We’ve all heard stories of miners trapped underground, hikers/skiers lost on snowy mountainsides, and ships disabled at sea, adrift on the current. A couple of things common to all of these situations is that normally a search effort is made to recover those that are in danger and when they are recovered there is a celebration of their rescue.
On Friday, December 7, 2012, The New York Daily News reported about a tiny woman (5-foot-2) by the name of Doreen Winkler that helped save two men trapped on the tracks of the Bowling Green Subway Station in New York City.
The terrifying incident occurred as Winkler was waiting for the train...just before 10 p.m. She said she heard an odd noise and spotted an apparently drunken man laying on his back in the middle of the tracks. People were shouting for someone to help him when Winkler, afraid she was too small to move the much larger man herself, encouraged another man nearby to jump down and try to rescue him. The rescuer was “pushing him, trying to get him to stand up” when the northbound train suddenly appeared. Winkler said she saw the lights of the approaching train and with the help of two other women, pulled the two men to safety just in time. She said, “I had one arm...of each man.” She continued, “I don’t understand how people can just stand there and watch and not help.” She concluded, “This is not about attention...it’s about what everybody should do...You can’t ever, ever, ever watch somebody die.”
Doreen Winkler’s sentiments are those of most of us when we see someone in danger. But, it’s not just physical rescues that are needed today...it’s spiritual rescues, too. Though it’s difficult to see a person’s true spiritual condition, the plight of the unconverted soul is an even more pressing situation than that of a man laying on the tracks of a subway station. For the person without Christ physical death brings immediate judgment for his/her sins and separation from God for eternity.
Unfortunately, the Scribes and Pharisees of Jesus’ day weren’t the type to assist in rescuing people from their impending spiritual deaths. They were willing to let those drowning in the sea of their own sinfulness pass into eternity without even a semblance of a rescue. They were much too busy admiring their own self-righteousness to care about the souls in danger all around them. And yet, among the several things the parables of Luke 15 teaches us is the fact that, unlike the Scribes and Pharisees, God is always seeking to rescue the lost. It is, in fact, the mission of Jesus! The noted Jewish New Testament scholar C. G. Montefiore said that “these parables [found in Luke 15] were revolutionary because while the rabbis agreed that God would welcome a repentant sinner, the idea that God seeks sinners was a new insight.”
In considering these three parables we must look at the context Luke gives to these profound teachings of Jesus, exposing what is wrong with the Scribes and Pharisees that prevents them from caring for the lost.
- Possessions were more important to them than people. (Luke 14:1-6)
- PRIDE was their greatest inhibitor to compassionate rescues!! (Luke 14:7-14)
- The Pharisees kept their search narrow, while God kept widening His. (Luke 14:15-24)
Though the Scribes and Pharisees wouldn’t help to rescue the lost, it was Jesus’ main mission. The three parables of Luke 15 emphasize this mission and how it differed from the religious establishment of his day.
Review each of the three parables in Luke 15.
There are many facts that have already been mined from these parables of Jesus. For instance: In each story something is lost: (1) a sheep; (2) a shekel; and (3) a son. The sheep was innocently lost, the coin carelessly lost, but the son willfully lost.
The percentage of loss grows in each case from one out of a hundred, to one out of ten, to one out of two. In other words, there is both increasing scarcity and an increasing value as we move from a missing sheep to a missing son.
Each story concludes with a celebration after the thing lost is recovered. Especially notice that these parables teach that God rejoices when the lost are found. The description of God in this passage is one that many do not fully recognize. He is shown as One laughing, congratulating and celebrating. It even says that there is more rejoicing about the one found than the ones that are safe. The initial joy momentarily outshines other settled joys. It’s like the immediate joy over a sick child that has recovered more than the settled joy that the rest of the family is healthy.
In the first two parables (sheep and shekel lost) you see:
A. An immediate search (because you know the value of what is lost)
B. An intentional search
C. A determined search
D. A thorough search
But, do you know what is strikingly absent from the last parable that is seen in each of the first two parables? In the last parable there is no one searching to rescue the lost son. While it is true that this last parable emphasizes the mercy of the Father, the older son that stayed at home was not motivated to look for his younger brother. He hated the actions of his brother and knew that his Father would restore Him to sonship, if he returned home. Consequently, he really didn’t want his brother to come home! It’s unfathomable that the older brother wouldn’t even come in and celebrate the fact that his younger brother had returned home.
One of the lessons of this last parable is that even if we aren’t motivated to rescue the lost by our love for them, our love for the Father should motivate us. In essence, if the lost being found makes our Father happy then we should at least be motivated to bring happiness to our Father by rescuing the lost. After all, our lives are to be spent bringing glory to Him!
Think about the faces of your loved ones and friends that are still without Christ. At death they will be confined to Hell and not until the last judgment, The Great White Throne Judgment (Revelation 20:11-15), will you see their faces again. Watch as God calls them before Him for their final sentencing. He searches the books where their works are recorded and then He casts them into the Lake of Fire. You get one last glance at their faces and then for all eternity they are gone, separated from God (and you) forever. Now they will pay the penalty for their own sin because they refused to accept Christ’s payment on their behalf.
In the words of Doreen Winkler, “You can’t ever, ever, ever watch somebody die.” We have to act and we have to act now. God is calling for rescuers that will venture out to share their faith for the sake of the souls of mankind. And, if you won’t do it because you love the people who need rescuing, will you do it because it brings happiness to the Father when just one sinner repents?
The missionary C.T. Studd said, “Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell.”
