Joseph, Jonah and Jesus: Dealing with Prodigals
By Darren Moore
When I first arrived in Chelmsford in 2012 I preached through a series on Luke 15 in the mornings and Jonah in the evenings. I was surprised just how many echoes can be found across them. I preached on them so that we all would feel the shock of the gospel that Jesus came to seek, of all people, “sinners”. I felt the shock myself. Later, I was also preparing for a series on Joseph and I noticed some more Luke 15/Jonah echoes there too.
Luke 15
The scene is set in v1 and 2. Jesus sits and eats with tax collectors and sinners, who hear him. Meanwhile, the religious establishment sits and mutter. In response, Jesus tells three-pointed parables.
Lost and found
The first two are about something lost, which is found: sheep and a coin. In both cases, the lost thing is helpless and needs finding. A coin is an inanimate object and as I was continuously reminded in Skye, sheep are stupid, sitting in the road.
In the case of the shepherd, he seems reckless, leaving 99 perfectly safe sheep to find the one (imagine coming back to find they’d wandered!). Both the shepherd and the woman rejoice in a way that seems a bit over the top. What did they have to eat at the lost sheep party? Lamb chops? What paid for the lost coin party? We understand their relief and job, but it just seems OTT. The point is, this is how God is with us.
Two sons
The younger son is reckless and runs away, comes to his senses, and returns. As he does not stand on his rights but on his Father’s mercy. The Father was there looking all the time, runs for his son in an undignified manner (hoiking up his skirt). When he gets to him, he puts on him a coat and a ring which shows restored authority (remember the underlined).
The older son strops. He is jealous (no lamb for me), self-righteous (I never sinned), and resentful (I slaved for you).
Pointed at the religious
The story ends open-ended. We don’t know if the older brother came to his senses and went in. The point is that Jesus came for the shocking scandalous sinners, but he also invites the self-righteous to come to their senses too.
Jonah
We can locate Jonah by v1, he is the son of Amittai, who is mentioned in 2 Kings 14:25. There we can see the pain inflicted on Israel by Ninevites and God’s people’s attitude to them, immoral enemies. It is to them that God calls Jonah to go and preach. Jonah takes off in the opposite direction. Like the lost son, he comes to his senses and goes back in the right direction (with some persuasion from a storm and a huge fish). En route, he spends 3 nights in a fish, which is likened to a grave.
There is a play on the word “turn” (translated, overturned, repent, and turned). Jonah turns to preach God’s message, which is that God will turn the city (overturn/destroy), they turn (repent) and so God’s anger turns (away). When the Ninevites come to their sense they do not stand on their rights, but repent, “God may have compassion”, sound much like the younger brother.
However, Jonah strops because God cared for Nineveh. The reason he didn’t want to go in the first place is that he knows just what God is like and has compassion, even on very wicked people. He is shocked, even appalled by God’s compassion. Again, the story is left open-ended. What did Jonah do? Carry on being annoyed with God, or get with his programme. Like Luke 15, the invitation is there, for both younger brother/Ninevites to come to their senses and be forgiven. But also for us older brother/Jonah’s to see God’s shocking grace and come back in.
Joseph
He starts out life as a shepherd, he is given a royal robe (the word translated multi-coloured is only used again in 2 Samuel 13:18, it is a royal robe) and has authority over his older brothers. His older brothers are like the older brother in Luke 15, but the story goes backwards. They take him, sell him for silver as a slave and he loses his robe. He ends up in prison, as good as dead, but then is raised to rule, his authority is restored and increased, and he saves the known world.
Jesus
Shed his royal robe that was rightly his as the eternal Son, and became as we are. In fact, he lost even his ordinary robe as soldiers cast lots to decide who would keep it. He came for silly sheep like us whom could not get themselves out of danger. He was rejected by his brothers, sold for silver and literally killed, but after three days rose. He did this so that rebel sons (younger sons), immoral enemies (Ninevites), and self-righteous hypocrites (older brothers) can, undeservingly, be given their royal robes and share Jesus’ status as sons and heirs.
This provokes older sons who think that some people’s reckless sins are too bad for God’s grace. Evangelicals naturally fall into the sin of self-righteousness, no doubt why the gospels spend so much time on the Pharisees. But Jesus’ death was for them too and he invites us back to share his table and welcomes us back too.
It's striking that both Luke 15 and Jonah don’t have ‘proper’ endings. They are both unresolved, cliff hangers. Does the older brother accept the invite to go back in, does Jonah accept God’s assessment? Will you?
