That Which Was Lost

What has to be true before something counts as lost?

In everyday speech, two things have to be true. It belongs to somebody, and somebody wants it back. A stone in a field is not lost, because nobody owns it, and a coat nobody misses has simply been thrown away. The difference is the owner. In the Greek of today's verse, "that which was lost" is neuter, so it points to a thing rather than a person. That may sound cold until you hear it as the language of ownership: something that belongs to someone and is not where it should be.

Luke has already used this word again and again in one chapter, across three stories. A man with a hundred sheep goes "after that which is lost, until he find it." A woman lights a candle and sweeps the house for one coin. A father watches the road for his son. In each story, the lost thing does none of the searching. Behind all three stands a promise God makes in Ezekiel, spoken in anger against shepherds who let the flock scatter and never went after it: "I will seek that which was lost, and bring again that which was driven away."

Now look at where Jesus says it. It is the last sentence of the story of Zacchaeus, spoken in a street where the crowd has just been muttering "That he was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner." Zacchaeus is rich, and he is the chief of the tax collectors. A little earlier he was up a tree. Jesus calls him lost, which means owned and wanted back, and He says it in front of people who had already written him off.

So think of one person your family or your church has quietly given up on. You do not need to announce anything. Simply count that person as lost again, which means wanted. And the next time they are in the room, treat them the way Jesus treated Zacchaeus, as someone the Lord is still looking for.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 279 is Every Promise Is Yes (2 Corinthians 1:20).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two