The Three Types of Loss

For this post I am going to be examining Luke 15. This consists of the parables of thew lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the lost son (the prodigal son). I am assuming everyone knows these stories, and if not I would encourage you to read this chapter since this post will make no sense without it.

First, the parable of the lost sheep. Of course in this case, Jesus is the Shepard, and we the sheep. The thing I found very interesting about this parable is that the sheep is just lost. I did not leave the fold, it did not run away. It wasn't choosing to leave his Shepard and master. It just got lost. I'm sure we all have this happen to us and see it in our friends. There are just days where we feel lost and that we need guidance. At those times it is when Christ will come and put us on our shoulders and put us back within his fold. And Christ rejoices due to the fact his fold is whole again. We've all rejoiced at our own returns to the Lord and at seeing others be brought back by him.

The next parable is of the women who lost one piece of silver out of ten. The interesting thing about it being a women is the church is often described as a women in scripture (for example in revelation it was a women being attacked by the dragon [so the church by Satan]). So in this case, the church lost the piece of silver if you use that symbolism. While tragic, this is seen constantly. There are endless stories of bishops, relief society presidents, steak presidents, etc. that make some comment to a member who then leaves the church and is lost from God. In this case the same procedure was taken as in the case of the lost sheep. Everything the women can do is done in order to find the piece of lost silver. And when the piece of lost silver is found then she gathers her friends together to rejoice.

The last parable though is the one most poignant to me. In this case there is a father and a son. The son is us, and so in this case the parable works very well with the father being the shepard's Father (while Christ is also our Father in other ways, I just find this story being more meaningful to think of the father being both ours and the shepards Heavenly Father). In this case, the son chooses to leave his father and lose his inhearitance (or in this case eternal life). So what I find so significant in this is how people so often simply say, "sometimes you just have to let a person hit rock bottom." While this is what the father had to have happen with his son, it is such a tragedy. The father saw his son when he was still a great way off, why because the father watched for his son everday. The father cared for his son that was lost. To relate this to how we should act, if there is someone who truly has to hit rock bottom then we don't just say, "Oh well, it just has to be". We pray for them, we fast for them, we do whatever we can for them. This is no small thing, and so we have to do everything we can in order to help them. Another thing the father in this parable did is welcome back his son with open arms. Again, if someone is sinful the common reaction is to think he is a sinner and we should not associate with sinners. But the right reaction is to embrace those who want to come back to their Heavenly Father. And the thing that gets at me the most is the damage that this causes the prodigal son. The son decided to lose his inhearitance. While of course he can return to his Father's presence and have eternal life, there are still so many things lost. A prodigal son is something to cry over, not to just say "oh well, let him hit rock bottom". While rock bottom is the only thing that can save this precious son, everything that can be done before then should be done.

And for an example, lets use Alma the younger (Mosiah 27). Alma truly hit rock bottom. Alma wanted to be completely destroyed because he became so obsorbed in sin. But what did those around him do, they prayed for him, they fasted for him. The amount of compassion showed Alma is absolutely incredible. And the crucial thing to this story, is there any possible way that Alma's father did not cry for his son. Alma the elder wanted with all his heart his son's salvation. So what I guess I'm saying, if someone is a wayward child, think of them as your child and then wonder if you should let them hit rock bottom. Teenagers probably can't fully understand this, but we must act in love, not in simple allowance for the cosmic forces to work themselves out.