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March 2024 -
Joy for Sinners, Part 1
Luke 15:1-7
JESUS’S BIG DEAL OVER LOST-AND-FOUND
Background for a Beloved Parable
Have you ever noticed that angry people are almost impossible to pacify? Something about anger feeds on itself like burning gasoline.
Sometimes anger is necessary. In times when injustice reigns, anger generates the zeal needed to address the wrong and fight for the innocent.
Then there are the times when anger becomes cannibalistic. Such is the case in Luke 15. The chapter opens with anger already seething among the elites.
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear [Jesus]. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
--Luke 15:1-2
Notice that the complaint lacks any reason why the elites believe that Jesus’s fellowship with such people might be wrong. The fact simply grates on their sensibilities. Their attitude reveals a deep prejudice on their part.
Fighting Fire with Compassion
For the Scribes and Pharisees, tax collectors and sinners represented the picture of hopelessness. For Jesus to care about them meant that he squandered his efforts.
Obviously, Jesus wants to address the situation, but instead of confronting his detractors, he appeals to them with persuasion. He takes on their anger, not with logic but with a call for compassion in the form of a parable. His response takes up all of Luke 15 and includes appeals to a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son.
Why Parables?
Luke writes, “So he told them this parable” (Luke 15:3). That is, he tells a story. Why?
The pharisees and scribes believe that Jesus has made a serious error in judgment. As a holy man, he has consented to eat with morally corrupt people. They will compromise his righteous. What will God think? Jesus, of course, knows what God thinks and desires to correct two misconceptions that plague the religious authorities. First, contrary to their expectations, his heavenly Father takes delight in pardoning those who deserve his wrath. Second, because of that, Jesus has every right to dine with the most repulsive members of their society, tax collectors and sinners.The difficulty in communicating this level of truth lies in realities that double back on themselves. The scribes and Pharisees are convinced that they are right. No amount of logical intervention will persuade them otherwise. For that reason, Jesus appeals to a story because story carries truth to the heart as well as the head.
Preparing the Ground for the Story to Come
He opens the parable with two rhetorical questions that speak to sensibilities—searching for a lost sheep (verses 1-7) and searching for a lost coin (verses 8-10). Luke writes,
So he told them this parable:
“What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 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.’ Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.”
--Luke 15:3-7
These words appeal by a directed question, “What man of you…?” The personal and immediate nature of the question redirects their thinking back to themselves.
Seeking the Lost
His question is almost too idealistic for reality. Many shepherds tending sheep alone in the wilderness would decide to let a single lost sheep perish rather than risk having the flock ravaged while he is out searching. Jesus appears to be referencing a sermon from the book of Ezekiel on the duties of God’s shepherds of Israel. The sermon sets the bar for what a compassionate spiritual shepherd should look like. Ezekiel makes two references to the lost. In the first, he declares, “The weak you have not strengthened, the sick you have not healed, the injured you have not bound up, the strayed you have not brought back, the lost you have not sought…” (Ezekiel 34:4). The other reference in Ezekiel declares what God himself will do for his sheep in light of the shepherds’ failure. “I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed” (Ezekiel 34:16).
Jesus’s response to the scribes and Pharisees features a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son in his parable. The fact that only Ezekiel and Luke refer to the lost in this way suggests that Jesus has this connection in mind. [1] After all, in fellowshipping with tax collectors and sinners, he fulfills the ancient vow, “For thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, I myself will search for my sheep and will seek them out” (Ezekiel 34:11).
If this is the picture that Jesus has in mind, it elevates this society’s rejected class to the level of God’s sheep. It also places a lot of responsibility on the religious authorities who should be watching out for them.
A Second Appeal with a Similar Message
Following his appeal to the vigilant shepherd, Jesus takes the Pharisees and scribes to a second appeal.
“Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek diligently until she finds it? 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.’ Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
--Luke 15:8-10
The two petitions follow the same form of reasoning to reinforce the narrative:
- An opening appeal: “What man of you…?”; “What woman…?”
- An opening statement of ownership: A hundred sheep; ten silver coins.
- A small but significant loss: A lost sheep; a lost coin.
- Intense care for the one that is lost: Leaving the ninety-nine; searching the house.
- Diligent search that continues until success is achieved: “When he has found it”; “When she has found it.”
- Affirmation for that which was lost: “He lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing”; “She calls together her friends and neighbors.”
- Celebration at the success: “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost”; “Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I have lost.”
