Seeking and Saving

“The Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost” (Luke 19:10).

I suggest that this verse is the central, key text of the Gospel of Luke. What wondrous truths are stated here, in the most amazingly simple language. Here are fifteen one-syllable words, only one of which has as many as five letters, yet they tell the story of God’s eternal love in all its fullness.

“The Son of Man is come.” The term Son of Man declares that in matchless grace Jesus took a place of equality with man—He came to take our place and die for our sins. After sin came into the world, all humanity—knowingly or unknowingly—awaited Him who alone could undo the works of the devil and bring peace and deliverance. And now here is the triumphant cry: “He is come.”

As the “Son of Man,” Jesus represents no empire, nation, or tribe. All may claim Him as theirs. He does not call Himself the Son of Abraham, for there are no racial limitations in His kingdom. He is not merely the Son of David, for there are no royal limitations. He does not represent Himself as the Son of Mary, for there are no familial limitations. He is the Son of Man—to all people alike.

He came to “seek and to save that which was lost.” Jesus is seeking all people, from all nations. His love knows no classes, no ages. He saves the scholar lost amidst his philosophies, and the religious person lost in his rituals. He saves the common you and me. He is seeking weary souls, those that want His salvation. You find the world’s heroes where luxuries abound, but Christ is found where hearts are aching, where the load is heaviest, where tears are bitterest. He is the Son of Man. He is for all, and would have all to be forever His.

The Son of Man is come. Shout it the world around!

—August Van Ryn, condensed