Let Jesus Find You
A Sermon on Luke 15
You may have heard of Thomas Kinkade. He is often called the “Painter of Light.” You’ll recognize his paintings by their quaint cottages, horse drawn carriages, or cobblestone bridges, but above all, their fantastic use of color and light.
And if you take the time to look, you’ll notice in the lower corner, next to his signature, there is a fish symbol - and the words John 3:16.
Of course, that is a scripture reference. John 3:16 reads, “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
Thomas says that when he began adding that reference to his paintings, it was “more than a logo or … indifferent tradition. It’s the … core of all that I am. My paintings are nothing more than an extension of God’s love and grace to me.” (Kinkade, p.75)
God is the Embodiment of Love
Truly our heavenly Father is the embodiment of love. As we draw near to Christmas, we are reminded again of His great love – a love so great that He gave His very best – His one and only Son. He gave Him to be born into poverty, in the violent age of first-century Roman-ruled Palestine. He chose to let Him grow up in a time and place where prejudice, hatred, and oppression ruled the day.
Kinkade asks, “Why would He give such a gift? And leave it in such a place?” (Kinkade, p. 76)
He did it because of love. Because of John 3:16. Because He doesn’t want His people to perish, but to believe. And He came to such a place because that’s where His people are – in a violent land where prejudice, hatred, and oppression rule.
Without Christ, we face eternal separation from the joy of God’s presence. And the world we live in offers no hope. But because of God’s incredible gift, we have the opportunity to possess eternal life with God – the opportunity for life, and hope, and joy.
We all have this gift before us. But we don’t always recognize our need, and we don’t always recognize God’s burning desire to see us accept His gift.
And we are not alone in that. But Jesus wants us to understand. And He wanted the sinners, as well as Pharisees of His day, to understand too.
Today I want to look at the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 15. If you have your Bibles with you, I invite you to turn there with me now.
Background
Here we read of a time when Jesus was accused by the Pharisees, the religious leaders of His day, of receiving sinners and eating with them (Lk 15:2). They looked down on Jesus because no self-respecting Rabbi would defile himself by eating with sinners.
And it is in response to this accusation that Jesus tells three parables. They all seem to have the same point with varying levels of intensity.
In them, Jesus does not deny the accusation. Rather each parable states rather bluntly, “Yes, I do.” “I do receive sinners.” And yet, at the end of the day, it is the Pharisees who are left to examine themselves.
The Lost Sheep
The first parable Jesus tells is about a shepherd who lost a sheep. He says:
"What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 "When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 "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 which was lost!’ (Luke 15:4-6, NAU)
The sheep had no hope of returning home if the shepherd had not gone after it. There was nothing it could do on its own to be found. Once separated from the flock, the sheep could not make its way home on its own. But the shepherd recognizes the value of the sheep and expends the energy to find it.
And then Jesus tells us that
in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. (Luke 15:7, NAU)
Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents.
But what does ‘in the same way’ mean? The sheep did nothing – it was merely found. How is that to be likened to a repentant sinner?
Is it possible that Kenneth Bailey’s understanding is correct – that Jesus is defining repentance as ‘the acceptance of being found?’ We will consider that as we look at each parable.
And what of the ninety-nine? Do they really need no repentance? Or is that a sarcastic remark? I think it might be. After all, haven’t we all sinned and fallen short of the glory of God? Though I might be stretching things a bit, you might notice that the 99 are still in the wilderness.
To really understand, we need to look at all three parables.
The Lost Coin
Turning to verse 8, Jesus reinforces His point by telling another story - one about a woman and her coins. He says:
"Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 "When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ’Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’(Luke 15:8-9, NAU)
And again, Jesus says:
In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents." (Luke 15:10, NAU)
Again, we have a valuable lost item. And again, it is an item that cannot find itself. The woman must diligently search if the item is to be found. Again we have joy in heaven over repentance.
While a sheep might bleat and give some assistance to the searching shepherd, there is no doubt that a coin can in no way help the searcher. Believe me, I know, I’ve spent my share of time looking for misplaced money. It cannot say ‘I’m over here.’
Like a sheep, but even more so, a coin can merely be found. It can do nothing for itself. And the same is true of a sinner. If we are to repent, we too must accept being found.
But we still need to reckon with the nine coins that needed no finding. Are they, as well as the 99 sheep, also represented in the next parable? Are they to be likened to the older brother, and does he really need no repentance? And if so, what does that mean?
The Lost Sons – the younger
Let’s look at Jesus third and final parable in this trilogy. I like to call it “The Parable of the Lost Sons,” for truly both sons are estranged from their father, and both need reconciliation.