A Double Appeal
Both appeals conclude with a reference to joy in heaven, the overarching appeal of his message. However, the conclusions are more than carbon copies of each other. Jesus says of the sheep, “Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.” Who are the ninety-nine? I do not believe that they are the “already saved.” This interpretation implies that God’s joy in them would wane after the novelty wears off. God’s joy over us will never wane. Instead, I believe the ninety-nine represent the self-righteous murmurers who think they need no repentance. On the lost-and-found coin, he says, “Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.” Jesus makes a subtle but important shift here. He is less interested in putting his detractors down than he is in appealing to their compassion. His exclusive reference to joy in the second example sets the stage for the actual parable, the story of the lost son. By the time he finishes, the only unresolved question will be whether the religious elites will see their way to sharing God’s joy in welcoming the undeserving.
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[1] James R. Edwards, The Gospel According to Luke, The Pillar New Testament Commentary, (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015), 435.
Joy for Sinners, Part 2
Luke 15:11-16
FLIGHT FROM HOME
Waiting for Justice
Everyone knows the story of the prodigal son. It stands as one of the Bible’s most familiar stories, a response by Jesus to a bunch of religious leaders when they criticize his actions. The account exists in the Bible for the simple reason that a group of Pharisees and scribes took issue with one of Jesus’s practices. “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Luke 15:2). Whether the religious leaders realize the fact or not, their criticism raises a titanic theological issue. How does God bring glory to himself? They have part of the answer in hand. God is glorified when he brings justice to the earth. One of the great statements on the greatness of God’s justice lies in Psalm 9:
But the LORD sits enthroned forever;
he has established his throne for justice,
and he judges the world with righteousness;
he judges the peoples with uprightness.
--Psalm 9:7-8
This statement is part of a plea by David for God to do what he alone can do—to bring down the enemies who hate him while he vindicates those who love him. In other words, God is glorified when he balances the moral books and returns harmony to the creation.
Divine Bookkeeping
The religious leaders in Jesus’s day are convinced that this view describes God whole moral goal for all history. In other words, a doctrine of divine justice drives them. If God is to balance the books, he must make all the undeserving sinners reap the consequences of their actions. This is why they murmur at Jesus’s friendship with tax collectors and sinners. Jesus interferes with God’s justice. The flaw in their reasoning involves over-simplified thinking. Yes, God will bring justice to the earth, but cold justice is not the only way he brings glory to himself. In fact, it is not even the most significant way. The greatest glory that God brings to himself occurs when he pardons his enemies and invites them into fellowship with him. Jesus addresses this issue with his opening examples of the lost sheep and the lost coin. These two questions move the subject from anger over interrupted verdicts to “joy in heaven over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:7) and “joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). Judgment alone mercy knows nothing of mercy or joy. Grace understands both intimately. And this is what Jesus wants the religious leaders to grasp. When he speaks to them, he has a couple options. He could engage his detractors in dialogue. “What would you say if…?” Or he could lecture them on their merciless attitude. Instead, he tells a story. At first, it plays to their sensibilities, but in the end it will wrench them in the opposite direction.
Justice Served Cold
The parable of the father and two sons contains three sections of equal weight—a younger and restless son who forsakes his heritage, a broken-hearted father who longs to reunite with his son, and the older son who has embraced a loveless world. Jesus uses each character to press his point on the joy that emerges from forgiveness. Together, the three sections reveal three distinct answers to the religious leaders’ unspoken question, “Why doesn’t Jesus let these tax collectors and sinners get what they deserve?” The opening to Jesus’s story is explosive. “There was a man who had two sons” (Luke 15:17). From the first sentence, potential conflicts emerge like basement mildew. Fraternal jealousy. Parental defamation. Selfishness. Entitlement. The ground is ripe for family dysfunction. The younger son drives the first part of the narration. Jesus continues,
And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.
--Luke 15:12
What an incredible picture. Here is a kid who lives in a wealthy family and has every opportunity to succeed in life. But he apparently hates his life on the farm and resents his father to the point that he wants his inheritance in advance. He considers his father dead. The kid is an embarrassment to Jewish sensibility. But that is the point. Jesus wants to build the most despicable character possible. The father grants his son’s wish, and then the inevitable occurs. With two sweeping sentences, Jesus describes the young man’s descent into ruin.
“Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
--Luke 15:13-15
For the Pharisees and scribes, this is the perfect ending for the story. Justice is served cold. The kid has received exactly what he deserves and that part where he hires himself out to a pig farmer? Perfect. Just like these tax collectors and sinners. Whoever disgraces their father and their God should suffer. However, Jesus adds a final comment to the scene. “And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything” (Luke 15:16). Factually, the statement recognizes that the pods that the pigs eat are indigestible to humans. Emotionally, the picture is more dire. With no one to give him anything, he faces inevitable starvation.
