Lost and Found – Healed and Made Whole
Amazing Grace is possibly the best known and most beloved hymn ever written. It is estimated that it is sung 10 million times annually (from Wikipedia, the fount of all true knowledge). You know the words: “Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me! I once was lost but now am found, was blind but now I see.”
Lost and found; blind but now I see. These words have comforted and inspired Christians for generations. They remind me of Jesus’ message to the disciples of John the Baptist to take back to John in Matthew 11: 5, quoting Isaiah 35 “Go and report back to John what you hear and see: the blind receive sight, the lame walk…” By referring John to Isaiah 35, Jesus is saying to John (and to us) “the Kingdom of God is here and this is what it looks like”.
The words to the hymn also remind me of Luke 15 – the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son. Remember the lost sheep? “So He told them this parable: What man of you, if he has a hundred sheep and should lose one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness (desert) and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his own shoulders, rejoicing…Thus, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one especially wicked person who repents (changes his mind, abhorring his errors and misdeeds, and determines to enter upon a better course of life) than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance” (Amp Bible).
The lost one was found. Jesus will go into the wilderness to find us and bring us back, carrying us over His shoulder, so to speak. But notice that the one who was found also needed to repent. It was not enough to be found. There must be a decision, a choice made to accept being found. I am found by another (Jesus), but repentance is my job. It is an essential condition of entrance into and life in the Kingdom. Repentance is most fundamentally turning away from finding my value, acceptance, significance, and so-called ‘life’ in the kingdom of self, accepting the gift of the Holy Spirit, and participating with God in the transformation of my heart as I enter and live in the Kingdom of God. Repentance is both a gift from God and a work that I must do (Philippians 2: 12, 13). To accept God’s incredible grace – entrance into the Kingdom – without turning away from my life of self (which is repentance) cheapens God’s grace and blocks the Kingdom life in me. And, as Jesus tells us in Matthew 19: 23-25, to be saved is to enter the Kingdom of God (and not in some future existence, but now, in this world).
The other parable in Luke 15 that speaks of the significance and nature of repentance is the parable of the Prodigal Son (aka the Lost Son – really the story of two lost sons and an amazing Father). I have read that this is the most beloved of all of Jesus’ parables.
It seems to me that Jesus does not ‘define’ repentance in the Gospels, as least to the satisfaction of my analytical, scientific mind. But in this story, Jesus lays out the meaning of repentance, grace, and restoration, and does more to show us the nature of true repentance than any other scripture in the NT; while, at the same time, showing us the character of our heavenly Father.
You know the story in Luke 15: 11-32. I had read it many times and then was introduced to Kenneth Bailey’s book ‘The Cross and the Prodigal’, which gave me an entirely new understanding of the lost son and his Father. Bailey explains the parable through the eyes of a Middle Eastern peasant; eyes not much different from the peasants that Jesus was talking to. This context is critical to a proper understanding of what Jesus is teaching and paints a different, richer picture than the one most understood by us in the west.
The younger son was entitled to a small share of the Father’s property when the Father ‘retired’. Even then, the Father expected to live off the proceeds of the property. That was his pension. In asking for the property, the younger son was, in effect, telling his father “I wish you were dead”. This highly offensive request warranted a severe beating at best at the hands of the Father or stoning by the other villagers when they heard of the boys disrespectful behavior. The boy was, of course, living in the kingdom of self – my wants, needs, and desires are uppermost in my mind and I don’t care how I wound anyone else. As Jesus wants us to understand, the kingdom of self is our default nature and out of this corrupted heart, evil emerges. The younger son is a representation of us.
The Father grants the son’s request in an unprecedented act of love. The boy then takes what the Father gives him, probably land and livestock, and quickly turns it into cash. As he goes around the village looking for buyers who will pay probably pennies on the dollar, the village must be becoming increasingly enraged. At many levels, the boys behavior is deeply offensive to the community, and in that culture deserves death (Yikes!!!).
The boy leaves home. He leaves the place of blessing where he is known, valued, and accepted (the Father’s house, the Kingdom of God although most commentators agree that the Father in this story is not God, but a godly man) and travels to the far-off or distant land. Here he gradually descends into his own hell. While the parable implies that the land the boy travels to is a real geographic place where Gentiles live, it is also a metaphor for the spiritual place where we demand the right to ourselves – the kingdom of self. This is the fate of all who live their lives in the kingdom of self or the kingdom of the world. Like every kingdom, it has a king. That king is Satan. In that kingdom we submit and surrender our lives to the king whose mission is to steal joy and peace, kill life and liveliness, and destroy relationships.
The boy has choosen the broad gate that leads to destruction (Matthew 7 :13). So it is for all who seek their value, acceptance, and significance in the kingdom of self where we worship the created things and seek the honor of men.
