People In Search Of A Kingdom – Confronted With Grace

The parables of Jesus are more than just nice stories, they’re announcements of God’s kingdom being inaugurated on earth. If we’re to understand these parables, we’ve gotta ask ‘what is Jesus announcing about the kingdom?’ This is the guiding question in reading the parable of the Lost Sons from Luke 15. What we find in the story is grace confronts the lost sons, it’s how they can enter the father’s house. Like them, we enter the kingdom by grace – it breaks through to people who do not deserve it. In the kingdom, identities are returned, pain is taken away, joy is restored and we have communion with the King. The lost are found and the dead are made alive again – it all results in joy and celebration. The question we’re left is, what will we do with this kind of scandelous grace?