Good News Week 40. Good News Of A God Who Seeks And Saves
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Turn back in your Bible to Luke 15.
Three Stories
Three Stories
Luke 15 contains three parables by Jesus: the stories of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Wayward Son.
Luke 15:1-2
All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Let me read you the first two stories.
THE LOST SHEEP
THE LOST SHEEP
Read Luke 15:1–10
All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
So he told them this parable: “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it? When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 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 don’t need repentance.
“Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
THE LOST COIN
THE LOST COIN
The Parable of the Lost Coin
“Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents.”
WHAT THE POINT?
WHAT THE POINT?
The first story is about a shepherd who loves his sheep.
The literal Greek reads, “Which of you, being a shepherd of a hundred sheep and loses one of them …?” the story begins. Which would be an immediate trigger to Jesus’ original audience because in Middle-Eastern cultures, saving face is so important, that the answer to the question, “which of you, as a shepherd loses one of your sheep” has to be, “None of us! None of us would ever lose a sheep!”
“A sheep might wander off, but we would never be so careless as to lose one.” This is a story about a shepherd like none they’ve ever imagined.
The shepherd has one hundred sheep. He leaves the other ninety-nine in the open country. He doesn’t bring them back to the city and corral them for the night. He leaves them in potential danger to go and find the one that’s lost.
When he finds the sheep, he puts it on his shoulders, brings it home, and throws a party.
“Rejoice with me,” he says to his friends. “I found what I lost.”
The second story starts with the same hypothetical, “Suppose one of you ...?” The literal translation would be “What woman among you, having ten coins and loses one of them?”
Again, to save face, the answer has to be “None of us!” No woman in a Middle-Eastern village would EVER lose a coin. They were too rare and valuable in agrarian cultures. Most exchanges were done with barter whenever possible. Cash was only used for emergencies and to make purchases that could be made in no other way.
The woman has ten coins. Scholars believe that this may have represented her dowry. A normal village woman would make jewelry out of them, wearing them around her neck for safe keeping.
The lost coin is so precious that she scours the house until she finds it. When she does find it, she calls her friends to party. “Rejoice with me,” she says. “I found what I lost.” No woman among them would lose a coin; no woman among them would admit it if she did. And what does this woman do when she finds it? She throws a party. This woman Jesus is describing is like no woman they had previously known.
Jesus then tells his third story. Instead of reading through the story, I’ll Want us to walk through it. This is the story of “The Prodigal Son.”
THE LOST CHILD
THE LOST CHILD
As the story progresses you’ll see that it’s really the story of a father. A father who is like no Middle-Eastern father before or after him.
The story begins in verse 11 with: There was a man who had two sons.
You know the story:
The prodigal son asks his father to divide the inheritance.
The son takes his share of the estate and moves to a foreign country where he squanders his wealth in wild living.
He returns home and is welcomed back into the family in a surprising way.
That’s the way we hear it with western ears.
Let me show it to you through Middle-Eastern eyes.
The story opens with, “Divide your inheritance, so that I can have my share of the estate.”
To everyone’s amazement, the father does!
It is important for you to know that what the son did was never done and tantamount to him saying to his father, “I wish you were dead.”
The next words are,
Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living.
Notice that he didn’t leave immediately. He left “not long after that.”
Why?
Because he had to liquidate his inheritance.
He had to find a buyer for each item in his inheritance—his portion of the family jewels, his portion of the family livestock, his portion of the family lands, and so forth.
And the only people he could sell to were other people in the village.
So, as Jesus is telling this story, his listeners were imagining this brash young man, going from door to door, trying to convince people who knew his father to buy a piece of the family property.
When every person behind every door knew this boy had insulted his father, and shamed his family, by wishing that the patriarch was dead.
He’s drawn disgrace on their village, and now he was doing the unthinkable: selling off property and possessions that had been in the family for generations.
As the scorn mounts, the son feels more and more pressure to get out of town.
He leaves as soon as he has sold the last of his possessions.
By now, the villagers are openly antagonistic toward him. There’s been talk about shunning him or publicly shaming him—doing something to put this insolent upstart in his place.
As soon as all the transactions were completed, the son heads for a far-away country.
It’s in the far-away country, that this wayward son gradually descends into his own personal hell.
The text says, “He squandered his wealth in wild living” (Luke 15:13 ).
Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered his estate in foolish living.
He wasted it, in plain sight of the citizens of this far-away country, who, themselves are Middle Easterners.
