Jesus talked about the ordinary things of life: prodigal sons, yeast, fishing, lost sheep, etc. He used everyday illustrations to give us profound and eternally-applicable principles. In one of the most profound chapters of the Bible, Jesus told us about truth and love and hope, and He used ordinary illustrations that the average person could understand, for Jesus loved–and loves–us average people.

In Luke 15:1-2, “[T]he Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, `This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’” It was beyond their comprehension that the man who claimed to be the Son of God could so love those who the Pharisees labeled and libeled as weak and immoral and ordinary, heaven forbid. Only they were worthy of God’s love. In this passage Jesus tells the world for all time that He is our Friend who seeks us to save us, for we are all lost sinners. He says to each of us, “Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If you hear my voice, then open the door, and I will come in and eat with you, and you with me.” (Revelation 3:20.)

In this chapter there are not three but four losses: the lost sheep, the lost silver, the lost son, and the lost sympathy of the older brother. We’ve heard about the first three, but we don’t often consider the lost sympathy. This is also the glorious chapter of the found. Here is Jesus Christ’s immortal lesson about unconditional and self-sacrificing love.

In each parable the reason for the loss was different:

1) The sheep were heedless. “The farmer came down the lane. `Got a stray,’ he said. `How do they get lost?’ asked the city man. `They just nibble themselves lost,’ said the farmer; `they keep their heads down, wander from one green tuft to another, come to a hole in the fence — and never can find a hole by which to get back again.’ The city man answered, `Like people, every generation of foolish men’” (Anonymous). It’s so easy to nibble, with our heads bowed, looking for more. Before we know it, we’re tripping over tufts on our own turf.

2) The drachma did not lose itself but, by the law of gravitation, rolled into a dark corner. The way the world is turning today, it’s too easy to tumble into shady corners and lose ourselves with borderline buddies and provocative paperbacks and dirty dramas and soap operas, all of which stir our cauldron of sensations and finally make us broken cisterns. God misses us when we are looking for excitement in the dark corners of our life. It hurts him If we are even temporarily lost to him and to his purpose in life for us, for God wants us with him all the time. He suffers when he loses his sheep.

3) The third cause was rebellion against a father’s love. There were many losses in this particular parable, for the father and both sons lost something, and the two brothers lost, too. This is a tender parable of the unrighteous prodigal son, the righteous father whose love and devotion are truly remarkable, and the self-righteous older brother who refused to have anything to do with his unrighteous younger brother. This young man’s story is as fascinating as that of the so-called prodigal son and just as sad.

In these three parables we have varying proportions of possession and loss: a hundred, ten, two; a seeming trifle, then more serious, then heartbreak. “There is something in human nature which makes anything that is lost precious by reason of its loss. Its absolute value may be little; its relative worth is great. Divine love goes after, not the greatest world, but the lost world” (Anonymous).

One would think that one out of a hundred wouldn’t matter so much but to God it does. The Shepherd is painfully aware that one is missing, even though there are 99 left. Then the coin represents a great loss, relatively, to the poor woman who hasn’t much money. Most of us can relate to this woman when we are paying bills. And of course the loss of the son is the ultimate; the return is the ultimate, too. If we have lost a child, in whatever way, we can identify with this. Our Lord gave these three parables as one, to show how God, as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit “receives sinners” and fellowships with us.

1) The Son, like the shepherd, seeks the lost that he might save us: “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost” (Luke 19:10 ); “Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after it until he finds it?” (Luke 15:4b). Until he finds us! There is no check here of love and effort; instead, he lets us sign a check in whatever amount we want of his love, for his bank is open twenty-four hours a day, but we have to sign the check. What a comfort to know that his deposit of love is always there. . . .

2) The Spirit, like the woman, seeks the lost that he might use us. Lost persons are lost to usefulness and all the good that might come of that usefulness. “But the Counselor, the Holy Spirit . . . will teach you all things” (John 14:26 ). There is vincible and invincible ignorance. For the Christian there is no excuse for invincible ignorance, for we have the Holy Spirit and the Word. The Spirit is ready to teach us when we are ready.

3) God, like the father in the parable, seeks the lost that he might have fellowship with us: “And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ” (1 John 1:3); “May the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all” (2 Corinthians 13:14). It encourages us to know that we are the only one to God the Father, the Holy Spirit and the Son. God does not see the mass of men but the mess of a man. Jesus finds the lost and leads us into the fold with the Shepherd’s crook that became a cross. “He tends his flock like a shepherd: He gathers the lambs in his arms and carries them close to his heart …” (Isaiah 40:11). Our gracious God neither drags us behind Him nor drives us ahead of Him, but He lifts us and carries us: “But I, when I am lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32 ). On heart- and head-aching days, what a grand visual this is!

END of Part 1 of 3