God Decides and Women in God's Kingdom: Some Thoughts on Luke 15

As we continue to read the Gospel according to Saint Luke, one chapter a day from December 1 to 24, we come today to Luke 15, linked below.

In the three parables Jesus tells in this chapter--the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son--we see the precise roles played by God and by human beings in salvation from sin and death. Ready? Here they are: GOD DOES EVERYTHING; WE DO NOTHING.

Human beings are the passive recipients of God's "amazing grace," His charity, for sinners who deserve nothing but condemnation and death.

With loving perseverance, God seeks us out in the same way that the shepherd desperately sought his lost sheep, the woman searched for her lost coin, and the father ran down the road to grab hold of his son before the son had a chance to speak a word of repentance.

In each parable, there is a figure who stands for God--the shepherd, the woman, the father--and there is a figure that stands for us--the sheep, the coin, the son.

Neither the sheep, coin, nor son "decided" to be found. Even the son in Luke 15:11-24 only decides to go back to his father hoping only that his father would hire him as a mere servant, having no idea that his father would run down the road, seeking to embrace him in what one theologian called "a bearhug of grace."

God has done everything necessary for our salvation. Christ has already died, taking the condemnation for sin you and I deserve. It is God Who decided to save us from sin and death and to make available a share in Jesus' defeat of these human enemies. This is what Saint Paul is talking about when he writes in Romans: "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." (Romans 5:8)

Christ has established "means of grace," highways by which He delivers His salvation to us: His Gospel Word, whether read or heard in Scripture, preached, shared, or taught, and His Gospel Word given us in physical sacraments, water connected with the Word in Holy Baptism and bread and wine connected with the Word in Holy Communion.

Christ has already worked salvation for you. Like the lost, or prodigal, son, it is yours as God embraces you with His Word, Baptism, and Communion.

THE ONLY DECISION WE CAN MAKE regarding our salvation is the one apparently made by the older son in Luke 15:25-32. He refused to go to the party to which his father freely invited him, a party certainly representing the heavenly feast Jesus has prepared for all people.

Instead, the older son insisted that entry into the party needed to be earned and deserved by good behavior, righteous deeds.

By his self-righteous decision, he kept himself away from his father's blessings, just as we do when we think God owes us a place in eternity because we think we're such wonderful people.

But we are saved by God's grace given in Christ and the faith in Christ that God's Word creates within us.

As Paul wrote to the first-century church at Ephesus: "It is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Luke 15:11-24 is a wonderful picture of God's grace for you and through it, God gives us permission, to believe and live in the assurance of His forgiveness and love and in the certainty of His promises of life with God that never ends!

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Another point: One Living Water member commented here and in person about how much she appreciated the role of women in Luke's gospel.

The role of women in God's salvation story is seen a lot in Luke!

For example, the story of Jesus' birth is told by Luke through the prism of Mary's experience and faith. (Matthew, on the other hand, tells about Christmas through the eyes of Joseph.)

Throughout Luke's gospel, we see pairings of women and men either in Jesus' ministry or in His parables.

At the very beginning, for example, Zechariah, the priest who would become father to John the Baptizer, is chastened for his unbelief while Mary is extolled for her belief.

When Jesus is dedicated at the temple as an infant, two people approach the Holy Family to declare that Jesus is the long-promised Messiah. One is Simeon, an aged man. The other is Anna, an elderly woman.

Here in Luke 15, the two parables Jesus tells before that of the lost (or the prodigal) son, have as their central characters, first, a male shepherd and second, an elderly woman.

Luke is often called "the women's gospel" because of these frequent pairings of women and men. Luke, of course, was a protege of Saint Paul and in his telling of the events of Jesus' life, death, and resurrection, well reflects the teaching of his mentor, who wrote to the Christians at Galatia: "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. (Galatians 3:28)

Here's a link to the English Standard Version rendering of Luke 15.