THE LOST SON

The Luke 15 parable ends with the third part concerning the lost son. The lost son could be many things, but it is clearly the loss of reality in Jesus as we try to go about life without His presence. Even if we are ‘gone to another country’ as this parable phrases it, we have the choice to return home to the Father… as difficult as that might be.

Jesus left His Father’s house to come to ours. God’s son, however, found himself lost in the pigpen of our religious mud and mire, to sort through the slop and wander alone and away through no fault of his own, requiring no redemption. But using our metaphor, ‘He comes to his senses’ (Luke 15:17) and says, ‘I will leave this place and go to my father’ and then He ascends to His rightful, right hand, position. He conquered the world on the cross and paid the penalty for sin, was dead and rose again and went home to the Father. Knowing this welcome of the Father causes our own lost sonship to be found. We too can hear the Father say, ‘Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it, we will celebrate by having a feast, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life, he was lost and is found’ (Luke 15:22-24). Jesus, recover the lost parts of our lives. Let the party begin.

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.  And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.” Jesus