THINK TOGETHER.
Have you ever lost something you loved and then found it again?
READ TOGETHER.
Luke 15:1-3. 1Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” 3So he told them this parable:
Do you remember who the Pharisees are? They are the religious leaders of the Jews. They are very proud and smug and think that they are doing everything right, and that everyone else is doing everything wrong, including Jesus. Luke tells us that Jesus is eating and hanging out with the sinners and the tax collectors. How are the Pharisees and the scribes responding? They are grumbling about it.
So Jesus decides to tell them three parables, three earthly stories with a heavenly meaning.
The first story is about a shepherd who has one hundred sheep but one of them wanders off. What does the Shepherd do? Jesus tells us:
Luke 15:4-6. 4“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’
The second story is like it, except this time it is a woman who loses one of her ten silver coins. But she searches all over the house until she finds it, and when she does she rejoices with her neighbors.
The third story Jesus tells is much longer and more complicated. It starts out like this:
Luke 15:11-12. 11And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.
This story is sometimes called the parable of the prodigal son. It is about a son who takes his father’s money and leaves home, only to waste all his money and find himself taking care of pigs and starving to death. The son decides to go back home and work for his father as a hired servant. But when he returns the father runs out to meet him, he hugs and kisses him, forgives him and brings him back into the house as a son, not a servant. There’s a big party, and the whole town rejoices that the son that was lost, is now found.
All three stories are about something lost that was found – a sheep, a coin, a son. All three of these represent the sinners that ate with Jesus. They too were lost but now are found, and that deserves a celebration.
When you have Jesus, you too have been found. Before Jesus you were lost. But with Jesus you are found. And all of Heaven is rejoicing over your salvation.
Because of Jesus all of Heaven is rejoicing because we were lost but now are found.
With Jesus we are never lost.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Read the whole Prodigal Son story in Luke 15.
PRAY TOGETHER
Father, you found me when I was lost. You have made me your son/daughter. I am forever yours. Amen.
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