Just asking (17): why didn’t He look?

Luca Giordano (1634-1705): The Parable of the Prodigal Son—Driven out by his Former Companions (Luca Giordano, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons)

A three legged stool must have three equally long legs.
Otherwise it feels wobbly.

Jesus once told three parables.
(Interpreters argue it should be one in three but let’s leave it for now.)

The first parable talks about a shepherd with 100 sheep. He went to look for the one that was lost. Found it. Celebrated with friends.

The second parable talks about a woman with 10 coins. She lit up the house to look for the lost coin. Found it. Celebrated with friends.

The third parable talks about a father who had two sons. The young went away and became the prodigal son. The father stood within the perimeter of his estate and waited for the prodigal to return which he eventually did. Celebrated with family and friends.

Reading these three parables gives one a wobbly feeling.
No doubt all three talked loss.
All three talked found.
All three talked the joy of lost and found.
The wobbling doesn’t come from these.

It becomes exceedingly unbalanced.
The shepherd sought.
The woman sought.
The father didn’t; just waited.
So wobbling.
The three legged stool will fall.

At the parable level, within the frame of the three parables, it’s wobbly.
The character most expected to also seek, the father, never did.
For Jesus to tell such wobbling parables, it is puzzling at best.

At the Gospel of Luke level where Jesus was recorded as telling these parables, that is the frame of reading Luke Chapter 15, is it still wobbly?

Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them! So Jesus told them this story . . . (Luke 15:1-3, NLT).

Who is the lost?
Tax collectors and sinners?
Pharisees and teachers of law?

Is there someone seeking the lost?
Who is seeking?

Just asking