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DAVID'S EMAIL BIBLE STUDY:
LOST, and Found?
A.BACKGROUND
... The first news item after President Bush's death headlined his "last words". I once read a book on the "last words" of great and famous people. We look for poignancy and inspiration, even instruction. Jesus' final weeks are shaped by awareness that his earthly life was soon to end. Good Friday, we often focus on Jesus' "last words", his final seven sayings. Less pointed but equally urgent are these chapters from Luke that highlight his teachings.
C. SUMMARY.
Luke 15 has three "Lost and Found" stories, about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. The link above, about a lost sheep, and verses 8-10 about a lost coin are similar. Something valuable is lost, the owner searches tirelessly, and there is great rejoicing when the sheep or coin is found. Jesus compares the losing, finding, and rejoicing to "a lost sinner who repents" (vs. 7, 10). The Parable of the Lost Son (better known as "Prodigal Son") is more complicated and personal. A family has two sons. The younger demands his inheritance, takes off, wastes it all on "wild living" (vs. 13), ends up in a literal pigsty, then goes home broke and broken. His father sees him coming up the road, welcomes him with open arms. The boy confesses his sins, and the father throws a big party. The other son feels under-appreciated. The father explains, "you are always with me. But your brother was dead and is now alive, he was lost but now is found." (vs. 31-32).
D. KEY POINTS
1.
LOST, Damnation, Hell, Purgatory, Oblivion. Or, SAVED, Redeemed, Heaven, Paradise, Eternal Life. Those two options consume human and religious thought forever, no pun intended. Billboards on Rt. 95 warn you of one or the other. It is human nature to want more of this life than we are likely to get, minus the sufferings. Heaven, in all its forms, is described by all religions as so wonderful you don't want to lose out. Whether it is the Hindu/Buddhist union with God, or the more tangible, personal heaven of Christianity/Islam, it is to be found at any cost. Making offerings, doing sacrifices, attending rituals, believing creeds, accepting Christ, doing good, being good. Since the dawn of time people have yearned for the confidence that there is a life after death, and that they will be "found" worthy to enter, and not "lost" forever. We've been with people at death who had that confidence, and with those who didn't. It was night and day.
2. "This hurts me more than it hurts you" is every parent's excuse for punishment. Jesus reverses that to say that "your salvation makes me even happier than it makes you!!" Both the shepherd and woman who finds her coin have over-the-top celebrations at finding what was lost. The Prodigal Son's father likewise surprises everyone with a welcome home party for a ne'er-do-well, inheritance squandering, pig-sty living, irresponsible son - even before his apology!! Luke 14's "Parable of the Great Banquet" is clear - God wants heaven full. God is not exclusionary, elitist, prejudiced. God has a "Kingdom prepared for you" (Matthew 25:34); a "mansion with many rooms prepared for you" (John 14:2).
3. The LESSON HERE. These three parables tell us about God's efforts to find/save us. Frances Thompson's classic "The Hound of Heaven" is the perfect description of a loving God, a loving parent or friend or teacher or coach - they stop at nothing to save us. For Christmas that becomes most clear in Jesus' willingness to die on the cross. Why? To save us from our sins. We've done plenty of Bible Studies on our role in all this, what we are to do and believe. But those stories keep it simple. God searches until we are found. It helps if we stop trying to hide.
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