Why did Jesus tell the three parables in Luke 15 that we looked at last week? He was responding to the grumbling of the Jewish religious leaders.
What was disturbing them?
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. 2But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” – Luke 15:1-2
Okay, Jesus was interacting with sinners. And why was that a problem in their eyes?
It looked like approval. In the world of the Bible, to eat with people is to share life with them, relate to them, bond with them. Jesus eating with sinners implied that He agreed with how they were living. Or that He didn’t care. In the minds of the Pharisees, neither option was good!
“Then Jesus told them this parable” – Luke 15:3
So the Lord addressed their criticism.
Going through Luke 15, we find that one parable leads to another. First, Jesus tells them about a shepherd searching for a lost sheep. Then, He repeats the point by describing a woman looking for a misplaced coin.
In both parables, the finders call their friends to celebrate their retrievals.
Oh, and both parables mention the joy in heaven over a sinner who repents. So if these were the only two parables in the chapter, we’d conclude that God and His angels celebrate the salvation of sinners. The implication is the religious leaders should, too.
But Jesus doesn’t stop here. He continues with a third parable that’s longer and more detailed than the other two. The parables of the lost sheep and lost coin feature missing items, searchers, and celebrations.
The parable of the prodigal son adds another character, the older brother. He can’t stomach the idea of his father throwing a party to welcome back the errant younger brother. He doesn’t deserve it!
Jesus is casting His critics in the role of the older brother. Living at home, he should have the same mindset as his father. But he doesn’t. And neither do the Pharisees.
Yet Christ does! The Lord is suggesting that He’s doing what the older brother should have done. What the religious leaders should have done. He’s pursuing sinners.
In the parable, his sense of justice kept the older brother from going after his reckless sibling. Do the crime, do the time! Afterwards, if the sinner is truly repentant, we’ll see about restoration.
But Jesus was meeting sinners on their turf.
“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.” – Luke 15:13
The prodigal frequented places and hung out with people who gave God little thought. How many parties he’d attended, the parable doesn’t say, but it was enough to empty his bank account.
The Pharisees and teachers faulted Jesus for eating with miscreants in unblessed places. This isn’t something the righteous do!
Again, if the prodigal son had repented, accepted a servant role in the estate, and worked hard, he might one day earn a spot at the family table. But it would take a lot of time and effort!
I can see the religious leaders reasoning like this. They weren’t opposed to the possibility of repentance. If they could turn sinners to God, they’d feel like they accomplished something significant.
But hold off on celebrating!
By contrast, Jesus is telling them to rejoice at the salvation of sinners, to celebrate the recovery of the lost. This took effort. The shepherd looked for the sheep and the woman swept through the house to find the coin.
No one looked for the prodigal son.
He changed his mind on his own. The older brother could have gone after him, but didn’t. He could have chased down the confused young man and talked some sense into him, but he stayed put.
Jesus didn’t remain in heaven. He came down to our world “to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10).
If the religious leaders wouldn’t strive for the lost, they could at least approve of Christ’s efforts to do so.
But to them, Jesus had things backwards.
To eat with stubborn sinners is wrong. To eat with repentant sinners is okay, if certain conditions are met. Is their sorrow genuine? Have they made amends? Have they offered the right sacrifices?
Jesus seemed to be ignoring all this and going straight to partying. To the Pharisees, that’s premature at best, and dishonoring to God at worst. Again, to them, Jesus either likes evil or doesn’t care about it.
The opening verses of Luke 15 don’t mention any sinners repenting. So was Jesus hasty? Was He jumping the gun?
This is our opportunity to reassess what repentance is all about. The fact that outcasts wanted to listen to Jesus means that God was doing something in their hearts. And they demonstrated it in the best way they knew: they invited Christ to lunch. Food and fellowship are among the greatest gifts one could give another. These people honored Jesus and He accepted their welcome as a sign of repentance. Their hearts were turning and by eating with them, and continuing their conversations, Jesus could finish the job. He could bring them back to the Father.
He was doing what the Pharisees should have been engaging in. But their beliefs wouldn’t let them. So Jesus told three parables to stress the importance of seeking and celebrating.
The joy of finding what’s been missing is a joy we can’t keep to ourselves. Through the gospel of Jesus Christ, we have the opportunity to see souls return to God. But we’ll never know that joy if we don’t look for them. And searching for the lost will take us to some unpleasant areas. But doing so gives them a chance to discover the reality of the kingdom of God. They learn that Jesus wants them back. And when they return, that’s worth celebrating!
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