Emma Miles Writes:
The New Testament in its world highlights that ‘A scoundrel young son who goes off to a faraway pagan country and is then astonishingly welcomed back home’. This is the story of exile and restoration, and it is the story that Jesus' contemporaries wanted to hear. Jesus told the story to make the point that the return of exile was happening in and through his own work and it was starting with the least, the last and the lost.
Restoration comes through the ministry of Jesus and His kingdom work is to bring people home.
Parties were a regular occurrence around Jesus. His indiscriminate invitation to all and sundry left many feeling provoked.
“If Jesus is who He says He is, He would not be eating with scoundrels…”
And it is on the back of such grumbling that Jesus justifies His interaction with sinners by sharing 3 beautiful stories.
Jesus tells three parables to show the heart of God for the lost: a sheep, a coin, and a son. He begins with a rhetorical question: "Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one—doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine and go after the lost one?" and when he finds it, he celebrates: "Rejoice with me!" A radical, even illogical move - abandoning 99 in the open country for one. Yet Jesus paints this as a picture of repentance. The sheep does nothing but allow itself to be carried home, and heaven rejoices.
Next, a woman loses a small coin—a drachma, barely worth anything. She still has nine, but she lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully. When she finds it, she calls her neighbours: "Celebrate with me!" Again, extravagant joy for something seemingly insignificant. But Jesus says, "There is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." The coin did nothing—the woman searched, and the woman found it. Yet Jesus says this is a picture of repentance.
Then, the story of the lost son. He demands his inheritance, wastes it all, and hits rock bottom, feeding pigs and starving. He decides to return - not as a son, but as a servant. Yet before he even arrives, the father runs to him, embraces him, dresses him, and throws a party. "This son of mine was dead and is alive again!"
How long after the wayward son began his well-rehearsed, pitiful speech did the party begin?
How long after he was clothed in new shoes, a robe, and a ring did the music start?
How long before he was dancing, hands lifted, lost in joy?
The text tells us the older brother came in from the fields and heard the music, the laughter, and even the dancing. His reaction - resentment. He couldn’t understand how someone so undeserving could be celebrated.
Jesus is making a deeper point: the older brother’s response mirrors the Pharisees—and often, it mirrors ours. The ones who think they’ve earned something. The ones who feel cheated by grace that’s freely given.
Jesus challenges the inner Pharisee in each of us. He confronts the deeply ingrained beliefs that our obedience, our moral effort, our “rightness” earns us more of God. But in doing so, we may miss the very heart of the Father—a heart that throws a party for the lost, the broken, the returning.
That’s the invitation Jesus leaves hanging in the air. Will we stay outside, clutching our entitlement and grumbling? Or will we step into the joy of grace that doesn’t make sense—because it was never meant to?
The sheep didn’t earn it. The coin didn’t find itself. The son didn’t deserve it.
But still…
There was a party.
Emma Miles – CCBN Community Development Leader – Love Westhill