Redemptive love ... a level of love that refuses to break the chain of commitment that bonds people together. This is another type of unbreakable love, an ingrained element of God’s nature, one that not even he can ignore or shunt aside.
This verse in Luke harks back to a time that’s unfamiliar to modern society, that of animal husbandry as a way of life rather than a weekend hobby. The Savior in this example is compared to a shepherd, an occupation whose job description includes total protection for every member of the group. A good shepherd strives for a one-hundred percent survival rate for his flock and for each animal to receive a level of care and protection that makes them feel secure against any threat or accident that befalls them.
The Good Shepherd. That’s Our Lord and is intrinsic to the nature of God from the beginning of time. He’s the laminated glass that refuses to give way even when we stumble and crash against the barrier of his love, a wall that, in our distress and self-destruction, seems to not be there.
The Children of Israel received God’s redemptive love when he released them from the bondage of captivity in Egypt. What had begun as a place of security for the Israelites, offering protection from a famine that threatened to subsume all the land with starvation and death, became an inescapable cage of brutality and slavery. Through the leadership of Moses, God led his people out of Egypt and established the Mosaic Covenant with the Israelites.
We love the story of the Prodigal Son found in Luke 15:11-32. The son squanders his inheritance, and still, the father holds his arms wide to embrace his wayward son upon his return. This heartfelt example of redemptive love showcases how God receives his creation when they return unto him.
Job’s story underlines how faith and restoration work in God’s plan. When we place unwavering faith in God’s redemptive power, God will draw us in and offer us greater blessings that we had before our troubles began.
As children, we heard the story of Jonah over and over. Even the secular world has popularized the iconic tale of spending three nights in the belly of the fish. Yet, we mustn’t miss the vital core of the narrative, the true meaning the Bible wants to get across to us. God so desired to offer redemption to the city of Ninevah that he used a giant fish to change Jonah’s mind and bring him to repentance, so that he would preach God’s forgiveness to Ninevah, which led to the conversion of the entire city.
And we can’t forget Paul … or perhaps we should name him Saul, a man instrumental in persecuting the early Christians. When the biblical story of Saul/Paul opens, the man is a deadly opponent to those who have placed their trust in the Christ. He is the worst of the worst, searching out those in the newly formed Christian sect, and calmly observing as they are brutalized and even killed at Saul/Paul’s hand. In Acts 7:58, as Stephen was being stoned, the Bible tells us that “the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.” Yes, this is the same Saul/Paul who is the author of many of the most revered books of the New Testament. Yet—and this is important—God’s love affair with mankind was so unbreakable that he dramatically transformed Saul/Paul on the road to Damascus, and a newly renamed Paul went on to become a leading apostle and evangelist … and the author of much of the New Testament.
“Doesn’t he leave the ninety-nine … and go after the lost sheep?”
― Luke 15:4 ―
God does the same for us. We were lost, and in his redemptive love, we are restored to wholeness through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. It is his death and resurrection that atone for our sins and offer us eternal life and a relationship with God. Even in times of profound loss or sin, God’s love pursues us so that we might know his redemptive nature. His love offers us hope and encouragement that can transform even our most broken lives and relationships.
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