It was a familiar charge: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." With sinners and tax collectors gathering around to listen to him, Jesus could hardly deny it—and he didn’t want to. He embraced the "charge" with three vivid stories in which finding a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost boy set off big celebrations. To the last story, he pointedly added an older son who didn’t want to welcome the lost boy home.

• The Pharisees labeled people "good" or "bad," and saw "bad people" as unlikely to change. Jesus saw people much more as "lost" (like the sheep, coin or boy), and what’s lost can be found. When have you lost your way spiritually and needed finding? Jesus pictured God rejoicing each time a heart responds to God’s love. Whose model has most helped you see God as more eager to find a lost person than to punish a bad person?
• Like the fig tree parable (cf. Luke 13:6-9), Jesus left the older son’s story open-ended. The last we hear is the father beseeching his resentful older boy: "We had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive. He was lost and is found." We know most of the "older brothers" in Jesus’ day stalked away into the night rather than welcome prodigals home. If you’ve been at the party of faith for a while, how do you respond to the Father’s appeal to welcome home the lost who are found?