Luke 15:17-24

(This continues a parable from yesterday)

But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, but I am dying here with hunger! I will get up and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”’ So he got up and went to his father.

“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

“The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ So they began to celebrate.

Suddenly, with nowhere else to turn, the younger son remembers his father. While he lived his life of sin and revelry, he had done all he could to push his father from his mind. Completely homesick, he remembers that his father was a man of great kindness and compassion, paying even the day laborers beyond what was expected. Destitute and dying of hunger amid the famine of a foreign land, he has nothing else to lose. He knows that he will not be restored as a family member if he returns. Perhaps after years of penance and hard labor to earn back what he squandered... but he knows he should not even hope. Except for this one fact. Whereas most fathers would hold a funeral service and consider such a disrespectful, dishonest son dead, he knows that his father is compassionate. If he can just convince his dad to let him prove his worthiness as a daily hired man, perhaps his father will one day be able to look him in the eye.

He has his speech all worked out. He's been rehearsing it on the long walk from Gentile country. He has braced himself for the awkward and shameful walk through town. But his father is on the watch for him, knowing that eventually the son's choices would reach a disastrous end and turn his heart toward home. Unwilling to let his son bear a second more of shame, the father picks up the hem of his garment and sprints to his son. In Middle Eastern culture it was shameful to run and expose one's legs, but this father is not concerned about his reputation. He throws his arms around his filthy, smelly son and begins covering him with kisses.

The son begins his speech, but the father isn't listening. He instructs the servants to get the family robe, the robe saved for special occasions such as the oldest son's wedding, and wrap it around his malodorous defiled son without even requesting a handwashing. He places the signet ring of authority on his sons finger. He places sandals on his feet, an item servants or hired laborers would never receive to wear.

The meanings in this parable are clear. In this story the father represents God's behavior and feelings about repentant sinners. The son realizes he has traded the riches and generosity of the father for the fleeting pleasures of sin. He knows that the smallest pleasures in the house of his father are far better than anything in the world without him. The son approaches the father like most of us approach God when we repent. "I am so sorry. I am not worthy of your love. I am willing to work as hard as it takes to make it up to you, earn your favor, and just maybe become your child again. I'll do anything to be reconciled in some way."

But the Father doesn't work that way. There is no trial period or tests of worthiness. The moment we repent, the righteousness of Christ is imputed to us. We are justified immediately, without any need to get "cleaned up" first.

And all this brings the father great joy! He throws a party, killing even the fattened calf! Meat was a rarity in these days, and the fattened calf was reserved for the most special of occasions. The entire village is called to celebrate the return of the lost son. Just so, all of heaven rejoices when one sinful person turns from their sin. No works are needed to receive the full grace of God. We could not do enough good to outweigh our sin and earn his favor anyway!

"With Him the calf is always the fatted calf; the robe is always the best robe; the joy is unspeakable; and the peace passes understanding. There is no grudging in God’s goodness. He does not measure His goodness by drops like a druggist filling a prescription. It comes to us in floods. If only we recognize the lavish abundance of His gifts, what a difference it would make in our lives! If every meal were taken as a gift from His hand, it would be almost a sacrament."  - Haddon Robinson

Luke 13:1-9

Now there were some present at that time who told Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish. Or those eighteen who died when the tower in Siloam fell on them—do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? I tell you, no! But unless you repent, you too will all perish.”

And he told this parable: “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard, and he came seeking fruit on it and found none. And he said to the vinedresser, ‘Look, for three years now I have come seeking fruit on this fig tree, and I find none. Cut it down. Why should it use up the ground?’ And he answered him, ‘Sir, let it alone this year also, until I dig around it and put on manure. If it bears fruit next year, fine! If not, then cut it down.”


A group of people come to Jesus with news of an unthinkable tragedy. Some Jewish believers who had come down from Galilee to offer their sacrifices of repentance had been killed at the temple. Their blood mingled with the sacrifices being offered by the faithful. Remember that the temple would have been a bloody place as bulls, goats, sheep, and birds were killed and offered as sacrifices. Imagine if a terrorist burst into a modern worship service, slaughtered members in the congregation, and poured their blood into the communion cup. This is an unthinkable, vile, unholy occurrence.

The storytellers don't say it, but Jesus hears it in their voices. The slain Galileans must committed a horrible sin for God to allow this to happen to them. Prevailing Jewish thought was that bad things happen to bad people, and good people are blessed. Possibly the first book in the Bible ever written was Job, a story of unrelenting tragedy that tests one man. Job's friends concluded that it must be because of Job's sin that his life fell apart. There is no other possible answer. In John 9 Jesus' followers see a blind man and query Jesus as to whether the blindness is a result of the man's sins or his parents'. Extraordinary tragedy must signify extraordinary guilt.

Jesus corrects, "No, their sin was not extraordinarily horrible. It was ordinarily horrible, just like yours. If you don't repent, your fate will be equally unthinkable." As Paul writes in Romans 3:10,  "There is none righteous, no not one". The surprising thing is not that calamity falls upon some who seem good; the surprising thing is that any of us are spared and given more time to repent! We may not "perish" in the sense of a tragic death. The well-known verse John 3:16 instructs, "For God so loved the world, that he sent his one and only Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." The kind of perishing of which Jesus speaks is an eternal perishing - eternal separation from God. "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).

