Allan Roberts

First Lesson: Jeremiah 4: 11-12, 22-28
Responsive Reading: Psalm 14
Second Lesson: 1 Timothy 1: 12-17
​Gospel Lesson: Luke 15: 1-10

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Grace and Peace from Our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ,

“We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to our own way;and the Lord has laid on him the(sin) iniquity of us all.”--Isaiah 53:6.

Let me begin this morning by talking about something really important America’s “Bill of Rights.”  The United States is unique because of the first ten amendments to the Constitution. “Freedom of Religion.” “Freedom of Speech.”.  Now let me ask you the following question: “What if the Bill of Rights was lost?”
Here’s a story that you might not know.  The Bill of Rights has been lost!

The year was 1789- President George Washington sent handwritten copies of the Bill of Rights to each of the thirteen colonies for ratification[1].  North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights was then kept in its state capitol in Raleigh. 

In 1865- when General William Sherman’s army occupied the Confederate capitol, a Union solider wanting a souvenir from the war stole North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights.  The solider kept the Bill of Rights for about a year[2] when he sold it for five dollars to a Charles Shotwell of Troy, Ohio[3].   

North Carolina was clueless as to the Bill of Rights’ whereabouts until 1920 when Shotwell’s son approached them about buying back North Carolina’s copy.  North Carolina refused to pay for stolen government property.   So North Carolina’s Bill of Rights remained missing for 75 more years. 

The document eventually gets into the hands of a prominent antique dealer from the famous Antiques Roadshow who had purchased the Bill of Rights from Charles Shotwell’s heirs[4]. 

When North Carolina was again approached about buying back their copy of the Bill of Rights, they still refused to negotiate.  The Bill of Rights was then offered to the National Constitution Center in Philadelphia for four million dollars[5].

 The F.B.I then sets up a sting operation in response with the antique dealer.  North Carolina’s copy of the Bill of Rights was then seized.  After a series of legal challenges, North Carolina 140 years after the conclusion of the Civil War possessed its original copy of the Bill of Rights once again[6]. 

Now think of every bit of frustration that you’ve spent in your life over lost items.  Now imagine that you had a lost an original copy of the Bill of Rights.  Now let me you ask this “What if you lost something even more valuable than the Bill of Rights?”

The following reflection brings us to our Gospel lesson for Today from Luke 15[7].  Let me set the stage for Luke’s lesson.  Jesus is speaking before a gathering crowd.  The crowd in front of Jesus was mixed.  A lot of Jesus’ audience consists of tax collectors and sinners.  Remember, the worst thing you could be as a Jew in Jesus’ day was a tax collector because you were collecting revenue for the hated Romans who worshiped all sorts of false gods including the Emperor Caeser.

Sinners as described in our lesson would appear to be the term for everyone else who had a questionable reputation: criminals, adulterers, and just plain old social outcasts of various stripes.

Wandering across this scene was the Pharisees.  The Pharisees were the most upstanding citizens of the Sabbath day crowd.  The Pharisees couldn’t quite make sense why Jesus would waste his time with such seemingly lost causes as these Tax Collectors and Sinners[8]. 

So Jesus responds by telling them two parables about the nature of the Kingdom of God.  The first parable is the Parable of the Lost Sheep.

“Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it[9].”

Jesus’ point is that the is heaven’s greatest priority is finding those who have wandered far off God’s original path for them.

“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[10].” 

The second parable is the parable of the lost coin where a woman has a similar reaction about finding one silver dollar among ten[11].

Jesus tells this parable to illustrate further that absolutely no one is a lost cause for God’s grace, whether the Pharisees who can’t believe that Jesus associates with tax collectors and sinners wish to believe this or not. 

I have an uncle whose name is Jim.  My mother’s long-deceased parents used to have a condo in Port Aransas, Texas, right on the Gulf of Mexico.  So every one of my grandparents eight children would make the occasional trip to South Texas over the winter.  Jim had been to Port Aransas before, Jim was convinced that he knew the way.  My Aunt Sue thought was growing increasingly concerned that they weren’t on the right road.  Jim though refused to stop and ask for directions.  Pretty soon they were entering Laredo, Texas over 150 miles away from their intended destination.

The Pharisees in our lesson are not unlike my Uncle Jim when it comes to asking for directions.  They were absolutely convinced that only they knew and had found the way to God’s presence.  These Tax Collectors and Sinners would appear to be permanently “lost.”   The point that Jesus is making is that within the Kingdom of God, there is no such thing as forever lost.

