The Parable of the Lost Son

(This brother of yours)

Luke 15:1-32

Key Verse 15:32

“But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." 

Today we would like to think about the ideal image of a church. 

Once upon a time a friend of mine visited Chicago to attend a conference. Because he lives in Los Angeles, he had to fly from LAX to Chicago O’Hare airport. So, through the internet he made a reservation for flight and a rent car. And he found a good deal for a rent car: $24.58 per day offered by Enterprise. Upon seeing the price, the man said to himself, “Man, I’ve got a good deal. Where on earth can you find a better deal than this?” He then went to Chicago. He arrived at O’Hare. He went out to the loading zone, and waited for the shuttle bus to come. Shuttle buses from all other companies such as Avis, Dollar, or Budget came and left. But the shuttle bus from Enterprise did not. He waited, waited, and waited. Finally it came, and it was a very small minivan. But still he thanked God because at least something came. Then at the rental office, he had to wait in a long line. Eventually he received a key to the car. The conference was a one day conference. After the conference was done, he had to return the car. The next morning he needed to return the car to the rental office which was supposedly located near the airport. He drove the car to the rental office. But he could not find the rental office. They gave him the instructions to the way back to the rental car office. But the location of the rental office was in such an odd place that it took him two and half hours to finally get to the rental office. The last straw for him was the 800 number. The instructions said, “If you are lost on the way to return the car, please call this number.” The instructions also gave a direct number. Because he got lost he called the 800 number. But there was only an answering machine. He called the direct number. There was also an answering machine. The machine said, “If you want to talk to an operator, please dial 4.” He did. But still it led him back to the main menu. Finally it dawned on him that the way Enterprise does business (at least in the O’Hare area) is not as perfect as it should be. Question: when he travels to Chicago will he go back to the Enterprise? NEVER!

In the passage for today we would like to think about the ideal image of a church (especially the way a church should run the ministry.) Here by the “church” I don’t mean a building with a steeple, but the body of people professing Jesus as the Lord and Savior. 

What is the ideal image of a church? Three things can be said. First it must provide a home for sinners; second it must offer God’s word, the meal for a soul; and third, it must abound with God’s love.

First, a home for tax collectors and sinners 

Look at verse 1. “Now the tax collectors and "sinners" were all gathering around to hear him.” [Here “tax-collectors” were regarded as mega-size sinners, “the sinners of all sinners”. In Jesus’ day, the Jewish people did not associate with the Gentiles for they thought that the Gentiles were unclean [immoral] like a dog. But the tax collectors, even though they were Jews, got hired by the Romans and worked for the Gentiles, to collect taxes from the Jews. Thus, the Jews of Jesus’ day viewed the tax collectors as worse than dogs. The “sinners” were just regular sinners like pimps, prostitutes, robbers, or gang-bangers.]

This passage indicates that the ideal image of a church has to do with the kind of people coming to a church. What kind of people go to church? Do only “good” people go to church? Or do “bad” people go there? The answer is obvious. Let me ask you a question: Why did you come to church today? Is it because you are a truly good person that you came here today? If this is the case, you’ve come to the wrong place. 

In Luke 15:1-2, Luke puts two different categories of people side by side. “The tax collectors and sinners” were classified under one category, and the Pharisees and the teachers of law another. Again the Jewish society of Jesus’ day regarded the former as “no good”, whereas they regarded the second group as “ideal” citizens.  

    

Interestingly then while the tax collectors and sinners kept themselves away from the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, when Jesus came, they were “all” gathering around Jesus. The question is, “What made ‘all’ of them gather around Jesus?” What attracted them to Jesus? We already know the answer. In view of the three parables, especially the parable of a lost sheep, these people came to him not on their own but because of Jesus. Jesus went out to look for them. Jesus invited them to himself. After inviting them to himself, Jesus paid attention to them, and came to have intimate, personal fellowship with them. 

In the parable of the lost sheep, Jesus said, “Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it?” This passage says that the tax collectors and sinners all came because Jesus went to look for them. After finding them, Jesus put them in his sheep pen. Jesus then came to have fellowship with them. 

The ideal image of a church then is to follow Jesus’ example, that is, for the members of the church to go out and look for what is lost. Then with a welcoming spirit, invite all of them and have intimate fellowship with them. In one word, we can say that the first point for us to secure in going for the ideal image of a church is to make it a home for tax collectors and sinners. 

In order to meet a student, a man went out to a college campus. There he invited a student to ping-pong fellowship. Through the ping-pong game the man built a personal relationship with the student. Soon the two became close friends. They attend church worship together. Through this the student met Jesus. He found the joy of salvation in Jesus. Then in joy he in turn invited another student named Mario to ping-pong fellowship, and then to the fellowship with Jesus. 

Second, a home where there is a spiritual meal, the living word of God

After coming to Jesus what did the tax collectors and sinners do? They “heard” the word of God. In other words Jesus invited them to God’s word. Jesus’ example shows us that an ideal church abounds with God’s word, the living waters, coming from Jesus, the rock.

