Day 21 - Luke 15

Just in case you think I've got all this figured out, I wanted to let you all in on something I've thought about off and on all day. Jenny tells me every so often that she loves me more than anything else.  Today, I thought the same thing in my mind about her. 

I was immediately attacked with a bout of conscience about what Jesus said in Luke 14:26 ("If you want to be my disciple, you must hate everyone else by comparison—your father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even your own life. Otherwise, you cannot be my disciple.")

It led me to this question, "how do I know if I love Jesus more than I love Jenny?"  Yes, I know that I can use what I said yesterday. If I listen to Jenny above all else and abandon my faith in Christ, then I love her more than God.  But I DO love Jenny more than any other person on earth! How can I show my love for Jesus? I can't hug him, hand him gifts, see a smile on his face.  I know that Jesus says, "If you love me, obey my commandments." (John 14:15) But in a way, I want to do much more than that.

I told Jenny of this conversation I was having with myself.  This was her way of interpreting this.  She told me, "If you had to choose between dying for me (Jenny) or living to fulfill the purpose God gave you, you need to choose to live for God. Or to live for me or die for God, you need to die for God." Wow, that makes sense, but again, not an easy thing to comprehend. Anyone else with me on this?

Anyway, onward we go!

Read Luke 15 (find it here)

Today, we'll cover three parables that Jesus gives to prove how valuable lost people (in other words, those who have not repented and asked for forgiveness from God) are.

Parable of the Lost Sheep

Jesus was known to have all sorts of non-church people come and hear his teachings. The Pharisees labeled Jesus as being tolerant of their sinfulness, as if he shouldn't hang out with them.

With this in mind, Jesus goes into three parables. The first is the example of how a man will go to find one lost sheep even if he has 99 in safety. The one lost sheep, in theory, is more important than all the others.  The man doesn't have to worry about the 99, but the one by itself is in danger.  The man will celebrate when he finds it. The same celebration is echoed in heaven when someone "repents and returns to God." (v. 7) What kind of party is that, I wonder...

Parable of the Lost Coin

The second parable revolves around a woman who loses one of her 10 coins. If you lost 10% of your money, wouldn't you "tear apart" your house to find it? God will do the same thing. He will not be satisfied with 90%. He will stop at nothing to show his presence, love and compassion for those who don't currently know Him.

Parable of the Lost Son

This is, by far, the most prominent and well-known parable of the three here.  A rich man had two sons, the younger doesn't want to wait for his father to die so he demands to receive his inheritance (half of what the father owns) NOW! How heartless do you have to be to ask that? The father actually agrees to do this at his younger son's request, though.

As soon as the son gets his money, he moves away and starts partying, wasting his father's money. When his money runs out, food in the land becomes scarce. He begged a farmer to hire him to feed his pigs.  It is there that he starts to consider eating the slops out of the same troughs that the pigs ate from.

Of course, he swallowed his pride and decided to go back home and ask forgiveness from God and his father (this is why the son says that he's sinned again both heaven and his father). He is willing to become his father's slave.

Here's the coolest part of the story.  His father has been waiting for him and looking out for him constantly. (Remember, this is a parable. So, Jesus is saying that God is waiting and looking out for those who may return to Him.) The father runs to his son, he doesn't meet him halfway.  There is no rebuke, ridicule or blame, just straight up love and compassion.  It is almost un-humanlike.

The father almost doesn't even seem to pay attention to his plea for forgiveness before showering his son with a robe, ring, sandals and a celebratory feast!

Just like verse 24 implies, when we return to God, we become alive! We were destined to a purposeless death with God but we return to life when we accept God's love.

What about the other son?  Yeah, he's pissed!  He doesn't want to celebrate his brother's return. He tells his father straight up why he's upset. He hasn't been given anywhere near this attention. He even implies that he's done nothing wrong! (v. 29) 

Really?

This may not make much sense for some of you, but put yourself in the older brother's shoes. He questions the father's judgment (we humans do that with God, too, for sure)! The last thing the father says to the older brother is definitely reassuring.  The older brother now, basically, owns everything the father does. The property will not be divided again.

God will definitely bless those who have followed him for years and years.  We, as Christ-followers, bear His identity.  So we have to reflect that and not be jealous of attention (there was once a celebration in heaven for you, too).  This is critical for one humongous reason. If the younger son will ever get a second chance with owning any of the property again, it will be up to his older brother.

Jesus is definitely challenging the Pharisees here. They are the angry big brothers and the tax collectors and sinners are the wayward younger brothers. Do the Pharisees show grace? No. Are they jealous? Yes. Do they question Jesus' judgment? For sure!

If you are a Christ-follower (making you the big brother in this parable), how will you treat the wayward, sinful little brothers? Will you ridicule them or party when they turn to God?

If you choose the path of ridiculing them, they will, most likely, want nothing of your (heavenly) Father.  Make sense?


Questions

1.) I'd love to have your feedback regarding the first few paragraphs regarding yesterday's post. How do you define or describe the differences between loving really important people in your life and loving Jesus?

2.) Within the parable of the lost son do you fit the description of the younger or older brother?  Do you question God's judgment in who should be saved and who shouldn't? If Christians were to separate themselves (who have the hope their faith gives) from those who don't have that hope, what danger is in that? What should that inspire you to do or act?

3.) Are you, as these parables described, lost? By Jesus' words, what do you need to do? If that's not clear to you, please get in touch with me (private FB message is fine)!