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January 19 - Luke 15 · A Chapter a Day Bible Reading

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  Hello, friends, it's Sean here. It's a Monday, it's the 19th of
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  January, and thank you for inviting me into the start of
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  your week so that we can continue reading through the
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  Gospel of Luke. And this week we are going to be
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  having wall to wall parables. It is just like sitting down
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  with Jesus, the rabbi, and he is going to share story after story
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  after parable after parable. And I imagine for most of us, we
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  will know these parables, but we are going to listen to them with
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  fresh ears and be reminded of the truth that the God of the
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  universe has for us to learn more about God and his Kingdom
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  and our role in it. Oh, what a treat.
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  So friends, let us travel back. Let us get a comfy spot sitting
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  on the grass or the dirt or leaning against a tree, hearing
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  what it is that Jesus is going to share with us as we continue
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  reading through the Gospel of Luke today reading chapter 15.
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  Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to
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  listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and
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  teachers of religious law complain that he was associating
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  with such sinful people, even eating with them.
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  So Jesus told them this story. If a man has 100 sheep and one
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  of them gets lost, what will he do?
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  Won't he leave the 99 others in the wilderness and go to search
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  for the one that was lost until he finds it?
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  And when he has found it, he will joyfully carry it home on
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  his shoulders. When he arrives, he will call
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  together his friends and neighbours, saying, Rejoice with
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  me because I've found my lost sheep.
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  In the same way, there is more joy in heaven over one lost
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  Sinner who repents and returns to God, than over 99 others who
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  are righteous and haven't strayed away.
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  Or suppose a woman has 10 silver coins and loses 1.
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  Won't she light a lamp and sweep the entire house and search
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  carefully until she finds it, and when she finds it, she will
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  call in her friends and neighbours and say, Rejoice with
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  me because I have found my lost coin.
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  In the same way there is joy in the presence of God's angels
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  when even 1 Sinner repents. To illustrate this point
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  further, Jesus told them this story.
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  A man had two sons. The younger son told his father,
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  I want my share of your estate now before you die.
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  So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
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  A few days later, his younger son packed all his belongings
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  and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in
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  wild living. About the time his money ran
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  out, a great famine swept over the land and he began to starve.
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  He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him
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  into his fields to feed the pigs.
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  The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was
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  feeding the pigs look good to him, but no one gave him
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  anything. When he finally came to his
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  senses, he said to himself at home, even the hired servants
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  have food enough to spare. And here I am dying of hunger.
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  I will go home to my father and say, Father, I've sinned against
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  both heaven and you, and I'm no longer worthy of being called
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  your son. Please take me on as a hired
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  servant. So he returned home to his
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  father, and while he was still a long way off, his father saw him
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  coming. Filled with love and compassion,
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  he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.
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  His son said to him, Father, I have sinned against both heaven
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  and you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
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  But his father said to the servants, Quick, bring the
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  finest robe in the house and put it on him.
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  Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet.
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  Kill the calf we've been fattening.
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  We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead
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  and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is
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  found. So the party began.
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  Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working.
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  When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house
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  and he asked one of the servants what was going on.
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  Your brother is back, he was told, and your father has killed
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  the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of
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  his safe return. The older brother was angry and
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  wouldn't go in. His father came out and begged
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  him, but he replied. All these years I've slaved for
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  you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to.
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  And in all that time, you never gave me even one young goat for
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  a feast with my friends, yet when this son of yours comes
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  back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you
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  celebrate by killing the fattened calf.
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  His father said to him. Look dear son, you have always
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  stayed by me and everything I have is yours.
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  We had to celebrate this happy day, for your brother was dead
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  and has come back to life. He was lost, but now he is
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  found. Oh,
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  Jesus, we see so clearly your heart and your Father's heart as
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  you share these three parables, and we just marvel at how
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  different you are to conventional wisdom.
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  We like people getting their just desserts, and we think that
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  what people do kind of earns what they get.
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  But here you are sharing this radical approach that you love
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  with this abandoned, with this generosity, and that whenever
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  somebody turns from whatever decisions they're making, good,
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  bad, or indifferent, and return to you, you just run to them.
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  You don't sit in your parlour awaiting our return, but like
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  that father of the prodigal son, you run to us and throw your
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  arms around us. You prepare a feast.
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  You put your ring on our finger and sandals on our feet.
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  We truly are your children, and you celebrate us as such.
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  My Lord, we don't understand this generosity, and it's hard
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  for us to wrap our heads around it, but it doesn't limit your
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  generosity because your generosity is not subject to our
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  understanding, thankfully. We thank you for your love and
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  for your provision, and we pray that you soften our hearts to be
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  more like yours and less like that older brother that we know
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  our hearts are all too often like.
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  You're wonderful, and we pray all of this in your loving and
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  forgiving name, Jesus, Amen.