A Prayer rooted in Scripture

In my reading, I am chewing on Jesus’ parables of lost things. We all love the parable of the prodigal and the rush of the father to “find” his son who returns. But do we likewise rush past some of the questions these stories create about how we lose things, find things, and make life whole again?

If you’d like take a look at some of those reflections. If not, jump below for the prayer I’m praying for you.

• Meditating on Lost Things

  Luke 15 famously re-tells the parable of a father and his two sons, but have you noticed the two smaller stories just before that?

  Jesus tells two stories of lost things and two searchers who find them.

  • In the first story, there are 100 sheep and a shepherd who loses one. What was the shepherd doing that caused him to miss one wandering off? Is that a proficient or trustworthy shepherd?

  • The story starts, Which among you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them…? The majority of Jesus’ listeners would say, “Not me!” Most didn’t own 100 sheep. (It’s similar with the second story of a woman with 10 drachmas — a decent pot in that day.) People of some wealth and means had 100 sheep.

  People who “have” are more likely to to fail to notice what is missing.

  • Maybe one out of 100 is easy to lose.

  • Maybe noticing one missing from 100 is harder to do.

  • Taking every action to bring that one back is admirable. No “oh well” or “at least I have…”

  • Do the 99 motivate his search for the 1? Meaning, he takes every action to not just find one but to restore the group to wholeness.

  Perhaps if we have lost something, will we notice?

  Will we diligently seek to know that…to find it…to restore ourselves in doing so?

• Meditating on Found Things

  The shepherd left behind 99 and searched for 1. The woman set 9 down and swept the house for 1. They spared no expense to find the 1. No matter how large the remaining group was, it is incomplete.

  And still, finding 1 was not enough. Both threw a party, brought the whole group into the house, and celebrated further.

  Both stories end with astounding comparison between these parties and the joy in heaven over 1 thing found, and the whole restored.

  Similar to Jacob restored to Esau, there is a glimpse of God’s face and God’s goodness when we are restored to one another.

  Will we search so that we can find joy?

  But what about who did the losing?

  Unique among the stories: the woman admitted responsibility in a way the shepherd didn’t: I found the coin I had lost!

  We may wish to celebrate the finding, but can we also admit our responsibility in the losing?

  Perhaps there is no finding without first admitting our part in the losing. Perhaps no search starts without us first noticing and naming, “I have lost it!”

• Meditating on 2 Sons

  Luke’s more famous parable starts out A man had two sons.

  Jesus’ original listeners were extremely intelligent, committed to Scripture, and just overflowing with its images.

  So they would have thought of the long legacy of Scriptures’ two sons:

  • Adam had 2 sons, Cain and Abel (the older an exiled killer, the younger, dead)

  • Abraham had 2 sons, Ishmael and Isaac (the older exiled and at odds with others; the younger a child of promise)

  • Isaac had 2 sons, Esau and Jacob (the older foolish/swindled out of a blessing, the younger stumbling into God’s presence on two occasions and being transformed into Israel)

  • Jacob’s favorite son had 2 sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (Jacob switching the blessing so that younger receives the primary)

  • Scripture is full of younger sons being promoted to the top (David), second sons receiving the throne (Solomon), and so on…

  So what did they think of the younger son in this story?

  He’s not innocent Abel, faithful Isaac, or prominent in Israel. He’s prodigal (wasteful), and mucking about in all the wrong things (women and pigs).

  And what did they make of the older son?

  He’s surprisingly not a violent killer, oppositional, nor exiled. At worst, he’s understandably upset at his brother’s disregard for their family and his father’s indulgence of a terrible son. (And where the older son should be blessed at 2x the younger, the father splits his estate 50-50.)

  Are there echoes of Abraham’s family tension, Isaac’s favoritism and alienated results, or Jacob’s indulgence of the sons of his favorite wife? What are we to make of the father who over-gratifies one son and loses another?

  Can one be lost right in our own household? Right in the middle of our closest relationships?

  In the end, which son is lost to the father?

