The religious leaders sneered as Jesus sat with the tax collectors and the other sinners. He was sitting around with those who had betrayed their own people. He was hanging out with those who were far from God.
To them, to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, it wasn’t a good look. Jesus wasn’t giving a good impression as a religious leader, from their perspective. He welcomed sinners. He ate with them. He seemed to them to actually enjoy hanging out with those people.
So Jesus turned to those religious leaders and told them three separate stories, just to make sure that they got the point:
In the first story, a man has one of his one hundred sheep wander off. He stops what he is doing and goes looking for that one lost sheep.
In the second story, the woman lost one of her ten coins, so she lights a lamp and sweeps her house to find the coin.
And in the third story, even after a son had betrayed his father, brought shame to his family, and squandered half of what the family owned, Jesus says this is what happened in the end:
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.
Luke 15:20
Jesus expresses God’s heart clearly through these stories. He explains how much God desires that all lost people would be found.
All people.
Regardless of what they look like. Regardless of what they smell like. Regardless of what they have done. Regardless of their religious background. Regardless of the language that they speak. God’s heart is that all would be saved.
So we could make the point that Jesus is available. If they wanted to come to Christ, they can do it!
Yet we see that, instead, Jesus went to them. He went and had dinner with the tax collectors and the sinners. And each of his stories shows that someone goes to find or welcome that which was lost. The shepherd went to look for the lost sheep. The woman went to look for the lost coin. And the father, upon seeing his son, ran to him and brought his son back into his home.
And what was more, God rejoices when that which is lost comes to be found. The shepherd and the woman, upon finding the lost sheep and the lost coin, called their friends and neighbors to rejoice, to have a party together.
That is exactly what we see the father do as well. When the lost son returns, he calls everyone together and throws a party. His son had returned! They rejoiced and celebrated together!
We must adopt God’s heart for that which is lost. We must go looking. We must find those who are far from God and help them to know God through Jesus. Only in this way can we truly know the joy that God feels as the people who finally know Christ can truly know God. In this way, we will rejoice and celebrate with the angels in heaven and together with God himself.