Biblia

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 15:1

Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Luke 15:1

Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

1-10. The Lost Sheep.

1. Then drew near unto him ] Rather, And there were drawing near to Him aU the tax-gatherers and the sinners to listen to Him.

St Chrysostom says that their very life was legalised sin and specious greed. On the publicans, see Luk 3:12, Luk 5:27. ‘The sinners’ mean in general the degraded and outcast classes. See Introd. and Wordsworth, ad loc.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Luk 9:51 to Luk 18:31 . Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of Tolerance.

This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, Joh 10:22) which is partially Luk 9:51-56. And it came to pass, when the time was come that he touched upon in Mat 18:1 to Mat 20:16 and Mar 10:1-31. It contains many incidents recorded by this Evangelist alone, and though the recorded identifications of time and place are vague, yet they all point (Luk 9:51, Luk 13:22, Luk 17:11, Luk 10:38) to a slow, solemn, and public progress from Galilee to Jerusalem, of which the events themselves are often grouped by subjective considerations. So little certain is the order of the separate incidents, that one writer (Rev. W. Stewart) has made an ingenious attempt to shew that it is determined by the alphabetic arrangement of the leading Greek verbs ( , Luk 10:25-42; , Luk 11:1-5; Luk 11:8-13, &c.). Canon Westcott arranges the order thus: The Rejection of the Jews foreshewn; preparation, Luk 9:43 toLuk 11:13; Lessons of Warning, Luk 11:14 toLuk 13:9; Lessons of Progress, Luk 13:10 toLuk 14:24; Lessons of Discipleship, Luk 14:25 xvii. 10; the Coming End, Luk 17:10 toLuk 18:30.

The order of events after ‘the Galilaean spring’ of our Lord’s ministry on the plain of Gennesareth seems to have been this: After the period of flight among the heathen or in countries which were only semi-Jewish, of which almost the sole recorded incident is the healing of the daughter of the Syrophoenician woman (Mat 15:21-28 ). He returned to Peraea and fed the four thousand. He then sailed back to Gennesareth, but left it in deep sorrow on being met by the Pharisees with insolent demands for a sign from heaven. Turning His back once more on Galilee, He again travelled northwards; healed a blind man at Bethsaida Julias; received St Peter’s great confession on the way to Caesarea Philippi; was transfigured; healed the demoniac boy; rebuked the ambition of the disciples by the example of the little child; returned for a brief rest in Capernaum, during which occurred the incident of the Temple Tax; then journeyed to the Feast of Tabernacles, during which occurred the incidents so fully narrated by St John (Joh 7:1 to Joh 10:21). The events and teachings in this great section of St Luke seem to belong mainly, if not entirely, to the two months between the hasty return of Jesus to Galilee and His arrival in Jerusalem, two months afterwards, at the Feast of Dedication; a period respecting which St Luke must have had access to special sources of information.

For fuller discussion of the question I must refer to my Life of Christ, ii. 89-150.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

Publicans and sinners – See the notes at Mat 9:10.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Luk 15:1-2

This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them

Christs influence with the masses

The masses were drawn to Christs teachings.


I.
THE REASONS FOR THIS ADMIRATION.

1. All lack of affectation–no parade of greatness, no false assumption of humility. His manner was what beauty is to the landscape, what the sublime, majestic repose of the ocean is to the oceans greatness. His manner ever reflected the moral grandeur of His being.

2. The originality of His methods.

3. The grandeur and claims of His doctrines.

4. The authority with which He spoke.

5. The adaptation of style and matter to the people.

6. His profound earnestness.

7. His scathing denunciation of the hypocrisy of the ruling sects.


II.
THE EFFORTS OF THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES TO UNDO THIS INFLUENCE. Not because they loved men, but because of caste, of pride, and cold-hearted selfishness.


III.
CHRISTS MANNER OF MEETING THIS OPPOSITION. He takes every opportunity to overcome their prejudice, and enlighten their minds, seeking to impress upon them the superior glories of the new disport sation. (W. E.McKay.)

Christ receiving sinners


I.
THE DESCRIPTION OF SINNERS CHRIST WILL RECEIVE.

1. Sinners of all ages.

2. Sinners of all stations.

3. Sinners of all degrees.


II.
INTO WHAT JESUS RECEIVES SINNERS.

1. Into His forgiving grace and favour.

2. Into His family.

3. Into His heaven.


III.
THE WAY AND MANNER IN WHICH CHRIST RECEIVES SINNERS.

1. In the way of acknowledgment and confession.

2. In the way of repentance, or turning from sin.

3. In the way of humility and faith.

Now as to the manner:

1. Most freely.

2. Most tenderly.

3. Most readily.

Application:

1. The subject is one to which every believers heart responds.

2. The subject is full of encouragement to the inquiring sinner.

3. The subject is limited to the present life. Here only He receives. (J. Burns, D. D.)

This man receiveth sinners

These words were originally spoken as a reproach against our Lord. When we repeat them it is with widely different feelings. They are to us a message of joy–nay, the only true grounds of joy and hope to man.


I.
THE PERSONS REFERRED TO. This man: sinners.

1. The contrast in its most general aspect. They–sinners–evildoers, violators of Gods law. He–holy; separate from sinners.

2. Take the outward life of both. His–faultless, beneficent. Theirs–the reverse.

3. Consider the spirit of His life, and of theirs. Perfect love and confidence in God; perfect love and devotion to the good of man. They, governed by selfishness; destitute of faith; living under influence of impulse, passion, etc.


II.
THE RELATION EXPRESSED BETWEEN THESE TWO CLASSES OF PERSONS.

1. What should you expect? A man is known by his companions. Like seeks like.

2. Yet, He receiveth sinners.

(1) To mercy and pardon.

(2) To grace and guidance.

(3) To love and friendship.

3. And all this He does

(1) freely;

(2) readily;

(3) eternally.


III.
WHAT IS OUR INTEREST IN THIS SUBJECT?

1. To some, none. But why, and how? Are they not sinners? How, then, can they be saved? Is there another who can thus receive?

2. Do you fear to come? Why? Consider His words of invitation and promise. Consider His acts of welcome and beneficence.

3. Are we received? See that you never abandon His protection. (W. R. Clark, M. A.)

Christ receiving sinners


I.
WHO IT IS THAT RECEIVETH SINNERS?

1. This man. That Christ was man, may easily be shown from the united and ample testimony of Scripture. Revelation makes no attempt to conceal this fact. It treats it as a matter that is necessary to be known, and as fully and readily to be believed, as His essential and eternal divinity. Godhead without manhood could have effected no atonement for the worlds transgression.

2. But this man was Divine, He was God manifested in the flesh, combined all the glory of the Deity with all the weakness of man–all the infirmities of the creature–with acts and attributes splendid and incomprehensible! He was frail as flesh, yet omnipotent as God. Thus was our nature infinitely enriched, though sin had beggared it of all worth.

3. This man gave to the universe the most amiable, attractive, and stupendous manifestation of the Deity ever witnessed, a manifestation altogether different from any which had been previously afforded. Here was no throne of sapphire, no city of pearl, no retinue of celestials, no blaze of unapproachable brightness, no footpath on the firmament, no chariot rolling on the wings of the wind, and studded with the stars of the skies. The majestic symbols of the presence and power of the Infinite were kept back, and here was man in weakness, destitution, reproach, suffering, and death. This man showed how low the Deity could stoop, how much the Deity could love, how infinitely the Deity could redeem, with what frail and broken things the Deity could rebuild His moral universe.


II.
HOW THIS MAN RECEIVETH SINNERS.

1. He received them universally; His arms of love are ready to embrace all.

2. Christ received sinners without upbraiding them on account of their sins.

3. Observe the delightful and blessed certainty that sinners have of being received by Him.


III.
WHAT DOES CHRISTS RECEPTION OF SINNERS COMPREHEND? To what are they received? The world receives its votaries, but only to oppress them with its vexations and vanities. Satan receives sinners, but only to slavery and wretchedness. Doth Christ receive them? It is–

1. To a state of reconciliation with Himself; He casts around them His Divine complacency, makes and calls them His friends.

2. Christ receives sinners into a state of holiness. He sanctifies all the powers of the intellect, all the affections of the heart, and all the actions of the life.

3. Christ receives them under the special protection and guidance of His providence. They rest under the pavilion of the Almighty Redeemer, are encircled as with a wall of fire, and fenced round and defended by the angels of glory.

4. Christ receives them into the full immunities of His kingdom of grace. In that kingdom all things are theirs.

5. Christ receives the sinners He thus sanctifies and blesses into heaven. This is the last and greatest gift of God in Christ. This will perfect every holy principle and every religious joy. (E. Horton.)

Jesus receiving sinners


I.
THE WORDS, AS THEY WERE INTENDED, CONTAIN A FALSE AND MALICIOUS CALUMNY. This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. The fact itself was undeniable: but what interpretation did the Pharisees wish to put upon it?

1. They meant to insinuate that the followers of Jesus consisted chiefly of worthless and disreputable characters; and this was false.

2. These murmurers meant to insinuate, further, that Jesus loved the company of sinners for its own sake; and this again was false.

3. Or, perhaps, they meant to insinuate, that those whom He favourably received continued sinners still; and this was as false as the rest.


