How God's Love Finds Us in Every Season

We've been diving deep into the famous parable of the prodigal son, a story most people recognize—even if they’ve only glanced at the Bible. Jesus' story of two sons who both got lost in different ways is not just a tale of forgiveness but a powerful illustration of God’s initiating love. Whether you’ve run away like the younger son or stayed close but distant in heart like the older son, this parable has something to teach each of us.

Two Ways to Be Lost

The younger son’s story is obvious: he leaves home, demands his inheritance, and squanders it all. We can all recognize this kind of rebellion. But Jesus also draws attention to the older son, who stayed behind but was just as lost. His lostness wasn’t outward rebellion but inward self-righteousness. He was trying to use his good deeds to manipulate the Father, expecting that if he lived a “good” life, God would owe him blessings.

We often fall into these traps, don’t we? Sometimes, we blatantly disregard God’s ways and live for ourselves, wanting His blessings without His supervision. Other times, we do all the right things but with the wrong heart, expecting God to reward us for our efforts. When He doesn’t, we become frustrated and distant.

A Third Way to Be Lost

There’s another layer of lostness that some of us experience—a blend of the two sons. We can live a double life, convincing our religious friends that we’re just as righteous as the older brother while secretly living like the younger one. This duplicity pulls us away from God, and it’s only through confession and honesty that we can find our way back to Him.

God’s Initiating Love

No matter how we find ourselves lost, the way back is always the same: God’s love. The parable shows us that the Father initiates the search for His sons. When the younger son comes home, broken and repentant, the Father runs to him, not waiting behind a desk with judgment but embracing him with compassion. It wasn’t the son’s repentance that made him lovable—it was the Father’s choice to love him even when he was far away.

This is the heart of the Gospel: we are found because of God’s initiating love. Whether we are blatant rebels or self-righteous rule-followers, it’s God who comes to us, who seeks us out, and who offers us His grace.

Our Older Brother

In the parable, there’s something missing: a searcher. In the first two stories Jesus tells in Luke 15, the lost sheep and the lost coin, someone actively goes looking. But in the story of the two sons, no one goes out to find the younger son. The older brother should have been the one to search for him, just as we are meant to care for one another.

The good news is that we do have an older brother—Jesus—who left heaven to search for us. Unlike the older brother in the story, who angrily refused to welcome his sibling back, Jesus joyfully paid the price for our restoration. Through His sacrifice, He brought us back into the family of God, paying our debt with His own life.

The Cost of Restoration

Forgiveness and reconciliation are never free. While God’s grace is freely given to us, it came at a great cost. Jesus willingly paid that price, taking on our sins so that we could be welcomed into the celebration of eternal life. Reflecting on this changes us. It moves us to extend grace to others and transforms how we live, whether we relate more to the younger or older son.

Based on a sermon given by Stephen Saxton on October 6, 2024