Luke 15. Who or what was lost?
Lost Sheep. Lost Coin. Lost (Prodigal) Son.
These parables are not three ways of saying the same thing.
They are a progression; they are a continuum of a message but address different elements of our understanding and/or stages of relationship with God.
If each parable represented the same thing, in the same way, there wouldn’t need to be the three of them.
Jesus is addressing Jews (Pharisees), Tax collectors (non-Jews and Jews who’d turned on other Jews) and Sinners (non-Jews).
All of humanity is represented in the audience.
The Pharisees have just challenged Jesus over associating with Tax collectors and Sinners.
The belonging lens.
The overarching message is that everyone belongs to Jesus; everyone is in Him and He is in them. The sheep, coin and sons, always remained the Sheppard’s, the Woman’s or the Father’s respectively, despite their choices or circumstances. They never stopped being theirs. Had the parables ended mid-way through, Sheep and Coin lost, Sons still in the far-off land or fields not house, they would still have their respective positions of not being abandoned in the eyes of their beholders.
But the equivalence of the parables ends there!
The understanding, knowledge and manifesting lens.
This lens considers:
· The Sheep as representing our understanding of God’s character.
· The Coin as representing our knowledge of our God given identity.
· The Sons, with the above understanding, making use of God’s power and authority on earth, or not.
Sheep are ignorant, coins are inanimate and Sons have agency and choices, respected not forced on them by God.
The Sheppard and Woman went to great lengths to recover what was lost.
The Father stayed at home, with gifts ready for the son’s return.
If we consider the parable’s objects to simply represent lost “whole people”, then they are in contradiction, so they must represent different things.
Sheep.
Sheep are stupid, they are ignorant, they don’t know what or who’s best for them. Sure, they innately know their owner’s voice (all humans do if attuned) and generally follow him (some humans, some of the time), but they’re easily distracted and think they see something better and are blind to dangers until it’s too late.
The lost sheep will as likely stray every night, it’s not a one-time event, but the Sheppard will consistently demonstrate His nature, that He has their best interests at heart, His love not hatred for them. The ones left in the pen presumably have this understanding of Him and don’t need chasing to tell them right now.
He gives us understanding of His character, we keep forgetting and need reminding.
The Sheppard is proactive in promoting His nature, to address the ignorance of the sheep about Him. But that’s not the sheep secured and gotten forever. The sheep can still wander off. There’s no control or coercion. Sure, His love chases us down, fights till “we’re” found, leaves the 99, but the “we” in we’re found and “what” was lost, is union, trust and connection with the Father based on our understanding of Him!
Our understanding of the nature of the Father is what’s found and there’s a wee celebration in Heaven when the Father’s nature is revealed!
The angels are like “yippee, they just got a glimpse of His Love, imagine what they’ll do now”. They already celebrated the “just” persons, those who know what He’s really like and the freedom this brought them.
Jesus’ mission was very much about saying “hey, here’s what I’m really like”.
Coins
Coins are inanimate. They have inherent value. They are owned. They have no say in who owns them or how much they are worth.
They are identifiable. They are part of a group. If they go away from a group, it is noticeable that the group is depleted.
Coins are our identity. We are highly valued by God.
Like the Sheppard, the woman goes to great lengths to return the coin (our identity). But remember the father doesn’t go looking for the prodigal son.
In this case, what is lost, is our identity, us having lost sight of who we are.
The angels are like “yippee, they just got a glimpse of His Love, and who they are, imagine what they’ll do now”.
Jesus’ mission was also about saying “hey, here’s who you really are”.
He was a prototype, not an anomoly that we can't aspire to.
Sons
Sons have agency and that agency is respected by the father.
You can go out, go away, you aren’t forced into the house.
That would be coercion and that’s not love.
Sons have the power and authority of the Father, when in the house.
The two sons, based on the two Greek words, both translated in English as simply “son”, show that each retained this power and authority, whether in a field or a far-off land, they just weren’t using it or couldn’t from their respective positions. Each were called “huios”, meaning empowered and authorised sons throughout, save for the brother in the field who became angry at the father for not rewarding his work, thinking he needed to work to be rewarded, who was then addressed as “teknon” for his remonstrations, which means, still a son, but a baby so without power and authority.
In this case, what is lost, was the manifestation of God’s power and authority, given us when we willingly come into union with Him. He’s always ready to be in union with us, always sees us as sons, but it must be our choice.
In this case, what is lost, is our willing participation in our existing union with God.
And that’s the biggy!
