Luke 15 - 16

Lost and Found

NOTE: Posted early for Sunday's reading.

Chapter 15 contains three parables each of which discuss losing and finding. In the first parable (vs. 4-7) a shepherd in charge of 100 sheep and notices that one is lost.  He does not just ignore this - he leaves the 99 sheep and goes to find the lost sheep. So great is his joy that he calls his friends and neighbors and asks them to "Rejoice with me because I have found my lost sheep." (v.6).

In the second parable (vs. 8-10) a woman discovers one of her ten silver coins missing (probably from her dowry). Panicked, she lights a candle and searches her home until she finds it. She then calls her friends and neighbors and states, "Rejoice with me because I have found my lost coin." (v.9).

The third parable (vs. 11-32) is the "prodigal son" parable.  A man with two sons, one faithful and one somewhat reckless, gives his reckless son his inheritance early.  The son wastes all the money in a foreign land on wild living (v.13) and reaches the point where he is starving, feeding hogs.  So wretched is he that even the pig's slop looks good (v.16). Somewhere within his mind he remembers his father and determines to return and become a servant to his father.

In the mean time, his father has reckoned him dead (v.24). Seeing his son return brings such joy that the father returns him to a son-ship status and has a huge feast celebrating the son's return. The faithful son must have also reckoned his brother dead.  He is disturbed to find out that his father is hosting a party to celebrate the brother's return.  His reaction is a curious one, but not unlike the reaction of many today when money is involved in an inheritance.  Perhaps he was concerned that his inheritance would be diminished, or that his father would not show him the love and respect he felt he deserved (v.29). The father reassures him that he is still his son and wants him to share in the joy of his brother's return.  The parable is open-ended in that the decision of the "good" son is not recorded.

Notice that three things are lost: a sheep, a coin, and a son.  Each are representative of a relationship with the "finder", the savior. The sheep represents the sinner lost in his sins, helpless until the shepherd saves him.  The coin represents the believer in a relationship with the savior but not careful with all the covenanted promises and obligations.  Aware that something is amiss, the believer shines the light of God's word into their existence to restore the blessings of God.  The prodigal is representative of the backslider, a person who has and is in the inheritance of God, but squanders the opportunity by placing the things of the world ahead of the things of God.  Coming to their senses, they realize that the only correct thing to do is to return to Jesus and ask for mercy and to be restored.  The "good" son is representative of the nominal church member, more worried about their political position in the church and less worried about witnessing to the lost sinner.

Each of us should be able to see ourselves in one and all of these parables.

May God bless you and bless the reading of His Word.