Lost Things

Extract 72
What a wonderful week. Everyone wanted to talk with Lazarus, ask all the obvious questions. He just shook his head. 'One day I will die again, we must all face death, but I know that Jesus will never leave me, that he will raise me up on that last day'. And of course Jesus took the opportunity of all the visitors to carry on teaching about the kingdom. There seemed to be more urgency, not impatience exactly, but a new cutting edge to all he said. I wish I could remember it all, but I suppose that which is important to us is what we hold onto best. He told the story of a persistent widow who nagged until she got what she wanted. As he told the story he looked at me, no doubt thinking back to that wedding in Cana when I was the nagging widow! Then again, looking at me, the poignant story of the builder about to start build a tower. 'Would he not first pause to count the cost to see if he was able to pay the price'. He's my son, but he understands so much of what I feel, what it has cost us as a family.

I can barely imagine what it is costing him.

Extract 73
But my favourite was the story of the lost things. Jesus started it as any Rabbi might have done, two stories with the same message to get our attention, then the climax with the third story. He told us about a shepherd who had one hundred sheep. That got a lot of smiles, we're only four miles from the fields of Bethlehem where there were thousands of sheep being prepared for Passover. But one of the sheep got lost, so the shepherd left the ninety nine and when he found the lost sheep, carried it back. He was so pleased that he had a party with his friends. That got lots of smiles too, they're a strange bunch, but they always enjoy a party! Then the second story following the pattern. A woman lost one of the ten coins from her wedding headdress. She ripped the house apart until she found it, then when she did, she invited her friends round for a party. Lots more laughter. Then Jesus began the third story. We all knew how it would go, something of great worth would be lost, there would be a 'do whatever it takes' search then a party when it was found. So he began 'Once there was a man with two sons'. He didn't get any further. Peter, always impatient for the food to really begin, stood up and said. 'Yes, we know, one of the sons gets lost, the Father goes off and searches for him, then when he finds him, he comes home and they have a party'. Jesus smiled and told the story. Yes, one of the sons got lost. Yes, he was lonely and miserable and longed to be home. Yes there was a party when he returned. But nobody searched.

There was silence. If a sheep is worth seeking, if a coin is worth seeking why did he change the story when a son was lost?