Finally, he loses everything and finds himself totally rejected, devalued, and starving, far from home. He bought into the lie “I will totally fulfill you but you must totally surrender to me” (‘me’ being the thing he chose to fulfill him – which in this case was money and popularity). All who believe this lie are ultimately betrayed, rejected, and end up ‘starving and humiliated’.
As the boy eyes the pods that the pigs are eating, he remembers home. The first glimmer of repentance surfaces in his heart. But it is not true repentance. It is a type of repentance that you or I would profess if we were caught red-handed stealing or lying. We confess, hoping that we will not be too severely punished. It is legal repentance. In his case, the boy is still living in the kingdom of self, but the veil of spiritual flesh around his heart is beginning to tear.
He thinks: “I will tell my Father I have sinned and am not worthy to be his son, but make me like one of your hired hands and I will pay back everything I took from you and then lost”. He will repair the damage in his own power, by his own work. Not only that, but he will live as a free man in the village. His social status will be more-or-less intact. He can maintain his pride. He does not see the repentance that is necessary is not just to repent of what he has done but of who he is – a selfish, prideful boy who does not know how to love another and who cannot receive the love of his Father. So, it it a type of repentance, but one made to mitigate the damage he has done, not true repentance. It is also a repentance born out of self-preservation. If he does not return home, he will die of starvation – a terrible type of death. But still, it is a start – a movement in the right direction. I would say necessary, but not sufficient.
Then we come to the crux of the parable. The Father sees the boy a long way off and runs to him, kisses him, and then showers him with extravagant gifts.
It is really difficult to plumb the depths of this simple scene in the story. In a sense, the theme of grace that runs through the entire Bible is captured in this vignette. Do you see it? First, the Father runs!! As Jesus tells the story, there must be a collective gasp of disbelief when He gets to this part. In this culture, even today, it is deeply humiliating and undignified for the Father to hike up his robes, expose his bare legs, and run. By doing this the Father is bringing great shame upon himself. It is a powerful symbol of extravagant, selfless love because the Father is running out of sheer joy at the sight to his profligate and unworthy son, no matter the impact on his reputation in the village.
But the Father is doing something else. He understands the reception the boy will receive from the villagers if they get to him first. The Father runs to the boy to get to him before the stones begin to fly. He humiliates himself to save the life of his son, who in a just world deserves death. In these actions of the Father on behalf of his son we see the representation of the cross of Christ played out and anticipated.
The Father reaches the boy and kisses him. The boy expects hostility, rebuke, condemnation, rejection, and even violence. He does not expect what he receives. The kiss of his Father symbolizes acceptance and restoration back into the family. But more significantly, he did not expect what he saw! His Father, running to him! He saw the Father’s love for him in that run across the field; and love worked a change in his heart. Love transformed him. How do we know this? He says “Father I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” He leaves off the part about “make me like one of your hired hands”. Bailey writes “Now he sees that the point is not the lost money, but rather the broken relationship which he cannot heal. Now he understands that any new relationship must be a pure gift from his Father. He can offer no solution. To assume that he can compensate his Father with his labor is an insult. ‘I am unworthy’ is now the only appropriate response”.
In his last work before he died, Rembrandt painted the return of the prodigal. He captures the sorrow, the humility, the poverty of the son, and the grace and mercy of the Father. The son has fallen to his knees, shaved head bowed. The Father’s hand is resting protectively and lovingly on his shoulder while the elder brother looks on impassively from the shadows. In this picture, frozen in time, the younger son experiences true repentance marked by sorrow, humility, and I guess amazement at how gracious the Father really is. He nows see his sin in all of its horror. He sees how deeply he has wounded the one who loves him the most in this world. And he knows that there is nothing he can do in his own power to restore the relationship. These are the hallmarks of true repentance.
But the story gets better. After the prodigal’s repentance and confession (these two go together of course) the Father speaks to his servants standing there, watching this amazing homecoming. They are commanded to clothe the boy in ‘the best robe’, certainly the Father’s robe. This assures the son’s reconciliation with the servants and the community. It is a mark of restoration. In a spiritual sense, the boy’s relationship to the Father is restored and the boy is also restored to the community ( although there will have to be some work on his part to make these relationships whole). It reminds me of Isaiah 61 – Jesus sets the captives free, releases them from prison, and then clothes them in garments of praise, robes of righteousness.
The ring also belongs to the Father. It signifies his power and authority, now shared with the son. The sandals indicate freedom – the son is a free man in the house, not a servant of the Father. He has been fully restored to sonship. But the greatest gift is the love of the Father. And this has been freely given, even before the son spoke.
Jesus shows us what true repentance is like, but also shows us the heart of God. While the Father in the story is generally not interpreted to be God, he is a godly man who exhibits the character of God.