II.
THE SAME WORDS UNDESIGNEDLY EXPRESS A MOST GLORIOUS TRUTH. They truly describe–

1. The persons on whose behalf the Son of Man is interested–This man receiveth sinners.

(1) None but sinners–among the race of Adam, at least–have any concern or part in Jesus Christ.

(2) The vilest of sinners are not shut out from partaking in that mercy, which is equally needful to the most virtuous.

(3) Once more–sin still dwelleth even in those who have partaken of the mercy of Christ; yet doth He not cast them off. And why? Because He is not displeased to behold sin in His followers? God forbid! No–but because He delights to see them fighting manfully against it, and gradually overcoming it through the power of His grace.

2. The regard which He shows toward them–He receiveth them, and eateth with them.

(1) He receives them to His own favour, and to that of His Father.

(2) He receives them to spiritual communion with Himself, and with His Father.

(3) He receives them, finally, to His visible presence in the kingdom of His Father. (J. Jowett, M. A.)

Christ receiving sinners


I.
THE IMPIOUS CALUMNY INTENDED. You all know that the proverb has been accepted in all ages, and clothed in all languages, A man may be ever known by his associates. Tell me his friendships, and I will tell you his nature, for according to his companionships must be his character. Now these Pharisees would force home this proverb upon the holy Saviour. Could He come forth from that Fathers bosom, could He have just stepped into this naughty world out of that world of holy love, and not be the Friend of publicans and sinners?–ay, the very best Friend they ever had, for He came to seek and to save the chief, as He said most feelingly who had not been a publican and a sinner, but a Pharisee and a sinner. This shall be to eternity His praise and glory. But then it is said, or it is thought, by some Pharisees and scribes, that such a reception of the sinner is a patronage of his sin–that such a gospel of free grace has a perilous tendency to release man from moral duty; that if good works do not enter into the ground of the sinners salvation, no obligation remains for the performance of them by the man–just as these Pharisees implied that receiving sinners was to be a patron of their sin. Refute this error whenever it shows itself, as the Lord refuted the slander of the scribes–by the revealed mind of God. I mean by the pure word of Scripture; on the one hand saying, Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according unto His mercy He saved us; and on the other hand affirming That faith should work by love.


II.
THE PRECIOUS TRUTH ASSERTED. The eater never did bring forth such sweetness as when this testimony was extorted from wicked men. Why this revelation of the Fathers will? My brethren, the great foundation of all Divine revelation, from the forfeiture of Paradise downward through all its prophecies, and through all its promises, the great foundation of all revelation lies in this little fact, God receives sinners. Open your Bible, read through the Scripture; it gives you the character of God. Surely the errand of the beloved Son must be in harmony with that character. Listen! hear the declaration of your Fathers mind: I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, saith the Lord. Listen to the exhortations of your Fathers love: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let Him return unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon. Listen to the proclamation of His own name: The Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin. Hear His promise: I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins: return unto Me; for I have redeemed thee. Hear His remonstrance: How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? Mine heart is turned within Me, My repentings are kindled together. I will not execute the fierceness of Mine anger, I will not return to destroy Ephraim; for I am God, and not man. Oh! declarations, expostulations, proclamations, promises, remonstrances, surely these must have their sign and seal in Him, of whom it was said, See Him, and you see the Father; of whom it could be said, The voice of those human lips is the very echo of the voice of God. (J. P. Eyre, M. A.)

The approachableness of Jesus


I.
First let us PROVE THE APPROACHABLENESS OF CHRIST, though it really needs no proof, for it is a fact which lies upon the surface of His life.

1. You may see it conspicuously in His offices. Our Lord Jesus is said to be the Mediator between God and man. Now, observe, that the office of mediator implies at once that he should be approachable. Another of His offices is that of priest. The priest was the true brother of the people, chosen from among themselves, at all times to be approached; living in their midst, in the very centre of the camp, ready to make intercession for the sinful and the sorrowful. So is it with our Lord. You may be separated from all of human kind, justly and righteously, by your iniquities, but you are not separated from that great Friend of sinners who at this very time is willing that publicans and sinners should draw near unto Him. As a third office let me mention that the Lord Jesus is our Saviour; but I see not how He can be a Saviour unless He can be approached by those who need to be saved.

2. Consider a few of His names and titles. Frequently Jesus is called the Lamb. I do not suppose there is any one here who was ever afraid of a lamb; that little girl yonder, if she saw a lamb, would not be frightened. Every child seems almost instinctively to long to put its hand on the head of a lamb. O that you might come and put your hand on the head of Christ, the Lamb of God that taketh away the sin of the world. Again, you find

Him called a Shepherd: no one is afraid of a shepherd. Timid, foolish, and wandering though you may be, there is nothing in the Good Shepherd to drive you away from Him, but everything to entice you to come to Him. Then again, He is called our Brother, and one always feels that he may approach his brother. I have no thought of trouble or distress which I would hesitate to communicate to my brother, because he is so good and kind. Brethren, you can come to the good elder Brother at all hours; and when He blames you for coming, let me know. He is called, too, a Friend; but He would be a very unfriendly friend who could not be approached by those He professed to love. If my friend puts a hedge around himself, and holds himself so very dignified that I may not speak with him, I would rather be without his friendship; but if he be a genuine friend, and I stand at his door knocking, he will say, Come in, and welcome; what can I do for you? Such a friend is Jesus Christ. He is to be met with by all needy, seeking hearts.

3. There is room enough for enlargement here, but I have no time to say more, therefore I will give you another plea. Recollect His person. The person of our Lord Jesus Christ proclaims this truth with a trumpet voice. I say His person, because He is man, born of woman, bone of our bone, and flesh of our flesh.

4. If this suffice not, let me here remind you of the language of Christ. He proclaims His approachability in such words as these, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

5. The old proverb truly saith that actions speak louder than words, and therefore let us review the general ways and manners of the Redeemer. Yon may gather that He is the most approachable of persons from the actions of His life. He was always very busy, and busy about the most important of matters, and yet He never shut the door in the face of any applicant. Not once was He harsh and repulsive. His whole life proves the truth of the prophecy, The bruised reed He will not break, and the stocking flax He will not quench.

6. But, if you want the crowning argument, look yonder. The man who has lived a life of service, at last dies a felons death! The cross of Christ should be the centre to which all hearts are drawn, the focus of desire, the pivot of hope, the anchorage of faith. Surely, you need not be afraid to come to Him who went to Calvary for sinners.


II.
I now shall proceed, with as great brevity as I can command, TO ILLUSTRATE THIS GREAT TRUTH.

1. I illustrate it by the way which Christ opens up for sinners to Himself The coming to Jesus which saves the soul is a simple reliance on Him.

2. Thitruth is further illustrated by the help which He gives to coming sinners, in order to bring them near to Himself. He it is who first makes them coming sinners.

3. I might further illustrate this to the children of God, by reminding you of the way in which you now commune with your Lord. How easy it is for you to reach His ear and His heart! A prayer, a sigh, a tear, a groan, will admit you into the Kings chambers.

4. The approachableness of Christ may also be seen in the fact of His receiving the poor offerings of His people.

5. The ordinances wear upon their forefront the impress of an ever approachable Saviour. Baptism in outward type sets forth our fellowship with Him in His death, burial, and resurrection-what can be nearer than this? The Lords supper in visible symbol invites us to eat His flesh and drink His blood: this reveals to us most clearly how welcome we are to the most intimate intercourse with Jesus.


III.
In the third place, we come TO ENFORCE THIS TRUTH; or, as the old Puritans used to say, improve it.

1. The first enforcement I give is this: let those of us who are working for the Master in soul-winning, try to be be like Christ in this matter, and not be, as some are apt to be, proud, stuck-up, distant, or formal.

2. There is this to be said to you who are unconverted–if Jesus Christ be so approachable, oh I how I wish, how I wish that you would approach Him. There are no bolts upon His doors, no barred iron gates to pass, no big dogs to keep you back. If Christ be so approachable by all needy ones, then needy one, come and welcome. Come just now!

3. The last word is–if Jesus be such a Saviour as we have described Him, let saints and sinners join to praise Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Open house for all comers


I.
JESUS RECEIVING SINNERS.

1. This was and is a great fact–our Lord received, and still receiveth sinners. A philosopher wrote over the door of his academy, He that is not learned, let him not enter here; but Jesus speaketh by Wisdom in the Proverbs, and says Whoso is simple, let him turn in hither: as for him that wanteth understanding, let him eat of My bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled (Pro 9:4-5). He receives sinners as His disciples, companions, friends. This man receiveth sinners; not, however, that they may remain sinners, but to pardon their sins, to justify their persons, to cleanse their hearts by the Holy Spirit.

2. I want your attention to another thought–namely, the consistency of this fact. It is a most consistent and proper thing that this man should receive sinners. If you and I reflect awhile we shall remember that the types which were set forth concerning Christ all seem to teach us that He must receive sinners. One of the earliest types of the Saviour was Noahs ark, by which a certain company not only of men but also of the lowest animals were preserved from perishing by water, and were floated out of the old world into the new. Moreover, the Master has been pleased to take to Himself one or two titles which imply that He came to receive sinners. He takes the title of Physician, but as He told these very Pharisees a little while before, The whole have no need of a physician, but they that are sick. There is no practice for the physician in a neighbourhood where every man is well.

3. Observe the condescension of this fact. This man, who towers above all other men, holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners–this man receiveth sinners.

