Luke 15 - Lost and Found

 

Read Luke 15

This chapter is about sheep, coins, and kids, which is true, but it is also about love, repentance, and celebration.

These are parables. They take something familiar and lay it beside something we are trying to understand. Jesus often explained things in heaven using things people knew in their lives here on earth. Sometimes, he just made direct analogies.

If you who are knee deep in sin know how to give your children good gifts, how much better at giving is your Father in heaven?

The first parable seems to have men as the primary target audience. Being a shepherd was a man’s job. You never know when you might have to fight off a wild animal or even thieves. It was a man’s job, possibly because you had to go for days without bathing. You might end up smelling like the sheep or worse than the sheep. For men, that’s not a big thing.

The second parable was likely targeted at the women in the group. Typically, women didn’t tend sheep, but they did handle some money. They surely managed the household purchases.

Both the shepherd and the woman in these parables lost something of value, be it a sheep or a silver coin. All things considered, you don’t want to lose either one.

Both sought what was lost and found it. The end result was rejoicing. The shepherd and the woman were ecstatic.

Jesus compared human joy to the joy in heaven. If these two individuals in the parable would celebrate with their coworkers and friends, imagine the celebration in heaven when one sinner repents.

Imagine the celebration in heaven that takes place when someone comes home. It is as if we matter to God and to all those who worship him. Think on that as we continue.

So we come to the third parable in the chapter. It is often called the Lost Son or the Prodigal Son. This youngest son is the focus of much of the pericope, but there is much more here.

You know the story. The youngest son wants his share of the inheritance and he wants it now. What’s the J.G. Wentworth tagline? It’s my money and I want it now. That’s the gist of it.

The young son would receive an inheritance upon his father’s death. Surely, it would not be the same as the older son’s share, but it would be something. Did I mention that the younger son would receive the inheritance after his father died?

Asking for it now was like telling his father, “I wish you were dead.” Teenagers' impulsive and imprudent nature—I’m presuming the age range here, but I think I’m on the money—often blinds them to the spirit of thanksgiving and gratefulness that they should have towards their parents.

So? How does this apply?

The younger son could have been any of us at some point in our lives.

But the father gave the younger son his share of the inheritance, surely knowing his son well enough to know what might be in store for him.

What was in store for him was some wild living, a dwindling bank account, and terrible timing. A famine devastated the area when the son was. Money was running out, jobs were scarce, and he had burned his bridges at home.

The son did not take what was given to him and put it to work to produce income. He squandered it and surely much sooner than the young son had anticipated.

So, the younger son is now in a foreign country, flat broke, and could only find a job feeding pigs. Here’s the kicker. The pigs were eating better than he was. Come on, this kid was surely Hebrew. Jesus is talking to mostly Jews here.

What does that matter? The kid was feeding pigs, something that you didn’t see much of in much of Judea. God said don’t eat them. They are not fit for you. And the pigs were eating better than he was.

This is what the literary world calls the dark night of the soul. This young man hit rock bottom and could not see a way out. The term dark night of the soul originated with a poem by a Sixteenth-Century religious figure named St. John of the Cross. It refers to a crisis of faith.

In any case, this younger son had hit rock bottom and the dark night of his soul. His life had fallen apart, and he had no hope and no one to blame but himself.

But, then he came to an epiphany after watching pigs eat food that he wished he had, but didn’t.

I would be better off as a servant in my father’s household than this mess that I am in now.

The lowest servant in my father’s care is far better off than me. I don’t deserve to go home as a son, but maybe my father would hire me as a servant. I had better prepare a really good speech since I don’t know how to write a resume, and I don’t think my older brother would be good to list as a reference. I think I might have burned that bridge.

So, this young man starts preparing his speech. He had plenty of time to rehearse it as he was walking back from a foreign country.

And then he arrived at home and timidly knocked on the front door. Maybe he should have gone to the back door. That’s where servants should go, right? I should have paid more attention when I was living here.

So, just as he knocked on the door…

Wait one minute! He never knocked on the door. His father saw him while he was still a long way off, and he ran to him. The father crossed the bridge that his younger son had burned and ran to meet him, wrapping his arms around him, embracing him, and kissing him.

The younger son was trying to get his speech out, but only got a few words into it before Dad made it clear that this young man was home. Get a nice robe and a ring and sandals. Somebody get the beef on the spit. We are celebrating this day!

