Lost and Found or The Prodigal’s Father
In Luke 15:1-2 in The Passion Translation, we read, “Many dishonest tax collectors and other notorious sinners often gathered around to listen as Jesus taught the people. This raised concerns among the Jewish religious leaders and experts of the law. Indignant, they grumbled and complained, saying, ‘Look at how this man associates with all these notorious sinners and welcomes them all to come to him!’”
In response, Jesus told three stories of things that were lost and found: In the first, he told of the Shepherd with 100 sheep, who lost one and left the 99 to search for the missing one. When he found it he called his neighbours for a great celebration. In the second, he tells of a lady who loses a precious coin, one of 10. She diligently searches until she finds it and again calls for a celebration, because that which was lost was now found.
Jesus says that there is a similar glorious celebration in heaven when someone who is lost is found. So far, we have had two parables on the same theme talking to the Jewish hierarchy and telling them that God was searching for the lost, but note the sequence: lost, found, celebrate!
Although we don’t always link it to the first two, the third parable is on exactly the same theme. We have often concentrated on the prodigal son, but I want to focus on the father, because he welcomes the son back with open arms. If you don’t remember all the details of the story, it would be good to read it again in a modern version, as the story then comes across so well.
Jesus is great at telling stories, but they have a clear meaning behind them. The events leading to these three stories, follow on from Emma’s story last week of the call of Matthew. Jesus is speaking to the Jewish religious leaders as they moaned at his lifestyle. Wasn’t Jesus a real pain to the Jewish hierarchy. “How dare he share life with the outcasts of society,” they were saying – but he did!
I am certain that the scribes and pharisees who were grumbling and complaining that Jesus was spending his time with tax collectors and sinners understood exactly what Jesus was saying to them in these stories – he had come to seek and save the lost, not to patronise the found!
Consider the story of a father who was willing to let his son have his way even though he knew what would happen. The younger son does the unthinkable – no one in his society would have dared to ask what he asked. But the father does an amazing thing. Going along with his son’s request broke all the rules and giving his younger son a third of his wealth meant a lot of work and hardship. He couldn’t go to the bank to withdraw the money, as his wealth was in his animals and land.
But the father loved his younger son and was prepared to let him go, and over the weeks, perhaps months, he raised the amount needed. He had to start selling his flock, and these were probably the animals he had raised from birth – so, a lot of heartache and sorrow. (I wonder what the older son did during this time…).
Then the day came, and the father handed over the amount he had raised. The younger son grabs the money and runs to the bright lights. The Pharisee within us may look at this behaviour and see a lost boy, who deserves what he gets! But if we focus all our attention on the pig-hugging son, our eyes are drawn away from the pious son. He never left home, but he never truly understood the loving heart of his father. He was as lost as his brother.
We know what happened to the younger son. He wasted everything and became destitute and ended up in a situation no Jewish man would even consider – amongst PIGS, I tell you! So, he prepared to return with his apologies at the ready, to take up the lowest position in his father’s household.
But the father over months and perhaps longer, had kept watch for his son’s return, he doesn’t seem to have doubted that he would return. We have here a wonderful picture of a father who lavishes so much love and care on his returning child, who deserves nothing. Look at what he did.
To run was undignified (v 20); and to give away his own robe (v 22) and a ring (v 23) was truly prodigal. This is extravagant love, and it describes God’s love for us so well. Each of the gifts signifies position and acceptance. The long robe was a robe of distinction, the signet ring spoke of authority and the sandals of sonship (slaves went barefoot).
The son only had to begin to admit that he was wrong and seek forgiveness then… there is a massive party, and the father slaughters the fattened calf for the special occasion. ‘Why?’ the other son asks. ‘What was dead is alive again’, came the reply; ‘What was lost has been found.’ It’s party time!!
If the lost and found message was missed by the Jewish religious leaders, it was made very clear by the story of the second lost son. He was lost in a different way, for in the story he never forgave his brother or his father. Jesus doesn’t resolve it the story and the outcome seems to be that none of the Jewish leaders changed either, they even went as far as crucifixion!
God as Father
But for them, the idea of God as father, must have been strange. We have no problem thinking of God as our father – we learnt the Lord’s Prayer as children and how else would we think of God, perhaps even when we had a bad picture of fatherhood because of our own father. There are many references in the New Testament to God as Father, but the Jews of Jesus’ day were different. I am told that there are 24 references in the Old Testament to God as father, but it is very much a New Testament theme introduced by Jesus.
But the Old Testament does call God “Father” a few times (for example, Isaiah 63:16; 64:8; Jeremiah 3:19; Malachi. 2:10). But the writers of the Old Testament lay great emphasis on our distance from God and the reserve we should feel before him. This Old Testament view of God is true and wonderfully humbling for us – we hasten to bow low before our powerful Creator and high King. But this was only part of the story, for Jesus had much more to teach us about this wonderful God.
But remember the parable is left unfinished… We wait for Jesus, to tell us what the older brother will do we read how he humiliates his father by demanding a public confrontation (v 28); he denies their kinship (‘this son of yours’, v 30) and he exaggerates his brother’s crimes (‘prostitutes’). He can’t even rejoice that his brother has come home. The father shows extraordinary grace in going out to ask him to be reconciled to them both (‘this brother of yours’, v 32). But the conclusion never comes. Are you like the older brother?
Jesus’ teaching
As we saw earlier, Jesus tells these stories in response to the criticism of the Jewish religious leaders. His point is that God cares for the broken, the lost and the excluded and cares enough to come searching for them. The Pharisees prided themselves on purity and holiness; whereas this upstart Rabbi from up north didn’t seem to care about hand washing and gnats in the wine, let alone the questionable company he kept! The real difference was that Jesus KNEW the Father personally. He didn’t know about him, but had been with him from eternity to eternity and he came to reveal this wonderful, loving and forgiving father who wanted everyone to know him intimately as Jesus did
He wants you to know him like that too. You may have tried to follow him for many years, but the prodigal’s father teaches us so much more. God has open arms to welcome you just the same. God may have been willing to let you go, and get yourself lost, deliberately, or by accident. But he didn’t just let you go and ignore you; he continually kept his eye on you. The Bible says, “All things work together for your good,” he has never stopped watching over you. He has always waited for you to return fully to him, just like the father in the story. The cloak, the ring, the fatted calf, they are all waiting for you – God really, really loves you and wants to celebrate as you return fully to him.
Remember God’s arms are still open for you whatever you have done and wherever you have been. He is such a loving God!
