GOSPEL OF LUKE: Chapter 15

Luke 15:4-7 Parable of the Lost Sheep  
 “Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue. (MSG)

Luke 15:20-24  
Parable of the Prodigal Son

“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’

 “But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time. (MSG)

   
      Chapter 15 has a singular theme - the joy God feels when one of his lost is found.  Jesus tells stories of lost sheep, lost coins, and a lost son, but the message is the same.  We can't ignore the homeless, the downtrodden, the sinner.  The Pharisees felt Jesus spent too much time polluting himself and others with such people.  Yet these are the very ones to whom God is drawn - those who need the message of salvation, those who are 'lost'.  
     How often do we extend our rebuff to the marginally lost - those who are socially inept, the gossips, the annoying?  We might not segregate people into the class of outcast, but their differences prevent us from fully gathering them into the fold.  How accepting are we of people we just might not LIKE?  
     The lost are a treasure to rejoice in when found.  God rejoices.  Are we like the Father in our celebration, or do we stand aside and scoff like the older brother?