We’ll start with the younger son. In verse 11, Jesus says:
"A man had two sons. 12 "The younger of them said to his father, ’Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. 13 "And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. (Luke 15:11 -13, NAU)
By asking for his share of the estate, the younger son is in effect saying, “Father, I want you dead so I can have my inheritance.” He would not normally receive his share before the death of his father.
But rather than being outraged and punishing his son for such a request – as would be expected, the father does something very unusual – he gives both sons their inheritance.
And the younger son liquidates his share and then leaves town as quickly as possible. Even if his dad has allowed him his request, the townspeople will look down on him for what he has done. So it’s time to get out of Dodge.
While away, he discovers that money doesn’t last forever and not managing it well, he soon runs out of cash. We read:
14 "Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. 15 "So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 "And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving anything to him. (Luke 15:14 -16, NAU)
For the son to get a job feeding pigs, he had to be in a Gentile country, and he had to be desperate. Jews would never be pig farmers. So the young Jewish boy loses his money among the Gentiles. This is a terrible disgrace.
In first-century Judaism, a Jewish boy who lost his family inheritance among the Gentiles would face what was called the kezazah ceremony. The village would fill a pot with burned nuts and burned corn and break it in front of the guilty person. They would then shout, “so-and-so is cut off from his people.” And then they would have nothing to do with the boy – leaving him with a dim future indeed.
Now that the younger son has lost his inheritance, and has been unable to earn it back, even by feeding pigs for a Gentile businessman, shame and disgrace certainly await him if he ever returns to his village.
But as desperately as he wants to avoid facing his father and his community in shame, his hunger ultimately drives him home. We read in verse 17:
He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 "When he came to his senses, he said, ’How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ (Luke 15:17 - 15:19, NIV)
The younger son came to his senses. Literally that reads, “He came to himself.” And while thinking of himself, he came up with a plan to manipulate his father so that he can satisfy his hunger.
While we often try to read it into the text, there isn’t necessarily repentance going on here – at least not yet. He speaks words that confess sin, but they are quoted from the mouth of Pharaoh himself. After the eighth plague in Exodus, chapter 10, Pharaoh calls for Moses and Aaron and says,
"I have sinned against the LORD your God and against you. 17 Now forgive my sin once more and pray to the LORD your God to take this deadly plague away from me." (Exodus 10:16b-17, NIV)
But if you know the story, Pharaoh wasn’t really interested in letting the Israelites go and worship. He wasn’t interested in recognizing God’s sovereignty in his life. He just used these words to try to manipulate Moses and God to get rid of the plague. All he really cared about was himself. First century Pharisees would certainly recognize where these words came from.
And in keeping the parallels with Jesus other two parables, there is nothing the son can do to find himself. This story cannot contradict the previous parables. The son’s plan won’t bring reconciliation. These are just well crafted words to get him what he needs – a meal. He’s still thinking about himself, not repentance.
While he does go to his father, it is the father who is diligently searching the horizon, waiting for a glimpse of his son. The father expects the son will fail and have to return in shame. And so the father crafts a plan of his own to protect his son from facing the kezazah ceremony. For if reconciliation with his son can occur publicly, the community will not suggest the ceremony be carried out. The father alone can save his son.
And so we read that the younger son
20 "…got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 "And the son said to him, ’Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
But he doesn’t get to finish his well-planned-out speech. His father cuts him off, saying to his slaves:
22 … ’Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:20 - 15:24, NAU)
Again, something very valuable is lost. And again we see joy when the lost is found.
The son expects to have to run the gauntlet when he returns home. But instead, his father has run it for him.
Middle Easterners do not run in public. It is a very humiliating act. To pick up your robes, show your legs, and run to the edge of the village is something no self-respecting landowner would do. But the father takes the shame upon himself so that the village will witness the reconciliation, and his son will not have to face the kezazah ceremony.
As the father showers kisses upon his son, the son is taken aback at his father’s actions. He fumblingly starts his speech, but stops midway through – and in the process, it has changed from a manipulative act to an honest confession. He surrenders his plan to save himself, for he cannot, and lets his father find him.
And so Jesus has begun to answer the Pharisees accusation that he eats with sinners.
Kenneth Bailey paraphrases Jesus’ answer this way:
“You accuse me of eating with sinners. You are absolutely right. That is precisely what I do. But as a matter of fact, I not only sit down and eat with sinners, I rush down the road, shower them with kisses and drag them in that I might eat with them. It is much worse than you imagined!” (Bailey, p.62)
He is Looking for You
If that is you today, if you are the lost sheep, the lost coin, the son in a faraway land – then know this – Jesus is watching the horizon, diligently searching. And, though you may be a long way off, if you look up you will see Him running toward you. He wants to dine with you and give you life. He wants you to be found, and believe.
