Luke 15:15-16

Luke 15:15-16

English Standard Version 

  For a Jewish man, this is the bottom, right?  He's envious of the food of the pigs that he is caring for.  His inheritance is gone.  His community is gone.  He is broken.

  But God has not abandoned him.  A quote that has always stuck with me is someone who has been through rough times said, "I have been to the bottom, and it is solid."  This is not the end of his man's story -- God meets us where we are, even at the bottom, and provides a reason to hope.  When we experience despair, it's so important to remember stories like this one -- because they don't end here.  The story keeps going, such that the Psalm makes sense when it says that we wander through the valley of the shadow of death.  We don't stay in it, and God is with us on the walk.  We may not realize it at the time, but God is with us, and we are not lost in a place of despair.  God leads us out of here into glory.

  This doesn't always make the bottom easier, but it does allow us to hold onto hope and keep moving forward, trusting that these chapters of life do not come to stay.  They come to pass, and God provides enough light so that we can keep moving forward.

Luke 15:11-14

Luke 15:11-14 

English Standard Version 

  

When the younger son asks for this, he's telling his father that he wishes he were already dead.  It's not a promising start to the story, and it devolves from here.  He takes this money and squanders it all.  I'm guessing he never thought this would happen -- surely he could spend and spend and live as he wanted.  He thought he would be free... but he discovered that he was ensnared in turmoil, only different this time.  

  How many of us have wandered this road?  We think we are on the road to freedom, only to discover that we are still trapped.  The devil will show us plenty of things to lure us away, to distract us, to avoid us being honest with our situation.  We are broken and need a Savior to come from outside of ourselves.  Until we can confess this, things often only get worse.  

  At the end of this section, the man is in need.

  As are we.

Luke 15:8–10

Luke 15:8-10

English Standard Version 

  Have you ever dropped something under your car seat while driving, and you try and contort yourself to dig it out under your seat without crashing into something?  In that moment, the object you dropped can do nothing to help.  Only you can find a way to rescue it.

  Jesus is teaching us about ourselves, and our inability to rescue ourselves, and about God, who desires to save us.  God values us deeply, and our state of being lost is noticed by God.  God not only notices, but also desires to find us, and so God searches for us.  In our case, God sends Jesus Christ, lamp of the world, so that we might be delivered.

  Angels in heaven rejoice over you as you are found.  Remember that next time you feel discouraged.

Detours and the Gospel

Luke 15:1–7

Luke 15:1-7 

English Standard Version 

  As a man who hates losing things, this is one of my favorite parables.  Do you know the frustration of searching and searching and searching for something, but not being able to locate it?  Even if it's something trivial, you want to find it.  Often, it becomes more than just a search for the item -- it's a quest to prove that you're not crazy, that you remember where you put something.  I spent 4 days searching for a pair of sunglasses lately.  I had other sunglasses, but I couldn't find these at all, no matter where I searched.  

  Here is Jesus, telling us that the desire to save the lost is rooted in the way God looks at us.  We are the lost sheep, and Jesus is the Good Shepherd, the one who comes searching, the one who rejoices upon finding us.  We don't have to always find our way out of the mess we've got ourselves into.  We, the sheep who have run off, can trust that Jesus comes searching for us and is ready to host a party to celebrate reunion.  This parable allows us to have hope in the Christ who searches and saves, in the Christ whose joy is found in the reunion of the lost with the God who never stops loving.

Sermon on Parable of the Rich Fool

Luke 14:34–35

Luke 14:34-35 

English Standard Version 

  I've never been a big fan of fake meat.  If I want to eat meat, I go for the real thing, and if I want to eat vegetables, there are plenty of options there.  I don't like food that pretends to be something it isn't.

  Here, Jesus is asking people if they'd buy salt that didn't taste like salt.  Salt was (and remains) precious, as a flavor enhancer as well as a preservative.  But if salt isn't salty... then it's not good for much.  

  He's telling us about the role of the church.  The church has a part to play in the world -- we're called to be witnesses to the Good News of the Gospel.  We're called to be servants.  To tell the world about our hope in Christ.  

  If the church isn't doing that, then what is our role in the world?  What purpose are we serving?  We're called to be active and involved, so that the world may see the light of Christ shining in us and through us.

Luke 14:28–33

Luke 14:28-33 

English Standard Version 

  A response to Christ can often be an emotional moment, but to sustain over a life, it needs more than just emotion.  It needs to be a whole life commitment, one where you consider everything -- the cost of making Christ the central part of life, as well as everything that must be given up.  This is not a small decision -- it sets a course for eternity.  Jesus says that we should be prepared to renounce everything, but the interesting piece is that nothing we renounce has eternal value -- what we receive is of infinitely more value and will endure forever.  