4. Notice the certainty of this fact.

5. Do observe the unqualified sense in which the sentence is put, This man receiveth sinners. But how? What sort of sinners? How are they to feel? How are they to come? Not a word is said about their coming, or their preparation, but simply, This man receiveth sinners. One man came on his bed–indeed, he did not come, but was brought by other people; Jesus received him all the same for that.


II.
Now, I wanted to have spoken upon the second head, but I have not had sufficient forethought to store up the time, so we must only say of that just this: that Jesus Christ having once received sinners, enters into the most familiar and endearing intercourse with them that is possible. HE FEASTS WITH THEM–their joys are His joys, their work for God is His work for God. He feasts with them at their table, and they with Him at His table; and He does this wherever the table is spread. It may be in a garret, or in a cellar; in a wilderness, or on a mountain; He still eateth with them. This He does now in the ordinances and means of grace by His Spirit; and this He will do in the fulness of glory, when He takes these sinners up to dwell with Him. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

An appeal to sinners

Many a true word has been spoken in jest, and many a true word has been spoken in slander. Now the scribes and Pharisees wished to slander Christ; but in so doing they outstripped their intentions, and bestowed upon Him a title of renown,

1. First, then, THE DOCTRINE. The doctrine is, not that Christ receiveth everybody but that He receiveth sinners. Christ receives not the self-righteous, not the good, not the whole-hearted, not those who dream that they do not need a Saviour, but the broken in spirit, the contrite in heart–those who are ready to confess that they have broken Gods laws, and have merited His displeasure. Now, let us remark, that there is a very wise distinction on the part of God, that He hath been pleased thus to choose and call sinners to repentance, and not others. For this reason, none but these ever do come to Him. There has never been such a miracle as a self-righteous man coming to Christ for mercy; none but those who want a Saviour ever did come, and therefore it would be useless for Him to say that He would receive any but those who most assuredly will come. And mark, again, none but those can come; no man can come to Christ until he truly knows himself to be a sinner. The self-righteous man cannot come to Christ; for what is implied in coming to Christ? Repentance, trust in His mercy, and the denial of all confidence in ones self. His very self-righteousness fetters his foot, so that he cannot come; palsies his arm, so that he cannot take hold of Christ; and blinds his eye, so that he cannot see the Saviour. Yet another reason: if these people, who are not sinners, would come to Christ, Christ would get no glory from them. When the physician openeth his door for those who are sick, let me go there full of health; he can win no honour from me, because he cannot exert his skill upon me. The benevolent man may distribute all his wealth to the poor; but let some one go to him who has abundance, and he shall win no esteem from him for feeding the hungry, or for clothing the naked, since the applicant is neither hungry nor naked. A great sinner brings great glory to Christ when he is saved.


II.
Now, then, THE ENCOURAGEMENT. If this Man receiveth sinners, poor sin-sick sinner, what a sweet word this is for thee I Sure, then, He will not reject thee. Come, let me encourage thee this night to come to my Master, to receive His great atonement, and to be clothed with all His righteousness. Mark, those whom I address are the bona fide, real, actual sinners, not the complimentary sinners, not those who say they are sinners by way of pacifying, as they suppose, the religionists of the day; but I speak to those who feel their lost, ruined, hopeless condition. Come, because He has said He will receive you. I know your fears; we all felt them once, when we were coming to Christ. Doth not this suffice thee? Then here is another reason. I am sure this Man receiveth sinners, because He has received many, many before you. See, there is Mercys door; mark how many have been to it; you can almost hear the knocks upon the door now, like echoes of the past. You may remember how many wayworn travellers have called there for rest, how many famished souls have applied there for bread. Go, knock at Mercys door, and ask the porter this question, Was there ever one applied to the door that was refused? I can assure you of the answer: No, not one.


III.
Now the last point is AN EXHORTATION. If it be true that Christ came only to save sinners, my beloved hearers, labour, strive, agonize, to get a sense in your souls of your own sinnership. (C. H. Spurgeon.)

Christ receives all

In the New Testament the Lord seems to have selected some of every kind and class to show that He will receive all.

1. He will receive the rich–Joseph of Arimathea.

2. The poor–Lazarus the beggar.

3. The learned–Dionysius the Areopagite.

4. Physicians–Luke.

5. Soldiers–the Roman centurion.

6. Fishermen–the apostles.

7. Extortioners–Zaccheus.

8. Tax-gatherers–Matthew.

9. Thieves–the dying robber.

10. Harlots–the woman who was a sinner.

11. Adulterers–the woman of Samaria.

12. Persecutors and murderers–Paul.

13. Back sliders–Peter.

14. Persons in trade–Lydia.

15. Statesmen and courtiers–the eunuch of Ethiopia.

16. Families–that at Bethany.

17. Whole multitudes–those on Day of Pentecost. (Van Doren.)

Christs treatment of sinners

There are two classes of sins. There are some sins by which man crushes, wounds, malevolently injures his brother man: those sins which speak of a bad, tyrannical, and selfish heart. Christ met those with denunciation. Thorn are other sins by which a man injures himself. There is a life of reckless indulgence; there is a career of yielding to ungovernable propensities, which most surely conducts to wretchedness and ruin, but makes a man an object of compassion rather than of condemnation. The reception which sinners of this class met from Christ was marked by strange and pitying mercy. There was no maudlin sentiment on His lips. He called sin sin, and guilt guilt. But yet there were sins which His lips scourged, and others over which, containing in themselves their own scourge, His heart bled. That which was melancholy, and marred, and miserable in this world, was more congenial to the heart of Christ than that which was proudly happy. It was in the midst of a triumph, and all the pride of a procession, that He paused to weep over ruined Jerusalem. And if we ask the reason why the character of Christ was marked by this melancholy condescension, it is that He was in the midst of a world of ruins, and there was nothing there to gladden, but very much to touch with grief. He was here to restore that which was broken down and crumbling into decay. An enthusiastic antiquarian, standing amidst the fragments of an ancient temple surrounded by dust and moss, broken pillar, and defaced architrave, with magnificent projects in his mind of restoring all this to former majesty, to draw out to light from mere rubbish the ruined glories, and therefore stooping down amongst the dank ivy and the rank nettles; such was Christ amidst the wreck of human nature. He was striving to lift it out of its degradation. He was searching out in revolting places that which had fallen down, that He might build it up again in fair proportions a holy temple to the Lord. Therefore He laboured among the guilty; therefore He was the companion of outcasts; therefore He spoke tenderly and lovingly to those whom society counted undone. (F. W. Robertson, M. A.)

Christs demeanour towards sinners

The heathen philosopher Seneca made a practice of dining with his slaves, and when challenged for an innovation so directly in the teeth of all customary proprieties and so offensive to the Roman mind, he defended himself by saying that he dined with some because they were worthy of his esteem, and with others that they might become so. The action and its defence was alike admirable, and read a salutary lesson to the aristocrats of Rome. But it was even a greater shock to the Pharisees, and if possible even more unaccountable, that Jesus should prefer the society of notorious sinners to their own irreproachable manners and decorous conversation. They could not understand why a teacher of holy life, instead of frowning upon the notoriously profligate, should show a preference for their society. Our Lords explanation is ample and thorough. He devotes, therefore, the three parables recorded in this chapter to this purpose. It is perhaps worth remarking that on one point He felt that no explanation was required. Even the Pharisees did not suspect Him of any sympathy with sin. These critics of His conduct had not failed to remark that in His presence the daring profanity and audacious license of wicked men were tamed. Those who so narrowly criticized our Lords conduct might have seen its reasonableness had they been able to look at it from another point of view. With equal surprise they might have exclaimed: Sinners receive this Man and eat with Him. These dissolute and lawless characters could themselves have explained the change. They were attracted to Jesus, because together with unmistakable sanctity, and even somehow appearing as the chief feature of His sanctity, there was an understanding of the sinners position and a hopefulness about him which threw a hitherto unknown spell over them. Separate from sinners, as they had never before felt any one to be, He seemed to come closer to their heart by far than any other had come. He had a heart open to all their troubles. He saw them through and through, and yet showed no loathing, no scorn, no astonishment, no perplexity, no weariness. Instead of meeting them with upbraiding and showing them all they had lost, He gave them immediate entrance into His own pure, deep, efficient love, and gladdened their hearts with a sense of what they yet had in Him. Therefore men whose seared conscience felt no other touch, who had a ready scoff for every other form of holiness, admitted this new power and yielded to it. The contrast between this new attitude of a holy person towards the sinner and that to which men had commonly been accustomed has been finely described in the following words: He who thought most seriously of the disease held it to be curable; while those who thought less seriously of it pronounced it incurable. Those who loved their race a little made war to the knife against its enemies and oppressors; lie who loved it so much as to die for it made overtures of peace to them. The half-just judge punished the convicted criminal; the thoroughly just judge offered him forgiveness. Perfect justice here appears to take the very course which would be taken by injustice. It is this, then, that calls for explanation. And it is explained by our Lord in three parables, each of which illustrates the fact that a more active interest in any possession is arroused by the very circumstance that it is lost.


I.
The first point, then, suggested by these parables is THAT GOD SUFFERS LOSS IN EVERY SINNER THAT DEPARTS FROM HIM. This was what the Pharisees had wholly left out of account, that God loves men and mourns over every ill that befalls them. And this is what we find it so hard to believe.


