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The Lost Parables - Luke 15
The Lost Parables
In Luke 15, the scribes and Pharisees murmured against Jesus for receiving and eating with sinners. Such action indicated an acceptance of them. It should be obvious to anyone reading these stories that Jesus did accept them and acknowledge that they were acceptable to God. It is also obvious that Jesus taught and demanded of them repentance. Jesus held out the joy of forgiveness to any and all who would repent. "Go and sin no more" was His teaching. Thus He would affirm that there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7, 10).
This chapter strings three parables together as the response of Jesus to their dissatisfaction of 'eating with sinners'. The story of the lost sheep teaches that God loves EACH sheep. The sheep that went astray was as much a sheep as those who stayed in the fold. The story of the lost coin shows the same principle. Jesus often had to make the same point because people in the first century were just like people today and often didn't 'get it' the first time.
The parable of the lost son (labeled in most Bibles with the man-made label of 'the Prodigal Son') really makes the same point. The son that was 'lost' was as much the son as the one who stayed home. Yet there is a twist to this story because the son who stayed home showed a wrong attitude both towards the Father and his returned brother. While the father rejoiced at the return of the lost son, the brother grumbled about the whole thing. While the father received and ate with the now returned son, the older brother murmured against it.
I think the Pharisees would have grasped that the older brother represented their attitude towards such sinners. Their problem is a continuing problem for religious people today. We forget that we are forgiven sinners. Such forgetting produces the same holier-than-thou attitude as what the Pharisees had.
We are not more righteous than God. If God rejoices at their repentance and forgives them, can we do otherwise? In the center of this whole picture is the word repentance. God does not rejoice at the sin nor does He accept them apart from their repentance. He DOES rejoice at their repentance, forgives them completely, and restores them to a right relationship with Him.
As God's people we must grow into having the same attitude as Jesus and the Father. To accept and rejoice at the repentance of a sinner is right. To reach out to them and encourage repentance is right. To reach out to them even while they are lost is right. To give them the impression that they are right while they continue to engage in sin is NOT right. To reject them and hold them away after they repent is also NOT right. Let us learn to judge righteous judgment with love and mercy. Hugh DeLong
