“Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living….“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ “ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ ”
Luke 15:11-13, 25-32 NIV
Jesus continued…to the real point of His stories.
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Luke 15:1-2 NIV
Jesus’ hearers were quite comfortable with His stories until He changed gear. There was the ever-present undercurrent in the crowd. The critics were mingling…to watch, to accuse, and to gather evidence…not to listen, to learn, and to grow in knowledge and understanding.
So, they murmured, and Jesus heard.
Jesus never lost an opportunity to speak truth to power. Truth was His weapon of choice. Armed with truth, He came from heaven to confront the lies that were destroying His people…the delusions upon which they built their lives that led them off the path to lostness in a wilderness of chaos and confusion…and delusion.
The Pharisees didn’t like truth. It rattled their cages. It messed with their comfortable convictions. It muddied their manicured theology…
…but Jesus loved truth. It hit the bull’s-eye every time. Truth was unchanging and infallible. He relied on truth to win every skirmish with His enemies and, eventually, to win the war.
“When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the charge of our legal indebtedness, which stood against us and condemned us; he has taken it away, nailing it to the cross. And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.”
Colossians 2:13-15 NIV
Jesus died in truth and for truth…He put every one of the plethora of lies and false claims of His arch enemy to death by revealing that He was the truth, the one and only Lord of the universe. Satan’s challenge failed. He could not eliminate Him. Jesus walked out of the tomb as an ever-living witness to the power of truth. Kill Him as they did, He is still and always will be Lord.
What was the truth His story about a lost son was about to uncover? Jesus’ story ended with an unspoken question, the one He asked of Jonah. “Why are you angry because I am merciful?” and has no answer.
The Pharisees’ whispered challenge was, “If you are really God, how can you associate with “sinners”? Don’t you know who they are?”
Jesus’ response was, “I’ll show you who the real sinners are…not the ones who know they are lost but the hypocrites who think that God is okay with them and they with Him!”
Hence the buildup of three stories. The first two unveiled heaven’s joy when lost things are found. The third story had the punchline…
“You hypocrites! You think that keeping the rules makes you okay. You are more “lost” than the rebel who forsook his home.”
Jesus’ story sets the record straight about God’s heart for lost people. They are lost because they left God’s path and tried another way. They thought that their independence was freedom. They found out that the wilderness was an uncomfortable and dangerous place, empty, barren, and nothing but a monotonous wasteland. Worse still, there were no signposts to show them the way home. They were lost in their lostness.
For the rebel in the story, the party was over…money and fair weather friends were gone. There was no help from them. The lost son had only one way…go back home. He had to make a choice…starve and live with pigs, or eat humble pie and retrace his steps.
The father watched and waited. He didn’t send his servants to capture or compel his son to return. He knew that, someday, his son would hit rock bottom. That’s real life. When resources are wasted, they don’t last. When the money is finished, friends vanish. Home, that once seemed a place of slavery and restriction, finally became a place of refuge, of provision, and freedom…not from boundaries but for safety.
What mattered most to the father? The lost one was his son…his own flesh and blood. He didn’t give up on him. He didn’t write him off because of his behaviour. He waited to restore him when he returned. Such, said Jesus, is the heart of God.
How unlike the elder brother! His heart was bitter, full of contempt…the self-appointed judge of his little brother’s behaviour. He compared himself with his brother and came out shining…so he thought. He forgot one thing…he and his brother were both sons of the father, no matter what they did…equally loved and equally valued.
The Pharisees refused to acknowledge God’s love and mercy that embraces all people because they are His. God has no intention to squash, like annoying bugs, those who fail. His call is the same for everyone…those who fail and those who judge those who fail…”Come home!” Both are guilty and both need mercy.
The Pharisees didn’t get it. They killed Jesus for that!
To be continued…