They, too, are unimpressed with this frivolous young man who is now out of money.
The polite way a Middle Easterner gets rid of unwanted “hangers-on” isn’t to come right out and tell them to go home. It’s to assign them a task they’ll refuse.
After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing. Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything.
So, when the son asks for a job, one of the citizens offers to make him become his pig-herder.
It’s a job he cannot accept.
Pigs are unclean animals according to the Law of Moses.
And they have to be fed seven days a week, which meant he couldn’t keep the Sabbath.
To everyone’s surprise, the son accepts the job.
But it’s a terrible job, and doesn’t pay well enough to stave off hunger.
In this hole of self-pity, he begins to think honestly about himself.
When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger! I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’ So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.
He knows there is no life for him in this foreign land, yet he can’t go home to his father, because he’s insulted and shamed him. He is a failure.
He has nothing to offer his father.
Middle-Eastern sons are supposed to provide for their fathers in their old age, not live off of them.
But now he begins to think creatively.
He realizes that he can’t go back home and ask to live in the family house as a son.
But maybe he could go home and ask for a job as a hired servant.
He devises a plan: “I’ll go home, admit I was a fool, and instead of asking to be reinstated as a son, I’ll ask to be hired as a servant!”
The two problems with the plan are:
1 - Will his father really accept him back after he has publicly humiliated, insulted, and shamed him?
2 - And what about the feeling of the villagers?
How will they receive him?
Remember how the villagers felt about him when he left?
He had disgraced them all by his shameful behavior.
Add to that the fact that he lost all his money to despised Gentiles, and the prodigal has no solution for placating the villagers when he gets home.
He will simply have to endure their shaming as he walks through the town on the way to his father’s house.
But to his father’s house he goes.
Luke 15:20 (CSB)
So he got up and went to his father.
This is where the father comes into the story in full force.
The father, because of his experience, knows two things.
First, he knows that his immature, impulsive son is bound to fail. He knows that if the son ever does come home, it will probably not be as a successful businessman, but more likely as a beggar.
The second thing the father knows is that the villagers will not treat him well.
Since his departure, all the townspeople have told him openly and repeatedly that he should not have granted the inheritance in the first place, that this son is a rascal and deserves nothing short of death.
He knows that, if the son ever does return, the first person who sees him will pass the word and that a crowd will gather and likely mock and spit on him, if not hurt him outright.
He knows that the son, in order to get home, will have to endure the scorn of the crowd with every step he takes through the village.
The father knows this.
And what he does in anticipation of the son’s return is nothing short of amazing.
When the son returns, the father does five things that would all be considered outrageous in Middle-Eastern society.
The first thing the father does is he runs.
When word comes to him that his son has been seen on the outskirts of the village, the father runs to him.
Instead of letting his son run the gauntlet, the father runs the gauntlet for him.
It’s an outrageous thing, because a Middle-Eastern nobleman with flowing robes never runs anywhere.
He lifts his robe, exposing his ankles, and runs down the road, through the village, in front of all the villagers.
He humiliates himself.
Aristotle, the Greek philosopher said, “Great men never run in public.”
But the father does.
And Jesus explains why.
Luke 15:20 (CSB)
But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion. He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.
He was filled with compassion.
That’s how the father feels about his children.
He is totally motivated by love for his wayward children.
As the father runs through the village, he knows he’s creating a spectacle.
He knows what he’s doing will attract a crowd.
He knows they will talk about his humiliation in the village for the rest of his life.
But he cares more about his son than he does about his reputation.
Imagine this for just a minute from the son’s perspective.
He knows that to get to his father he has to go into town and that the town hates him.
He knows there is no way he can get to the father without enduring scorn.
But he has to get to the father in order to become his servant.
So he sets his jaw and he walks the last few miles toward the town.
Sure enough, at first sighting on the outskirts of the village, word starts spreading.
People are going to gather.
He’s about to endure the worst moments of his life.
As he comes to the edge of the village, he expects to see rocks, jeers, and angry faces.
Instead, what he sees coming toward him is his father with his robe pulled up, exposing his ankles.
To his utter amazement, rather than experiencing the ruthless hostility he deserves for what he’s done, he finds a visible demonstration of the love of his father.
Words can’t express what this scene conveys.
You can only imagine it in your mind.
The father runs.
The second thing the father does is, he kisses his son.
The text says, “…he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him” (Luke 15:20 ).