An Unexpected Twist
From the scribes and Pharisees’ point of view, Jesus appears to have lost his way in his story. He had the kid where they wanted him, and now he urges pity. Jesus makes this move on purpose. The element of sympathy begins to draw them toward a mindset that cares. Those who know how to feel sympathy can empathize with the young man. When they see through his point of view, his dilemma breaks their hearts, and they hope for a change of fortune to come to him. Jesus will use that element to direct the remainder of the story toward the joy that he wants to show these angry men. This brings us to the first answer to the fundamental question, “Why doesn’t Jesus let these people get what they deserve?” We could ask it rhetorically:
Might we not care about these human beings who were lost and now are found?
Joy for Sinners, Part 3
Luke 15:17-24
A FATHER WHO CARES
Trampling on Sacred Tradition
Throughout the Old Testament, biblical Hebrew culture promoted family-connected ties to the land under their covenant with God. All three concepts—covenant, land, and family—appear in one of God’s communications to Abraham.
“And I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant to be God to you, and to your offspring after you the land of your sojournings, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession, and I will be their God.”
--Genesis 17:7-8, emphasis added
Seven hundred years after Abraham, Moses passed on detailed inheritance laws to the nation of Israel. Family lands reflect the covenant that God made with Abraham. The land must stay with each family in perpetuity. For that reason, when Jesus introduces a story in which a younger brother demands his share of his father’s wealth so that he can break from his family, he opens deep issues regarding the faith of his fathers. His greed not only tears his family apart but reflects his rejection of God’s covenant as well. Jesus’s parable opens with a picture of a despicable human being. The rebellious son is all but beyond forgiveness. When he finds himself starving on a Gentile pig farm, his end reflects rightful condemnation.
The Beginnings of Humility
The young man’s crash and burn is sweet music for the legalists to whom Jesus speaks. But then, Jesus does the unthinkable. He begins to describe the young man’s plight in sympathetic language. “And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything” (Luke 15:16). The appeal emerges as such a soft whisper that it is doubtful that anyone even notices it at first. Yet it is there, and it is genuine. It says in effect, “Don’t think only in terms of hate. Think humanely.” The second part of the story drives this notion forward.
“But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.’
--Luke 15:17-19
A pastor whom I knew several years ago used to insist that for a person to come to faith, he must come to the end of himself. His words sounded wise, but without a change of direction, they described a dead end. Many people come to the end of themselves, only to commit suicide. The turning point in the story occurs at the beginning of the quote above, where Jesus says that the derelict comes to himself. Some translations render the phrase, “to his senses.” The message of salvation declares that an escape route exists from the end of ourselves. In the story, the young man recognizes his biological connection that continues to exist. “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough…? I will arise and go to my father and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned…. “ The appeal that he rehearses demonstrates a newfound humility. He steels himself to confess to his rebellion against his father and then accept the estrangement that he is certain will follow. His words, “I am no longer worthy…” reflect his return to his senses. His request is to “Treat me as one of your hired servants.” The term refers to day laborers who wait outside the farm for a chance to work. They are lower than slaves insofar as they lack any ties to a master who provides for them. If someone gives them work, they will eat. If not, they will go hungry. Yet even this is better than guaranteed starvation at the pig farm.
An Unexpected Twist
With that, he returns home. He is utterly unprepared for the reception that awaits him there:
“And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
--Luke 15:20-21
Now, the father’s role surprises Jesus’s listening audience. For the man to welcome the one who had smeared his name was unthinkable enough. To offer full forgiveness after what his son man had done to him would have been unspeakable. Yet love overrides cultural demands. The man sees his son from a long way off and runs to him. Obviously, he has been waiting for his return. Beyond this, however, is the act of running itself. To run, he must tuck his robes between his legs and hold his garments. This exposes his flesh, an incredibly shameful act in Middle Eastern culture. His compassion drives him to disgrace himself. When he reaches his son, he embraces and kisses him, unconcerned that he is unbathed and covered in filth from the pigs. The father’s joy is so great that he makes himself ritually unclean on behalf of the one who had betrayed him. Meanwhile, the son speaks in genuine confession. He holds to the terms of his rehearsed speech. However, the father interrupts him before he can finish.
“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.”
--Luke 15:22-24
For the religious elites, the story has become irrational. In their minds, it defies all logic.
Back to the Question
Jesus has taken his audience to a second answer to the unspoken question from the beginning the chapter. “Shouldn’t these tax collectors and sinners get what they deserve?” This middle section of the parable confronts them with Jesus’s reasoning. “I love what my Father loves, and I do what he does.” Jesus’s monologue draws the religious elite to grace. The competent shepherd seeks the lost sheep and celebrates when he rescues it. The woman scours the house and calls her friends when she finds it. And the father kills the fattened calf. So it is with the tax collectors and sinners with whom Jesus eats. Against all “righteous” expectations, God in heaven rejoices in them.