II.
Secondly, these parables suggest THAT THE VERY FACT OF OUR BEING LOST EXCITES ACTION OF A SPECIALLY TENDER KIND TOWARD US. God does not console Himself for our loss by the fellowship of those who have constantly loved Him. He does not call new creatures into being, and so fill up the blank we have made by straying from Him. He is not a Sovereign who has no personal knowledge of His subjects, nor an employer of labour who can always get a fresh hand to fill an emptied post: He is rather a Shepherd who knows His sheep one by one, a Father who loves His children individually. He would rather restore the most abandoned sinner than blot him from his place to substitute an archangel. Love is personal and settles upon individuals. It is not all the same to God if some other person is saved while you are not. These parables thus bring us face to face with the most significant and fertile of all realities–Gods love for us. This love encompasses you whether you will or no. Love cannot remain indifferent or quiescent. Interference of a direct and special kind becomes necessary. The normal relations being disturbed, and man becoming helpless by the disturbance, it falls to God to restore matters. A new set of ideas and dealings are brought into play. So long as things go smoothly and men by nature love God and seek to do His will, there is no anxiety, no meeting of emergencies by unexpected effort, hidden resources, costly sacrifice. But when sin brings into view all that is tragic, and when utter destruction seems to be mans appointed destiny, there is called into exercise the deepest tenderness, the utmost power of the Divine nature. Here where the profoundest feeling of God is concerned, where His connection with His own children is threatened, Divinity is stirred to its utmost. This appears, among other things, in the spontaneity and persistence of the search God institutes for the lost.


III.
The third point illustrated by these parables is THE EXCEEDING JOY CONSEQUENT ON THE RESTORATION OF THE SINNER. Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth more than over ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. The joy is greater, because the effort to bring it about has been greater, and because for a time the result has been in suspense, so that when the end is attained there is a sense of clear gain. The joy of success is proportioned to the difficulty, the doubtfulness of attaining it. All the hazards and sacrifices of the search are repaid by the recovery of the lost. The value of the unfallen soul may intrinsically be greater than the value of the redeemed; but the joy is proportioned, not to the value of the article, but to the amount of anxiety that has been spent upon it. (M. Dods, D. D.)

The devils castaways received by Christ

Mr. Whitfield, said Lady Huntingdon, these ladies have been preferring a very heavy charge against you. They say that in your sermon last night you made use of this expression: So ready is Christ to receive sinners who come to Him, that He is willing to receive the devils castaways. Mr. Whitfield pleaded guilty to the charge, and told them of the following circumstance. A wretched woman came to me this morning, and said: Sir, I was passing the door of your chapel, and hearing the voice of some one preaching, I did what I have never been in the habit of doing, I went in I and one of the first things I heard you say was that Jesus would receive willingly the devils castaways. Sir, I have been in the town for many years, and am so worn out in his service, that I may with truth be called one of the devils castaways. Do you think that Jesus would receive me? I, said Mr. Whitfield, assured her that there was not a doubt of it, if she was willing to go to Him. From the sequel it appeared that this was a case of true conversion, and Lady Huntingdon was assured that the woman left a very charming testimony behind her, that though her sins had been of a crimson hue, the atoning blood of Christ had washed them white as snow.

Publicans and sinners drawn to Christ; or, the wisdom of gentleness

Rigorous courses hath ordinarily produced sad effects. Thou seest that those drops that fall easily upon the corn ripen and fill the ear, but the stormy showers that fall with violence beat the stalks down fiat upon the earth, which being once laid, are afterwards kept down without hope of recovery through weeds embracements. Have you never known any that have been sent faulty to the jail who have returned flagitious and vile? (N. Rogers.)

The worst capable of much

White paper is made of dunghill rags. God can so work the heart of the vilest wretch with beating and purifying as it shall be fit to write His laws upon. (N. Rogers.)

Murmuring

Murmuring is a sin betwixt secret backbiting and open railing; a smothered malice which can neither utterly be concealed, nor dare openly be vented. Remedies against this evil: First, keep thy heart from pride, envy, passion, for from hence flows murmuring, malignity, whispering. Seldom do we murmur at those below us, but above us. (N. Rogers.)

Fuente: Biblical Illustrator Edited by Joseph S. Exell

CHAPTER XV.

Publicans and sinners draw near to hear our Lord, at which the

Pharisees are offended, 1, 2.

Christ vindicates his conduct in receiving them by the parable

of the lost sheep, 3-7.

The parable of the lost piece of money, 8-10;

and the affecting parable of the prodigal son, 11-32.

NOTES ON CHAP. XV.

Verse 1. Publicans and sinners] , tax-gatherers and heathens; persons who neither believed in Christ nor in Moses. See Clarke on Lu 7:36. Concerning the tax-gatherers, See Clarke on Mt 5:46.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

I have so often taken notice, that the term all in the New Testament is very often used to signify, not all the individuals of that species, or order of men, to which it is applied, but only a great and considerable number of them, that it is needless again to repeat it. None can imagine, that every individual publican and sinner in those parts, where Christ now was, came to hear Christ, but only many of them, or some of every sort. Thus publicans and harlots entered into the kingdom of God, while the children of the kingdom, and such as appeared to lie fairer for it, were cast out. The scribes, who were the interpreters of the law, and the Pharisees, who were the rigid observers of their decrees and interpretations, murmured, they were disturbed and troubled at it; thinking that because the law appointed no sacrifice for bold and presumptuous sinners, therefore there was no mercy in God for them, or those of whom they had such a notion, and that they were ipso jure excommunicated, and therefore Christ sinned in eating or drinking with them, or in any degree receiving of them; and from hence concluding he was no prophet: as if because ordinarily persons are known by their companions with whom they converse, therefore it had been a general rule; as if one might have concluded, that their doctorships were ignorant, because they conversed with them that were so, for their instruction; or could conclude, that the physician is sick, because his converse is with the sick, for their cure and healing. A man is not to be judged to be such as he converses with necessarily, or in order to their good, which was the end of all our Saviours converse with these sinners. Besides, were they themselves without sin? The root of their uncharitableness was their opinion of their own righteousness, from the works of the law, according to their own jejune interpretation of it. But let us hear our Saviours reply.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

1. drew near . . . all the publicansand sinners, &c.drawn around Him by the extraordinaryadaptation of His teaching to their case, who, till He appearedatleast His forerunnermight well say, “No man careth for mysoul.”

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Then drew near to him,…. To “Jesus”, as the Persic and Ethiopic versions express it: this was on the sabbath day, and either when he was in the Pharisee’s house, where he was invited to dinner, Lu 14:1 or rather when he came out of it, when the multitude, who could not come near him whilst there, took the opportunity of gathering about him;

even all the publicans and sinners; whom the Pharisee would not admit into his house, it being contrary to their traditions to eat, and drink, and converse with persons of such an infamous character;

[See comments on Mt 9:10] [See comments on Mt 9:11] The word “all” is omitted in the Vulgate Latin, Syriac, Persic, and Ethiopic versions; but the Arabic version has it, and the Greek copies; and signifies that there were a very large number of them, even all that were in that place, and in the adjacent cities and towns, that got together

for to hear him, or “from him”, as the Arabic version; or “doctrine” from him, as the Persic version adds: these having heard much of him; and it may be, might be under some remorse of conscience on account of their vicious lives, came to hear him preach.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

The Lost Sheep and Piece of Silver.



      1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.   2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.   3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying,   4 What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?   5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.   6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.   7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.   8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?   9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.   10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

      Here is, I. The diligent attendance of the publicans and sinners upon Christ’s ministry. Great multitudes of Jews went with him (ch. xiv. 25), with such an assurance of admission into the kingdom of God that he found it requisite to say that to them which would shake their vain hopes. Here multitudes of publicans and sinners drew near to him, with a humble modest fear of being rejected by him, and to them he found it requisite to give encouragement, especially because there were some haughty supercilious people that frowned upon them. The publicans, who collected the tribute paid to the Romans, were perhaps some of them bad men, but they were all industriously put into an ill name, because of the prejudices of the Jewish nation against their office. They are sometimes ranked with harlots (Matt. xxi. 32); here and elsewhere with sinners, such as were openly vicious, that traded with harlots, known rakes. Some think that the sinners here meant were heathen, and that Christ was now on the other side Jordan, or in Galilee of the Gentiles. These drew near, when perhaps the multitude of the Jews that had followed him had (upon his discourse in the close of the foregoing chapter) dropped off; thus afterwards the Gentiles took their turn in hearing the apostles, when the Jews had rejected them. They drew near to him, being afraid of drawing nearer than just to come within hearing. They drew near to him, not, as some did, to solicit for cures, but to hear his excellent doctrine. Note, in all our approaches to Christ we must have this in our eye, to hear him; to hear the instructions he gives us, and his answers to our prayers.

      II. The offence which the scribes and Pharisees took at this. They murmured, and turned it to the reproach of our Lord Jesus: This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them, v. 2. 1. They were angry that publicans and heathens had the means of grace allowed them, were called to repent, and encouraged to hope for pardon upon repentance; for they looked upon their case as desperate, and thought that none but Jews had the privilege of repenting and being pardoned, though the prophets preached repentance to the nations, and Daniel particularly to Nebuchadnezzar. 2. They thought it a disparagement to Christ, and inconsistent with the dignity of his character, to make himself familiar with such sort of people, to admit them into his company and to eat with them. They could not, for shame, condemn him for preaching to them, though that was the thing they were most enraged at; and therefore they reproached him for eating with them, which was more expressly contrary to the tradition of the elders. Censure will fall, not only upon the most innocent and the most excellent persons, but upon the most innocent and most excellent actions, and we must not think it strange.

