(If you missed part 1, you might want to read it first.  http://blog.beliefnet.com/waithasthatalwaysbeenthere/2011/08/offering-grace-pt-1.html  )

Now, concerning the Prodigal Son parable, the objection may be raised that the father didn’t go out searching for the son.  The father waited for the son to come home, and it was the coming home that was the son’s expression of repentance to which the father responded with grace.  And that’s a pretty fair argument.  But look at the context in which the story is set.  WHY did Jesus tell this story?  When He told the story of the lost son, what was He explaining?  The story of the lost son, along with the stories of the lost sheep and the lost coin, was told in order to answer a particular question, to turn back a particular argument.  Do you remember what that question was, what that argument was?

We find the stories in Luke chapter 15, which begins with these words:  “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him.   And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”   So he told them this parable:”  And then Jesus tells the three parables – the lost sheep, coin, and son.

Notice what was happening.  Why did Jesus tell these stories?  What was He doing that had the religious leaders complaining and holding themselves as better than Him?

Jesus told these stories to explain why He was going out of His way to spend time with people who were sinners.  Get that again!  Jesus told these stories to explain why He was going out of His way to spend time with people who were sinners.  And not just any people.  Traitors to His people.  Thieves.  Prostitutes.  Drunks.  The people who were turned out of better circles, who were looked down on because of their lifestyles.  The people that “good” people had nothing to do with.

And think a little further about these people who Jesus was with.  Who were they?  Were they people who didn’t know any better than to do the things they were doing?  No!  He wasn’t hanging around with Gentiles.  These drunks, these prostitutes, these tax collectors and cheats and brawlers and immoral people – these were Jews.  These weren’t people who didn’t know better.  These were people who had been raised in the family of God.  From childhood, they had been taught the law, they had heard the stories, they had been raised among God’s people.  They WERE God’s people.

But they were also people who at some point began to make the wrong decisions, to choose the wrong options.  They had turned against what they knew to be true and right and good.  And they were CONTINUING to go against what was true and right and good.  They were STILL cheating and STILL stealing and STILL selling themselves and STILL getting drunk and STILL doing all the wrong things they had immersed their lives in.

And what is Jesus’ approach to them?  When one of them comes to Jesus and invites Him to dinner, does Jesus say, “Sorry, man.  You’re a sinner, and you’re gonna have to clean up your act some before I spend any of myself on you.  Go repent, and then we’ll talk about a visit”?

No.  Jesus says, “Dinner?  I’d love to!  What time?  Will your friends be there?  I’d love to meet them.”

Again and again, we find Jesus spending His time and energy showering His love and attention as much on people who were clearly living sinful lives as He did on those who were striving to be God’s people.