Finding Our Way Home Series

Title: Finding Our Way Home

Intro: There is more than one lost son in this story.

Scriptures:

Joshua 5:9,

Joshua 5:10-12,

1 Corinthians 5:17-21,

Luke 15:1-3,

Luke 15:11-32.

Reflection

Dear Sisters and Brothers,

There is a scene I cannot shake from my mind. A father stands on the edge of his property, shielding his eyes from the setting sun, looking down the dusty road. He has been doing this every evening for years now. The servants know not to disturb him during this ritual. It is his sacred moment of hope, his daily act of faith that today might be the day his son returns home.

And then one evening, it happens. A figure appears on the horizon. The shape is different – thinner, hunched over, limping slightly – but a father knows his child from any distance. Before his mind can even process what he is seeing, his feet are already moving. The dignified estate owner, respected throughout the region, hitches up his robes and runs – runs – down the road toward his broken son.

This is where we find ourselves in Luke 15, in what might be the most beautiful story Jesus ever told. "While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him" (Luke 15:20).

Two brothers. One father. A family wounded, then healed – well, almost healed. That is the story we are exploring today.

Let us set the scene from Luke 15: "Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to Jesus. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, 'This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them'" (Luke 15:1-2). Jesus responds by telling three parables – a lost sheep, a lost coin, and finally, this lost son.

But as we will discover, there is more than one lost son in this story.

The younger son's request was breathtaking in its audacity: "Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me" (Luke 15:12). In essence, he was saying, "I wish you were dead so I could have your money." No wonder he headed to a distant country. How could he look his father in the eye after such a request?

And yet, the father gives him what he asks for. No lecture. No guilt trip. Just the freedom to choose his own path, even when that path leads away from home.

We know what happens next. The money runs out. A famine hits. And suddenly the young Jewish man who once had everything finds himself feeding pigs – unclean animals to a Jewish person – and longing to fill his stomach with the pods they were eating.

Rock bottom has a way of clearing our vision.

"When he came to himself," Jesus tells us in Luke 15:17, the son realized what he had lost. Notice those words: "he came to himself." Until that moment, he had not been himself at all. Sin does not just separate us from God; it separates us from our true selves.

So he rehearses his speech: "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands" (Luke 15:18-19). It is a good speech – honest, humble, and realistic. He does not expect to waltz back into sonship after what he has done.

But he never gets to finish that speech because his father interrupts him with embrace, with kisses, with tears, with a robe, a ring, sandals, and the command to prepare a feast. "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!" (Luke 15:24).

This is what grace looks like. Not earned, not deserved, not even requested – just lavishly given.

In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul writes, "So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new!" (2 Corinthians 5:17). The father does not just forgive his son; he restores him completely. The robe covers his filthy clothes. The ring symbolizes his place in the family. The sandals mark him as a son, not a servant. And the feast? That is pure joy.

But our story does not end there, because there is another son. The elder brother, coming in from the fields, hears music and dancing. When he learns the reason for the celebration, Luke tells us, "he became angry and refused to go in" (Luke 15:28).

His words cut deep: "Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!" (Luke 15:29-30).