The parables of Jesus are more than just nice stories, they’re

announcements of God’s kingdom being inaugurated on earth. If we’re to

understand these parables, we’ve gotta ask ‘what is Jesus announcing about

the kingdom?’ This is the guiding question in reading the parable of the

Lost Sons from Luke 15. What we find in the story is grace confronts the

lost sons, it’s how they can enter the father’s house. Like them, we enter

the kingdom by grace – it breaks through to people who do not deserve it.

In the kingdom, identities are returned, pain is taken away, joy is

restored and we have communion with the King. The lost are found and the

dead are made alive again – it all results in joy and celebration. The

question we’re left is, what will we do with this kind of scandelous grace?