Categorically, tax collectors and sinners lost the connection with God. They are like the lost sheep in Jesus’ parable of the lost sheep, or like the coin in the parable of the lost coin. Or they are like the prodigal son in Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. All of the three – a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son have one thing in common: the loss of connection from the source of meaning and purpose of their existence. The sheep must stay with the shepherd and his flock. Otherwise it cannot find green pasture and grow strong. The lost coin lost its connection with the woman, its owner. Laying flat in a dark corner it collects dust and rust. If the silver coin had stayed with the other nine under the loving care of the woman, it would have been able to shine for all that it was worth, for the woman would have taken good care of it; but since it was lost, it had no way of finding its way back; it had no way to shine for all its worth. The same goes true with the prodigal son. As long as the son stayed in his father’s house, he can shine as the son, wearing a gold ring, and a royal robe as a son. He could also enjoy fine food. But since he lost the connection he was stuck on a pig farm, with none recognizing the value and dignity of his life.  

How then does a sinner re-establish the connection with God the Father? The answer is simple: to hear Jesus Christ, for Jesus came to build a bridge between God and men. Jesus came as a bridge through which all sinners can come to the Father. In John 14:6 Jesus expressed his mission by saying, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” 

This indicates that a church must correctly present Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life. All of its programs must be geared to serving this purpose, that is, presenting Jesus as the way, the truth, and the life to God the Father.   

Consistent with this purpose, from the outset of Jesus’ ministry Jesus kept proclaiming the good news of great joy. Speaking of this purpose to lead people to God through him, Jesus said in Luke 4:43, “I must preach the good news of the kingdom of God to the other towns also, because that is why I was sent." Similarly Luke 8:1a reads, “After this, Jesus traveled about from one town and village to another, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.” A lot of people responded to the message of the good news. Thus Luke 16:16 states, “The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.” 

Here the good news refers to Jesus himself. In what respect is Jesus the good news? Figuratively speaking Jesus is the good news just as the new device called a wireless PC card is the good news to an interstate traveler. Last Friday a business man I know went out of his home state, California to Chicago Illinois. There he attended a staff conference from 7 p.m. until midnight Friday. For the business trip he carried a laptop which has wireless capability. He bought a wireless PC card from Verizon, for this PC card enables him to go wireless nationwide. During the meeting using his lap top he memorialized the contents of the meeting, and then as soon as the meeting was over, using the wireless PC card, he sent an email to his coworkers in California. 

The wireless PC card is one of many different ways in which we do the so-called “net-working”. But what about the net-working between God and men? Until Jesus came, the net-working between God and fallen men remained disconnected: only within the narrow society called the “chosen people Israel” was it available, and even the net-working among them was limited; the means were primitive, the access was limited, and the procedures were cumbersome. But when Jesus came he changed this altogether. He revolutionized the way in which sinners can come to the Father. 

In the passage for today while the tax collectors and sinners were gathering around him, Jesus was presenting himself as the new and living way for all sinners to come to the Father. Later the apostles came and preached Jesus calling him a “new and living way.” Speaking of this truth, Hebrews 10:19-22 exhorts us saying, “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body,  and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water.”

Since the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ which took place about 2000 years ago, the message of good news has been preached to all nations to this very date. And it is preached everywhere. Interestingly a pastor who is operating in Downey Los Angeles has a friend who is also a pastor serving a church on a small island called Jeju which is located at the southernmost part of the Korean Peninsula. About six months ago the pastor on Jeju Island started having English worship services. But because his English is still poor every once in a while the pastor keeps asking his friend in Downey to translate prayers and messages from Korean to English. The other day the pastor in Jeju asked the pastor in Downey to translate his sermon into English. Let me recite a part of the sermon: “We come close to Jesus first through the blood of Jesus Christ. Eph 3:20 The Lord said, "When I see the blood I will pass over you." Exo 12:13 All believers have God's judgment pass over them thanks to the blood of Jesus. Abel's worship consisted of the blood of an animal and its fat, which the Lord accepted. Cain's worship was based on legalistic religion. The blood cleanses man of guilty conscience. Heb 10 It cleanses us of the stain of guilt that we would be free from the sense of guilt. It removes the consciousness of guilt. Upon committing sin we say, "I sinned against God." In coming back home the prodigal son confessed, "I sinned against heaven and against you [i.e., his father]." The devil also accuses us. The devil points out our sins, and finds faults with us. (Rev 12:10-11) On sinning our conscience is tormented. But Jesus' blood gives us a relief from these.

 

Third, a home for God’s love

It has been said, “There is no place like home.” If a home is going to be the place for us to be, what makes a home a “home”? What makes it different from merely a “house”? In other words what makes a church different than any “organizations”? We find an answer to this question in Jesus’ three parables, that is, God’s great love for all fallen men, not any corrupt ways of love but the love that is expressed in a shepherd looking for a sheep, the love with which a woman searches the house and looks for a silver coin until she finds it, and the love which the father had not just for the prodigal son but also for the older son. 

In the parable of the lost sheep Jesus then shows us that instead of treating the people coming to the church as a ‘number’, we must value each of them as if the value of his or her life is greater than the whole universe. Capitalism and communism count people as numbers. But it is not so with Jesus. In God, number 1 is greater than number 2 or 99 for God created each person in God’s image. 

In the parable of the lost coin, Jesus then taught us that we must value the life of each person more than a silver coin, stocks or bonds, cars and houses. 

In the parable of the lost son, Jesus then teaches us that each and everyone who sincerely repents and turns to the Lord is none other than our own brother. For this reason Jesus says, “[W]e had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." 

One word: “this brother of yours” 

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