Today's main idea: Jesus welcomes sinners and shows us God's joy when the lost are found. He invites us to return honestly to God and to share his joy when someone else receives mercy.
Read Slowly
Main reading: Luke 15:1–32
Notice who draws near to Jesus and who complains. Then follow the repeated movement through the stories: something is lost, it is found, and people are invited to celebrate. Watch what happens when the older son refuses that invitation.
In Day 15, Jesus met people in hunger, sickness, and fear. Today we see his heart toward people who have sinned, and toward people who resent his welcome.
Jesus Welcomes the People Others Are Complaining About
Tax collectors and sinners draw near to hear Jesus. The Pharisees and scribes grumble because he receives these people and eats with them.
These opening lines explain the stories that follow. Jesus is answering a complaint about his own welcome. The meals that trouble the religious leaders become celebrations in his parables.
The people being criticized are listening to him. Jesus makes room for them to come near. His welcome gives them a place to hear what he has to say.
That helps us understand his heart. If I have sinned, I can bring that truth to Jesus and listen to him. Shame often makes us hide or delay. Here, people known as sinners are drawing near, and Jesus receives them.
The scene also asks us to consider our response to someone else's approach. I can become so focused on what a person has done that I miss the fact that they are now listening to Jesus. Knowing him teaches me to value that beginning.
Remember: My sin is a reason to come honestly to Jesus. His welcome gives me reason to come.
The Shepherd Goes After the One Who Is Lost
Jesus describes a shepherd with a hundred sheep who loses one. He leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost sheep until he finds it. Then he puts it on his shoulders and carries it home rejoicing.
The joy begins while the sheep is still on his shoulders. Once home, the shepherd calls his friends and neighbors to rejoice with him.
Jesus explains the meaning: heaven rejoices over one sinner who repents. Repentance means turning from sin toward God. The welcome that draws complaints on earth is a cause for joy in heaven.
Notice the attention given to one sheep. The shepherd searches, finds, carries, and celebrates. Jesus is helping his listeners see why a single person returning to God matters.1
Jesus also speaks of ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. In a scene where some listeners object to his welcome, that comparison directs attention to the joy of a sinner's return. We are being invited to recognize and share that joy.
When I think of myself only as a burden, the shepherd's gladness gives me a different picture to consider. Jesus tells of rescue received with delight. When I think someone else is hardly worth the trouble, the shepherd's search challenges the value I have placed on that person.
Remember: Jesus teaches me to see a person who returns to God as someone to rejoice over.
The Woman Searches Carefully and Shares Her Joy
A woman has ten silver coins and loses one. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it. Then she calls her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her.
The setting changes from open country to a house. The person searching changes from a shepherd to a woman. The care and joy remain the same.
Jesus again explains the story through the joy over one sinner who repents. By telling these two stories together, he makes the pattern clear: the lost are worth seeking, and finding them calls for shared celebration.1
The invitation to the neighbors matters. The one who finds the coin wants others to share her gladness. That speaks directly to the people grumbling around Jesus. They have an opportunity to rejoice in what they are seeing.
This gives us a practical way to examine our hearts. When someone begins to pray again, admits a wrong, or returns to hear Jesus' words, do I encourage them? Or do I keep rehearsing their failures? I can learn to notice a turn toward God and respond with gratitude.
Remember: As I get to know Jesus, I can learn to celebrate the beginning of someone's return.
The Younger Son Faces His Need and Turns Home
Jesus now tells of a father with two sons. The younger son asks for his share of the property, gathers what he has, and leaves for a distant country. There he wastes it in reckless living.
After he has spent everything, a severe famine comes. He takes work feeding pigs and becomes so hungry that he longs for their food. No one gives him anything.
He then comes to himself. He remembers that his father's hired workers have enough bread, while he is starving. He decides to go home, confess that he has sinned against heaven and his father, and ask to be treated as a hired worker.
His plan includes an honest admission. He names what he has done as sin and recognizes that he has no claim to be received on the strength of his conduct. His hunger becomes part of the moment when he sees his need and turns home.
Jesus gives the people listening a picture of return they can understand. A person who has gone far away can stop defending that direction and begin coming back. The next scene shows the son putting his decision into action.
For me, that might mean naming a lie without explaining it away, admitting a pattern I have hidden, or asking for help with something I keep repeating. I can bring Jesus the truth about where I am. Honest return begins when I stop pretending that the place I have reached is where I should remain.
Remember: I can stop defending the wrong direction and take an honest step back toward Jesus.
The Father Runs to Receive His Returning Son
The son gets up and goes to his father. While he is still far away, his father sees him, feels compassion, runs to him, embraces him, and kisses him.
The father acts before the son gives his confession. Then the son admits that he has sinned and is unworthy to be called a son. The father tells the servants to bring the best robe, a ring, and shoes, and to prepare a feast.
