“Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, ‘This man receives sinners and eats with them.’ So He told them this parable, saying, ‘What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?’ … ‘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?’ … And He said, ‘A man had two sons'” (Luke 15:1-4, 8, 11).
At first glance, there appears to be a grammatical “mistake” in the text. In response to the grumblings of the religious leaders over repentant sinners, Luke tells us that Yeshua told a “parable” (singular). But then he goes on to tell us three stories: a story about a sheep lost in the wilderness, a story about a coin lost at home, and a story about two brothers, a younger brother who was separated from his father in a foreign land, and an older brother who was separated from his father at home. The French Bible scholar Roland Meynet explains how these three stories actually function as one parable intended to make a poignant point to the religious leaders:
Lost is lost! The sheep and the younger brother went astray in the wilderness (far from home); the coin and the older brother were lost even though they were in the home!
By failing to rejoice with Yeshua over the return of wayward sinners, the religious leaders failed to understand that salvation is a gift of grace, thereby proving that they were no less lost than the coin and the older brother at home.
A big confusion
And herein lies one of the biggest challenges with young people who have grown up in believing homes: They confuse keeping the rules with knowing the Father (Luke 15:29). And in my experience, religion within the church is a far more challenging problem to fix than rebellion in the world. Would God give us as parents and pastors the wisdom to reach and also the joy to celebrate the finding of our children who have been raised in the faith but are just as lost as the coin and the older brother in our very own homes?
“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? 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!’ In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:8-10).