      III. Christ’s justifying himself in it, by showing that the worse these people were, to whom he preached, the more glory would redound to God, and the more joy there would be in heaven, if by his preaching they were brought to repentance. It would be a more pleasing sight in heaven to see Gentiles brought to the worship of the true God than to see Jews go on in it, and to see publicans and sinners live an orderly sort of life than to see scribes and Pharisees go on in living such a life. This he here illustrates by two parables, the explication of both of which is the same.

      1. The parable of the lost sheep. Something like it we had in Matt. xviii. 12. There it was designed to show the care God takes for the preservation of saints, as a reason why we should not offend them; here it is designed to show the pleasure God takes in the conversion of sinners, as a reason why we should rejoice in it. We have here,

      (1.) The case of a sinner that goes on in sinful ways. He is like a lost sheep, a sheep gone astray; he is lost to God, who has not the honour and service he should have from him; lost to the flock, which has not communion with him; lost to himself: he knows not where he is, wanders endlessly, is continually exposed to the beasts of prey, subject to frights and terrors, from under the shepherd’s care, and wanting the green pastures; and he cannot of himself find the way back to the fold.

      (2.) The care the God of heaven takes of poor wandering sinners. He continues his care of the sheep that did not go astray; they are safe in the wilderness. But there is a particular care to be taken of this lost sheep; and though he has a hundred sheep, a considerable flock, yet he will not lose that one, but he goes after it, and shows abundance of care, [1.] In finding it out. He follows it, enquiring after it, and looking about for it, until he finds it. God follows backsliding sinners with the calls of his word and the strivings of his Spirit, until at length they are wrought upon to think of returning. [2.] In bringing it home. Though he finds it weary, and perhaps worried and worn away with its wanderings, and not able to bear being driven home, yet he does not leave it to perish, and say, It is not wroth carrying home; but lays it on his shoulders, and, with a great deal of tenderness and labour, brings it to the fold. This is very applicable to the great work of our redemption. Mankind were gone astray, Isa. liii. 6. The value of the whole race to God was not so much as that of one sheep to him that had a hundred; what loss would it have been to God if they had all been left to perish? There is a world of holy angels that are as the ninety-nine sheep, a noble flock; yet God sends his Son to seek and save that which was lost, ch. xix. 10. Christ is said to gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom, denoting his pity and tenderness towards poor sinners; here he is said to bear them upon his shoulders, denoting the power wherewith he supports and bears them up; those can never perish whom he carries upon his shoulders.

      (3.) The pleasure that God takes in repenting returning sinners. He lays it on his shoulders rejoicing that he has not lost his labour in seeking; and the joy is the greater because he began to be out of hope of finding it; and he calls his friends and neighbours, the shepherds that keep their flocks about him, saying, Rejoice with me. Perhaps among the pastoral songs which the shepherds used to sing there was one for such an occasion as this, of which these words might be the burden, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost; whereas they never sung, Rejoice with me, for I have lost none. Observe, he calls it his sheep, though a stray, a wandering sheep. He has a right to it (all souls are mine), and he will claim his own, and recover his right; therefore he looks after it himself: I have found it; he did not send a servant, but his own Son, the great and good Shepherd, who will find what he seeks, and will be found of those that seek him not.

      2. The parable of the lost piece of silver. (1.) The loser is here supposed to be a woman, who will more passionately grieve for her loss, and rejoice in finding what she had lost, than perhaps a man would do, and therefore it the better serves the purpose of the parable. She has ten pieces of silver, and out of them loses only one. Let this keep up in us high thoughts of the divine goodness, notwithstanding the sinfulness and misery of the world of mankind, that there are nine to one, nay, in the foregoing parable there are ninety-nine to one, of God’s creation, that retain their integrity, in whom God is praised, and never was dishonoured. O the numberless beings, for aught we know numberless worlds of beings, that never were lost, nor stepped aside from the laws and ends of their creation! (2.) That which is lost is a piece of silver, drachmenthe fourth part of a shekel. The soul is silver, of intrinsic worth and value; not base metal, as iron or lead, but silver, the mines of which are royal mines. The Hebrew word for silver is taken from the desirableness of it. It is silver coin, for so the drachma was; it is stamped with God’s image and superscription, and therefore must be rendered to him. Yet it is comparatively but of small value; it was but seven pence half-penny; intimating that if sinful men be left to perish God would be no loser. This silver was lost in the dirt; a soul plunged in the world, and overwhelmed with the love of it and care about it, is like a piece of money in the dirt; any one would say, It is a thousand pities that it should lie there. (3.) Here is a great deal of care and pains taken in quest of it. The woman lights a candle, to look behind the door, under the table, and in every corner of the house, sweeps the house, and seeks diligently till she finds it. This represents the various means and methods God makes use of to bring lost souls home to himself: he has lighted the candle of the gospel, not to show himself the way to us, but to show us the way to him, to discover us to ourselves; he has swept the house by the convictions of the word; he seeks diligently, his heart is upon it, to bring lost souls to himself. (4.) Here is a great deal of joy for the finding of it: Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost, v. 9. Those that rejoice desire that others should rejoice with them; those that are merry would have others merry with them. She was glad that she had found the piece of money, though she should spend it in entertaining those whom she called to make merry with her. The pleasing surprise of finding it put her, for the present, into a kind of transport, heureka, heurekaI have found, I have found, is the language of joy.

      3. The explication of these two parables is to the same purport (Luk 15:7; Luk 15:10): There is joy in heaven, joy in the presence of the angels of God, over one sinner that repenteth, as those publicans and sinners did, some of them at least (and, if but one of them did repent, Christ would reckon it worth his while), more than over a great number of just persons, who need no repentance. Observe,

      (1.) The repentance and conversion of sinners on earth are matter of joy and rejoicing in heaven. It is possible that the greatest sinners may be brought to repentance. While there is life there is hope, and the worst are not to be despaired of; and the worst of sinners, if they repent and turn, shall find mercy. Yet this is not all, [1.] God will delight to show them mercy, will reckon their conversion a return for all the expense he has been at upon them. There is always joy in heaven. God rejoiceth in all his works, but particularly in the works of his grace. He rejoiceth to do good to penitent sinners, with his whole heart and his whole soul. He rejoiceth not only in the conversion of churches and nations, but even over one sinner that repenteth, though but one. [2.] The good angels will be glad that mercy is shown them, so far are they from repining at it, though those of their nature that sinned be left to perish, and no mercy shown to them; though those sinners that repent, that are so mean, and have been so vile, are, upon their repentance, to be taken into communion with them, and shortly to be made like them, and equal to them. The conversion of sinners is the joy of angels, and they gladly become ministering spirits to them for their good, upon their conversion. The redemption of mankind was matter of joy in the presence of the angels; for they sung, Glory to God in the highest, ch. ii. 14.

      (2.) There is more joy over one sinner that repenteth, and turneth to be religious from a course of life that had been notoriously vile and vicious, than there is over ninety-nine just persons, who need no repentance. [1.] More joy for the redemption and salvation of fallen man than for the preservation and confirmation of the angels that stand, and did indeed need no repentance. [2.] More joy for the conversion of the sinners of the Gentiles, and of those publicans that now heard Christ preach, than for all the praises and devotions, and all the God I thank thee, of the Pharisees, and the other self-justifying Jews, who though that they needed no repentance, and that therefore God should abundantly rejoice in them, and make his boast of them, as those that were most his honour; but Christ tells them that it was quite otherwise, that God was more praised in, and pleased with, the penitent broken heart of one of those despised, envied sinners, than all the long prayers which the scribes and Pharisees made, who could not see any thing amiss in themselves. Nay, [3.] More joy for the conversion of one such great sinner, such a Pharisee as Paul had been in his time, than for the regular conversion of one that had always conducted himself decently and well, and comparatively needs no repentance, needs not such a universal change of the life as those great sinners need. Not but that it is best not to go astray; but the grace of God, both in the power and the pity of that grace, is more manifested in the reducing of great sinners than in the conducting of those that never went astray. And many times those that have been great sinners before their conversion prove more eminently and zealously good after, of which Paul is an instance, and therefore in him God was greatly glorified, Gal. i. 24. They to whom much is forgiven will love much. It is spoken after the manner of men. We are moved with a more sensible joy for the recovery of what we had lost than for the continuance of what we had always enjoyed, for health out of sickness than for health without sickness. It is as life from the dead. A constant course of religion may in itself be more valuable, and yet a sudden return from an evil course and way of sin may yield a more surprising pleasure. Now if there is such joy in heaven, for the conversion of sinners, then the Pharisees were very much strangers to a heavenly spirit, who did all they could to hinder it and were grieved at it, and who were exasperated at Christ when he was doing a piece of work that was of all others most grateful to Heaven.

Fuente: Matthew Henry’s Whole Bible Commentary

All the publicans and sinners ( ). The two articles separate the two classes (all the publicans and the sinners). They are sometimes grouped together (Luke 5:30; Matt 9:11), but not here. The publicans are put on the same level with the outcasts or sinners. So in verse 2 the repeated article separates Pharisees and scribes as not quite one. The use of “all” here may be hyperbole for very many or the reference may be to these two classes in the particular place where Jesus was from time to time.

