"Come home to the Father’s love, to the joy of Jesus’ feast. Are you a prodigal, far from the gate of heaven? Jesus now comes to lift you up. Are you a smug Pharisee, flaunting the filthy rags of your self-righteousness outside the Father’s house? Hear the words of Jesus: his Father calls you to repent and come home as a little child. Or are you somehow both at once: prodigal and proud, debased but despising?
No matter; cast all away and hold fast to Jesus. Or are you a believer? Has Jesus found you like the lost sheep and borne you home on his shoulder? Then consider the demand this parable puts on you. You have tasted of heaven’s grace. You know the embrace of your Father’s love. You know that he rejoices over you with singing. What does heaven’s joy, his joy, over lost sinners mean to you?
You say, “It means that I, too, must welcome sinners, be ready to eat with them, even as I have been brought to his table.” Is that enough? The true Son, who knows his Father’s heart, did not simply share with sinners his robe, his ring, his sandals. He went to find them to bring them home.
Where will you look today?
“Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love” (1 John 4:8, NIV).
Ed Clowney "Sharing the Father's Welcome"
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