Luke 15:20 (CSB)
He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed him.
Can you picture it?
They’re embracing, eye to eye, shoulder to shoulder.
In his mind, the son had pictured himself coming home and abasing himself.
He’d rehearsed this scene over and over in his mind.
First he’d kiss his father’s hand, then he’d kiss his father’s feet. But the father won’t let him.
He puts his arms around him and kisses him on both cheeks.
The son can’t bend; he can’t stoop.
He’s caught in his father’s arms.
All he can do is accept this love.
The Greek word used here to describe what the father does is kataphilew.
Literally it means, “to kiss again and again.”
This was not just a simple peck on the cheek, but kisses upon kisses!
Now, back in the far-away land, the son planned his reunion speech for his father.
In verse 18 & 19 he says,
I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.” ’
See his plan?
Admit his guilt and ask to become a servant in his father’s household.
Now, look at the actual speech as the father is holding him:
The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’
What’s missing from the speech?
His request to become a servant.
Why is it missing?
Because he can’t carry out his plan.
He can’t kneel.
With his father’s arms wrapped around him, he can’t get to the ground to kiss his father’s feet.
As kiss after kiss comes to his cheeks, he’s overwhelmed by the father’s love.
His plan was to earn his way back into his father’s favor.
He never intended to ask his father to accept him back just as he was.
How could he do that?
The third thing the father does is call for a robe to be put on his son.
Imagine this.
Here are his exact words:
“But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
Question: Who owned the best robe in the family?
The father.
The father and son are still standing on the edge of the village, and the father wants the whole village to know that he has accepted his son.
So he sends his servants to get his own best robe so the son can wear it as they walk home through the village.
Amazing, isn’t it?
The fourth thing the father does is call for a ring and sandals.
“But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
The ring is probably a signet ring. It’s the ring the father would use to sign legal documents, which means the son is a trusted, empowered member of the family.
The sandals are a sign the he is a free man, not a servant. Servants didn’t get shoes. They walked barefoot.
Finally, the father says,
Then bring the fattened calf and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast,
Not the fatted goat or sheep or chicken.
The fatted calf.
Why a calf?
Because a calf had enough meat on it to feed the whole village.
Do you see what the father is doing?
He’s inviting the whole village to share his joy.
He doesn’t want the son only to be reconciled to him, he wants him to be reconciled to the whole village.
He wants everyone to have a relationship with his son.
Wow!
This is a story that no one could have anticipated.
When the son is found, the father throws the mother-of-all-parties to celebrate his return.
Why? Because he’s happy.
Those are Jesus’ three stories. In every one of them, something goes missing. And …
Everything that’s missing matters.
Everything that’s missing matters.
The sheep matters to the shepherd. The coin matters to the woman. And the son matters so much to the father.
In the lost sheep, we are the Kingdom of heaven in like the sheep being rescued.
The kingdom of heaven is like the women finding her lost coin.
The kingdom of heaven in like a father throwing a party for his lost son
In each case, what’s missing matters so much that …
What’s missing warrants an intentional search.
What’s missing warrants an intentional search.
In each case, what was lost is searched for, found, and reclaimed.
Reclamation brings rejoicing.
Reclamation brings rejoicing.
The shepherd, the woman, and the father all throw parties out of pure happiness that what was lost is now found.
Do you see what Jesus is saying?
He’s saying, “Missing things matter enough to warrant an intentional search. Find everyone who’s missing and bring them to me.”
Why? Because of the remarkable compassion we’ve been shown.
We’ve experienced first-hand being lost and then found, being shown undeserved love, acceptance, and forgiveness.
So, we are compelled by the love of the Father to bring the missing to him.
Our final challenge for this series is to care about what Jesus cares aboutand do something shepherd-like, or woman-like, or father-like to find the missing and invite them home.
I want to suggest three options for your final week’s challenge. You might want to choose one of them, or you might want to choose all of them, depending on your intensity.
Your first option is to pray an eight-word prayer for the next eight days.
The prayer goes like this: “God, give me your heart for the lost.” Eight words that will take you eight seconds. Starting praying it today and pray it every day through next Sunday and that’ll be eight days. The prayer is powerful. It might change your life.
Your third option is to share your faith with someone. In this week’s readings, you’ll come across a simple method for explaining Christianity called, “The Bridge.” Your challenge, if you choose to accept this option, is to do that this week.
How many of you will take option 1? option 2? option 3? Good for you!
Pray with me now.