REJOICING IN THE LOST & FOUND
One of the many things we humans have in common is loss. Sometimes we lose our way and get lost, while other times we simply misplace or lose our possessions. Finding the things we lose often proves discouraging or frustrating, so it comes as no surprise that many religions and cultures throughout the ages had gods or goddesses of lost things. The Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Celts, and other pagans all had deities for lost things. Even today, Saint Anthony is called upon as the patron saint of lost items, to help people locate what they cannot find.
One of my favorite photographs depicts a happy ending to a lost-then-found story, which came out of the devastating 2011 EF5 tornado in Joplin, Missouri, when a woman found in the rubble her cat that had been missing for over two weeks. Just look at the joy on the owner’s face!
The fifteenth chapter of Luke could be titled “Lost and Found,” as it contains three parables of Jesus, each one featuring something or someone of value that was lost: a sheep, a coin, and a son. In each of these stories, the lost was found – by the shepherd, by the woman, and by the father. In each of the parables, the repentance of sinners is mentioned. And in each story, the finder rejoices greatly. Not only that, they each desire and even expect that others will want to celebrate with them: “Rejoice with me,” say both the shepherd and the woman to their friends and neighbors, and of course the father throws a party when his repentant son leaves his sin and comes home.
I, too, was lost before I was found. When the Spirit squeezed repentance out of my nine-year-old heart, my dad baptized me at the Church of Christ in Oskaloosa, Iowa. Today, my clearest memory of that event was afterward, when my mom was brushing my wet hair. I remember her smiling, saying to me, “The angels in heaven are rejoicing!” To this day, I still think of that moment whenever I read “I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10), or “there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance” (Luke 15:7).
The Bible is replete with calls for us to rejoice, and for a variety of reasons: because of who God is, what He has done, and what He will do. It is worthwhile to do some concordance work on the occurrences of the word rejoice in the Bible. I love the many reminders we have to rejoice in the Lord, but I am glad to know that heaven rejoices as well, and not just the heavenly multitudes, but even God Himself. In Isaiah 62:5, after desolation is turned to delight, the prophet tells us that “as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
Another prophet, Zephaniah, also tells of God’s rejoicing over us. In a brief but doomful book full of impending judgment and punishment of the wicked in the Kingdom of Judah, the city of Jerusalem, and the nations of God’s enemies, the Day of the Lord is described in terrifying detail. But in the last half of the final chapter, the ferocity gives way to something beautiful – God’s salvation and love. Those who “seek refuge in the name of the LORD” (the humble and repentant) “shall graze and lie down, and none shall make them afraid” (Zeph. 3:12, 13). “Rejoice and exult with all your heart,” the prophet says to the as-yet-to-be-restored people (v.14), for “The LORD has taken away the judgments against you” (v.15). The comfort continues: “The LORD your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save; he will rejoice over you with gladness; he will quiet you by his love; he will exult over you with loud singing” (v.17). Not only does God find us in our lostness and save us, when He does, He rejoices and sings over us. It’s no wonder, then, that the multitude in heaven would rejoice, as well. They cry out, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:6,7). We once were lost, but now we are found; we have no reason to wait until heaven to rejoice.
