The 15th chapter of the gospel of Luke is all about repentance and the joy of the lost being found. Two of the stories are among the most familiar and popular in the Bible. One of them is about lost sheep and the other is about lost children. “Which one of you," Jesus asks, "having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it?" Works of art, stories, and songs have been made about this popular and beloved image.

The second of these two stories is about lost sons, but we know it best as the parable of the prodigal son. Again, works of art, stories, and songs have also been written about this story. And, in fact, last week I cited it to show what Jesus means by repentance. Rather than understanding repentance as trying to escape the punishing anger of God, Jesus uses this story to say, no. Repentance is running into the open arms of a God who loves and runs toward you!

There is a third story in chapter 15, however, not so beloved nor well known. And, since I mentioned the parable of the prodigal son last week, I'd like to focus our attention this week on this story.

From start to finish, the story is just three sentences long. Here it is. "What woman,” Jesus says, “having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ Just so, I tell you,” Jesus says, “there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

I'm so old that I think--I'm not even sure about this, but I think--that, after school, I could walk to The Ben Franklin 5 and Dime ... Whoa! Let me stop right there. Once upon a time, long, long ago, there were stores called “five and dimes.” They were called five and dimes because, believe it or not, there were things for sale in there that you could actually buy for five or ten cents!

Back to my recollection. I think--I'm not sure, but I think--that when I was kid there were indeed things--things like a single piece of candy--that I could buy with a penny. Maybe!

Today, I use pennies only to make exact change. And, frankly, the reason I use pennies to make exact change is ... so that I don't get even more pennies! The only time, in fact, where pennies occupy any thought or attention in my life is when I'm searching for the best price for gasoline.

Even this is kind of silly. What sense does it make to drive additional miles, using up gas, so that I can save a few pennies per gallon? I'm probably losing more than I'm gaining.

My point is that, in my everyday life, pennies have almost no value whatsoever. They're a nuisance that I use to prevent getting even more or that I probably waste in order to try and save a few.

Harvard economist Greg Mankiw recently made the case about eliminating the penny altogether. While we're at it, he said, let's get rid of the $1 bill too, and replace it with a coin! Both changes, he explained, would save money: The penny costs the government more than a penny to manufacture, and dollar coins would last a lot longer than dollar bills.

It makes sense to me! And yet, and yet, and yet ... listen again to Jesus and know that he intends to shock you. “Imagine a woman,” he says, “who has ten coins [meaning pennies] and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’

What world--what universe--does Jesus live in? Pennies are simply not worth it, are they? Not in the world I live in!

And yet, and yet, and yet. “What woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’”

What world does Jesus live in? What impractical values does he advocate?

And, by the way, this isn't just a modern criticism of Jesus! Even in his day the notion that a woman would turn her house upside down and inside out for a lost coin--a penny--bordered on the absurd.

It just wasn't worth it! It wasn't worth the time. It wasn't worth the effort. There just wasn't--there just isn't--that much you can do with a penny. At best, they're an annoyance!

And yet, and yet, and yet ... In Jesus' world--as opposed to ours--even pennies have value! Even pennies are worth it. They're worth the time. They're worth the effort. They're worth turning a world upside down and inside out.

“My ways are not your ways,” God says, “and your thoughts are not my thoughts.” Boy, that sure is true, isn’t it? That which we regard as, literally, more trouble than it’s worth, God is willing to turn a world inside out and upside down for.

Is everybody clear on this? Good! Because, first--and as we can also see from the parable of the two sons read today--this is God’s attitude toward us. Even when we--or the world--gives up on us or treats us as valueless annoyances--pennies--God turns the world upside down and inside out for us.

OK? Do you hear that loud and clear? Good. Because now it’s time for us to be God’s hands and eyes in the world, doing God’s will on earth as it is in heaven.

This week I read two remarkable internet postings by Mark Horvath, a man who has developed a site called invisiblepeople.tv to give a face to homelessness, something he knows all too well since he was homeless once himself.

He was in Alaska this winter--Alaska in the winter!--where he was documenting one of our society’s many “pennies,” the Native American homeless, many of whom are what are also termed “inebriates.”

Mark Horvath, himself a recovering alcoholic, writes, “Kim started drinking when he was nine years old, and he'll be fifty-two this May. Alcoholism is a horrible disease. Looking in from the outside, people think that drinking is a choice. But at some point along the way, alcohol completely takes over and the choice is gone. Alcoholics need booze just like we all need air, making it nearly impossible to stop. Add to that the dehumanizing experience of living without permanent shelter, and people will drink until they die, which is what's happening in Alaska.”

At the end of a long and loving description of the people and the ways that--get this--the police in Alaska treat them with dignity and respect, Mark Horvath concludes his reflections, saying, “We Must Never Give Up On The People. Remember,” he says, “the self-disclosure of my own alcoholism at the beginning of this post? Well,” he writes, “this August I will have 15 years completely clean and sober. People can change for the better. But I'm only sober today because someone cared enough to love me when I could not love myself. Please, never give up on people--even those of us who have trouble with alcohol.”

In our world, pennies are worthless. You can’t buy anything with them. And they’re almost more trouble than they’re worth. Yet God is willing--God has--turned this world upside down and inside out to seek and restore even one lost coin.

Not only is this our God, this is the mission that God entrusts to us! As a recovering alcoholic, Mark Horvath notices homeless inebriates. What “pennies” in our world today do you notice?

Who is God motivating you to never give up on? In Jesus’ name. Amen!