Were drawing near unto him ( ). Periphrastic imperfect of , from (near), late verb.

For to hear (). Just the present active infinitive of purpose.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

THE MURMURING PHARISEES V. 1, 2

1) “Then drew near unto him,” (esan de auto engizones) “Then there drew near to him,” in response to His appeal, Luk 14:35, or “were drawing near,” Mat 9:10.

2) “All the Publicans and sinners,” (pantes hoi teklonai kai hoi hamartoloi) “All the tax-collectors and lawless ones,” all kind of moral and ethical lawbreakers, tax-gatherers, who were known for unscrupulous behavior in tax foreclosure business, and for sensual, immoral manner of life, Rom 3:23.

3) “For to hear him.” (akouein autou) “To hear or just listen to him,” which should have caused the Pharisees and scribes, religious people “of the cloth” to rejoice, instead of find fault, Luk 14:35; Luk 19:10.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

ASCENDING PARABLES OR THE CONSCIOUS PENITENT AND THE CONSUMMATE PHARISEES

Luk 15:1-32

THE three parables of Luke fifteen make that a favorite chapter of Gods Word. They present an ascending scale in both numbers and value. In the first, the parable of the lost sheep, the loss is one in one hundred; in the second, the parable of the lost coin, the loss is one in ten; and in the third, the parable of the prodigal son, the loss is one in two. In the first it is the loss of a sheep, and since brutes are regarded by man as mere chattels, the grief could be measured by its value in gold. In the second, the lost coin, while perhaps not more valuable than the sheep, was held as practically invaluable since it was a sign of betrothal, an index of fidelity, and a token of character. In the third and last was the loss of a child, the dearest idol of mans heart, prized beyond all the wealth of the world.

These parables present more than progress in thought; they express the power of an ascending appeal. The sheep is loved by the shepherd, and even as the song suggests, if there are ninety and nine that safely lay in the shelter of the fold, and one is out on the hills away, though the road be rough and steep, he will go to the mountains to find his sheep. The darkness of the night would not deter him; the depths of the valley and the steep of the mountain will not turn him back. He is indeed a type of the great Shepherd of souls, and his search a symbol of the work of soul-saving.

But the coin was more precious still. You can imagine the woman who had lost this symbol of her union, loyalty and allegiance to lover, not only sweeping the house diligently, but studying every nook and corner and crevice through tear-dimmed eyes, doubting what the husbands judgment might be should he suddenly come and note the absence of the coin. It was to the anxious wife what the engagement and wedding rings are to the well married of the present moment. Years ago on shipboard we were stopped at the salon door as we went in to dinner, and the young man told us that his wife had had stolen from her room that day her engagement ring. She was inconsolable regarding it, and before we had quit the ship he had offered $300.00 reward for its return.

But sheep and all mere symbols are shortly forgotten when they come into comparison with the son, the treasure of the fathers heart, valued beyond all wealth, all office, or honor; and the great tragedies of life are largely in connection with the bringing up of children. Few experiences are struck through with sorrow to exceed that found in the parable of the prodigal, for ere we finish we shall discover that the father suffered not in one child only, but in both.

It will undoubtedly kindle our interest in this parable and repay our study of it if I call your attention to the great central facts running through it. In speaking of these two boys let us consider first, Their Interests in Common; Their Conduct in Contrast, and Their Characters in Comparison.

INTERESTS IN COMMON.

They had the same efficient father. The parable opens, A certain man had two sons. They were both his, then, one babe as dear as another. They were alike his flesh and his blood. It is well-nigh impossible for me to interpret this text in any other way than to see in it two Christians, one of them a backslider who returns, and the other a haughty and proud moralist whose Pharisaical spirit proves almost as painful to his Father as the putrid conduct of the younger brother. The object of Jesus in this parable is, evidently, twofold. He had been charged with receiving sinners and dining with them; of being willing to be a guest in the house of one. He wanted men to see that the low; and outcast might be lifted up; and that, whether lifted or not, they were the subjects of the Fathers love; and He wanted men to realize that penitence on the part of the greatest sinner was regarded of God, and for such an one God had His door of mercy.

At the same time He wanted men to see another truth, namely, that the proud and haughty are just as certainly sinners as are the drunken and debased, and that neither of them are model childrenideal members of Gods family. In this entire parable there is no charge against the father. His two boys both held disappointment and compelled distress of spirit. But that was not because he failed to do his duty to either, but rather, because they failed to appreciate his parental excellence, his generous heart, and his guiding counsel. There are men who have noble and efficient fathers but who are nothing bettered on that account. Though souls have a great God they may live little and poverty stricken, or proud and contemptible lives. I am wondering tonight what my individual auditors are making of their relationship to God? Do you realize in the greatness of God an appeal to be great yourselves, and in the sympathy of your God an assurance of strength against temptation, and even of victory over sorrow and defeat; or are you making little or nothing of the matchless relationship you sustain to Him, living as do the sons of certain successful and great men, in shabbiness and sloth, and ethical indifference? The difference between men you meet on the streets is not determined by the Fathers favor for some and contempt for others. God is no respector of persons! His grace is equally provided to each, and your failure in all spiritual things, if such curses your soul, is not His fault. Your Heavenly Father is none other than the Father of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. The Declaration of Independence says, All men are born free and equal. It is not true! Most men are bound from the womb and no two of them are equal. But for the re-born it is an absolute certainty that the same blessing has come to each, namely, that of becoming the child of a King.

They shared an equally good fortune. The younger son said to his father, Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, and he divided unto them his living. He receives no more than his share, but be it said, he received no less than his share. And let it be understood also that what he did receive was given him of his father, and the grant was evidently generous. There are a good many men that complain that they have been the subjects of ill-favor; they grumble that God has not treated them right; that they were not well born or properly environed; they were not treated properly at college; some professor had a prejudice against them; or the parents did not select them as chief among the children, and so they make it out that their failures were the fault of somebody else, or everybody else except themselves. Few people take stock in this over-worked excuse. It may be true that you had less brains than your brother from birth, but the world has a thousand times illustrated the fact that it is not the brains with which a man begins that makes for life, but it is the uses to which he puts those which he has. It is true that not all men are alike environed, but it is also true that the best environed go bad and the worst environed often turn out well. It is true that luck seems to fall out to some men and ill-luck overtakes others. But it is also true that the lucky man just as often loses out and makes his wheel of fortune a wheel of evil fate, while the unlucky man converts his hard experiences into a stepping stone and attains the higher things. In fact, as one studies life he is profoundly impressed with the thought that man is, in a measure, the arbiter of his own destiny, and it is up to him whether he will waste his substance in riotous living or whether he will conserve and add to the same. There is not a particle of doubt that this younger son had as good an opportunity as his older brother enjoyed, and that his poverty was self-imposed, his want was attributable to his waywardness and nothing else, and his swine associates were solely due to the fact that he had turned his back upon the finest family fellowship and had voluntarily gone out of the most beautiful and palatial home. I therefore make this suggestion to you men who are hoboes, if such there be present tonight, and if not, then you pass it down to Bridge Square as coming from me, Quit coming to me with an appeal of ill-luck, and if you come at all, tell me the truth; tell me that you had a fair chance, and that you would not use it; that friends offered to help you and you declined their counsel; that fortune favored you and you turned that favor into frivolity. In other words, cease lying, and confess that both your fortune and the Divine favor have been above your deserts.

They faced life with kindred opportunities. There is not a single thing in this text to indicate that the older son was educated and the father had kept the younger from school and in ignorance. His courtly language to the father, his imperious demand Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, are alike indicative of culture and independence. Teachers who turn children from faith to infidelity are accustomed now to try to lay the blame on the home, to charge up to parental failures all faults of sons and daughters. Observation disproves the justice of the charge, and hundreds of times, yea, many hundreds of times, have I seen children grow up under the same parents, sit at the same table, eat identically the same food, be clothed almost as twins are clothed, equipped in the same schools, financed equally, and one of them appreciate all that was done for him, the other despise it; one respond with affection, the other flout it; one contribute joy to the home, the other bring it sorrow; one become the pride of every member of the house, and the other only named when necessity requires it; and then with shame and sorrow. I am asking you young people tonight what you are doing with your opportunitieshow you are treating the counsels of friends and family! In other words, I am asking you whether you are playing the game fairly, whether you are gladdening the old fathers heart, bringing pleasure to the devoted mother; whether your entrance to the home is like a ray of incoming sunshine that gladdens brother and sister and friend, or the opposite! Remember the parable of the prodigal son.

In the second place I call your attention to

CONDUCT IN CONTRAST.