In setting the stage for Jesus' ministry, John the Baptizer warned, "Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire." Likewise Jesus uses an unfruitful tree as an allegory for repentance. The owner of the vineyard is ready to cut the tree down, but the gardener begs for a bit more time to aerate the ground and add manure. Both agree that the tree should not be given unlimited time. The fig tree was a symbol of Israel's prosperity and could be taken to mean a call for national repentance. But the parable is a call for all to repent while there is time.

Even today we wonder why tragedies happen. In the last week the bombings at the Boston Marathon and the explosion in West, Texas claimed the lives of many and severely injured others. These tragedies are not a judgment on America for our corporate sins. They are not judgment on those who perished because they were worse than others. Those who survive are no better morally than those who perish. A better question than "Why do bad things happen to good people?" is "How can God use this tragedy to bring glory to himself and grow spiritual fruit in my own life?"

God may be adding fertilizing manure to your life now in an effort to bring you to repentance. Your first inclination is that life stinks. Things are not going "your way". Take the time to seek God's will for your life and search your soul for areas that need repentance. Each day we wake offers a chance to draw nearer to God or closer into sin.

"As I look for a moment on the poor mangled bodies of those who had been so suddenly slain, my eyes find tears but my heart does not boast. Far from me be a boastful cry, 'God, I thank Thee that I'm not as these men are.' No, no, no, it's not the Spirit of Christ nor the spirit of Christianity. While we can thank God that we are preserved, yet we can say it is of Your mercy that we are not consumed." - Spurgeon, in 1861 after a collision between two trains in the Clayton Tunnel claimed 23 lives and severely injured hundreds, and about two weeks later another train wreck in North London claimed 15 more lives.

Luke 3:10-14

And the crowds asked him, “What then shall we do?” And he answered them, “Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” Tax collectors also came to be baptized and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Collect no more than you are authorized to do.” Soldiers also asked him, “And we, what shall we do?” And he said to them, “Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.”

I guess the long walk and search to find John in the wilderness may have been a factor, but it is a little surprising that after the tongue lashing given to some who seemed very righteous that the crowds still listened to John. They must have sensed the Spirit of God on him and recognized great wisdom in the words he spoke. Imagine the panic of many when John said that even those with all the appearance of outward righteousness were simply a brood of vipers and a tree about to be chopped down by God!

Instead of revolting against John's teaching, the crowd asks what could be done to achieve righteousness. Not one to mince words, John responded with difficult tasks that still apply today. Although faith in Christ is the only thing that saves, there are specific challenges in this passage that lead us into righteousness and conform us into a closer mirror of the image of God.

“Whoever has two tunics is to share with him who has none, and whoever has food is to do likewise.” This one seems easily translatable to today's society, but it is far more difficult to carry out. The Greek for tunic is chiton, a long garment worn under the cloak next to the skin. But I don't think we can try to justify ourselves and give away all but one of our slips. If there are people to whom we can reach out that do not have clothes and we have overflowing closets, we are not righteous. At our house the worn out, outgrown, or out of style clothes are the ones sent to donation. That is cleaning the house, not righteousness. And how much food is in your pantry? Do you have food that goes bad and gets thrown out while people around the world and down the street go hungry? Then you are not truly righteous. James 2:14-16 says, What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? I am not saying we all need to be ascetic, but I am sure that most believers could improve in this area. The fact that we will not achieve perfect righteousness in this life does not absolve us of seeking to improve. You do not have to be rich to show fruits of repentance. Just have a little extra for today and give it away.

“Collect no more than you are authorized to do.”  It is unlikely that anyone reading this is considered a national traitor working for an oppressive foreign government, but there is great spiritual truth in this verse. These Jewish tax collectors were known for charging more than the prescribed amount in order to pad their own pockets. Rather than ordering them to quit their evil jobs, John admonished them to live within their means. In our "but now, pay later", lottery playing, credit card happy world we rarely do this. Can you be happy living within your means, even carving into your income to sacrificially share with others, without looking for more monetary gain?

“Do not extort money from anyone by threats or by false accusation, and be content with your wages.” These may not have been true Romans but were probably Jews who signed up for or were conscripted by the Roman military service. Perhaps they were there to protect the tax collectors. They received small wages. Repentance for them meant being satisfied with this small paycheck rather than using their power and the threat of Rome to extort money from others. Perhaps you are in a position of authority over others; don't use your power for your own gain. And all of us are called to be satisfied with our jobs - not to complain about our work situation or be unsatisfied with our net income.

John's message still cuts to the heart of believers today, and we can all improve in righteousness in one or all of these areas.

“Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come, you who are blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in;  naked, and you clothed Me; I was sick, and you visited Me; I was in prison, and you came to Me.’ Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? 38 And when did we see You a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? When did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ The King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of Mine, even the least of them, you did it to Me.’  - Matthew 25:34-40