27th March 2022 (Lent 4)
Title: Welcoming Grace & Lost and Found
(Scripture Readings: 2 Corinthians 5:16–21 & Luke 15:1–3, 11b–32)
By Heeyoung Lim
Jesus had described heaven as a banquet for the poor, crippled, blind, and lame. He had told the rich banquet hosts to invite such people to their feasts, not seeking repayment. Such people wanted to hear more and to see what Jesus would do for them. Meanwhile, the religious experts also maintained their watch, hoping to trap Jesus. Chapter 15 begins with a complaint made by the religious leaders regarding Jesus’ willingness to welcome and eat with sinners.
Jesus attracts sinners who need salvation, but religious leaders are too self-righteous to associate with sinners. Jesus associated with sinners because he knew they recognized their need of salvation and would respond, bringing joy to heaven. God and His people pay attention to the lost or sinners, seeking to find the lost and bringing them to Jesus. God waits patiently and lovingly for people to return to Him.
Sinners followed Jesus eagerly. Self-righteous religious leaders constantly blamed Jesus for having fellowship with such sinners. Finally, Jesus told three stories to show what it means to be lost and how a loving Father waits for the sinner to come home and be saved. God’s love restores sinners to the right relationship with Him.
In today’s text, Jesus turned to the family setting for his concluding parable to illustrate why he associated sinners. A younger son demanded his share of the estate and got it. There is no indication of why he wanted it or why the father so quickly gave it to him. The younger brother’s portion was only a third of the estate if the entire estate were divided. By law, the older brother got a double portion (Deut. 21:17).
The younger son wanted to be on his own. He distanced himself as far as possible from the family. He also took up a new lifestyle. Untrained in money matters, he quickly had many expenses and no income. The result came quickly, then a famine hit the land. No one had food or work. He found a job and fed pigs in a pigpen, but he was starving. “And I am about to die from hunger,” he said. “I will go back to Daddy and tell him I have sinned against him and against heaven.” After his mind went to work again, he could quit his riotous living and come home. No longer are we using animals or objects to talk about the lost. People are lost here.
In verse 20, focus shifts from son to father. Son is on the move, and his father is still standing and waiting to see his son. It is certainly not given that a sinner will repent. However, the son had repented and returned. What would fill the father’s heart? The old legs started churning, arms stretched out, and lips reached for a kiss. The family conflict was over and forgotten.
Even in the joyful welcome, he repeated the plea he had rehearsed. However, now it is a special party time! The son must be properly dressed for the party. Servants dashed off as they were commissioned to get the best robe, a ring, and sandals. Other servants ran to the kitchen to prepare the menu the father ordered.
How could the father act like this? Did he not know what the son had done? He was lost, and the lost sheep is back. Certainly, a lost and found son is worth much more than a coin or a sheep. This is one of the pictures of the Father in heaven. He does celebrate when the lost are found and when sinners repent. We can feel the compassion and love he shows. Why does Jesus associate with sinners? Because heaven loves them and waits patiently for them to return and repent so the celebration can begin.
While the younger son is welcomed by the father who had waited for him through anxious days and months, he is discarded by his older brother in a jealous rage. His older brother who had spent his time working and being dutiful says to his father, “this son of yours”, but the father responds, “this brother of yours.” Life and faith are not about just doing the right thing but about being in relationships that are real, good, and capable of bearing hurt and being put back together again. There was reconciliation, love, and restoration between the father and the lost son. It is a call for warm hearts and deep emotions, and an insight into the passion of God. Everything has become new in the love of God.
“Listen a minute, my beloved son,” his father replied. “You are with me forever. I can count on you. Everything I now have will go to you. Your younger brother was dead, but now he is alive right here with us. Come celebrate with heaven.” The father invites him to the joyful party, but the elder brother does not respond.
In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul’s ministry was compelled by the display of Christ’s love on the cross. Paul had been united to Christ in his death and resurrection, and thus had been inwardly renewed and regenerated. The apostle truly was a new creation. In this changed state, he began to look at people differently. He saw believers as new creations in Christ and unbelievers as people in need of Christ. This dramatic change was a work of God in his heart.
He repeated the Greek terms for “reconcile” and “reconciliation” five times throughout today’s text. Reconciliation is the establishment of harmony and peace between enemies. People are reconciled when mutual love binds them together. God established peace between himself and Paul through Christ. This act of divine love and grace transformed him. Paul said that God gave him and his company the ministry of reconciliation. A ministry is a service to others on God’s behalf. God had called Paul to be an instrument of reconciliation; his life was devoted to making peace between God and humanity through the preaching of the gospel.
2 Corinthians 5 says, “So if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation: everything old has passed away; see, everything has become new.” (NRSV, v.17) & “In Christ God was reconciling the world to Himself.” (v.19a) We are a new creation in Christ, and we can hear, “Come on in and join the party which is bringing joy to heaven.” What does reconciliation mean? It means to be or make friendly. Are we close to God? Do you feel that God is near? Are we living with Jesus who is the centre of life and faith during the season of Lent?
Please do not give up on people when they turn away from family and from God. May we show God’s patient love when they return. I hope we can practice forgiveness, as we want God to forgive us. I pray that the work of reconciliation will be done throughout our lives.
Jesus is right in the middle of the party which is a joyful celebration. May we follow Jesus’ example, minister to the lost, search for the lost, and bring them back to Jesus. Heaven is populated with the lost who were found, the sinners who repented, and the saved who believed in Jesus. The church’s task is not only to protect the saved, but also to find the lost. When we are in the joyful party with Jesus seeking the lost on the earth, joyful celebration would be held in heaven beyond all our earthly experience or imagination. The church joins heaven in rejoicing over the lost when they are found. May we share God’s joy whenever the party begins.
Everyone needs to be welcomed in the love of God who watches over and waits for them. Are we part of Jesus’ mission, coming to seek and to save that which is lost? May we share welcoming grace just as the father embraced his “lost and found” son, and Jesus accepted tax collectors and sinners and welcomed their existence. Suffering continues to come in life, but God will embrace us and welcome us as we come to the Father.
Thanks be to God! Amen.
(Ref. Bible, commentaries, theological books, UCA materials)