The contrast in the conduct of these brothers is as marked as their interests are common. One of them prized, the other despised, the home. The first took his journey into a far country, turning his back upon the house of his birth and breeding, and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. The second could say truthfully, Father, Lo these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. The younger son treated that home with contempt. To him any place was better than his fathers house, and the elder son treated it with proper appreciation. Its roof and walls marked the center of most of life for him. The first practically forgot he had a father; the second gave attention to every command and showed his deference by obedience. There is a theory now to the effect that the home is a comparatively recent evolution; that man lived first in trees, then in caves; later in tents and last in homes, as he evolved from monkey to man. Nonsense! On the contrary, Adam and Eve doubtless had the most ideal home life yet realized on earth; but what a fight it has been to retain that pristine holiness and happiness that makes a home, and the fight continues today as never before. Men, prodigal sons, distress the home, break its heart and make the house that was once merry with childrens laughter to be sad with parental sobs, even as Cain dragged the first home into disgrace and gave early evidence of the eternal contest that would be waged to keep its purity, its pleasures, its perfections; and when one thinks of how men have labored to build homes, and prayed to retain holiness in them, and sacrificed to make them centers of both pleasure and profit, surely the home ought to be appreciated; and when one remembers how mothers have brooded over their homes and besought God to make them little heavens below, and yearned over their children that they might be heroes and scholars and saints, we can understand what the contest of keeping home pure and sweet has cost the ages. We know wherever that contest has been won, the world has profited so that out of a home made beautiful by a mothers genius, the great Carlyle came; out of a home characterized by the maternal energy and courage and ambition of a Letitia, Napoleon went; out of a home where a mother sang as only a mother can sing into the ears of her infant son, Mendelssohn at last stood forth to be the master musician of the world; out of a home where courage combined with deep convictions, came Martin Luther; out of another of a kindred sort the incomparable Spurgeon; and out of yet another, the hearth of which was kept holy before God by the combined consecration of both parents, came the most marvelous family of modern times, the Booths.

I want to ask you young men and women, here in such great numbers tonight, what you are doing for your home and what you may be doing against it? Are you behaving like the junior, spoiling the happiness of the home, despising the peace of parental hearts, treating with contempt the very house itself, or are you, like the elder brother, blessing it with your presence and making it beautiful by your filial love and to blossom by your acts of obedience?

We note further, One son increased, the other dissipated his fortune. The elder remained at home with his father and with the background of a fruitful farm. His barns were filled and at times he almost needed to question, as a richer one did later, Where shall I bestow all my fruits and my goods? The younger went forth in the flush of fortune. He spent with lavish hand; he created social occasions in order to prove himself the social lion of the hour. He ordered the plates replenished and the glasses refilled. He drank toasts to the health of the old man back on the farm amidst guffaws of laughter, and to the memory of mother who once had me tied to her apron strings, and to his elder brother, the home molly-coddle; while waxed mustached men and painted and half nude women sat about the festal board and laughed at his coarse jokes. One who chooses such a course in life needs more than his share of his fathers fortune. That will shortly fail him. When the income is fixed and limited, and the outgo is continuous and unlimited, it doesnt take long to convert luxury into want; not long to degrade wine dinners to husks that swine do eat!

My good friend, Dr. Shields of Toronto, tells the story of an Irishman who wished he had $1,000,000. Somebody asked him if he did have it, what he would do with it. He answered, Id buy the biggest alarm clock I could get. And then what? Id sit it for foive oclock in the morning. And then what? Sure, and whin it wint off Id wake up and say, Shut yer mouth, ye blatherskite. I dont have to git up; and Id turn over and go back to slape agin.

A million dollars would last a good while if a man did nothing but sleep, but it doesnt last long if he drinks and eats and travels with a fast crowd. One portion of fathers estate will not suffice. He needs a continual influx to meet this river of expense and to save his fortune from flowing to bankruptcy, and any young man here tonight who is spending more than he is earning is on the way to wantis on the way to the hog-pen. Every man who is adding a little to his estate daily, I care not how little, provided it grows, and the income is bigger than the outgo, is a measurable success, and the gaunt wolf is not scenting his track expecting to shortly find a feast in him.

We call your attention to another and consequential fact, The first enjoyed success, the second endured suffering. It is always so. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Once more I go back to the fact that sin and suffering are indissolubly connected, logically joined. When you read, He took his journey into a far country and there wasted his substance with riotous living, you are forced to the absolute conclusion, I know what is coming. He will spend all. There will be a famine in the land. He will be in want. He will search for work and not find it, and at last take the lowest possible employment, and to save himself from starvation, feed himself on husks that only hogs could eat. Sin and suffering, cause and effect, promise and conclusion. One should never forget that the course in life is a choice that one can make. You can determine your future just as certainly as you can determine the next step, for the future is only a series of steps. If you will choose your steps aright, you can walk to success, and if you deliberately choose wrong steps, you will walk to suffering, to sorrow, to sin, to swinishness. Dont come to me and tell me then you are not to blame for what you are! In Gods Name, who is to blame? Certainly the father in this case was not to blame. The mother is not mentioned, but no man ever read this parable and imagined that this lad lacked in maternal blessing. Certainly the elder brother was not to blame. He may behave badly laterhe will but he had not fought with this youngster and forced him from the house, nor even by contemptuous treatment driven him from the home. The text says he deliberately took his own journey. Instead of selecting the neighboring town with opportunities above the country place of his birth, he set off for a far country, to engage in no occupation except that of money-spending, and in no social service but in sin. God has given each one of us the power of choice. We can have what we will if we are ready to work for it, and what we have will determine what we are and who we are and what will be our estate, good or bad. That is why every one of us must give an account of himself to God. Personal responsibility does not rest in the imperious will of the Almighty; it rests instead in respective abilities and the uses to which men put them! You can be a coward and cringe, or you can be a conqueror and compel all enemies to drag at your chariot wheels.

Newell Dwight Hillis in one of his books tells the story of the Knights of King Arthurs Round Table; how they watched eagerly for news from their brother knights away, but fighting for the cause they all loved, and when some stranger was seen riding slowly toward the palace, the crippled Knights would hobble forth and ask, How goes the battle? Hath Gareth shown himself a hero? What prisoner have you released and what fallen one have you succored? and in that hour, alas for the knight from whose unwilling lips was forced a confession of retreat! No place was made for him around that Table; but unable to endure the blazing eyes of these battle-scarred ones, he slunk away to hide himself in some hut where he might nevermore be seen. And how piteous was the fate of all those who sought to make their nests soft; who lined them with silk and tried to shut out the cries of the wounded; who feasted while putting away the thought of the famishing, and who left the battle raging without participation.

Indeed, even now, all such have no part in the reward of Cromwell or Lincoln or any hero that suffered and saved the state. They are the commercial Levites who pass on the other side, leaving their fallen fellows to perish. They are the ignoble sons of greater and better sires, traitors to parental influence and paternal memories, and in the end, when they front the great ones who have come scarred from the battle with poverty, selfishness, superstition and sin, they will fall upon their faces and call upon the mountains and rocks to cover them from the wrath of every Hampden, Cromwell, Luther, Savonarola, Howard, Shaftesbury; from every Paul and John and Polycarp, and above all, from the pitying eyes of the all-courageous and conquering and yet all-suffering Christ! Oh, what contrast in conduct and how that contrast will be blazoned in the light of the last day!

CHARACTER IN COMPARISON.

One of these came to penitence; the other increased in pride. Here let me say the whole scene begins to shift and the reason is not far to seek. One of them sees the error of his way and sets about changing it and improving it. The other finds no error in himself and feels no necessity of penitence or Divine compassion. The result is that the first reaches a great and momentous decision. I will arise and go to my father. A man who has decided to face about, and the man who has decided to seek God, is the man who has turned his steps in the direction of all spiritual success; while the man who enters the tabernacle in Prince Albert coat, removes his silk hat and with extended chest and back-thrown shoulders and open-eyed, brazen-faced profession, says, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men. I am a moralist; I am generous; I am cultured; I am competent; I am all sufficient; will continue to go down to his house without justification, for pride goeth before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

Daniel Krummacher was once asked, Who was the elder brother in the parable of the Prodigal Son? and he answered, I well know now, for I learned it yesterday. I myself am the elder brother, and then he confessed, Yesterday I looked upon a very ill conditioned person and was fretted and angered because I saw that he had been visited by the Spirit of God and saving grace had been bestowed upon him, and I didnt think him worth it. If that be true, and it is true, then tell me what is to become of those self-opinionated egotists who walk their ways through this world, and despise not outcasts only, but look with contempt upon their equals and even with scorn at their superiors and imagine that they have never met either? There is many a minister who may have been as orthodox as Paul himself, but whose spiritual pride will yet be his undoing, for not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven. Many will say to Him in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name? and in Thy Name have cast out devils? and in Thy Name have done many wonderful works? And then will He profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from Me, ye that work iniquity. Pride is iniquity that God will not brook a sin of sinsa soul-destroying sin. I beg you not to expect to get into Heaven on the basis of your works and not to boast yourself before Him. Remember the parable of the Pharisee and the Publican.

One came back home; the other went out from it. The text is clear. I will arise and go to my father. He was brought in to the best robe, to a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; for him the fatted calf was killed and with his return the house was merry. Now the elder son, when he heard that music and dancing and learned what it meant, sulked without and absolutely refused to enter. Even his fathers plea availed not. He would not go in, though that father came out and entreated him. Gods house will be filled with only those who want to enter. The poorest prodigal on earth, if he be weary of sin and set his face homeward, will find outstretched arms awaiting him and a royal welcome, and the proudest moralist that ever walked the earth, if he disdain Gods redemption and refuse to enter fellowship with His redeemed, will be left without to sulk, doomed in soul by spiritual pride. You may attempt to blast another way into Heaven, if you like, but if the Bible is our final authority upon that subject, the way of penitence, rugged though that path may be, is the only one that leads home.

Now, finally, the sincerity of the one started music; the selfishness of the other silenced it. This little touch here is true to all spiritual experience. They began to be merry. When the elder son drew nigh, he heard music and dancing, and asked, as men always ask, What is it all about? That is not difficult to answer. Turn over to the Book of the Acts, eighth chapter, and you will get your answer. Philip was preaching Christ in Samaria and the people with one accord gave heed to those things which Philip spake, hearing and seeing the miracles which he did. Unclean spirits crying with a loud voice came out of many that were possessed with them, and many taken with palsy were healed, and there was great joy in that city.

