This reveals God’s vision for human flourishing: not perfect performance or rigid rule-following, but restored relationship. The joy of being found transforms us into people who celebrate rather than condemn, who seek rather than exclude. When we understand ourselves as the found-who-were-lost, we become part of God’s ongoing search-and-rescue mission in the world, extending the divine welcome that has embraced us.
Whether you feel like the searching shepherd, the woman sweeping her house, the waiting father, or one of the sons today, these stories remind us that God’s love finds us wherever we are. Like travelers returning from spring break, we’re all making our way home to where we truly belong—in God’s embrace. Today, we celebrate that we’re all found together in God’s family, each of us with our own journey home.
Will you pray with me?
God who never stops searching, thank you for finding us when we wander and celebrating when we return. Help us welcome others as you’ve welcomed us, creating a community where everyone belongs. Amen.
In crafting today’s sermon, I employed AI assistants like Claude and Apple Intelligence, yet the ultimate responsibility for its content rests with me. These tools offered valuable perspectives, but the most influential sermon preparation hinges on biblical study, theological insight, personal reflection, and divine guidance. I see AI as a supportive aid to enrich the sermon process while ensuring my own voice in proclaiming the Word of God.
Rev. Andrew Conard 