Lost Far, Lost Near

I hope you’re staying warm on this cold, cold day. Today in the bible reading plan, we read Luke 15 – the chapter that contains the famous parables of the lost sheep, coin, and son(s)/father.
 

An amazing day of reading.

 
Did you notice how the chapter starts: how Jesus tells these parables in response to the fact that the religious folk were grumbling that he’s chilling with and welcoming the bad folk?
 

Sit with that for a minute.

 
Then reflect on how there’s “lost” outside (the sheep) AND there’s equally “lost” inside (the coin). In fact, each of the sons correspond to the lost sheep (the younger who is far from the father) and the lost coin (the older who is close to the father).
 
Notice though: the “far and lost” son comes IN while the “near and lost” son is OUT and the father pleads with him to come back in and join in….
 

But – we don’t know if he comes in or not.

The parable ends before it gets there – almost like it is an invitation to those who are “near and lost” (i.e., the religious folk) to get on-board with Jesus and his mission towards the “far and lost” (i.e., the sinners)!
 

Wow. Jesus was simply a master story-teller.

And it all begs the question: where are you in the story?

 
I hope you’re reading, and sticking with it!  Remember – the A.M.A. is THIS Sunday – so get those questions in to me!