Third Sunday of Easter,
May 1, Year of Our + Lord 2022
Our Redeemer and Our Savior’s
Lutheran Churches
Custer and Hill City, South Dakota
Lost and Found: John 10:1-18
I once was lost, but now I’m found.
I like to think I am not prone to getting lost. In the woods at least. Driving in a city, I don’t do so well. But since my childhood I’ve loved maps and compasses. During my time in the Marine Corps, I did a lot of orienteering, map and compass land navigation. I enjoy it, and I know what I’m doing. I’m not prone to getting lost.
About forty years ago, my older brother James and I were driving around our aunt and uncle’s ranch, south of Broadus, MT. It’s wide-open country, high rolling plains, and we knew the ranch fairly well. No worries about getting lost. We did need to drive carefully because a series of thunderstorms had made driving dicey, especially in the creek bottoms. The day was drawing to a close, shadows were lengthening, and we were picking our way down one of those soggy creek beds, looking for the right track up and out, to head back to the house. Still no worries. Until suddenly a skunk was right in front of our pickup, tail up in the air, ready to spray. James jerked the wheel to the left, trying to avoid the skunk, and within a few feet of leaving the trail, we were sunk. Up to the axles in gooey gumbo gunk.
By the time we had determined that we would need a tractor to pull the truck out, we were packing 5 lbs. of gumbo on each boot, and it was getting dark. Sunk by a skunk, and now almost lost. We were a couple of miles from the house, walking in the dwindling twilight, with nothing but our sense of direction to guide us. We weren’t quite lost, but we weren’t found either.
Since I’m standing here telling you this story, you can guess that we made it back. It took a long time. James and I argued at the top each rise, disagreeing again and again about exactly which direction we should go to get back to the house. “It’s off this way.” “No, it’s this way.”
Dinner was cold and Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Dave were starting to get worried, when we finally straggled in. A map, compass and flashlight would have been helpful.
Or even better, it would have been great to pull out our phones and open up the Avenza App, a GPS and map application that Paul Meier showed me the other day. It’s a fantastic tool that gives you accurate maps and your precise location in the palm of your hand. A tremendous help to be found, and not lost.
Being lost physically can turn dangerous very quickly, especially if we throw in an injury, darkness, storms, or freezing temperatures.
Being spiritually lost usually doesn’t seem so dramatic. We can even shrug it off and try to live as if it doesn’t matter. But getting found by and staying close to the Good Shepherd will get dramatic, someday, sooner, or later. Being found by Jesus is more important than not getting lost in the woods. Being found by Jesus is terribly and eternally important. It’s decisive.
thought about carrying a reliable spiritual map and compass with us. Like sheep who know nothing of wolves and expect there to be good pasture everywhere, no matter where we go, we sinners again and again wander into, or even seek out hurtful, dangerous places. And we are prone to rejecting the gifts that our Good Shepherd has provided to keep us on the true path.
I am happy to use every modern technical marvel to not get lost in the woods. Maybe twenty-five years ago my pride would have got in the way. Back then, smart phones with GPS and maps weren’t available. But I probably would have rejected them, thinking I didn’t need them. But age and more experiences like our “skunk and sunk,” adventure have made me less prideful, and more willing to accept all the help available. I may still go hiking using a compass and a map, but I’ll have Avenza and my phone close at hand.
I once was lost, but now I’m found. On this Good Shepherd Sunday, we should resolve again to use all the tools, the gifts, the means that the Lord has graciously given us in order that we stay found, that we stay with Him, safe and well cared for.
Here’s another earthly comparison that can help us understand their value. Suppose you are walking down the street in Hill City or Custer, and someone hands you a flyer that says there will be free Brats and Beer, tomorrow! Assuming you like brats and beer, this is really good news! You are very excited, looking forward to a free feast.
But then, when you get up in the morning, you realize there’s just one problem: the flyer doesn’t tell you where to go to get the free brats and beer. Today is the day of free brats and beer, but where do I go to get them?
The Gospel without the Means of Grace are like that free brats and beer flyer. It is Good News that Jesus Christ, God’s Son, has died and risen to rescue us wandering sheep from the consequences of our sinfulness. Jesus has free forgiveness, for you! But where do we go to get it? We can’t travel back in time 2,000 years to stand at the foot of the Cross or outside the Empty Tomb. Free and full forgiveness, but where?
The Means of Grace, Preaching, Baptism, Lord’s Supper, every place where the Holy Spirit is causing the Good News to be proclaimed, these are the “where” of forgiveness. And so, as rescued sheep who know the Good Shepherd, we are called to be wise. We are called to take advantage of all the means the Lord has given us to stay on the path and avoid getting lost.
God’s Word teaches us where the traps are, where the deep ravines of temptation and the sheer cliffs of lust are hidden, seeking to make us fall. Uncomfortably, we discover that for all the dangers out in the world, our biggest threats rise from within our own still sinful hearts. Knowing this, the Holy Spirit fills that same Word with Christ Himself, with His perfect life and sacrificial death, with His suffering, and with His rising, which rescue us from the world, and from ourselves.
We should be wise. We pray that the Holy Spirit will make and keep us wise. But we also can rest in this promise: even still, and always, until the very end, Jesus your Good Shepherd is Himself seeking you. Jesus has preserved His Word in the book we call the Bible through 2,000 years of turbulent history. Jesus makes sure His Church continues to gather, to give regular “wheres,” regular places and times for all to come and receive forgiveness and renewal. Every Sunday and in between, Jesus leads the Baptized to gather around the Bible, at Church and at home, to study the Catechism, to kneel at the Table. Jesus provides regular care, and also extraordinary care, seeking the lost, including you and me, wherever we wander.
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don’t forget, your Good Shephard is still looking for you. If you get lost in the Hills, Custer County search and rescue will try their best to find you and bring you back safe. But they have limits. Weather and manpower and finite human endurance can force Search and Rescue to stop. But as long as you have breath, Jesus will never stop seeking you. Because He loves you. He died for you. He rose for you. Jesus always wants you back.
The Good Shepherd has such a desire to find all people, He even involves sinners in His search and rescue. He goes out through the words you and I speak. He draws sinners toward Himself through the Spirit motivated service and love we share. He converts unbelievers through the confession that we make with Thomas, that Jesus Christ is Lord and God.
Like any difficult search and rescue mission, it is complex and messy and sometimes it’s hard to see the results. But the Great Pastor and Bishop of souls is on the case. He will bring it to a joyful conclusion, for you, and for your neighbor.
In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, Amen.
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