In chapter 15 Jesus shares 3 different parables but all with the same message; He loves us and desires for us to be restored to a right relationship with him. Here are some thoughts from each:
The Lost Sheep (vs. 1-7):
Jesus is our Shepherd Who pursues us when we wander. He desires our repentance so that we can be brought back into a right relationship with Him. There is much rejoicing in Heaven when a sinner repents.
The Lost Coin: (vs. 8-10):
We are very valuable to God.
The Prodigal Son (vs. 11-32):
The son has run off and squandered all of his inheritance, then in verse 17 it says "but when he came to himself"; sin dulls our senses, we turn away from common sense and sin deceives us into thinking that we can figure things out on our own. Sin tells us that we are too far gone to be accepted as a child again. The further we walk away from God the more we become stuck in our own misery and despair. But then, when the son comes to himself (other versions say "came to his senses") he turns back towards home. The whole picture here is one of repentance; a turning back to the father. Notice here that there is no pride in his turning back, no expectation of full restoration, instead there is a humility and an attitude of accepting consequences for his actions (vs. 18 states he was willing to be a mere servant in his father's house).
One of the most poignant moments of this parable is in verse 20. The father sees the son and he runs to meet his son. The father was watching for his son; he never gave up on him. The father doesn't make his son come groveling up to him and beg; no the father runs to his son. He is filled with joy that his boy is back home; he embraces and kisses the son and immediately plans a celebration.
Now the older brother is angry at this celebration; after all, he's done everything "right". But here's the thing, the older brother got so caught up in following the rules and doing the job that he missed the fact that he has all the blessings and privileges of a son. He hasn't been enjoying any of the benefits that he has had full access to all along.
How often we are like that older brother we get caught up and distracted by the cares of this world that we forget that we are children of God. Are we enjoying all that is ours as heirs? Or are we too stuck in thinking we need to just work and wait...getting caught up in the drudgery of this world? Eternity with God begins at the moment we accept Christ as our Lord and Savior. We don't have to wait for eternity to enjoy the blessings of being God's child we can start living in them now!
A couple more points to this parable that I wanted to highlight:
- The father is never blamed for his son's foolishness.
- The father never shames the son for his foolishness.
- When the son repents he is forgiven; completely. He does not have to carry guilt or shame over his past.
- Without Christ we are dead in our sins.
- Notice that it is the older son that gets lectured about his attitude; he was sinful too and at this point unrepentant. All sin is an offense to God but the older brother was seeing himself as better than his younger brother. I love how Tony Evans puts it, in his book God Himself: A Journey Through His Attributes, when discussing God's holiness: "God does not have a grading system for sin because He is totally and absolutely perfect in all His ways. He knows no gradations of sin...God is so holy...that He is as offended by an evil thought as He is by murder. While there are differences in the consequences of sin, there is no difference in essence."
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