1940 WHY THE EXCITEMENT?
Okay- as promised let’s cover the
gospel of Luke- chapter 15.
First- we had a good fellowship
last night- cooked lots- and 4 guys spent the night crashed out on the floor.
I just saw Hugh on the way to my
office room- he was eating left over chicken for B-fast.
Luke 15.
This story- the Prodigal son- is
famous amongst preachers/bible readers in general.
The chapter actually starts with
2 other stories.
A lost sheep- 1 out of 99.
And a lost coin- 1 out of 10.
Context.
Why these stories from Jesus?
The bible says Jesus was eating
with- and ‘receiving’ sinners.
The religious leaders at the time
developed their idea of serving God- as a ritualistic thing [remember
yesterdays post- Isaiah 58?].
Part of their understanding of
this service to God- was being separated from ‘the world’.
Yes- the world of Jesus’ day was
much like ours- you had outcasts- ‘illegal’ aliens- and the overall class of
people that couldn’t quite seem to make it in life.
Now- when the religious leaders
saw Jesus accepting them- that is he received them- loved them- but at the same
time never ‘whitewashed’ sin- they got mad.
He never said ‘oh- that’s fine-
we all mess up- keep on doing it’.
No- in time they knew that Jesus
was showing them the love of God- yet God had a better way for them- than the
old paths of sin.
So- it’s because of this reaction
from the Pharisees that Jesus tells these 3 stories.
A man has 100 sheep- he loses 1-
and he goes after the lost one.
When he finds it- he’s so happy-
not because he didn’t care for the 99 that stayed home- but because he regained
one that went astray.
A woman has ten coins- she loses
one- the same thing happens.
Jesus is telling them ‘look- all
of you who are jealous that I’m accepting these non Jews- these Gentiles- your
mad because I’m excited about these outcasts- but it’s just like when you guys
lose a sheep- or coin- you react with joy because you regained something that
was missing- that was supposed to be a part of the puzzle all along- that’s why
I’m going after these outcasts’.
See?
Then he tells the longest story
of the chapter.
A man had 2 sons [in context-
these are references to the Jews- Gentiles].
The one son asked his father for
his inheritance and the father gave the money to both the sons.
After a while the younger
irresponsible son goes and wastes all the money on partying.
He becomes broke- realizes what
he did- and repents and heads home to his father.
His father sees him coming and
rejoices- he accepts the son- throws a huge party for him- gives him this nice
robe- puts a ring on his finger- and all is well.
Not really.
As the party is going on- the
older son- the one who never left home [a type of the Jew who saw themselves as
part of Gods people all along- they never had left God- not like these ‘dog’
Gentiles- see?]
This older son is outside- sulking.
The father goes out to see what’s
wrong- the older son says ‘look dad- I was with you all these years [a type of
the Old Covenant- the Jewish people had a long history with God] and you never
acted excited like this with me- making a big party- killing the calf- the
whole thing’.
The dad [a type of God] says
‘son- you were always with me- all hat I have is yours- don’t take my excitement
wrong- it’s not because I don’t love you- but it’s because your brother was
gone for a long time and finally made it home’.
That’s the story of the Prodigal
son- God was just as excited about regaining a lost human [the Gentiles]- as we
are about regaining things we lose.
The story deals with jealousy in
the human heart- how we often benefit from the blessings of God- yet we feel
wronged somehow if others too get the blessing.
These themes run thru out the
teachings of Christ- talking about us receiving forgiveness- yet not giving it
to others.
In the 1st century
context- the Jewish people saw themselves as part of this special covenant that
God made with them many years earlier.
They kept this covenant- as best
as they knew- and when they see their Messiah- accepting these others who were
like the younger son- they felt wronged.
They felt like all their years of
being with God- as Gods special people- were for nothing.
That’s the mindset Jesus was
dealing with here.
If I had more time/space- I would
make a few applications about the current situation with the storm.
Some are mad at Governor
Christie- he’s buddying up too much to Obama in the view of some on the right.
It's not exactly the same- but
there are side’s people take- there are jealousies and divisions with all of
us.
And it helps us if we can sit
back and examine what’s really going on- Socrates said the unexamined life is
not worth living.
When we examine ourselves- do a
self inventory- maybe we should be happy that others are getting help- that we
should not see it as us losing out in some way- whether it be politically or
any other way.
In the end- there was enough
mercy to go around- the father was happy that the lost son was found.
Just like we get happy when we
recover things.
It doesn’t mean that the things
that never got lost hold less value [99 sheep- 9 coins].
No- its juts a natural reaction
to be excited that something that was lost- that seemed like it had no hope-
was recovered.
Note- Do me a favor, those who
read/like the posts- re-post them on other sites as well as the site you read
them on. Thanks- John. Don’t forget to scroll down on the timeline [Facebook] -
I have posted lots.
No comments:
Post a Comment