But Jesus even had a tax collector for a disciple. Matthew was the man’s name. Matthew went on to write a Gospel that tells a story similar to the one here in Luke, with the Pharisees asking, “Why does your Teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matthew 9:11). On that occasion, Jesus told them that doctors were for sick people, that He “did not come to call the righteous, but sinners, to repentance” (v. 13). In other words, Jesus came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10).

In Luke 18 Jesus tells another story of a tax collector and a Pharisee. The Pharisee, like the older brother, was very moral and upright and also very arrogant and proud. The tax collector was a dishonest man—a moral failure. But just as in our story, the tax collector (youngest son) repented. Jesus gives His final evaluation: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other; for everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Luke 18:14).

Clearly, Jesus’ view of the lost was quite different from the Pharisee’s view. The Pharisees knew all about lost and found. As they saw it, they themselves were the found, and the lost? Well, let them be. They had only themselves to blame. Yet, rather than blaming them, Jesus welcomed and loved them. He spent time in their homes and even ate with them. It was all shocking to the Pharisees.

I believe one day Jesus looked up at those crowds, His heart filled with love, as always. Then He looked a little farther and locked eyes with the Pharisees. He read their faces, their disapproval. And suddenly, He told three stories that answered the question: Who is a lost person?

He told a simple story about a sheep. He told another one about a coin. And then he told this story of a father and two sons, with a genuine, jaw-dropping twist at the end—it turns out that both sons are lost.

The “sinners” in the crowd saw themselves in the story. They sat in suspense as the haggard figure stumbled home, and they wept when the father took the prodigal into his arms.

The Pharisees, caught up in the tale despite themselves, suddenly realized they were represented, too. They were the older son, and Jesus was suggesting some serious propositions:

First, that those who seemed lost could be forgiven.

Second, that “found” people might actually be lost.

Third, and most important of all—that God loved both. God forgave both, whether for dirty hands or for a haughty heart. Forgave? Why, He pursued! Here came God, weeping for joy, coming after a son—or sons.