Read: Luke 15:4-7
Read: Luke 15:8-10
As you can no doubt see, these parables are about more than just a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son. In telling us these stories, Jesus peels back the curtain of heaven, giving us a birds-eye view of what happens in heaven when those who were lost are found again. According to Him, the repentance of even one sinner is enough to start a party in heaven. When those who have wandered from God turn back to Him, the Father and His angels celebrate.
While it’s hard for us to imagine that heaven throws a party over one person’s repentance, that’s exactly the picture Jesus paints. All it takes is one person coming to Christ and heaven halts in celebration. Reflecting on these parables, Philip Yancey wrote these words:
“A housewife jumping up and down in glee over the discovery of a lost coin is not what naturally comes to mind when I think of God. Yet that is the image Jesus insisted upon. The story of the Prodigal Son, after all, appears in a string of three stories…all of which seem to make the same point. Each underscores the loser’s sense of loss, tells the thrill of rediscovery, and ends with a sense of jubilation. Jesus says in effect, ‘Do you want to know what it feels like to be God? When one of those two-legged humans pays attention to me, it feels like I just reclaimed my most valuable possession, which I had given up for lost.’ To God Himself, it feels like the discovery of a lifetime.”
Our God – like the good Father He is – rejoices when His lost children come back home. When we help them find their way back to Him, we give heaven a reason to celebrate. In the years to come, maybe we can be a part of that kind of celebration.
Questions to Consider:
How does it make you feel to know God celebrates over you in this way?
Read Luke 19:10. What did Jesus come to do? How can we do the same?