The Lost

So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate.  Then the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made loincloths for themselves.

They heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden at the time of the evening breeze, and the man and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden.  But the Lord God called to the man, and said to him, “Where are you?”  He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.”  He said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat?”  The man said, “The woman whom you gave to be with me, she gave me fruit from the tree, and I ate.”  Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this that you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent tricked me, and I ate.”  Genesis 3:6-13

Reading Genesis 3, I am reminded of a line from an old movie.  In The War, while speaking to young Elijah Wood, Kevin Costner says, “Boy, sometimes all it takes is a split second for you to do something you’ll regret the whole rest of your life.”  As we see in Genesis, sometimes regret is felt instantly and consequences of the regret-inducing act ripple far, wide and for a long time.  

In an instant, Adam and Eve gained knowledge of good and evil, they suddenly saw their nakedness as something they needed to correct, and they hid from God.  His questions are remarkable – “Where are you?” and “Who told you that you were naked?”  God is not asking questions because He lacks information.  He knows everything.  The questions begin His explanation of the consequences to their choice.  He previously told Adam that he would die if he ate from one specific tree, now He would explain what spiritual death means.

“Where are you?”  The question haunts me like an unsolvable riddle.  In the context of Genesis 3, it has nothing to do with physical location and everything to do with matters of spirit and soul.  Where are you emotionally, mentally, spiritually?  What is on your mind?  What is the focus of your desires, your passions, your hopes, your dreams?  What are you thinking?  Perhaps the question is similar to being with a friend who gazes in the distance, oblivious to your presence, with some deep thought completely occupying them, and you ask, “Where are you?”  The question has nothing to do with geography and might be stated, “What’s going on in there?”  Or perhaps the scene is similar to a parent locating a toddler with crayons in hand standing next to wall art asking, “What have you done?”  The parent knows all too well what the child has done, but the question is the beginning of consequences. 

“Where are you?”  From the moment of physical birth until we receive new life through Christ Jesus, we are lost.  God knows exactly where we are, yet we are lost.  We need communion with God and without Him, we seek to fill the void with something, anything, and invariably worldly choices exacerbate our lostness, confusion, loneliness, hollowness.  So, God showers us with His holy grace, begging us to consider spiritual questions, encouraging us to ask about Him, sending people in our path ready to engage with us about Him, and enabling us to gain eyes to see and ears to hear.  And we continue in our state of lostness, searching for answers, seeking to fill the void in our hearts until we meet God through Christ Jesus.

Jesus talks quite a bit about the lost.  During His final journey to Jerusalem, Jesus stops in Jericho where He heals a blind man and eats with the chief tax collector, Zacchaeus.  After Jesus restores sight to the blind man, everyone praises God and sees Jesus as God’s instrument.  However, they are unable to understand why Jesus would eat with a man as awful as Zacchaeus, so Jesus explains His mission on earth saying, “For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).

Jesus had already provided considerable support for the statement four chapters earlier.  When religious leaders grumble and say, “This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2), Jesus responds by telling several parables about the lost filling the remainder of Luke 15.  He came to seek out and save the lost in the same way a shepherd is willing to leave the flock in search of a single lost lamb, and He rejoices when the lamb is found.  He came to seek out and save the lost in the same way a woman searches for a lost coin, with lamp and broom searching everywhere and rejoicing when it is found.  He came to seek out and save the lost in the same way a father of two sons allows one to leave in pursuit of his desires, praying he will be alright, and rejoicing when he returns.  The father is also saddened when the other son stays, working with him day after day out of obligation rather than desire for relationship with him.  The son who stayed had every day to enjoy with his father, to relish the opportunity to share life with him, but he missed out because he did not really want to be there.  Both sons were lost, but in the story, only one was found.  Or perhaps more accurately, one, through the separation caused by bad choices, realized he really wanted relationship with his father, and he wanted it so much that he begged his father to allow him to return.

It may be easier to relate to the son who went away and lived a life of bad choices before returning home.  But I wonder how many of us are more like the son who stayed?  Have you, like George Bailey in It’s a Wonderful Life, sacrificed your dreams, stayed home doing the right thing, propelled by a sense of obligation to live up to the expectations of those near to you, and do you feel some resentment and regret as a result?  I wonder how many attend church regularly out of a sense of obligation rather than a genuine desire to gather with others to worship the holy, divine, Creator of the universe who loves us and desires relationship with us.  Like the older brother, it is possible to be lost while sitting in church week after week.

We are like the lost lamb, the lost coin, the lost sons, but God knows exactly where we are.  We are not lost in the sense of physical location; we are lost spiritually so long as we are separated from God and we must each find our way home.  The path home is through Christ Jesus.  He is the way, the truth and the life.  He showers us with His holy grace and when we receive it, when we receive faith through His grace, and gain eyes to see Christ Jesus for who He is, and accept Him as Lord, and find our way home, heaven rejoices.

If heaven has not yet rejoiced over your homecoming, may you sincerely seek God through Christ Jesus now.  And if it has, may you truly serve as His beacon of light to those around you who are lost.

May you genuinely seek relationship with God through Christ Jesus.  May you breathe in His Holy Spirit with each breath you take, allowing His holy transformation of your spirit and soul, relinquishing yourself to Him, receiving Him fully, abiding in Him and He in you always.  Amen.