The Lost Sheep

St John's Chapel Address Weeks 5 & 6, Term 2 2008. Part of the 'Jesus is Different Series'..
[The reading was Luke 15:1-7]

I want to talk about money today. (I flashed and then counted $500.) Hey, hang on, there is only $490 here. Could the front two rows come up here and help me look for the ten bucks. (Which they did. After a suitable time - of course there was no missing ten dollars - I said:) Let's not worry about it, it is only ten bucks after all. Who thinks it is worth keeping on looking? I have $490 still. (You get the drift.)

Let's think about what we just did. We went looking for $10 when we had $490 anyway. Some wanted to stop looking, others wanted to keep on going.

Jesus told a story very similar. Let's hear it now ...

God is like a shepherd who has lost a single sheep. Leaving the 99 the shepherd goes off looking for that one lost sheep. The rest of the herd are put in danger by this, remember. Back then no nice safe fenced area to leave the flock. Crazy!

We are each of such inestimable value that God will do the crazy thing and come after us. Even though there are billions of others, God will never give you up. Ever. And will keep looking, even if we don't know we are lost! And keep looking and looking because we are worth a lot more than ten bucks.