Luke 15:1-32
We’ve become accustomed to hearing the three parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son together. Luke’s narrative skill invites us into each scene, and we almost have no choice but to respond. With each parable the invitation goes deeper. We know these stories so well.
If you are preaching today or listening to a sermon there’s sure to be something said about repentance, mercy and God. We need this message more than ever in our world today. But there’s something else which links these parables: each scene ends in an invitation to rejoice and celebrate. Each parable encapsulates that special joy you feel when you find something which you thought you had lost. To feel that joy you need first to have noticed that something was missing. Then you need to go in search of it. In Luke’s parables this joy finds communal expression. I have always loved the phrase ‘Rejoice with me!’ Joy is almost always doubled when you invite others to share it.
These parables all speak to me of the centrality of celebration in the story of our salvation. The quality of our love and mercy are mirrored in our capacity to rejoice and to celebrate. I’ve come to value the people in my life who naturally rejoice or who make the simplest of gatherings a celebration.
Are things in this past week for which you can say ’Rejoice with me’?