Now, if I had been the father, I might have said get this kid a bath first. Hold him under and scrub like crazy. Whoa! He smells worse than that time at the men’s retreat when we only packed beans for the week.

But like the One who was telling this parable, the odor didn’t get in the way of the joy of having one who was lost come home. Some of you know that I am talking about Lazarus being raised from the dead after four days and Martha warning Jesus that he is going to stink.

But Dad only saw a son who had come home. There was no interrogation, rebuke, or condemnation. His son was lost, and now he was found.

There was a big party at this house, and the sound of celebration was heard all around. Everyone was full of joy—well, almost everyone.

The older son would not attend the party. Why should he?

This younger brother, whom the older brother would only refer to as this son of yours, was angry. His father pleaded with him, but the older son got to make his speech.

All these years, I have worked like a slave for you. I always followed your directions. I never even asked you for a scrawny goat so I could have a little scrawny goat party with my friends.

But when this son of yours comes back after spending everything that you gave him on prostitutes and wild living, you throw the party of the century.

What’s up with that? 

Dad’s reply went to the heart of the matter.

You have always been with me. Everything that I have is yours. All you had to do was ask, and we would fatten a calf or a goat or ordered DoorDash.

But this younger son of mine was lost. The reason is less important than the fact that it was as if he were dead. That might be what you hoped for, but I never could. He was dead, and now he is alive. He was lost, and now he is found.

So is this parable about the younger son? Sure. Is it about the older son? Absolutely.

But it is mostly about a father’s love. This parable is about the father's loving heart. The father never stopped loving his son, even when he was out doing stupid stuff, even when asking him for his inheritance, which was like saying, "I wish you were dead." Even when he smelled like pigs.

The third of these three parables in this chapter of Luke is about the Father’s love. This time, I am talking about our Father in heaven.

In fact, all three parables are about the love of the Father and the celebration in heaven when a sinner repents and comes home.  How much greater is the celebration in heaven than what we can put together ourselves?

What prompted these parables?  The Pharisees and Teachers of the Law were criticizing Jesus for spending so much time with sinners. The Pharisees were to have been the shepherds of Israel until the Good Shepherd arrived.

These religious leaders did a terrible job. They knew the letter of the law but not the spirit. They worshiped God as the Ruler who gave rules but never got to know his heart, his divine heart.

They never got to know the one true God, for if they had, they would have known him as Love. God is love, and God loves his children.

So, were these parables for the Pharisees? Yes.

Were they for those the Pharisees classified as sinners? Yes.

Were they for those gathered who were trying to be righteous? Yes.

Were they for those who struggled with living according to the ways of the world or the ways of God? Yes.

Were they—are they—for us? Yes. Absolutely, yes!

How many more people today are lost? How many are disconnected from a family of faith? How many have just messed up so badly, in reality or in their own minds, that they don’t think they can come home?

How will they know that they are welcome to come home and be received with joy and celebration?

They have Bibles. They can read them. Or, and I’m not talking about a boat paddle. The homophone isn’t what I am talking about, but a much bigger or that is an alternative.

What alternative?

We will tell them! God’s grace goes beyond all of your missteps, mistakes, and misgivings. God’s love is greater than your sin.

Come home. God will never stop loving you.

And neither should we. Love must govern our hearts.

 We may sympathize with the older son. We might even approach empathy for him. He made a good case for being angry.

We may have had experiences along the lines of the younger son: wild living, addiction, and self-gratification in a variety of areas top the list. Perhaps, we can relate in some way.

But for all the transgressions of the younger son and the anger of his older brother, the message to us is about receiving the love of the Father, embracing the love of the Father, and reflecting the love of the Father in all that we do.

It’s all about love, and God's heart is the perfect model of love. We know his heart through the sacrifice of his Son and the Holy Spirit that lives within us.

These three parables are about what every school, church office, or shop floor has—a  Lost and Found. Sing this chorus as you go through the week.

I was once lost but now am found. Was blind but now I see.

What do we see? The love of the Father.

Now, let others see his love in us. Who wants to be a little onery with me? Anyone?

Let’s be the reason the angels in heaven are working overtime planning more celebrations than they can imagine—God is all-knowing, but we could surprise the angels, as more sinners repent and come home.

By the way, that will bring glory to God.

Amen.