That’s what all of creation is crying out for.
If that dies and comes alive again, everyone and everything then wins.
If that is lost and found again, heaven and earth go nuts with joy!
So, when Jesus says He had come to “save that which was lost”, (Mat 18:11 Luk 19:20) He’s not referring to some/whole people and/or not others, He was referring to:
· Our understanding of the nature of the Father.
· Our identity, us having lost sight of who we are.
· Our willing participation in our existing union with God.
The prodigal son came upon the last item lost (willing participation...), after being reminded of the first two.
He was like “I’m a Son of a good Father, I’m better off back there”, but critically, he vastly underestimated how much better off he was going to be back there.
And this is God’s way of working, he promotes “this is what I’m really like, it’s better than you can imagine” and “you’re a chip off the old block, you’re more than you think you are” and then waits. Waits for this to become true to us, not just of us, such that we align with Him in spirit, and all heaven breaks loose through us, wherever we decide to point it!
“Where we decide to point it”? Yes, because God is waiting for us to decide where to point the hose. He continues to respect our agency and individuality, even when in union.
Another way of saying what was lost is:
· Who God is
· Who we are
· Our Union
Other interpretations
Them and us
Given the audience, some have taken to thinking that the characters or objects in these three parables, represent those there, in their entirety (ignoring understanding of God, their identity and willing union with God). I’m not so sure it’s that simple.
· Pharisees – The unlost sheep or coins, the Son in the field
· Tax collectors (Turn coat Jews) – The lost sheep or coin, the prodigal son
· Sinners (Gentiles) – The lost sheep or coin, the prodigal son
The logical next step from this is to then consider which you identify as, and worse still, consider what you identify others as. As if there were a them and us, in or out, or as if the statuses weren’t a continuum, fluctuating throughout everyone’s lives.
It leads us to forgetting that all the characters and objects, remained “of” the character representing God. They were never going to be abandoned.
The sheep wasn’t at fault for being distracted, it its’ nature.
The coin didn’t choose to be lost.
The sons didn’t choose to be sons, just how they engaged with the father and why.
It also leads to us thinking that some individuals are pursued by God and others he stays home and waits for, when surely, we’re all treated equally.
So, whilst widely promoted, this interpretation doesn’t fly.
Standing with God
Some also think of the characters or objects as our current relationship with God and how God acquiesces to meet us where we are and adapts His countenance to our readiness.
There’s some merit in understanding it this way. It sort of mirrors the “what was (actually) lost” understanding above.
The lost sheep is where we are going our own way, thinking we know what’s best for us, or consciously suspecting or acting as if God’s way isn’t best for us. It’s not deliberate, but misguided rebellion.
God pursues us then with reminders of His goodness.
We’re not exactly changed, nor is the world, by this enlightenment.
Our biology (life) isn’t exactly sozo’d by this realisation, but the potential is now there to move on from this comfortable realisation to something effectual.
The 99 sheep, are in this camp of “isn’t God good”, they don’t need telling, but they’re doing not much about it. Not rocking the world. They’re still sat in the pen waiting to die of old age.
But at least folk at this stage know that God is good and will approach Him more readily and more often.
The lost coin doesn’t know it’s lost. Wouldn’t know if it was found. “I was lost but now am found”, is not something a coin would know or say. So, it’s the least obvious parallel to be drawn over relational position with God, if being found is the epitome of being saved.
God pursues us then with reminders of who we are.
So that we return to a sense of knowing our value and worth; our identity.
Still not rocking the world. Still not being spent.
But then folk at this stage will know who they are and will approach Him more readily and more often, with a mindset of “how shall I be useful?”.
The prodigal son has at first, knowingly chosen to be out of the house, far away, unable to manifest the power and authority that is his.
The son in the field has unwittingly chosen to be out of the house, close but, oh so far away, blighted with a misunderstanding that he must do something to be something he already is, so unable to do manifest the power and authority that is his.
God comes out and invites both in when they are ready.
This is an invitation to “how it works in my house”, not pursuit or forcing them in.
Some are run right in, after terrible previous experiences, having expected retribution was needed first and finding out it wasn’t.
Some are reticent to go in, having hung around the house for so long, thinking “it can’t be that good, I must have to earn it”.
So, let’s finish, no let’s live, in the celebrations in His house.
God is good, we’re more than OK too, let’s act in the union that was always there.
· God is so so good (get reminded every day)
· He sees you as an extension of Himself (get reminded every day)
· Seize the alignment (expand the Kingdom, bring Heaven to Earth, every day)