SEARCHING AND BEING FOUND

Dr. Richard J. Henderson January 23, 2005

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Isaiah 9:1-4
Matthew 4:12-23

Introduction

Last Friday night we went to see the play, "The Death of a Salesman." It is a sad play. Willie Loman, the main character, is continually seeing his situation much brighter than it actually is. He is filled with a hollow optimism that never develops into anything because he seems unaware of reality.

It's clear that all through his life, he has been searching for something, but because he can't be realistic about who he is, he never finds what he is looking for. His is a lonely search because he isn't able to find himself or something truly meaningful in his life. In the end he kills himself. The enormous funeral that he imagined would follow is attended only by his family and two friends.

Willie is a pathetic figure and the play is depressing. I wondered to myself why it consistently has been such a popular play. It's been produced thousands of times.

I

I think one of the reasons it has remained so popular is that lots of us are also searching. Our lives may not be as sad as Willie's, but we too want to find what is real; what has ultimate meaning.

We may not be as lost as Willie Loman, but we too feel lost. Most of us want something that is bigger than we are; we want to believe in something beyond our humble lives.

Some of you may remember the old Peanuts cartoon where Lucy is sitting at her 5-cent psychology booth. Charlie Brown stops by for advice. Lucy says, "Life is like a deck chair, Charlie. On the cruise ship of life, some people place their deck chair at the rear of the ship so they can see where they've been. Others place their deck chair at the front of the ship so they can see where they're going."

Lucy asks, "Which way is your deck chair facing?"

Charlie looks at her with sadness and frustration. "I can't even get my deck chair unfolded," he says.

We often feel lost like that. We want our lives to mean something. We want to find something that has significance.

The great expert on world religions, Houston Smith, did a Public Broadcasting Station special on the world's religions which he called, "The Long Search." Lots of us are on that search. We want to find God among the gods that are all around us.

II

The good news is that our God doesn't wait for us. God is proactive is finding us. When we are lost, God doesn't wait for us to search for him, God comes looking for us. That is one of the key messages that Jesus brought to us.

Over and over again, Jesus showed us images of how God hunts for us and told us stories that showed how God searches for us, as lost as we may be. Look at just a few of them.

II A

Jesus told the story of a lamb who wandered away from the rest of the flock and got caught in a bramble so that he couldn't get free. The shepherd noticed the lamb was missing, and risked leaving the other ninety-nine sheep to go search for the one who was missing. He hunted until he found it, then got it free, put it on his shoulders and took it back home. The story not only involves a relentless search for the one who is lost, but taking risks in order to find the lost one.

II B

Jesus tells of a woman who has lost a coin. It isn't a real valuable coin, but she turns on all the lights, moves the sofa and the recliner trying to find it. She doesn't find it on the first round, so she takes up the carpet, takes the dishes out of the cupboard, dumps the "junk drawer" on the table and sifts through it.

When she finds it she is so excited she invites the neighbors over for a party. "I have found the coin that was lost. Come celebrate with me!" The party costs more than the coin she found. Jesus says this is the kind of joy God feels when one who was lost is found. The joy - the party - is all out of proportion to the coin she lost!

II C

Jesus tells of a son who goes to his father and tells him he wants his inheritance now, rather than when the father dies. He is really saying, "I wish you were dead, but I can't wait." For some reason the father gives him the inheritance and the son goes off to a far country. Before long he blows all the money, he's broke, and ends up in a field feeding pigs to earn enough to get by. (There isn't much worse for a Jewish man than feeding pigs!)

But then he comes to himself and decides to go home to ask his father to accept him, not as a son, but as a hired servant. As he gets close to home, his father sees him coming, gets up and dashes out to greet him. He won't even listen to his son's speech about being a servant; instead, he puts a ring on his finger, a robe around his shoulders and sandals on his feet. His father orders his servants to kill a fatted calf and prepare a great party.

The father shouts, "My son was lost and is found; was dead and is alive!"

To get the deeper meaning of this story we need to know that in the patriarchal times of Jesus, no father ever even stood up to talk with his son. Members of the family came to him. He didn't stand, let alone walk toward one of them. So a story where the father runs out to greet his son is absolutely unheard of.

III

In our gospel reading today, Jesus calls his first disciples. In Jesus' time a rabbi would not go and solicit disciples, they were supposed to come to him. It was thought that if your teachings were wise enough, and if you were charismatic enough, disciples would gather around you, so you wouldn't have to ask people to follow you.

Jesus doesn't wait for people to find him; he goes out and chooses his disciples. Jesus doesn't wait to be found, he finds the right people. Over and over again, Jesus illustrates how God searches for us.

IV

As the old song goes, we are often "searching for love in all the wrong places." We are "the people who walk in darkness." We are looking for what is meaningful in life. We want our lives to be real. We want to find that which is greater than we are - a meaning that is beyond ourselves, beyond our culture, even beyond history.

Fortunately, God doesn't wait for us - God comes after us.

Conclusion

You may think that you came here today as a part of your ongoing search for something. Your life is rich and full, but sometimes you feel like a bottle of pop that has been left open too long. All the fizz is gone and it's flat. Some days you may feel as hollow as an empty tube.

But maybe God brought you to this place. Maybe God called you to be here; summoned you, directed you, drew you here.

Maybe it wasn't your action, but God finding you and bringing you home.

Amen.

©Richard J. Henderson 2005