[Giving Jesus Away] the Value of Oneਨਮੂਨਾ

The Lost Sons

Jesus shared one more parable. It begins, “A man had two sons” (vs. 11). Both sons are key characters in the plot.

Tired of working in the family business, the younger son asked his father for his share of the estate. He then squandered his fortune in a foreign land. Broke and hungry, he was hired to feed pigs—a wholly despicable task for any respectable Jew. Had his father disowned him, he would have been applauded for doing so.

When the younger son returned to humbly ask his father for a job, his father did not chase him away. Instead, he ran to embrace and kiss him. Then, he organized a grand party where the young man was celebrated with a family ring and the finest of robes.

To Jesus’ listeners, this parable was difficult to accept. The son was wholly responsible for going astray. Had he gotten what he deserved, he would have been abandoned by his father and chased from town, if not worse. Instead, he receives astounding grace and mercy. The third parable reveals the Father’s heart for all who are lost or have gone astray.

When the older brother returned from a hard day’s work, he heard music and dancing. From a servant, he learned the party was due to his younger brother’s return. His selfish, disrespectful, lazy brother should have been chased off, if not stoned to death! The older son believed his father owed him an explanation. He had stood by his father’s side. He had been faithful and obedient. He should have had a party, not his younger brother.

But the party wasn’t meant to recognize or celebrate past behavior; it was an expression of love. The father begged the older son to join in. Jesus did not say how he responded. This, of course, was the question Jesus had for the religious leaders. Those leaders, like the older brother, stood outside the Heavenly Father’s party. In telling this final parable, Jesus begs them to celebrate when one who was lost is found, when one who was dead is given new life.

Jesus wants us to join the party, too. Maybe we avoid others because of behaviors they have displayed or things they have said. They deserve it, we surmise, and so we keep our distance. We do not invite them into our homes. We do not extend a kind word. We do not offer them the grace of Jesus. We do not search for the missing and valuable. We think that leaves us on the moral high ground, when it only keeps us from the Father’s grand party for all the lost who have been found.

This devotional plan was based on the second chapter of the book Giving Jesus Away. If you would like to read more about this topic, please click here.