The sinners and broken people gather around to listen and the "religious" mock. Often still true today, those seeking relationship press in closer and closer to Christ and the self-righteous seeking religion throw stones and insults from the sidelines. Lord, help us.
The reaction of the religious hypocrites of his day inspired Jesus to share three parables sometimes called the parables of lost things. In these three parables Jesus speaks about a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son.
When the shepherd in the first parable realizes that one of his one hundred sheep has been lost he makes an extravagant, seemingly fool hardy decision to leave the 99 in the wilderness to go look for the one lost sheep!
When the woman finds she has lost a silver coin, she searches diligently through her home until she finds it and then invites her friends and neighbors to celebrate her good fortune in finding it again!
When the father in the last parable loses a son, he waits and prays. Ouch. One of the lessons here may be that when we lose a sheep we search, when we lose a coin we search, and when we lose a child we wait and pray. That is not the way I am wired, but it seems to be fairly good counsel. Possessions can be tracked down and taken back, people often must be missed, and prayed for until they come back of their own free will.
I love preaching the parable of the Prodigal Son. I am always struck by the hard hearted son, the generous father and the angry brother. I wince as I read that the younger son had to come to the end of his rope, hit bottom, before he comes to his senses. I rejoice as the father runs through his sons apology to embrace his filthy withered boy, and then hurries to clothe him in the best robe - before washing him up even! And I am afraid I can relate to the anger of the presumptuous older brother as he jealously watches his father love the unlovely.
Where do you fit in to these stories of lost things? Some of us seek, some of us hide, some of us pray.
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
4 comments:
I can easily place myself in the younger brother's sandals.
I sometimes believe that a man or woman that has been "good" all their lives may have a hard time understanding the true joy and celebration that should come when one of us "lost sheep" return to our shepherd.
I know there have been many exceptions in my life - I have seen other Christians weep with joy over the saving of a brother or sister.
But just like jail, or drugs, or the miltary, sometimes you understand better if you have been there.
For me, having been truly lost, I can not even begin to explain the joy and tears I shed when we win someone over to our side.
I KNOW where they were, how they felt; how heavy their souls were, how unworthy they felt, how confused, how lost...
If the brother had "been there" himself, I think he may have ran past his father to greet his brother!
Just a thought.
true true true.
When we know how terribly indebted we are to grace we can only rejoice when another sinner finds his way home.
I have no stones to throw!
bill
The parables in this chapter fit in so well together. Today, I lost a DVD that Sara and I had rented last night. Turns out, this dog that we baby sit had taken it, chewed on it, and pushed it under the couch in the process. I thought I was losing my mind trying to find this thing - knowing that I had put it right on my clothes that I was to wear today, so I wouldn't remember to bring it back.
Indeed, I did not pray, I was frantic and looked through the house, even made it to work a few minutes late without finding it. I should have known by his (the dog) cowering when I was searching my room that he had done something with the movie.
Now, to fix this case somehow. It's funny how this happened the same day as these stories came along in my reading. We lose a lot in our lives, and we rejoice so much when it comes back or is found. I had my dad, my mom, and Sara looking, I'd even told some people at work. Now, I can tell them all how excited I was to find it.
And it was just a dumb DVD (well it'd be 25$ if I never found it!).
Although I can see myself in the shoes of all those three men at different points of my life, I'd love to see myself as the father. What a great gift he has, patience, forgiveness (and forget!), and so much compassion. That's the kind of father we have in Jesus. Hoo Rah! I've brought some kids to Christ that had a much more rough start than I did in their lives, and it was such an incredible process. I think God was really proud - it was well-worth it. We, as Christians, can seek those people, the 1 in the 100 that is lost, and bring them Home.
God Bless all!
Marshall
When I read these parables I'm struck by how sometimes we're the ones who are lost, and sometimes we're part of the 99, wishing Jesus wouldn't spend so much time looking for 1 lousy other sheep. I love the Prodigal because you can read it and reread it looking at it from each character's perspective, and unfold new meanings each time.
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