Think Wink.

Luke 15 is one of the most beautiful chapters of all of the Bible. It is one long parable of three stories (note that in Luke 15:3 Luke says, “So he told them this parable;” in Luke 15:8 when the story of the lost coin begins there is no indication that the parable of 15:3 has stopped; in Luke 15:11 there is no indication that the parable stopped but rather Jesus continues on with the parable in the story of the Prodigal Son) that Jesus tells his audience of grumbling Pharisees (Luke 15:2, they said, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”) when sinners and tax collectors came to him and he did not cast them away (Luke 15:1). Over recent days I have grown to appreciate some of what this story says about the lost and how Christ seeks and saves them (cf. Luke 19:10). I just want to share some of these thoughts.

First I want to show what all three have in common about lostness. First we must note that in all three stories that something is lost. The shepherd lost his sheep (Luke 15:4), the woman lost her coin (Luke 15:8), and the father lost his son (Luke 15:12-13). The overwhelming theme of this parable is lostness and finding that which is lost. It is even more obvious that Jesus is referring to that which was lost in the parable to the sinners and tax collectors. But then there is the theme of finding that which was lost found in Luke 15:5, 9, 24.

Thirdly there is the theme of joy. But this is unique. We see the joy of the shepherd (Luke 15:5), the woman (Luke 15:9), and the father (Luke 15:20, 22-24). But notice something about this joy. It is shared. In Luke 15:6 we read, “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” Again in Luke 15:9 we read, “And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.’” Notice that the statement by the woman and shepherd are nearly identical (Greek Luke 15:6, συγχάρητέ μοι ὅτι εὗρον τὸ πρόβατόν μου τὸ ἀπολωλός; Greek Luke 15:9, συγχάρητέ μοι ὅτι εὗρον τὴν δραχμὴν ἣν ἀπώλεσα). In Luke 15:22-24 we read, “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” In Luke 15:7 and 10 the joy is interpreted to be divine joy over the sinner coming to repentance. The Triune God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) is said to be rejoicing here and all of heaven participate in this divine joy.

But there is a stark contrast to Luke 15:3-10 and Luke 15:11-32. That is in Luke 15:3-10 the shepherd goes after the sheep and the woman goes after the coin. There is a diligent search by the owner of that which is lost to find what he or she has lost. The shepherd goes through the hills and the woman turns on the light and grabs a palm branch to sweep the floor and hopefully kick up the coin and so find it. However in Luke 15:11-32 the father does not go searching diligently after the son. He allows the son to realize his sin and to come back to him as he waits with open arms.

In the stories of the lost sheep and coin, the sinner is pictured as a sheep and a coin. These do not return to the owner because either the sheep is too stupid to realize that it is lost and how to get back, or the coin is physically incapable of moving back to its owner. In these stories the lost objects are animals and coins and so they are worthless objects compared to that which is lost in Luke 15:11-32, a person. The sinner is compared to a loved son. Here the son is not coerced into returning with the father. He by his own will decides and determines to go back to his father. Jesus treats this disobedient son with dignity and respects his will, unlike the animal and coin that must be made to return.

The question is how do I reconcile these two ideas together? Does the Father go after stupid sheep and a piece of metal or does the lost and rebellious sinner come to his/her senses and return to his/her Father? As a Calvinist, I tend to think more in the categories of the lost sheep and coin, where as my Arminian counterparts think in the category of the Prodigal Son.

So as I wrestled with these two views of lostness, I noticed something about the stories. The lost sheep and coin are told from the view of the one who lost something whereas the story of the lost son was told from the view of that which was lost. In other words we see the story of being lost in Luke 15:3-10 through the eyes of the shepherd and woman. We see the story of being lost in Luke 15:11-32 through the eyes of the lost sons. But I also noticed that it was the love of the son’s father that moved him to come back to the father. He was irresistibly drawn back to his father because of the love of the father. When a young man proposes to a girl, she voluntarily and freely says yes. But she is irresistibly compelled to say yes to that man because of the love of that man.

What this tells me is that God most definitely goes and has to bring us to himself. I am incapable of coming to Christ, he must come to me. But from my own point of view, I come to my senses and return to Christ. But while I come of my own will, the decision was not because I looked at the facts and neutrally decided that Christ is better than hell. No the love of Christ, the grace of Christ, the mercy of Christ was impossible to resist. It is too good, to delightful, to glorious to through up a brick wall to.

Thus when Christ comes to me, a lost sinner, he reveals his glory, his love and mercy and grace, to me. I behold that perfect glory, that excellence and he becomes irresistibly attractive to my soul. I finally see that he loves me and died for me on the cross to pay the penalty for my sin and purchased the right to give me his right standing before God and made me clean. I come to him of my own volition and free will. Christ diligently seeks after me and reveals himself to me as one who cannot be resisted and as one who is all-satisfying. Then, seeing this sole soul-satisfaction, I come to him and embrace him as my hearts delight and my lord and my savior. This is how Christ seeks and saves that which is lost!

Related posts:

Luke 10:21-22 and Joy

An Exegetical Insight

A Text Critical Look at Luke 23:34