The year was 1938[12].  Eighteen-year-old Jesse  Mattos was working at a butcher shop in Dunsmuir, California[13]. Mattos dropped and accidentally flushed his high school class ring down the toilet.  . Decades pass with Jesse Mattos’ ring appearing to be “gone for good”.  One day a city crew was doing routine maintenance in the sewer mains when they noticed large amounts of debris which they started to pull by hand.  One city worker noticed a ring.  The ring had two defining marks the year “1938” and the initials “J.T.M[14].” The city worker has the ring cleaned and goes to the school library to study old yearbooks.  There was one student in the 1938 yearbook to whom the ring’s initials matched. Jesse. T. Mattos.   The worker tracked down one of Mattos’ classmates who luckily had the phone number for the now ninety-year-old Jesse T. Mattos.  Seventy-two years after graduating high school, Jesse. T. Mattos’ long-lost class ring still fit[15].

What Jesus is seeking to make known within our lesson to the Tax Collectors, Pharisees, and Sinners is that like in the case of the missing ring there is not one person who has been apart from God for so long that they can’t eventually be found.  Jesus wishes to illustrate how the God who created us will stop at nothing to bring us back to his presence.

To illustrate this, let me close with one final story for this morning. 

Once upon a time, there was a child that ran away from home[16].  He ended up in the big city.  His family was dumbfounded as to his whereabouts.  Much like the Biblical tale of the Prodigal Son, the young man indulged himself in every pleasure of the world that he possibly could especially drugs.  The young man’s life because of the drugs begins to spiral increasingly out of control.  He begins to live life out on the streets.  The seasons started to change so that the young man would seek shelter on various nights out of the cold.  The young man’s life was seemingly growing worse by the day, and he began plotting out to take his own life[17]. 

One day though a voice called out at a shelter he was staying: “Is Allan Roberts here[18]?”

The man was confused.  No one had called him this for quite some time.  At first, he didn’t answer.  The voice called out again: “Is Allen Roberts here?”   The room stayed silent.  Finally, the man spoke up: “I’m Allan Roberts.[19]”

The shelter worker said, “Your mother’s on the phone[20].”

The man started shaking his head. “My mother, no, you’ve made a mistake. I don’t know where I am, how could my mother know where I am[21]?”

The shelter worker just shrugged before declaring: “If you’re Allan Roberts, then it's your mother on the phone[22].”

The man was so confused at this point; he decided he better take the call.  The shelter worker hands him the receiver; “Allan, it’s time for you to come home.” Said a voice that he immediately recognized[23].

Allan cried out: “Mom, I don’t know where I am, I have no money, you don’t know what I’m like anymore. I can’t go home[24].”

Allan’s excuses didn’t matter to his mother. “There’s a Salvation Army officer who’s coming for you with a plane ticket. He’s going to take you to the airport to get you home[25].”

You see Allan’s mother didn’t know where he was.  She just kept calling every shelter and hostel that she could for month after month until she found him[26]. 

Allan Roberts did go home.  His mother was joyous at having found her long-lost son.  Allan’s life slowly began to piece itself back together free of the drugs.  He went back to the church and was eventually baptized.  Allan Roberts was lost, but he was now indeed found. 

There was much rejoicing not only by his mother but also within the Kingdom of Heaven[27].  The story of our Gospel reminds us that no person has been lost and missing for so long that our God can’t possibly find them.  Amen. 


[1] Nix, Elizabeth. “5 Lost and Found Historic Treasures.” History.com. 22. Aug.2018. Web. Aug.13.2019. 
[2] Nix, Elizabeth. “5 Lost and Found Historic Treasures.” History.com.
[3] Mitchell, Fay. “Recovering North Carolina’s Bill of Rights.” North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources. 15. Dec.2018. Web. Aug.13.2019.
[4] Mitchell, Fay. “Recovering North Carolina’s Bill of Rights.” North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
[5] Mitchell, Fay. “Recovering North Carolina’s Bill of Rights.” North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
[6] Mitchell, Fay. “Recovering North Carolina’s Bill of Rights.” North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources.
[7] Luke 15:1-10. 
[8] Hoezee, Scott. “Luke 15:1-10.” Center for Excellence in Preaching. Calvin Seminary. Grand Rapids, MI. 5. Sept.2016. Web. Aug.13.2019.
[9] Luke 15:4.
[10] Luke 15:7.
[11] Luke 15:8-10.
[12] GABI319. “10 Fascinating Stories of Lost and Found.” Listverse. 5.Sept.2011. Web. Aug.13.2019.
[13] Mercury News. “Ring finds owner 72 years later.” Bay Area News Group. San Jose, CA. 13. Aug.2016. Web. Aug.13.2019. 
[14] Mercury News. “Ring finds owner 72 years later.” Bay Area News Group.
[15] Mercury News. “Ring finds owner 72 years later.” Bay Area News Group.
[16] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. 2008. Pg.159-160. Analogy comes from  a sermon by Hugh Reed found on Scott Hoezee’s earlier cited reflection for the Center for Excellence in Preaching.  
[17] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[18] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[19] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[20] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[21] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[22] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[23] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[24] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[25] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[26] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.
[27] Wilson, Paul Scott. Setting Words on Fire: Putting God at the Center of the Sermon. Abingdon Press. Pg.159-160.