Funeral sermon for Scott Ruud

Losing our way, but being found

Luke 15:1-10 Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him. ² But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." ³ Then Jesus told them this parable: ⁴ "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it? ⁵ And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders ⁶ and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.' ⁷ I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. ⁸ "Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? ⁹ And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, 'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.' ¹⁰ In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents."

Longing to leave her poor Brazilian neighborhood, Christina wanted to see the world. Discontent with a home having only a pallet on the floor, a washbasin, and a wood-burning stove, she dreamed of a better life in the city. One morning she slipped away, breaking her mother's heart. Knowing what life on the streets would be like for her young, attractive daughter; Maria hurriedly packed to go find her. On her way to the bus stop she entered a drugstore to get one last thing – pictures. She sat in the photo booth, closed the curtain, and spent all she could on pictures of herself. With her purse full of small black-and-white photos, she boarded the next bus to Rio de Janeiro.

Maria knew Christina had no way of earning money. She also knew that her daughter was too stubborn to give up. When pride meets hunger, a human will do things that were before unthinkable. Knowing this, Maria began her search. Bars, hotels, nightclubs, any place with the reputation for street walkers or prostitutes. She went to them all. And at each place she left her picture – taped on a bathroom mirror, tacked to a hotel bulletin board, fastened to a corner phone booth. And on the back of each photo she wrote a note.

It wasn't too long before both the money and the pictures ran out, and Maria had to go home. The weary mother wept as the bus began its long journey back to her small village.

It was a few weeks later that young Christina descended the hotel stairs. Her young face was tired. Her brown eyes no longer danced with youth but spoke of pain and fear. Her laughter was broken. Her dream had become a nightmare. A thousand times over she had longed to trade these countless beds for her secure pallet. Yet the little village was, in too many ways, too far away. As she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes noticed a familiar face. She looked again, and there on the lobby mirror was a small picture of her mother. Christina's eyes burned and her throat tightened as she walked across the room and removed the small photo. Written on the back was this compelling invitation. “Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home.”

She did.

I did not know Scott at all. So I asked Wayne and Judy to tell me about him. They described a loving son who was always good on roller skates, roller blades and skateboards. He was very patriotic and loved the American flag, always having a flag flying in his front yard. He loved to fish and would spend hours sitting on the boat or dock with his fishing pole in hand.

Though Scott could not stand crowds, he loved entertaining his parents and sisters at his home. He cooked for them. He was a very good cook. He never missed a birthday, Father’s Day or Mother’s Day. He never wanted to hurt anyone’s feelings.

But Wayne and Judy also described Scott as sounding similar to Christina in the earlier story. They explained that he wasn’t happy. He had been baptized as an infant and confirmed as a teenager, but he drifted away. They said that he had lost his way.

I don’t think Scott or Christina are all that different from any of us. How often haven’t we become unhappy with life; drifted away from God; and went our own way.

Scott, you and I are like – we are the tax collectors, prostitutes, criminals, and other “sinners” to whom Jesus is ministering in our sermon text. We are the hiding coin and the wandering sheep in Jesus’ parable. As coins, we hide in corners, not wanting to be seen, avoiding one another, trying to commit our sins in secret. We embrace the darkness and avoid the light. As sheep, we are afraid that others will find out about our sinful behavior so we hide in the shadows. We remove ourselves from the flok of believers because we know that God doesn’t approve and we are ashamed of what the other Christians will think. Fear torments our conscience. Unbelief binds us to the shadows. Our soul weeps on the inside as loneliness eats away at our hearts.

We are like lost coins and lost sheep. Only worse.

We are worse than a coin that becomes lost through no fault of its own. We are ones who have left our Savior willingly, following the sinful desires of our hearts and delighting in our sin. We are worse than a dumb sheep who has innocently wandered off, seductively lured away by the promise of a greener pasture. We are ones who have deliberately turned our back on the Good Shepherd, choosing instead to go where we know we should not go; to do what we know we should not do; to touch what we know we should not touch.

And so we couldn’t blame God for being just a little bit angry. Angry that He created us, yet we think we have the right to do whatever we want. Angry that He loves us, but we keep pushing Him away. Angry that He sent His Son to die a cruel death for us, but we only like to make use of Jesus when it is convenient or necessary. Angry that He has called us to follow Him, but we have drifted away.

God has every reason to be angry with us; to be done with us; to not want anything to do with us anymore.

Yet what is the picture of God you see in this sermon text?

God is not here in anger, but with grace. He is not here in judgment, but in mercy. He is not here with lightning bolts in His hands to destroy us, but with blood on His hands to forgive us.

This is a God who is like a man scrambling around in the arid Palestinian wilderness, desperately searching for one lost sheep. This is a God who is like a pitiful woman on her hands and knees, scraping the dirt floor of her home, grubbing around for an insignificant coin.

Wayne and Judy chose the hymns for Scott’s funeral. “Amazing Grace” and the parable of the lost sheep and coin fit so well together. We may lose our way, but as we just sang, “I once was lost, but now am found.”

We are hopeful that Scott realized how much His God loved Him. Wayne and Judy pointed to the fact that Scott had bought a suit – his only suit – and surprised them by coming to church here on Easter morning. In that worship service, Scott was reminded that if he felt unloved, Jesus told Him that He cared for him more than anyone else possibly could. When Scott felt alone, Jesus reminded Him that he was a baptized child of God and at the baptismal font, Jesus promised him, “I am always with you; even to the very end of the age.” When Scott felt too weak to go on, the Lord Jesus reminded him, “Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest.”

Most importantly, Scott, Wayne, Judy, you and I, have a Savior who tells us that He has come to seek and save the lost. All of us were once in that “lost” category, you know. But no longer. Because in the person of Jesus Christ, God came into our world literally on His hands and knees as a baby, crawling to find you. A shepherd will use His rod to beat away the wolves and predators that attack his sheep. Jesus is our Good Shepherd who went into the desert to beat away the devil – greatest of predators to our souls.

When a sheep goes missing, the shepherd will search for that sheep, find it, bind up its wounds and then carry it on his shoulders back to the flock. Jesus is our Good Shepherd who lived a perfect life of righteousness and holiness. When we go missing, we always end up inflicting injuries upon ourselves with our sins. Yet Jesus takes His righteousness and rubs it on our wounds like salve. He heals us with His forgiveness and makes us whole again with His holiness. He binds our wounds and then carries us on His shoulders and brings us home.

Jesus shows us how much He cares for us by dying on a cruel, Roman cross. It is there on the cross that He won forgiveness for us, He earned salvation for us, and He reconciled us to our heavenly Father. Three days after His death, Jesus rose from the grave on Easter morning. There at His resurrection tomb, Jesus gave us the assurance of the resurrection for all those who believe in Him – all those who once were lost but now have been found. They can now rejoice that they can be with their Savior forever in heaven.

Whether it is Scott … or Christina … or you … or me, we all at one time or another drift away, lose our way, go our own way and become lost. What a comfort it is at a time like this to know that we have a God who God searches for every lost sheep, every lost coin, every lost soul. He never resigns Himself to accept the loss and just move on. He never thinks 9 out of 10 or 99 out of 100 is good enough. He doesn’t believe in “acceptable losses.”

The shepherd says, “'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”

The woman says, “'Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.”

Jesus says, “There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”

For Jesus said to Scott, as He says to every one of us, “"Whatever you have done, whatever you have become, it doesn't matter. Please come home.” Amen. 

Obituary for Scott Ruud.