Here is a story to give you the creeps:
It appeared in yesterday's Toronto Globe and Mail:

A Venezuelan man who had been declared dead woke up in the morgue in excruciating pain after medical examiners began their autopsy.

Carlos Camejo, 33, was declared dead after a highway accident and taken to the morgue, where examiners began an autopsy only to realize something was amiss when he started bleeding. They quickly sought to stitch up the incision on his face.

"I woke up because the pain was unbearable," Mr. Camejo said, according to a report on Friday in leading local newspaper El Universal.

His grieving wife turned up at the morgue to identify her husband's body only to find him moved into a corridor — and alive.

Reuters could not immediately reach hospital officials to confirm the events. But Mr. Camejo showed the newspaper his facial scar and a document ordering the autopsy.^1.

The classical description of a dramatic comedy is a potential tragedy that is averted and which has a happy ending.
We presume this was a happy ending. The story said his wife was grieving, and it would be cheeky to speculate on that.
I am sure his life insurance agent was jubilant.
It is hard to imagine that there would not be a number of people who would be glad to have him back, but you and I know that in life there unfortunately are people who are considered disposable.

In Luke's gospel, we read that Jesus is eating with sinners who were gathering around to hear him. They would know that he was a man of God, but are enthusiastic to hear him. William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army is reported to have told his workers, "go after sinners and go after the worst."
Booth would have cheered at Jesus success.

Not everyone did, however.
Luke tells us that some pharisees were scandalized that Jesus associated with such riff raff.
"This man eats with sinners," they said.
"Yes and he even welcomes them!"
To the pharisees, Jesus new friends were just throw-away people.

Pharisees were the lay Bible teachers of their day. But by the time of Jesus, they had become  a class unto themselves. They studied God's law and kept it rigorously. But they had only contempt for anyone who was not as rigorous as they. Seeing Jesus entertaining common sinners was a scandal. The fact that many were on the verge of a new life seemed to matter little.

And so Jesus told them stories.
First he describes a shepherd. At the end of the day the shepherd discovers he is missing a sheep. Ninety nine sheep are safe, but one is lost. What does he do?  He ensures the ninety nine are safely sheltered then goes out looking for the one lost sheep.
He finds it and joyfully puts it on his shoulders and goes home saying, "Hey everyone, I have found my lost sheep!"

Here is how I picture the event:
Jesus sees the pharisees standing off to the side, unimpressed by the fact that Jesus is attracting "sinners" who find His message intriguing.

So Jesus tells a story of a shepherd. He just tells it out loud to see who gets the point.
Maybe some of the tax collector-sinners understand. Maybe there is a sign of recognition and a couple of heads nod both in appreciation and understanding, and may a tearful eye or two.

I think the little knot of hypocrites standing off to the side just hear it without comment or acknowledgment. They stand, arms folded across their chests watching in contempt. Or maybe the idea of worrying about one sheep out of a hundred strikes them as ridiculous. One percent loss is nothing more than the cost of doing business.
"What a fool", they might think., "risking the herd for one sheep. He would deserve whatever he got for doing that."

So Jesus tells them another story.
This time it is a poor woman.
If nothing else, Jesus has a sense of humor.
Pharisees would care nothing for one poor woman, let alone for her misfortune, but he tells the story.

A woman loses one of her ten silver coins. What does she do about that?
She lights a lamp and sweeps the mud floor of her one room house until she finds it. Then she throws a party because she is so happy.

In both stories, Jesus concludes saying, there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety and nine who need no repenting.

That is an impossible thought for a pharisee to get his mind around.
Ridiculous!
It's much preferable to defend the faith, to defend the truth, to reinforce the standards and values, than worry about one miserable sinner. Sinners are throw-away people!
A pharisee would say God is pleased with the person who keeps his path straight, and that's what they devoted their lives to.

In these stories, the shepherd did not abandon his heard, and the woman certainly would have secured the other nine coins before she started sweeping.
But the point was that it is God's passion to restore lost sheep, find lost coins and recover lost people from trash bags.

About three years ago Calgary newspapers reported how a woman out for a walk with her dog in the early morning heard a baby's whimper from inside a curbside trash bag. A teen mother gave birth at home and not knowing what to do, panicked.
Mother and child were eventually reunited.
Another tragedy averted.

In Calgary that week, I have no idea how many babies were born healthy and secure to loving families.
Let's say there were a hundred babies born happily.
But when you hear of one child being thrown out with the trash, where does your heart go?
Do you say, "Oh well, what's one child anyway...there are a hundred more in good families. The kid probably was headed for delinquency anyway with a mother like that!"
No I think not. I hope not.
No, your breath is taken away by the horror of a child left to die so mercilessly, and it is cheered at the thought of the child's rescue. And if someone doesn't understand why you would feel that way, you would wonder what it would take to get the point.

Jesus tells his stories and makes his point. I wonder what Jesus might have thought as he watched them.
I imagine in His heart he asks them the silent question, "and which of you will repent?"
Apparently there are none, and perhaps seeing they are getting nowhere, and convinced of their superiority, they leave the home and leave Jesus to celebrate with reprobates.

In God's economy there are no throw-away people and according to Jesus there is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than ninety nine who need no repentance.

My hope is that if you feel like a throwaway person you will recognize how valuable you are. Jesus considers you valuable enough to die for you. You are not expendable, you are wanted

And who do each of us have in our lives who we would just as soon get lost?
Is there someone you have jettisoned as excess cargo?
Is there anyone you really consider dispensable, a throwaway person?
Maybe someone whose life and situation you really have no time for.

We have them in our city--throwaway people.
Drive some early evening down upper Pandora street and see all the makeshift shelters in the boulevard where the homeless set up for the night.
Many are drug addicted. Many are mentally ill.
But are they just disposable?
Those who make our budgets seem to think so.
I wonder what Jesus thinks about our willingness to look the other way.
Do you think He is pleased?

The story goes that a young man applied for a job as an usher at a theater in the mall. The manager asked him, "What would you do in case a fire breaks out?"

The young guy answered, "Don't worry about me. I'd get out okay."²
 

I think if I had been the manager I would be looking for an usher who would want to help my customers get out safely.
There is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than almost anything else. Want to get in on the joy?
Begin by praying for anyone you think of as throwaway and ask what God wants you to do to be part of the rescue plan.
Begin by just seeing that person in a different light, then think about seeing them in the light of Christ. God will open a door.
Have fun.