May 17

Luke 15

1 Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the experts in the law were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

3 So Jesus told them this parable: 4 “Which one of you, if he has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, would not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go look for the one that is lost until he finds it? 5 Then when he has found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 Returning home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, telling them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 I tell you, in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need to repent.

8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one of them, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search thoroughly until she finds it? 9 Then when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”

11 Then Jesus said, “A man had two sons. 12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that will belong to me.’ So he divided his assets between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son gathered together all he had and left on a journey to a distant country, and there he squandered his wealth with a wild lifestyle. 14 Then after he had spent everything, a severe famine took place in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and worked for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He was longing to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have food enough to spare, but here I am dying from hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way from home his father saw him, and his heart went out to him; he ran and hugged his son and kissed him. 21 Then his son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his slaves, ‘Hurry! Bring the best robe, and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet! 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it! Let us eat and celebrate, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and is alive again – he was lost and is found!’ So they began to celebrate.

25 “Now his older son was in the field. As he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the slaves and asked what was happening. 27 The slave replied, ‘Your brother has returned, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he got his son back safe and sound.’ 28 But the older son became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and appealed to him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look! These many years I have worked like a slave for you, and I never disobeyed your commands. Yet you never gave me even a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends! 30 But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and everything that belongs to me is yours. 32 It was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost and is found’” (Luke 15, NET).

I am the oldest of two brothers, and as such, this parable of Jesus’s has always been a challenge to me as the one who ends up looking ill in this story is that dutiful older brother whose heart is consumed by rule-following rather than by family-love. He looks the part, but what we see in this sequence of stories Jesus tells is that the heart of his Heavenly Father is different from what the Pharisees prioritize, and this is a values difference that will ultimately drive the Pharisees to plot Jesus’s execution.

Luke 15 occurs during Luke’s recap of a lengthy road trip that has Jesus wending his way towards Jerusalem for this final encounter with the Pharisees that leads to his death. As he goes, he continues to exorcise demons, to perform healings, to proclaim that same message of repentance his cousin John had been proclaiming, and to teach his disciples and any others who would stop and listen to him. Repeatedly in this trip, we see him end up in these power-struggles with the Pharisees (though let’s be fair to Jesus, it’s only the Pharisees who are struggling, Jesus handles them masterfully) where their value of appearing righteous comes into direct conflict with the obviously holy instruction Jesus gives them. The parable of the lost sheep and the lost coin both say the same obvious thing. Finding something thought lost is more exciting than keeping something you think you have. Jesus’s ministry appealed to the lost, the people who felt displaced by the political and religious dynamics in Israel at the time, these “tax collectors and sinners.” Jesus’s message to them was not to stay in their sin; it was to repent, to turn away from evil and back to God. If they did, they’d find an open-hearted Father ready to celebrate.

The big problem the Pharisees faced was that they were sick with self-love, satisfied with their own righteousness and unwilling to see or hear that a vagabond carpenter from Nazareth (of all places) was calling them also to repentance. Holiness always starts from this spot of humility. It cannot come from mere human effort; our hearts and minds and desires are all too corrupted by the sin we choose or into which we fall.

Jesus’s parables are so remarkable because they get at the deepest issues of how to properly be a human being, how to properly act as God’s image if we’re going to use Genesis 1-2 language, in ways that are intensely relatable. As you read through the parables of Jesus, take time to empathize with the different characters he presents. What you start to recognize is that his characters are universals that have specific application in your life. In this story, the obvious three main characters are the father and the two brothers.

The younger brother has the easiest story to understand for the person of faith. They knew better, then they walked away and chose wanton, frivolous, evil behaviours instead of the good things they knew they ought to do. Sound familiar? But when true repentance, turning from the path of evil and returning humbly to the One who has the resources to fix things, recognizing one’s unworthiness to be even considered a son (or daughter) any longer, what that one finds is that the Father is ready with open arms to restore, to celebrate: “I once was lost but now am found!”

For me though, being an older brother, that elder one is trouble. He behaves correctly, until he’s confronted with someone who’s wasted his Father’s gifts, who’s treated the family with contempt, and rather than choosing to do evil, the older brother falls into a horrible pride that could absolutely destroy his soul. How many Pharisees heard this message and took it to heart? The events from 8 or 9 chapters later in Luke’s gospel show that evidently, it was not enough. Jesus’s teachings repeatedly show that external obedience is not enough because our motivations still get corrupted. Why is the older son doing what he does? Out of love for the Father? Out of duty? Just to make his profligate younger brother look bad? How is he so broken, how is the relationship between the two brothers so broken, that he can’t even be happy to see him? Resentment is so dangerous, and Jesus leaves us, delightfully, but challengingly, with an indeterminate ending. Am I going to be that resentful, self-righteous one?

And we know that this is the challenge, because we see the heart of the Father, the One with real authority, the dad who celebrates his son, just like that shepherd celebrated recovering his sheep or the woman her coin. This is the holy heart of God, and the attitude that Jesus shows us is how then we should live. Yes, we should strive for holiness, right living, virtue in all of our behaviour. But our efforts will fall short, and in humility, we must cast ourselves upon the mercy of the Holy God. Jesus showed the heart of the Father in his life. He went to the sinners, the tax collectors. He made them his followers. He restored them to right relationship with their God and called them to a new heart, a heart of flesh not of stone, a life empowered by His Spirit to live more righteously, and to live inside an attitude of forgiveness rather than of self-righteousness.

My prayer for you then this week is that you find ways to express the loving, forgiving, celebrating heart of the Father who loved you so much that He sent His Son to die for you, that you, lost though you were, might be found, that you, dead in your sin, might be made alive in Christ.

Next week's text is Proverbs 3.