  What does the father do to get him back?

  He does not wait. He does whatever it takes to find the lost one and celebrate with others.

• Meditating on Reconciling

  In the first two parables, the central figure is the one who loses, notices, then searches to find.

  Each story ends in a celebration, where the joy is greater because the group is restored and all parties together.

  Rule of 3 says the last story is mostly the same but introduces a surprise to grab our attention.

  The final story ends with the father who has lost one son and found him, finding that he has lost a son right under his nose.

  Having seen a desperate search from the father (think running from the porch to catch and kiss his younger son returning), the parable surprises us again when the party is incomplete and the father goes on a desperate search again!

  The father once more leaves the group behind to pursue the one he has lost.

  The sheep and the coin did not repent, but there was celebration regardless because the shepherd and the woman were able to rejoice over restoring the whole group.

  The father is still grieved because his family is not whole. He pleads to see life where there was death, brother where there was enemy. A total change of relationship.

  But the reconciliation that seemed so quick and easy (younger son’s) now seems much more human and complex (older son’s).

  In this story, the father has provided all acts of reconciliation for the younger son, but at some point, the story of reconciliation must go on between father and son, father and son, brother and brother. After all, reconciliation lets us in on the joy of heaven.

  Do I stew on the wrongs done?

  Isn’t that stew a pointless search of the past…

  Do I wait until I receive an apology?

  I may never find it and only keep losing the other…

  Do I wait until I feel the feeling to forgive?

  If I go and start, will the forgiving come later?

  If one is lost, why do I not search like the father?

  Reconciliation leads to resurrection.

Father,

You are not in the business of losing things. I don’t have to wonder if I have your attention or where I stand in the list of your affections. You are love. You show love. And you are so so good. I don’t have to impress you, ask in a way “just so,” or bug you into action. I can complain like a child, ask like a child, cry like a child, or sing like a child — and You respond like a father should. You see. You hear. You love. You give.

Jn 10:27-29; 18:9; Num 31:49; 1 Jn 4:7-21; Ps 34:8; 106:1; Mt 5:44-48; 6:6-18, 25-34; Lk 18:1-8; Mt 7:7-12

And so I ask you to shine the light of your face and your goodness on each of our leaders and their families. We’re kids in this discipleship thing. Even years of walking will still see us stumble, stray from the straights, or grow tired on our feet. We’re only human. You know that better than we do — you’ve seen it all, felt it all, done it all like us. (And then some too.) Would you train our feet to walk straight, to walk strong, and to walk in your steps? Would you grab our hands to hold us up, guide us on, and comfort our fears?

Num 6:22-27; Prov 4:11-13; Heb 2:17-18; 4:15; Ps 18:32-34; Hab 3:19; Ps 23

Where there is darkness in front of us, would you light a path — even if it’s only steps at a time? Where there is darkness in us, would your Spirit within us that first created light, turn on a light in our inner person and chase off that darkness? Where we struggle for the thought, the word, or the action to love well and lead well, would you stop us, instruct us, and send us back into the fray? Appoint for us friends, partners, and supporters who can spur us on to good action. Instill in us patience, love, joy, and goodness.

John 11:9-10; Ps 36:9; Eph 1:18-19; Gen 1:1-5; 2:4-7; Heb 10:24; Gal 5:22-23

Make us searchers of your goodness whether that sends us searching for lost ones that you desire to bring into your house, or if that sends us searching for lost ones we have lost. Make us agents of peace and reconciliation, bold to admit and confess, insistent to forgive and restore. May our Gospel Communities, our families, our friendships, our neighborhoods, and our workplaces before more full of heaven’s joy and light because we do so in your name.

Lk 15:7, 10; Gen 33:10; Mt 5:9, 38-48; 1 Pet 3:8; 2 Cor 5:20-21; Phil 2:1-11

Together as one we pray unified in the family of our Father by the bond of the Spirit and in the name and service of our Savior, King Jesus.

Eph 4:1-6; Col 1:3-6; Phil 2:1-2

Amen.