Rejoice! God Loves You, Specifically You

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Jesus told three parables in Luke 15. The lesson in each one is this:

God loves you, specifically you.

And He and His angels rejoice to have you with Him.

When Sir John Everett Millais created his 20 illustrations for the series The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, he included each of the parables in Luke 15. According to the Metropolitan Museum of Art description of these illustrations, Millais said:

I can do ordinary drawings as quickly as most men, but these designs can scarcely be regarded in the same light—each Parable I illustrate perhaps a dozen times before I fix [the image].

John Everett Millais (around age 30), engraving by Daniel John Pound.
Courtesy Metropolitan Museum of Art. Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917.

Millais’ illustrations of the Luke 15 parables reveal this careful attention. His careful attention is appropriate because these stories reveal the careful attention God pays to us.

Most of the lessons I have heard on Luke 15 concentrate appropriately on one or all of the parables. However, the verses that begin the chapter set the stage and are a great comfort. These verses tell that tax collectors and sinners were coming near to Jesus to listen to Him. The Pharisees and scribes grumbled about that, criticizing Jesus for receiving and eating with them. These three parables tell how God feels about sinners, a lesson the Pharisees and scribes should have known.

A Lost Sheep

Jesus reminded them that a man with 100 sheep will leave 99 of them in the open pasture to search for one lost sheep until he finds it. When he finds it, he will lay it on his shoulders, rejoicing. When he gets home, he will ask his friends and neighbors to come together and rejoice with him.

Jesus said that:

“There will be more joy in heaven
over one sinner who repents
than over ninety-nine righteous persons
who need no repentance.”
Luke 15:7

A Lost Coin

Jesus reminded them that a woman who loses one of her ten coins will light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it. She, too, will call her friends and neighbors together and tell them to rejoice with her.

Jesus said that:

“In the same way, I tell you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents.”
Luke 15:10

A Lost Son

One hundred sheep. Ten coins. Two sons.

It’s sad to lose a sheep; it’s sad to lose a coin; but to lose a son . . . oh, me. God experiences that over and over and He has done so century after century.

Jesus tells about a man who had two sons—one son was like the sinners mentioned at the beginning of the chapter; the other was like the Pharisees and scribes. The parable of the lost son touches a mama’s heart like perhaps no other. Experience with a prodigal son or daughter or concern that it might happen causes many mamas—and yes, that includes devoted Christian homeschooling mamas—to cry earnestly to our Father in Heaven to bring their child back home. And many mamas cry out to God asking Him to touch a child who acts like the older brother.

How the Father had waited and hoped. Imagine his joy when he saw his lost son while he was still a long way off.

The father’s response was not judgment, but compassion.

The father ran to him, embraced him, kissed him, and called for a celebration.

The older brother’s response was not compassion, but judgment.

When the father saw his older son’s response, he told him:

“But we had to celebrate and rejoice,
for this brother of yours was dead
and has begun to live,
and was lost and has been found.”
Luke 15:32

The response at the end of each parable was the same: rejoicing and sharing that rejoicing with others. Rejoice! God loves you and your children. Remember why Jesus came:

And Levi gave a big reception for [Jesus] in his house;
and there was a great crowd of tax collectors and other people
who were reclining at the table with them. 
The Pharisees and their scribes
began grumbling at His disciples, saying,
“Why do you eat and drink with the tax collectors and sinners?” 
And Jesus answered and said to them,
“It is not those who are well who need a physician,
but those who are sick. 
I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance.”
Luke 5:29-32

Image credits: Wood engravings; proof on India paper of “The Lost Sheep,” “The Lost Piece of Silver,” and “The Prodigal Son” by Sir John Everett Millais (British, Southampton 1829–1896 London) from the series The Parables of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, engraved by the Dalziel Brothers and published in 1864. Courtesy of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Rogers Fund, 1921.

 

 

 

 

 

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