60. Lost and Found (Luke 15:1-32).

by Jeff Sanford

As Luke 15 begins, the Pharisees and teachers of the law are standing around listening to Jesus teach, and they begin talking trash about how Jesus befriends “sinners” and even eats with them.

So as the story proceeds, Jesus begins to tell the story of a father and his two sons. The youngest son decided that, rather than continuing to live with his father, he wanted his inheritance now… like before his father even died. The father, mostly likely feeling scorned and rejected by his son, gave his son his inheritance, and the son “set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.” He was needy, began feeding pigs for a living, and eventually even “longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating.” And Jesus says that the son came to his senses.

At this point in the story, I had to take a step back and remind myself of all that the son was feeling. See, I’ve been there. I know how lonely and helpless it is when you’ve tried to satisfy yourself with the things of this world only to find that it’s never enough. I’ve also been in a place where I realized that I had to call home and tell my father of my wild living. And I’ve experienced the fear and completely humbled feeling of knowing that I disappointed my father and dishonored my father’s name.

And at this point, the Pharisees and teachers of the law are thinking, “That sinner is getting exactly what he deserves!” But that’s where Jesus throws the Pharisees a curveball.

Back to the story… so as the son is making his way home, he’s preparing his speech to his father. “‘I’ll say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’…But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” The father clothed his son with his best robe, a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet and throws a party to celebrate his son’s return.

And the whole time, I can just see the Pharisees thinking “What?  He disgraced you. He dishonored your name. He was eating with pigs for goodness sake.” And the son was probably thinking just what I thought when my father hugged me. “No way. This is too good to be true. I don’t deserve this. Please, what can I do to pay for my sin?”

But that’s the whole point, right? Romans 3:10 reminds us that no one is righteous, not even one. And according to 1 John 4:8, God is love. In his book The Christian Atheist, Craig Groeschel explains it this way, “That means God doesn’t pick and choose whom he loves…God is love, and we are loved, every single one of us six billion sinful undeserving people.” The love of God is irrational, scandalous, and even unimaginable. But his love is for sinners like you and like me.