Lost and Found
Jesus had a lot of nicknames during His time here on Earth. “Son of Man.” “Son of God.” “Good Teacher.” One of His more unique nicknames was “Friend of Sinners.” When we hear that, our first thought is often, “Oh, yeah. Jesus was so loving and forgiving. Even to the worst of sinners, He was just so kind and compassionate!”
Yes, He was compassionate, but that’s not what that name means. It wasn’t “Friendly to Sinners,” but “Friend of Sinners.” To be someone’s friend, you need to hang out with them, spend time with them, get on their level. Do you remember what Jesus’s first recorded miracle was? He turned water into wine at a wedding feast. Jesus knew how to party. No, I don’t mean the modern day party scene, but Jesus did know how to have a good time. He would often share meals with people from all walks of life. In Ancient Near-Eastern culture, sharing a meal with someone was a big deal. Welcoming someone to share food with them was a high honor. It was a sign of respect and relationship.
This often garnered criticism from the religious leaders, the ones people looked to as holy examples. They would see Jesus sharing a meal with tax collectors, with prostitutes, and other people deemed unclean by the law, look down their noses and say, “If He’s such a good man, how could He sit with sinners?” In that one question, they not only take a jab at Jesus, but they also condemn the people He’s with as sinners, the marginalized and irredeemable in God’s sight.
During one of these encounters, Jesus responded with a series of three parables. We’ll go through the first two pretty quick, but we need the context for the third one. And, whenever we read one of Jesus’s parables, we must ask ourselves two questions: “Who is God in this story?” and “Who am I in this story?”
The first parable was simple: A shepherd had one hundred sheep, and one wandered off. Some of us would say, “99 out of 100 is still an A+. I can live with that!” But this shepherd was different. He left the ninety-nine behind to search for the lost one, and when he found it, he scooped it up, brought it back, and told the other shepherds, “Look! I found my lost sheep. Let’s celebrate!”
Who is God in this story? God is the Good Shepherd, the one who seeks out the lost.
Who are we in this story? We are the lost sheep.
Notice how the sheep isn’t scolded for getting lost? No, it’s simply scooped up, carried back, and celebrated. God treats us the same way.
The second parable runs like it: A woman had ten coins. These coins probably made up her dowry. For those who don’t know, a dowry is money or property a bride’s family gives her when she gets married. She’s joining her husband’s household, but that dowry was hers and hers alone. Lo and behold, one of these coins goes missing. The woman flips her house upside down looking for this coin, and when she finds it, she calls her neighbors. “Look! I’ve found my lost coin. Let’s celebrate!”
Who is God in this story? God is the woman, the one searching high and low.
Who are we in this story? We are the coin that rolled out of sight.
Notice how the coin never left the house? We don’t have to be out in the world and in its culture to be lost. We could still be here, in God’s House, trying to hide from Him. “Oh, no. I messed up. I did the thing again. I’m going to stay away from God because He’s going to judge me.” However, God doesn’t come looking for us to judge us. He’s not sitting on a cloud, lightning bolt in hand, waiting to smite us for the smallest mistake. When He finds us, He scoops us up, carries us back into the fold, and celebrates.
We heard about a Lost Sheep, and we heard about a Lost Coin. Now, we get the most well-known of the three: the Lost Son. Don’t tune out just because you’ve heard this one before. There are some details in this story that you might not have noticed the last time you heard it.
Jesus starts this parable by introducing us to a man with two sons. Based on details from the story, we know this man was wealthy. He had a large property, many animals, and servants to run the place. This dude was loaded.
One cultural detail is that the Jews practiced something called primogeniture. Primogeniture is the idea that the firstborn son gets a double portion of the inheritance. Instead of these two boys getting 50/50, it would be more like the younger brother gets 25% while the older brother gets 75%. And before all the Math teachers in the room go, “UM ACTUALLY…” I know that’s not an accurate percentage. I teach English, not Math! Give me a break!
Point is, the eldest son got most of the inheritance. While this may sound unfair, the eldest son had extra responsibilities. It was his job to take on the family business. His little siblings could do whatever they wanted with their inheritance, but he had to continue the family legacy.
Back to the parable. One day, the youngest son goes to his dad and says, “Dad, I want my inheritance now.” To the Jewish people first hearing this parable, this would have been atrocious, shocking, and infuriating. If your parents had an inheritance saved up for you, when is the only time you can get that inheritance? When they’re dead! This joker is pretty much telling his father, “Dad, I wish you were dead already.” For those who have a younger sibling, can you imagine what your parents would do if your younger sibling said that to them? Chances are, you’d suddenly become an only child! And that’s how the Jewish listeners expected the father to react. One of the 10 Commandments says, “Honor your father and mother.” Clearly, that was not an honoring thing to say. That could earn someone a death by stoning.
But, Jesus says, instead of punishing his son, the father sold some of his property, made sure the amount equaled what the inheritance would’ve been, and gave it to his son. The son then takes the money, goes to another country, and splurges it on “wild living.” I don’t need to go into what that looks like, I’m sure you all can use your imaginations.
Of course, when you spend money without working a job to restock, what’s going to happen? You run out of money. And that’s what happened to the youngest son. Once his money ran out, all his new “friends” ran out, too. “Oh, you can’t buy our drinks anymore? Well, good luck with that. Nice knowing you!” And, as if to add insult to injury, the country gets hit with a famine. The son has no money, no food, and no home. He gets so desperate that he takes a job feeding pigs. Even then, he’s so hungry that he considers eating the slop he’s giving the pigs!
