Luke 15

There is an interesting contrast in the parables that Jesus shares in this passage. In the first, He talks about a sheep that wanders away and a shepherd that goes after it. In the second, He tells the familiar parable of the prodigal son.

I think it's interesting to note that in the first parable, the shepherd leaves the flock to find the one lost sheep. After that sheep is found, he returns to the flock and rejoices that his one that was lost is now found. This could be like you and me wandering around in the darkness and Jesus finally finds us and brings us back to His fold. The other believers and angels of heaven rejoice that the one that was lost is now found.

Contrast that to the prodigal son where the father did not go out in search of his son. The son left with his share of the wealth, squandered it, suffered, and then returned home on his own to find his father waiting for him. There was still celebration, but it was different. They celebrated the choice that the son made to return home rather than the success of the shepherd in finding his lost sheep.

I don't know for sure why these are so different on that one point except to say that sometimes God chases us and keeps out of trouble and sometimes He lets us go through a little bit of hard times so that we can choose to come back home.