  Jesus wants honest commitment.  He wants to ensure that when we make heartfelt commitments, we mean them, and that we're prepared to let God lead us for our entire lives.  This is a prayer every day -- to ask the Holy Spirit to lead us, to renew our hearts each morning.  God's mercies are new every day, and it takes the leadership of God to follow God like this every day, to train our hearts to love God more than anything else, to notice when other loves are competing for our hearts and distracting us away from God.

Luke 14:25–27

Luke 14:25-27 

English Standard Version 

  When Jesus speaks of hating father and mother, the word he uses is a word of comparison -- he's not telling us to literally hate, but rather that our love for God needs to be degrees of magnitude greater than our love for anyone else.  That is what discipleship looks like.  How do we love like that? 

  Such love is even willing to embrace shame.  The cross was a matter of public shame and suffering.  To embrace this means that one is so completely surrendered to God that even shame does not discourage them from a life of discipleship. 

  This is a hard teaching -- there's no getting around this.  It's Jesus being clear that to follow Christ means faith needs to be our first and highest priority.  Jesus is not one more thing in a life like this -- it's the central thing around which everything turns.  

  I think a life like this follows inspiration by the Holy Spirit.  Can we pray for God to move like this, in our own life and in our community?  

Luke 14:15–24

Luke 14:15-24 

English Standard Version 

  The Kingdom will be full.  God wants to have a full house.  Do you want to be included?

  Jesus tells this story about a man who gave a banquet and invited many people, but they all came up with other things to do.  Seems like they have valid excuses -- there isn't judgment given on the excuses given.  The reality is that life is busy... but will we prioritize faith?  Will we put Christ first?  God wants you to come in to the Kingdom, but the host is not forcing those initially invited into the banquet.  Their excuses are honored.  

  So how can you prioritize the Kingdom of God today?

Luke 14:12–14

Luke 14:12-14 

English Standard Version 

  Jesus is trying to teach us about transactional love.  We make lots of transactions in life, and the problem is when we wander into transactional relationships.  We look to people and think about what we can get out of them.  

  So Jesus wants us to be intentional about spending time with people who can't do anything for us, to learn to love people for the sake of people, to find joy in them as fellow people made in the image of God, the way God loves us -- not because God needs something from us, but because God is love and treasures us.  

  

Fireworks and the Gospel

Luke 14:12–14

Luke 14:7-11 

English Standard Version 

  In human life, so much revolves around status.  Even while watching the World Cup, it's clear when they cut to the shots of the fans in the stands that some are more important than others.  Those with status have more space and comfort.  Status matters.

  In God's economy, things are measured differently.  Humility is celebrated because it's an acknowledgement that we only join God's Kingdom because of what God has done for us.  We haven't earned our way in there.  God has welcomed us with open arms and atoned for our brokenness.  

  The path of humility is seen most fully on the cross, where Jesus was willing to ascend to humiliation so that others might be healed and made whole.  His humility makes a path forward, a way through the wilderness.  

  The Kingdom is different.  Down is up.  

Sermon on the Good Samaritan (July 5, 2026)

Luke 14:1–6

Luke 14:1-6 

English Standard Version 

  This reminds me a little of Teddy Roosevelt's Man in the Arena portion of his speech.  In it, he's lauding those who actually do, to the derision of those who opt to criticize.  

  Here is Jesus, asking those present at the dinner if it's lawful to heal him.  None are willing to object, for that would be discarding mercy, but they also aren't willing to defend the act of healing him, for that might entail breaking what had become a rather onerous set of rules to guide Sabbath observation.  None of the people there, many leading religious figures, is willing to take a stand.  They instead will sit back and wait to criticize Jesus, regardless of what he does.

  Jesus opts to heal, showing mercy, for such acts are not a violation of God's law.  If you have the chance to rescue another, you should choose that.  None of those present at the dinner is able to defend not healing the man.  They're speechless.

  So worry not about those who sit back and criticize.  They will always be present.  Seek mercy for the world, working for healing, and trust that in following the example of Christ, the Gospel is being proclaimed.

Luke 13:31–35

Luke 13:31-35 

English Standard Version 

  If the Pharisees warned me that the Roman ruler of the area were seeking to kill me, I'd probably think of what I needed to do to save my own skin.

  That's not what Jesus does.  Jesus isn't deterred by threats of violence -- he's on a mission, and he will not be deterred.  This is his dedication to saving you -- whatever cost is necessary, he will pay it so that you might be saved.

  What's also impressive is that Jesus' spirit isn't dimmed.  He mourns for the city of Jerusalem, and his intent is to gather the children under his protective wings, just as a mother hen would gather her brood.  There is a desire to protect, to shield, so that we might be safe.  That is the focus of Jesus, even in a time of trial -- the instinct is to save.  We see the fullness of Christ's love and the wonder of the invitation in this passage -- as the world is descending into chaos around him, he stands tall and invites others to come to him and find shelter.