Being A Good NeighborSample

What Sin Is

In the Gospel of Luke, chapter 15, Jesus tells three stories: the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the parable of “The Prodigal Son.” In the first part of the parable, the younger of two brothers wasted his inheritance with prostitutes, and now he is living with pigs. Think about it – he is obviously in sin!

It is easy to tell when someone is strung out. It breaks your heart. Once we were nearby when a homeless young man passed out, and we were there trying to wake him up. You could tell he was lost. He didn’t even have shoes on. It was obvious he was messed up.

The second part of the parable of “The Prodigal Son” is about the older son. He was very “good,” but still alienated from the father’s heart. He had all the father’s things and obeyed his rules but didn’t have the father in his life either. He just wanted the father’s stuff, his inheritance, but he went about it in a different way. It wasn’t as obvious as the younger son, but he was still messed up. Jesus is showing us that both are sinners. One did it clean and the other one did it dirty, but they both end up in the same place without God.

The son who wasted his life on prostitutes comes to his senses and says, “I need my father back.” It is him who finds the love of the father again. But the one who was always a good guy, remains lost. Jesus is saying, “You need the father even if you aren’t messed up.”

Do you know who Jesus is talking to in this story? To a bunch of Pharisees. He is telling them, “You guys are the second son. You have it all together, you don’t act wrong, you’re not wasting your life with all these vices, you are not junkies, but – you are missing the Father. You are missing the love of the Father. You are missing the kindness of the Father. You are missing the salvation of the Father. You are missing His heart. You need the Father.”

It's as if Jesus was saying, “You are both wrong, you both are making the world a terrible place, but in different ways.” Yes, there is a lost sheep that needs to be found, there is a lost coin that needs to be found, but there are two lost sons who need the Father.