Day 22: Good News if You're Lost

May I say that the middle chapter of these three makes everything else in the other chapters in Luke worth it?  There are many difficult things in Luke, as there are in Matthew and Mark.  But the sheer grace of chapter 15 -- the images of the father with his arms wide open, the woman searching everywhere for her coin, the shepherd looking high and low for just one out of 100 sheep -- make every difficult saying worth it.

There's one catch though, you have to be lost.  If you are a wandering son, a coin gathering dust in a dark corner, a sheep out in the wilderness, Luke chapter 15 is good news.  If you are not lost, or you don't think you're lost, well, you might not understand what all of the fuss is about.

I notice reading these familiar stories again that the wandering son doesn't get to say his whole speech before his father interrupts him.  (The part about "treat me like one of your slaves..." the father does not let him say.)  I noticed that the woman who finds her lost coin goes out and has a party once she finds it.  Presumably, she spends all the money she worked so hard to track down.  huh.  What did you notice?

A few words about chapters 14 and 16.  Chapter 14 has some to do with table etiquette.  The first "parable" Jesus tells doesn't seem too much like a parable to me, actually.  It's just instructions about where to sit and who to invite.  The second parable is another version of the one we heard in Mark, about the landowner who has a party and discovers that his invited guests are no longer interested.  Then, Jesus changes the subject to "the cost of discipleship" -- Jesus warning potential disciples to count the cost before following him.  Considering where Jesus' path will lead, it's understandable that Jesus would warn people.  On the other hand, it's just the opposite of clever marketing. 

Chapter 16 has two parables with some disconnected warnings between them (it seems to me, anyway).  The parable of the dishonest manager has made commentators scratch their heads and do theological contortions for about 2,000 years.  The idea is that the manager is dishonest, but clever.   Jesus seems to think that disciples need to be creative and clever and that this is a part of faithfulness.  But, it makes us scratch our heads.  (and, I'm open to more suggestions on this parable).

The last parable is famous to some -- the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, the poor man, and how Lazarus goes to heaven (the bosom of Abraham), but the rich man -- doesn't.  If you're Lazarus -- this is good news.  But if you are the rich man -- it's pretty sobering.  It's worth noting that the crowds that originally heard this parable would have been shocked when Jesus told them that the rich man was tormented in Hades.  They would have assumed the opposite.  Also, it's pretty unusual for the poor man to be the one who gets a name, and for the rich man to be anonymous.  Usually, it's the poor who are the bit players in history, and the rich who get the starring roles.

But, not in Luke's "orderly account." 

I'll admit, I gravitate to Luke's concern for and attention to the poor.  But then I also have to admit, that I am not one of the poor.  I may not be rich, but I'm not poor.  Does it make a different how I hear Luke's words?