I’ve heard this verse many (many) times, but for some reason, it really jumped out in Rob’s sermon this morning. I’ve been turning it over in my head this afternoon trying to figure out why. Writing often helps me to understand things that I initially cannot, so I’m going to give that a try, beginning at the end.

The lost: I think I often feel a bit lost, out of my depth, but more than that, I’m grieving for the people in my life who’ve lost their faith. I sense a longing, a rootlessness, in them that the faith they used to have didn’t satisfy—but that their present realities don’t, either. This lost-ness isn’t hopelessness—I don’t get the sense that Jesus is done working in and through any of them—it’s more of a sense of sadness, of grief. And I think I feel lost in not knowing what to do, both within my own inner world and in my relationships with them.

To seek and to save: Two short, meaningful action verbs that do a lot of heavy lifting. In some Christian spaces, we call people curious about faith “seekers,” and I don’t think that’s necessarily wrong. But I don’t want to lose sight of the fact that Jesus is a seeker, too—He’s constantly seeking us, longing to bring us back to Himself. And His seeking is for something: to save us from the powers of sin and death, both within ourselves and in the world around us.

Came: Jesus came, giving up intimate presence with the Father to dwell among us. What unfathomable generosity.

For the Son of Man: He’s referencing Daniel, yes, but it’s also intriguing to me that Jesus uses “Son of Man” to name Himself far more often than “Son of God.” I wonder if it’s because He wants to remind us that He’s one of us—with all of the limitations, temptations, doubts, joys, and despairs that come with being human. The same lost-ness and feeling the absence of God that my friends have experienced. The same grief that I’m experiencing.

For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost.

I didn’t know where this was going until I started writing. I’m grateful (and not surprised) that I found God in the process. I’m grateful that Jesus is always seeking and saving. And I’m grateful that, in Him, we’re never truly lost.