Luke 15

The Explanation

Luke 15 is one whole chapter, but it contains three stories that belong together. Jesus tells them because the Pharisees, the strict religious teachers, grumble about Him. They see Him eating with tax collectors and other people they consider bad. Eating with someone in that time meant: you belong together. And that is exactly what the Pharisees cannot stand.

So Jesus tells three stories. First about a shepherd with a hundred sheep. One gets lost. The shepherd leaves the ninety-nine and searches until he finds that one. When he comes home, he calls his friends together: rejoice, I have found my sheep.

Then a story about a woman with ten silver coins. She loses one and lights a lamp, sweeps the whole house, searches carefully until she finds it. And again there is a party.

The third story is longer and sharper. A father has two sons. The youngest asks for his inheritance while his father is still alive. That is actually a slap in the face. It is as if he says: I wish you were already dead, just give me the money. And the father gives it. The son leaves, spends everything on wild parties, and ends up so poor that he has to feed pigs. For a Jewish boy that is the deepest low, because pigs are unclean animals. He is so hungry that he would gladly eat the pigs' food.

Then something happens inside him. He thinks: even my father's servants have it better than this. He turns back. He rehearses a speech: Father, I have sinned, I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me a servant.

But before he can even finish that speech, his father sees him coming from far away. The father runs toward him, throws his arms around him, and kisses him. A robe, a ring, sandals, the best calf on the fire. A party.

And then the older brother comes home from the field. He hears the music and gets furious. He never got a party, he says, and he served his father faithfully all those years. The father goes outside to him too, and says: son, you are always with me and everything I have is yours. But we had to rejoice, because your brother was dead and is alive again.

The story ends there. Jesus does not tell us whether the older brother went inside.

What Does This Mean?

Three times the same message: God searches, God finds, God rejoices. And three times there is a party at the end. Jesus is answering the Pharisees' grumbling. He wants to say: this is what My Father is like. When someone who was lost comes back, heaven throws a party.

The story of the two sons goes deeper still. Because the younger son is lost far away, but the older son is lost right at home. He does everything right on the outside, but on the inside he does not know his father at all. He talks about "serving" and "reward," not about love. Jesus is showing the Pharisees something painful: you can be very close to God and still miss His heart.

The Common Thread

The father who runs is a picture of God Himself. In that time, a respectable man did not run. He walked calmly. But this father runs, and that is exactly what God does in Jesus. God did not wait until we came all the way to Him. He came Himself, in Jesus, all the way to where we were. Jesus is God running toward lost people. The cross is His arms wide open.

For You

Maybe you sometimes feel more like the younger son, that you did something you are ashamed of. Then this story says: come back, even if your speech is not perfect. The Father sees you from far away.

Maybe you feel more like the older brother, that you try hard and it seems unfair when others get grace so easily. Then the Father comes outside to you too, and says: everything I have is yours. Do you dare to come in and celebrate along?

Talk About It

Which of the two brothers do you recognize more in yourself, and why?

Why do you think Jesus did not finish the story of the older brother? What would you have written?

Praying Together

Father, thank You that You run when we come back. Thank You that You come outside for us too when we are angry or jealous. Teach us to know You as Father, not just as boss. Amen.