LUKE 15

At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus is ridiculed by, who else, some Pharisees and scribes. They are deeply religious and zealous, no doubt about that. They just have no heart for God, and so they miss the facets of Christ’s ministry that get to the heart. He is chided for “receiving sinners and eating with them.” My first thought was, wow, I am so glad He does, seeing I, too, am a sinner. I can only imagine how fortunate those He was receiving and eating with in this account had to feel.

Jesus’ audience here consists of those tax collectors, those sinners, as He seeks to explain how a relationship with God should function. All through Jesus’ ministry, the audience should have included the highly religious, but those intent on listening to Him were just the opposite. Here, Jesus uses drama to identify people with something lost; all would understand that tension of trying to find something, and the resulting comfort of finding it.

There is a lost sheep, and the shepherd knows he needs to find it before it is devoured by predators. That sheep may not even know of the danger it is in, but the shepherd does. Some writers believe that the listeners to this story would assume that the shepherd would leave the 99 in the care of a neighbor while he looked for the one. Having 100 sheep pointed to this shepherd being modestly wealthy, so what is one sheep among that many? To him, everything. And upon him finding it, he carries it home and a celebration ensues. Likewise, the angels rejoice when a person comes to saving repentance, implying joy in Heaven at such an occurrence. And given the potential of that joy, Jesus keeps looking for sinners; thus the point.

The lost coin is a parallel story, and the coin is likely one that represented a day’s wages. The woman was not looking for a fortune, but we might think she found one, given the way she rejoices when it is found. Such is the response of Jesus when a lost sinner is “found”. Why search for something so apparently insignificant? Apparently, sinners are not, and the parable urges those following Jesus to pursue that search.

The third parable is known as that of the prodigal son, but really, the emphasis gets placed on the father and his forgiveness, already having done so in his heart. And the Pharisees ridiculing Jesus should see themselves in the person of the eldest son, indignant at the rejoicing over a sinful son who they know acted foolishly. The son? Well, he is the sinner, the man wanting to do things his own way. The father letting him do so pictures God letting sinners do the same, of their own volition and will. In this Jewish culture, the younger son would have received half of that which his older brother would have, upon the father’s death. And the Jewish listeners would have also realized that the father should not divide his estate so early; it was not proper on the son’s part to ask of this.

We know the story, the son realizes his error, and decides to return home, knowing he will need to confess to his father. He will rely solely on the mercy of his father; he simply wants to be part of the family. He is satisfied to be a mere slave, and the father fully restores him to the status of a son.

Humanly speaking, we understand the reaction of the older son. He is not excited about the return of his brother, and is aggravated that no special attention has been given to him for being faithful to his father all this time. The father explains to him the joy of seeing his son repent, restored to the family, and encourages him to celebrate likewise. This son is assured of all he has in his father, and is invited to rejoice alongside the others.

So we saw the younger son repent, fully reverse direction. And we saw a father fully accept that repentant son. The resultant joy is why God continues to pursue sinners.

SO WHAT…?

So, we are left hanging in the story…we never hear how the eldest son responded to his fathers explanation. How would I respond? Would I rejoice in seeing that hopelessly lost person repent and come to Christ?

So, Jesus has told me to pursue sinners. They are just as worthy of God’s grace as I am, we are sinners together. That is the job He gave the church, along with discipling those who come to Him. What an awesome responsibility He handed us.

So, let’s rejoice together as those new names are written down in glory…when a sinner “comes home”.