These actions give the welcome a visible shape. The returning son is received into the household with honor and celebration. The father calls him his son and describes the return as life from death, being found after being lost.
Jesus is explaining the welcome for which he has been criticized. The father's compassion helps us see God's heart toward the returning sinner. Confession and mercy meet in this scene, and the father's joy gives the homecoming its tone.
The son had prepared to ask for a worker's place. His father receives him as his son. That difference matters when we imagine approaching God. We may know the wrong we have done and still have much to learn about the mercy with which he receives us.
I can confess without trying to make my failure sound smaller. The welcome Jesus describes gives me courage to tell the truth. Returning to God includes receiving the mercy I could never make myself deserve.
Remember: The mercy Jesus reveals gives me courage to tell God the whole truth.
The Father Goes Out to the Son Who Refuses to Celebrate
The older son returns from the field and hears music and dancing. When he learns that his brother has returned and his father has prepared a feast, he becomes angry and refuses to go inside.
His father comes out and pleads with him. The older son answers by listing his years of service and obedience. He contrasts his father's celebration for his brother with what he feels he has never received.
Listen to the way he speaks about the returning son: “this son of yours.” The father answers by calling him “this your brother.” The father's words invite him to recognize a relationship his resentment has pushed away.
The father also assures him that he is always with him and that all the father has is his. Then he explains why celebration is fitting: his brother was dead and is alive, lost and found.
Notice that the father goes out to both sons. He runs to the younger one returning from far away, and he comes out to the older one standing outside in anger. His care reaches the son who wasted his inheritance and the son who resents his generosity.2
The older son's response brings us back to the opening complaint. Like the people grumbling about Jesus, he objects to a welcome being celebrated. Jesus is inviting those listeners to recognize themselves and enter the joy.2
We do not hear whether the older son goes inside. The story ends with the father's appeal. That leaves us considering our own answer.
This gives us a searching form of discernment. I can have years of service behind me and still resist the heart of the one I serve. When someone else's mercy feels like a loss to me, Jesus calls me to reconsider what I am counting. Another person's return is a reason for gratitude.
Remember: Following Jesus includes learning to rejoice when his mercy reaches someone I resent.
What We Learn About Jesus
Jesus welcomes sinners and receives them close enough to hear him. His stories reveal the seeking care of God and the joy of receiving the lost.
He takes repentance seriously. The stories lead us toward turning back, telling the truth, and receiving mercy. He gives the ashamed person reason to come home.
He also addresses resentment with patient truth. By telling of the older son, Jesus invites those who object to his welcome to understand and share God's joy. He cares about the heart of the person standing outside the celebration too.
How the Reading Fits Together
All three stories move from loss to finding and then to joy. The shepherd and the woman both invite others to rejoice. The father prepares a celebration when his son comes home.
The third story then adds a question the first two prepare us to hear: will everyone accept the invitation? The older son's refusal brings the opening complaint into the story. Some people draw near to Jesus, while others resent his receiving them.
The father goes out to both sons, yet their needs are different. One comes home confessing his failure. The other needs to recognize the resentment that keeps him outside. Jesus helps both kinds of listeners see a way toward the Father's heart.
This chapter gives us two connected responses: receive mercy ourselves, and welcome someone else's return. As we come to know Jesus, his joy can begin to shape ours.
Take a Moment with Jesus
- What do I need to tell Jesus honestly instead of hiding, minimizing, or defending it?
- Whose return to God would I find difficult to celebrate? What does that response reveal about my heart?
- Which detail most changes how I imagine coming to God: the shepherd carrying the sheep, the woman's careful search, or the father going out to each son?
Prayer
Jesus, thank you for welcoming sinners and showing me the Father's mercy. Help me tell the truth about my sin and turn back to you. Show me where resentment has taken the place of joy. Teach me to receive your kindness and gladly welcome someone else who is coming home. Amen.
One Thing to Do
Take five quiet minutes to name one sin or resentment honestly before Jesus. Ask for his mercy and help. Then act on that prayer today through one clear step: confess a wrong, ask for help changing a pattern, or offer sincere encouragement to someone returning to faith.
Carry This with You
Jesus welcomes the lost and invites us to share God's joy when they are found. I can come honestly for mercy and learn to rejoice when someone else receives it.
Sources Consulted
Source citations
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Lois Malcolm, Commentary on the lost sheep and lost coin, Working Preacher, Luther Seminary. On the paired pattern of loss, searching, finding, and shared joy in response to the opening complaint. ↩ ↩2
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Chelsey Harmon, Commentary on the father and his two sons, Center for Excellence in Preaching, Calvin Theological Seminary. On the older son's resentment, its connection with the audience's complaint, and the father's care for both sons. ↩ ↩2
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