At this point, this son is the least likeable person to Jesus’s Jewish audience. He has dishonored his father, been irresponsible with his possessions, and now shares space with animals that the law deems unclean. From their standpoint, he is the poster child for “irredeemable sinner.”
Eventually, the lightbulb finally turns on. “What am I doing?” the boy says. “Even the servants in my father’s house had a roof over their heads and food in their bellies. You know what? That’s what I’m going to do. I’m going to go home to dad and say, ‘Dad, I’ve sinned against Heaven and against you. I don’t deserve to be your son anymore. Please, make me like one of your servants, and I will work for you for the rest of my life.’” So he picks himself up and goes back home.
Now, what’s the dad been doing this whole time? Has he been cursing his son’s name, wishing he’d never been born? No. We discover that he’s been getting up every morning and standing on the front porch, watching and waiting for his son to come home. Despite the horrible way his son treated him, the dad is still watching and waiting. And finally, off in the distance, he sees his son approaching.
The Jewish audience expected him to wait with his arms crossed, ready to dish out the hardest “Well, look what the cat dragged in” (but probably not, since cats were also considered unclean animals). But this time, the father does something they would consider shameful: He runs out to his son. Remember: they wore robes and tunics at that time. In order to run properly, this guy would’ve had to hike up his robe and run with his bare legs exposed. Chances are, these legs didn’t see the sun very often. But he was so excited to see his son return that he didn’t care how he looked. He just runs and bear hugs his boy.
The son starts off his rehearsed speech. “Dad, I have sinned against Heaven and–” But his dad cuts him off. He yells to his servants, “Quick! Get a clean robe and put it on him! Put a ring on his finger! Remember that calf we were fattening up? Get it butchered and cooked! My son was lost, but now he’s been found!” And like that, the son is restored as a son, and they all celebrate.
Who is God in this story? God is the Good Father, the one who forgives and restores.
Who are we in this story? We are the Lost Son. No matter how far we’ve gone, once we come back to the Father, He welcomes us home and restores us as His children.
Did you notice how the son tried to approach his dad? He was trying to redeem himself through his own effort. “I need to humble myself, serve for the rest of my life, etc.” But his dad wouldn’t even let him finish before welcoming him back.
Some of you may have fallen for the lie that you need to “clean yourself up first” before you can come to Christ or be baptized. We don’t need to work to undo our condemnation. We don’t need perfect grades, perfect lives. We don’t need to fix habits or thoughts or lifestyles. That’s for you and Jesus to work out together, but you need to have that relationship first. Just come home! The Father welcomes those who come.
So, we are the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son, right?
Weeeeellll…. Kind of.
This is where most people miss the point of these parables. We love the redemption stories, but that wasn’t the reason Jesus told them. See, the parable of the Lost Son isn’t done yet. There’s still one other character in this story. Does anyone remember who that is?
Yes, the eldest son. Big Bro is on his way in from working in the fields when he hears a ruckus in the house. He asks a servant what’s happening, and the servant tells him, “Your brother, who left and squandered all his money, has finally come home, and your father is throwing a feast to celebrate his return!”
Bro is mad, he’s livid, he’s…well I’ll get in trouble if I say how I want to say he’s feeling, but you know, he’s not happy. He throws a fit and refuses to come inside. Eventually, his dad comes out and asks him what’s wrong.
“Dad, I have been faithful to you all this time. I never left your side, did everything you told me to do, and I never got even a small party with my friends. But when this scumbag comes back after everything he’s done, you throw him a feast! How is that fair?!”
Another thing to add to that: the primogeniture we talked about earlier. Younger brother already got his inheritance, so the rest was going to go to the elder brother. But now that the brother is back, everything is going to be divided again. He’s going to get even less of his father’s blessing now. He did everything right. He should get all of what his father has, right?
His father gently tells him, “Son, you have always stayed with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate this happy day. Your brother was dead, but he’s alive again. He was lost, but now he’s been found.”
Do you remember who Jesus was telling this parable to? It wasn’t the sinners in need of saving. No, it was the religious leaders, the ones who remained faithful to God, the ones doing the right thing, the ones who judged the people “less holy” than them. These guys were the ninety-nine sheep that didn’t wander, the nine coins that didn’t roll away, the Eldest Son. As the inheritors of God’s promise, they had the primogeniture, the responsibility of taking care of God’s household, taking care of widows, orphans, the poor, the very sinners they were condemning…but they weren’t.
Some of you may have encountered eldest sons like them. Friends, family, teachers; people who look at you and your hobbies and life choices and say, “He’s a bad student. I bet she’s not a Christian. You’re not good enough. You deserve to be condemned.” I hate to admit it, but I have been that person before, too.
But listen to what it says in Romans 8:1. “So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus.”
For those of us who connect with the younger brother, it’s how most people hear this parable: once you belong to Christ, you no longer suffer condemnation for your sins. You have been redeemed, restored, and made righteous in God’s sight, not by anything you did, but by everything He did. Maybe it’s time to come home.
But for the rest of us, the ones who suddenly realize we’ve been acting like the older brother: there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. In the same way God no longer condemns us for our sins, we must no longer condemn those around us. Judgement is God’s and God’s alone. Whatever standard you judge and condemn others, be warned: God will judge and condemn you by that same standard.