14th September 2025

The Three Parables of Loss and Redemption

Jess Jephcott

Luke 15: 1-7, Luke 15: 8-10, also Matthew 18: 10-14

A few words for Charlie Kirk, so callously murdered this week. I would like to repeat the words written on the lectern that his widow, Erika, used for her tearful address. ‘May Charlie be received into the merciful arms of Jesus, our loving saviour.’

Good morning.

In Martin’s absence, I offered to speak this morning in his stead. As ever, the question for me was, what to speak about? So, I have chosen to talk about God’s joy when a person returns to Him, especially as it relates to my own personal journey with God.

What could demonstrate this better, I thought, than the three parables of loss and redemption, told by Jesus in Luke chapter 15, those of the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son?

A prayer - Heavenly Father, I come before You today, humbly acknowledging my need for Your mercy and grace. I confess my sins and all the ways I have strayed from Your path. I have tried to live life on my own terms, and it left me empty, burdened, and lost.

Jesus' parables are simple and memorable stories, often with imagery, and all teach a lesson in daily life. I understand that they form approximately one third of his recorded teachings.

Surely, we must all be familiar with the story, the third parable, of the son who asked his father for his inheritance. It begins:

Vs 11 to 13. Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So, he divided his property between them.  “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.

The parable continues with the story of the young man, who, with nothing left of his fortune, is forced to work as a hired hand for a pig farmer. He is so destitute that he longs to eat the food of the pigs. Realizing that his father’s servants have better working conditions, he resolves to return to his father, beg forgiveness, and ask to be his servant.

Vs 21 to 24.  “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’  “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.

When one of the sheep wanders away from his shepherd, doesn’t it represent a lost sinner who wanders from Jesus by choosing to lead a sinful life according to their own worldly pleasures and desires. We heard in the reading, read to us by Philip, how the shepherd left his 99 sheep, in a safe place, whilst going to find the one sheep that was missing. (Incidentally, this parable is also to be found in Matthew 18.) He found it and he rejoiced upon its return. This was how Jesus taught, so often using parables. Luke mentions many of Jesus’ parables in his gospel – but I have chosen just these three as they are stories of loss and redemption.

The lost coin surely symbolizes a lost soul that God will work endlessly to bring back to Him, rejoicing upon their return. Each person who returns to God is cause for great celebration. We heard in the reading, read to us by Barbara, how the woman searched tirelessly, until she found the lost coin, and then rejoicing with her neighbours.

This parable reminds me of a time in the seventies, when a mentor and friend, told me about the time, many years before, when his wife was putting grass cuttings onto their compost heap and her engagement ring was lost. A friend of mine had a metal detector, and so I borrowed it, and very quickly, the lost ring was found. The joy that this brought to his wife was, as you might suspect, worthy of celebration. How many of us have experienced similar joy when a thing thought lost, is found – especially when a long time has passed?

However, you let yourself drift away from God or intentionally leave Him, He will not stop trying to get you back. He is always searching, hoping, and waiting for you. His love never fades. He may have billions of loyal followers, but if you are not with Him, He is searching for you. All you must do is turn back to Him.

Jesus does not stop that person from wandering away, because God loves us so much that He gave us free will to make our own choices in life. But He never gives up on the person who walks away from Him, no matter how many other faithful children He has by His side.

When my wife Theresa and I first got together, we had both been married before, we had both had unhappiness in our lives, we had both been raised as Christians and we had both fallen away from God, each for our own particular reasons. Two lost people who had wandered away from Jesus, choosing to lead selfish lives, according to our own worldly pleasures and desires.

For my part, as with most people of my age, I attended church, as directed by my parents, I went to Sunday School, I said my prayers, my schools led us with prayers and hymns at our daily school assemblies – we had religious education classes as part of the curriculum. I loved the bible stories, I loved singing the hymns, and I feel that my moral values came from both my loving parents, and my Christian upbringing. This spilled over into my time as a cub, and later, a Boy Scout…. Then it all fell apart. I left school, became an engineer, girls became a distraction, motorbikes, cars, pubs, etc. I found no continuity with my previous Christian upbringing. Indeed, my ungodly peers took over in importance with my life and, consequently, I lapsed into an equally ungodly, selfish lifestyle. I saw no wrong in my pursuit of fun, and career success. There was no room for Jesus in my life.

Then Theresa came into my life. We had both kissed a few frogs before we found our respective prince and princess. I was in my 40s then, as was she. She brought her two young sons with her. We both worked and we enjoyed life together. Our sons enriched our lives. As part of our life, we joined a squash club, and fitness became an important part of it. One of our fellow club members was a man named Mike Neville. He was the rector of a nearby village. We discussed our faith, or lack of faith, with him, as one might expect when talking to a man of the cloth, indeed to a friend, such as he had become. We cautiously responded to his suggestion that we might like to attend a service at his church. Within a very short space of time, we realised what was missing in our lives. We went on to enrol on the church’s ‘Christianity Explored’ course, which centred around Mark’s gospel, so well narrated by Rico Tice.

We had intended to simply live together, but we decided to get married, to get our lives in order, to perhaps set an example to our children, to put aside our selfish ways. Mike Neville was an inspiration to us, as were the various ministers over the following years, who followed on after Mike had been moved to another church by his bishop, to carry on his good works. In a short space of time, I decided that I wanted to be confirmed, something that I had never gone through with.

I joined a group of mostly youngsters, in the ensuing teaching period, and was, indeed, confirmed as a follower of Jesus Christ, who I saw (nay see) as my personal saviour. Theresa was already confirmed, of course.

Theresa was raised in the Catholic church, whilst I was Church of England. Her family were, as expected, a little bothered by this. We didn’t care. We had found a church that cared for faith rather than for religious dogma, it didn’t care for a church divided by denominations, or a church that practiced high church rituals in its services. Our church in Fordham preached from the Bible, just as our church here does. It freely accepted the Nicene Creed, as well as the standard Creed that we all declare each week. It embraced new and old hymns. Once a month it did ‘happy clappy’, as we called it. It took God’s Word onto the streets through soup kitchens for the homeless, and it had a programme of training new clergy apprentices, only possible through the generosity of its church members.

Then, in 2016, we decided to retire and to emigrate to France. We had to take the emotional step of saying goodbye to our much loved church, and to our beloved church family. We had no idea that we would find such a welcome here with you all. God was clearly guiding us, as he had with bringing us together, two lost souls.

As with the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son, we had returned to where we belonged. It was something to celebrate, as did the shepherd, the woman and the prodigal son’s father.

Of course, the strongest of these three parables is that of the prodigal son. The story of the prodigal son is a picture of God’s love for us as His children. God’s love for us does not depend on our faithfulness; it is unconditional. He loved us while we were still sinners. Though we can be demanding and do not always remain faithful, God is still our faithful and loving Father. When we come to repent of our sins, He is willing to forgive us and welcomes us with open arms.

A prayer: Father, we praise You for Your consistency. Thank You that, though we are incapable of being consistently good, loving and righteous, you are those things for us. Forgive us for our inconsistency, and bless us, that we may know Your love for us never changes. You are always loving, and for that we give thanks. Amen.