Maybe the church, like the Pharisees, has rejected you and declared you a sinner – said that you are without hope. I hope not, but it happens. Nevertheless, Jesus hasn’t. Yes, He knows you are a sinner, but He also knows there is hope. And if you will let Him find you, there is eternal life, and joy as well.
Golden Palms - Kinkade
Thomas Kinkade, the painter, tells what it was like for him to be found. It was 1979, and a few months before Christmas he had accepted Christ as his Savior.
At the time, he lived in a ghetto known as the “Golden Palms.” Thomas writes, “If you had hope in that place, it was because you carried your hope around with you – it was a cinch you wouldn’t find it in that environment. The Golden Palms was anything but golden. And yet that year, on that Christmas, it somehow was.” (Kinkade, p. 13)
He goes on to tell that he was as alone as he had ever been in his life. There was no money. His mother had moved away. He didn’t know where dad was. There was little contact with his siblings. He had no girlfriend. He was an unknown starving artist living in a ghetto.
Thomas says, “I should have been lonely. I should have been down. But instead, I was filled with awe and joy. To think that I could walk right into the courts of the living God and speak to Him whenever I wanted! To think that His Holy Spirit – the eternal God, in all His fullness – chose to live in my dumpy little apartment with me. The Golden Palms were the very courts of the Lord.” (Kinkade, p. 14)
That’s why Jesus was born into this sin-filled world – so He could find people like Thomas, and you, and me – and give us hope.
The Lost Sons – the older
But Jesus didn’t just come to eat and dine with sinners. He loves and values the Pharisees too – those people who don’t think they need to be found. He loves the self-righteous, law-abiding church goers who think they need no repentance. But He can’t dine with them until they let Him find them and accept the invitation.
Jesus loves them and wants them to realize they too are sinners who are lost and need to be found. If they can know that, then they are one step closer to the banquet table. And then Jesus can run to them and shower them with kisses too, in hopes that they will let Him find them.
The 99 sheep left in the wilderness. The 9 coins needed no finding. The older son? Is there a parallel here? We read from verse 25:
25 "Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 "And he summoned one of the servants and began inquiring what these things could be. 27 "And he said to him, ’Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ (Luke 15:25 - 15:27, NAU)
The servant said it well. The celebration is because the father has received the son. Instead of a shameful ceremony, we’re partying.
It isn’t because the son has done anything right. We, like the older son, sometimes miss this.
The banquet is for the father. It is not for the sinful son. And when Christ eats with sinners, it isn’t to celebrate them, but to celebrate His gift of life to them and the fact that they have let Him receive them.
And when we miss that, we get angry with God that He can accept sinful people into His kingdom and celebrate with them when we have been so good – or so we think. We start to think like the Pharisees – and like the older son who
28 "… became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and began pleading with him. 29 "But he answered and said to his father, ’Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ (Luke 15:28 - 15:30, NAU)
Again the father does the unexpected. The older son has insulted his father by not coming to the banquet. People will notice that he is not there. But the father would be expected to grimly proceed with the banquet and punish his son severely at some later point.
But this father is a symbol for God. And so he makes the painful journey from the banquet to his son. People watch and wonder, and he can feel their eyes upon him. But the father must go if he is to find reconciliation with his older son. Shameful as it is, he pleads with his son to join them. It is a price his is willing to pay.
But the older son missed the point. You’ve never given me anything, he said. You killed the calf for him.
No son, I didn’t do it for him. The banquet is for me. I have finally succeeded in finding your brother.
31 "… you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 ’But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’" (Luke 15:31 - 15:32, NAU)
When the faithful – the found – finally sit down one day to the banquet table in heaven, there will be great rejoicing. But the joy will not be because we have achieved salvation, but because God has granted it and succeeded in finding all of the lost sheep.
The Pharisees certainly must have recognized that Jesus had painted them into the parable in the person of the older son. They did not want to accept these sinners and they believe that they themselves were like the 99 sheep who did not need repentance. But Jesus knew they were still in the wilderness. And He wanted both the lost sheep and the lost flock to be brought home.
Jesus longs to eat with them too. But if they continue to reject the people that Christ has accepted at His feast, they will ultimately finalize their own separation from the kingdom.
To the Pharisees, Jesus says, “Yes, I eat with sinners. Please come and join us.”
Copyright 12-16-07, Sue Blader
Sources:
1) Bible Works 5, Revision 2, (Bigfork, Montana: Hermeneutika Computer Bible Research Software, 2001).
2) Kenneth Bailey, Jacob and the Prodigal, (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press), 2003.
3) Thomas and Nanette Kinkade, The Many Loves of Christmas, (Sisters, OR: Multnomah Publishers), 2003.
