THE Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.”
What an easy text for you to read, dear little children, is it not? All words of one syllable! And easy to understand, too, because you all know what it is to seek everywhere for something you have lost, don’t you? O, dear! what tiring work it is, hunting in every corner for some little thing that has got out of its own place, and cannot be found! How one does wish the thimble, or the pair of scissors, or the glove, or the bit of money that one is looking for, could just call out, “Here I am!” and then all the trouble would soon be over. But it cannot, so we have to “seek diligently” until we find it.
Now, this text tells us about Jesus, the Son of God and the Son of Man, seeking that which is lost. Perhaps some of you dear children are thinking that it must be to seek something worth a great deal, that God’s Son has come all the way down from heaven—something very beautiful and very good. Well, what Jesus is seeking He does think worth a great deal, though not at all good, quite the contrary; He is looking for lost souls, that means lost men and women, and little lost children. They have grieved and pained Him all they can, and yet His heart is so full of love for them that He cannot bear them to be lost forever; therefore He goes after them and takes, O! so much trouble, seeking even one little lost child, and is so glad when He has found it. Just think, if one of your brothers or sisters were lost, how you would feel about it; that will help you to understand how the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ, feels when He goes after one of His stray lambs.
Last summer, a family of tiny children went to the seaside with their mother and grandmother. It is such fun to play on the sands with spades and buckets, is it not? I daresay nearly all of you have been to the seaside, and have built sandcastles and picked up shells and seaweed, and paddled barefoot in the water; and you, who have not been, have often heard all about it, and can guess how wild and full of fun children get there, and how difficult it is sometimes. to keep them in order.
Well, Harold, Katie and tiny Lucy, each had a bucket and spade, and they enjoyed themselves as much as any other children, while mother, with baby on her lap, sat on the sands with grandmother, watching the play. So passed a happy week; but, alas! a sad day was to come.
Harold loved the games on the sands, and was always in a hurry to run off there as soon as he had swallowed his food, and in his haste, he sometimes forgot to do what mother bid him. He was only six years old, but quite old enough to know how to obey, was he not? This afternoon that I am telling you about, he was as usual in a great hurry to start for the sands, and was not at all pleased when mother having dressed wee Lucy, told him to take care of her outside the house, while she got the others ready. Now Harold never liked waiting, and mother seemed a long time coming, and he got more and more impatient, at last he thought Lucy might just as well stay there by herself until the others joined her, while he amused himself on the sands. So off he ran, and never looked back, nor found out that his little sister was toddling after him, as fast as her very short legs could carry her.
On he ran, and soon turned one corner and then another, making his way to the great sea beach, where the pretty shells lay, and the little crabs crawled about so funnily. But Lucy did not know the road so well, and, when she lost sight of Harold, she soon went wrong, trotting on, down one street and up another, every step taking the poor wee thing further out of the right way.
When mother and grandmother came out presently with Katie and baby, they were very vexed to find that Harold had not done as he was told. They hurried down to the sands, and there they soon found him at play, but no little Lucy was with him! Now do you think mother said, “Ah, well, we have two boys and a girl left, that is quite enough?” O, no! you all know mother’s love better than that, don’t you? And Jesus’ love for His little stray lambs is far greater than even mother’s love, so that though He may have ninety-nine sheep left, He will still go after that one which is lost until He finds it.
O! how ashamed and how unhappy Harold was when he found out what sad consequences had come of his disobedience, for he tenderly loved his little sister, although he had deserted her so naughtily. He and Katie both cried bitterly as they ran along by the side of their mother, who hurried here and there, asking all she met if they had seen the lost child. Grandmother went in another direction, vainly inquiring after her, but no one knew anything of poor little Lucy.
O! how glad they would have been if they could have heard her call out, “Grandmother! mamma! here I am!” but no cry did they hear. And I am sure this is just how Jesus longs to hear some of you call out, “Lord, save me,” and O! how quickly then He would find you and save you.
Two very long hours passed away in fruitless search for Lucy, hours that seemed longer to the unhappy seekers than a whole day. Poor mother’s heart was sick and heavy as she went back to the house, hoping to hear her child had come home, and then hurried again to the beach, vainly searching among the merry groups of children for her tiny Lucy. O! what would father say when he heard what had happened? How they all wished he was there to help them, and to tell them what to do—the strong, young father, who had stayed at his daily toil, while he sent them to enjoy this holiday, which now seemed ending so terribly.
And now what do you guess suddenly changed all the tears into smiles? Ah! I see you know. Yes, it was little Lucy, in the arms of a stranger, who had picked her up, and was now carrying her to the police station, hoping her parents would go there to inquire after her. What delight all the little family were in, as they each in turn hugged, and kissed, and laughed over the little one that had been lost and now was found!
Now this is just a faint picture of the dear Saviour’s joy, when He finds a poor lost sinner—one for whom He has bled and died on Calvary’s cross, and whom He has long sought.
Dear children, will you give Jesus the joy of finding you? Will you call out to Him to save you? Do you know that you are lost, and that you need Him to seek you and to find you? How gladly He would pick up His little stray lamb, and lay it on His shoulders rejoicing! How happy you would be, too, if you were found by Him, the tender Shepherd, and could sing from your heart: —
“I was lost, a little lamb,
Out of Jesus’ fold,
Faint with hunger and with fear,
In the dark and cold.
Jesus missed me, though a lamb,
Little, lone, and weak,
And He could not rest for love,
He the lost must seek.
“Now I’m safe, a little lamb,
Safe in Jesus’ fold,
Jesus found and brought me in
From the dark and cold.
Is He glad, and am not I—
I, who went astray,
Glad that He has brought me back
To the heavenly way?”
ML 07/28/1918