Some thoughts:
While the boys decision to return home and ask his Father to make him a hired hand has the form of repentance, is was mostly self-preservation and a way to maintain his pride. It was almost certainly motivated by fear. Self-preservation motivated by a desire to lessen the punishment is not repentance, no matter what confession is made.
But, still… He did return home. And that desire to return to the Father for whatever reason was enough for the Father. He kissed the boy signifying acceptance before the boy spoke a single word. Hallelujah!! That is Good News to me.
While we should confess and repent of what we have done, that is not the heart of repentance. The heart of repentance is repenting of who we are.
True repentance is a response to a gift from God – God’s unfailing, vast, and incomprehensible love for His children seen in the Father’s deep humiliation to save the life of the son. In other words, the cross.
It was only when the love of the Father intersected the sudden understanding of the magnitude of his sin, that the son truly repented. It was in that moment, when love, sin, sorrow, and even horror at what he had done intersected in a single stream of revelation, that the son was transformed. In that moment, something shifted in his heart – a heart filled with pride was mysteriously remade into a heart filled with humility. Probably not perfectly, but there was no turning back.
True repentance is marked by godly sorrow and produces humility.
The Father did not chase after the son or send his servants out to find the boy. The boy returned on his own, even if his journey home was driven more by fear and self-preservation. He chose to return. I believe that there was some element of repentance in his decision. But it had to be his decision. No one could make it for him. It was his work. Our Father will not generally coerce or cajole us to do what we have not freely chosen. We must seek, ask, and ultimately, knock.
But true repentance was not the son’s work alone. It would not have been possible without the demonstration, the extravagant and public demonstration, of the Father’s love.
The Father’s gifts, this tangible manifestation of grace, could not be bestowed upon the boy (or perhaps could have been bestowed but not received and appreciated) until he had repented and confessed.
The son was received by the Father back into the Father’s family. His sonship was restored. This is symbolic of our being delivered out of the kingdom of self, the kingdom of darkness, into the Kingdom of God, which is the meaning of salvation. There are no Kingdom gifts as long as we are living in the distant land – the kingdom of self.
I think that here we touch the real importance of repentance. I do not repent to earn the Father’s love. The Father never stopped loving the son – which is probably the real point of the story. But I cannot receive the Father’s love, I cannot receive the gifts of the Holy Spirit, until I truly repent. As long as I am filled with self-love (pride), I cannot receive, understand, appreciate, or even believe in the Father’s love for me. Nor can I receive power, authority, or the indwelling Holy Spirit.
So, is it possible to profess Jesus as savior and even repent to ensure that we go to Heaven when we die (the meaning of salvation for most Christians) but still live in the kingdom of self? And if we have not truly repented, can we have the indwelling Holy Spirit? I say ‘yes’ to the first question and ‘no’ to the second.
This parable demonstrates, at least to me, that while God’s grace is extravagant and the Father is waiting and watching for us to return to Him, salvation is not entirely free; that is, it is not entirely without our effort. The boy did not deserve the gifts his Father bestowed upon him, but the condition for entering the Fathers’s house (I would say the Father’s Kingdom) and living as a true son of the Father was ‘repent’. And that was the boy’s ‘work’, but done in response to the amazing love of the Father.
The son was blessed in one sense. His life in the kingdom of self was desperate. He had two choices: return to the Father’s house or die. Some of us have experienced this. For some of us the choice was turn to God or die, literally. But for many of us, we are getting by in the kingdom of self. It is not too bad. We can manage. But our hearts are hard and resentful, much like the elder brother. Our Father longs for us to return to Him just as much as the Father in the parable longed for the return of his lost son. Pray for the gift of repentance. Let God show you (and I certainly pray this for me) the enormity of your sin. Ask Him to break your heart, to fill you with ‘true’ godly sorrow, and to give you a spirit of humility. Maybe even godly fear. This is the only path to true life – and if half of what Jesus promises us in this life is given to us, it truly will be heaven on earth. Hallelujah.
Finally, as I reflected on this parable last night I realized that the parable is more about the Father than the son. While Jesus used this story to help us understand repentance, among other things, He also used it to show us the character and nature of the Father, our Father – overflowing with unoffendable, incomprehensible love. God is love and we are the objects of His affection, even if we don’t repent. The great sadness is that without repentance we will never fully understand or know this greatest of gifts. As C.S. Lewis said “we will be making mud pies in a slum, unable to comprehend a holiday at the beach”.
“I once was lost, but now am found.” Did John Newton experience the true repentance of the prodigal son? The second verse of Amazing Grace is “Twas grace that taught my heart to fear, and grace my fears reliev’d. How precious did that grace appear the hour I first believed”. I am sure he did.
May we all receive the same gift of true repentance. May we all receive the Father’s love and the Father’s healing in the deepest places of our war-torn and wounded hearts. May we all grow into the likeness of the prodigal’s Father.
Hallelujah.