What is it all about? Sinners have sought and found the Lord. That is what has started the sweetest song of earth, for twenty centuries. The world never knew how to sing; music was never set to a major key nor was the minor made to do its best until Christ came, the sinners Saviour. Who shall stifle such music? The man whose pride makes impenitence possible! Who shall end such melody? The man who in his own moral egoism despises the house of God and rejects the Spirit of grace! He silences it! Not only that, but oftentimes he chokes even the singers, so that if they should part their lips with thought of song, a sob and a sob alone would escape.

Dr. George Truett in his volume, A Quest for Souls, tells a story that has been many times duplicated in my observation and in the observation of the average ministerthe story of how one night, when he was about to close his service, a Christian physician rushed in and said, Wait! Wait a minute. I have a request. Then he told of one of his patients, the successful husband of a great spiritual woman, who was at deaths door. Five doctors had just finished a consultation and had said that in human help there was no hope. But, said he, I am a Christian and I believe God, and this man has told me to come and have you pray for him and has solemnly promised that if he lives, he will consecrate his life to God. The prayer was offered, and in Heaven the prayer was heard and answered, and next morningmarvel of marvels to the physicianshe had commenced to mend. A few days later he was on the street, practically well, and when his wifes pastor met him it was Saturday night. He said to him, So glad to see you. So happy you lived. You will be with us in Gods house tomorrow? He winced and said, No, not tomorrow. I am behind with my mail. I have a large number of letters unanswered. I have lost so much time through this illness I cannot get there tomorrow. The pastor retained his hand and pled, Do not treat the Sabbath that way. Keep your promise to God. His face colored and he answered, I know what you are thinking about; but I cant come tomorrow. Maybe when I catch up I will. Man, said Dr. Truett, You have been brought back from the gates of the grave. You live in answer to prayer and your pledge is unredeemed. Come tomorrow. He loosened his hand and as he went away, said, Sorry, but I cannot. Not now, possibly later, and he was gone. Week succeeded week and the sanctuary saw him not, and one day a group of men stood in the depot, ready to set off to the East on business, and this man was among them. Before the train rolled in, while they chatted, his face paled; he put out his hand gropingly to rest against the wall, but even that support sufficed not. He sank on the depot floor. The ambulance was called; the doctor was hurried; they carried him home. A few hours and apoplexy had ended it all. He that being oft reproved and hardeneth his heart shall suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy.

Who will sing at such a funeral and what song can be sung? Oh, man, do not silence the music of the earth and at the same time shut forever your ears to the harmony of Heaven!

Fuente: The Bible of the Expositor and the Evangelist by Riley

CRITICAL NOTES

Luk. 15:1. Publicans and sinners.I.e., tax-gatherers, odious to the whole nation on account of their occupation and their unscrupulousness in carrying it on, and persons from whom the religiously minded held aloof because of their gross and sensual life. The parables imply that they came to Jesus because they were penitenta fact which should have led the Pharisees to rejoicing rather than to murmuring.

Luk. 15:2. Murmured.I.e., among themselves. Receiveth sinners, etc.An important and affecting testimony to Christs attitude towards the sinful; He admits them into the circle of disciples, and treats them as now worthy, because of their penitence, of fellowship with Him.

Luk. 15:4. What man.The word is emphatic. Christ appeals to ordinary human feelingspity for the lost, desire to recover a valuable possession, and parental solicitude (in the three parables respectively)as explaining and justifying His conduct. An hundred sheep.This parable illustrates the Divine compassion, as the loss of one out of a hundred would be no great matter to the owner. The wilderness.I.e., the plains on which sheep were pastured. Until he find it.Persistent and careful search (cf. Eze. 34:6-11 ff.).

Luk. 15:5. Not mere self-interest, but love and pity, explain the gentleness with which the shepherd treats the sheep when he finds it (cf. Isa. 40:1-2). No blows are given for the strayingno hard words; mercy to the lost oneand joy within himselfare the shepherds feelings; the sheep is weary with long wanderingshe gives it rest (Alford).

Luk. 15:6. When he cometh home, etc.The joy is so great that it needs to be imparted. Those who have fellow-feeling with the shepherd, who are animated by the compassion he manifested, rejoice with him; so would the Pharisees and scribes have done, when they saw sinners recovered from the error of their ways, if they had partaken of the spirit of Christ.

Luk. 15:7. Joy in heaven.A glimpse into the unseen world (cf. Mat. 18:10). Just persons.The reference is to those who thought themselves righteous, and who had never been guilty of the conduct figuratively represented by the straying of the sheep. The truly penitent enter into a more blessed condition than that of those who have never risen above a higher standard of conduct than that of mere legal obedience.

Luk. 15:8. Ten pieces of silver.This parable illustrates the preciousness of the human soul. The loss of one out of ten is a much more serious one than that in the preceding parable. Perhaps the ten coins were a set worn as an ornament, according to the custom of Eastern women. The piece of money specified is the Greek drachma (worth about 8d.), and equal to the Roman penny (denarius). Light a candle.Rather, a lamp (R.V.). The houses in the East were commonly without windows.

Luk. 15:9. Which I had lost.Observe the difference between this and which was lost in Luk. 15:6. In the one case the bewildered animal wanders away, in the other the piece of silver is an inanimate thing, unconscious of its own value and loss. A certain fitness in the comparison to a coin arises from the latter bearing the image and superscription of a king. So, too, the soul though lying in the dust, and unaware of its miserable state, bears traces upon it of Him in whose image it was made and to whom it belongs.

Luk. 15:10. In the presence of the angels.And shared by them, as is implied in the words Rejoice with me.

MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.Luk. 15:1-10

The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.These parables illustrate the fact that a more active interest in any possession is aroused by the very circumstance that it is lost. The sheep that is lost is not on that account disregarded by the shepherd, but receives for the time greater attention than those that remain in the fold. The piece of money that has gone a-missing becomes on that very account of greater immediate importance to the woman than all she has safe in her jar in the cupboard. So it is with God. The very circumstance that men have strayed from Him evokes in Him a more manifest and active solicitude in their behalf.

I. God suffers loss in every sinner that departs from Him.To the Pharisaic mind this was a new light on the character of God. The Pharisee himself trusted little to tenderness, much to rigid law. Naturally he thought of God also as standing upon His rights, enforcing His will by compulsion, and with equanimity punishing and driving into permanent exile those who had strayed from Him. It is a revelation to them to hear that the lostness of the sinful is Gods loss; that God suffers more than the sinner in the separation. For God loves the sinner, and this love is wounded, whereas the sinner has no love for God that can be wounded by separation. It is God who suffers, and not the heartless sinner, who, without a thought of the wounds he is inflicting, goes his own wretched way, and courts the destruction which Christ died to save him from. All the broken-heartedness of parents who, year by year, watch the failure of their efforts to lead some misguided child to well-doing; all the crushing anguish of wives who see their husbands slowly hardening in vice and sinking out of the reach of their love; all the varied misery that love must endure in this sinful world;is after all but the reflection of what Infinite Love suffers in sympathy with every sinner who spurns it and chooses death. Look at the sorrow of God in Christ, and say whether the loss which God suffers in your separation from Him is true or feigned.

II. The very fact of our being lost excites action of a specially tender kind towards us.God does not console Himself for our loss by the fellowship of those who have constantly loved Him. He does not call new creatures into being to fill up the blank we have made by straying from Him. He would rather restore the most abandoned sinner than blot him from his place to substitute an archangel. So long as things go smoothly, and men by nature love God, and seek to do His will, there is no anxiety, no meeting of emergencies by unexpected effort, hidden resources, costly sacrifice. But when sin brings into view all that is tragic, and when utter destruction seems to be mans appointed destiny, there is called into exercise the deepest tenderness, the utmost power of the Divine nature. This appears in

(1) the spontaneity of the search God institutes for the lost. The shepherd, missing one of his flock, straightway goes in search of it. He does not expect that it will seek him; he goes after it. He knows the recovery of the sheep depends wholly on himself, and he prepares for trouble, provocation, risk. And so God is as truly before-hand with the sinner as the shepherd with the sheep. The initiative is Gods, and all that you desire to do in the way of return to righteousness is prompted by Him. He has already sufficiently shown that He is alive to the emergency and that no trouble is too great, no sacrifice too great, while there is a possibility of saving the human soul.

(2) Gods search is also persistent. The woman of the parable sweeps out every dusty corner; she shakes out every article of clothing; she lifts boxes that have not been lifted for years; she carefully searches drawers where she knows the coin cannot be; she reads the face of every one who has come near her house for a month; she exhausts every possibility of finding her piece of money. And so God makes diligent search. He leaves no stone unturned. With active, intelligent, unwearied search, He strives to win the sinner to purity and love. Christ astonished men on earth by the company into which He found His way, and by the affection with which spoke to low and worthless people; and so does He still, by means less observable, but equally efficient, seek to win men to the recognition of His love, and of all the good He makes possible.

III. The exceeding joy consequent on the restoration of the sinner.The joy is greater than that over the just which need no repentance, because the effort to bring it about has been greater, and because for a time the result has been in suspense. So that when the end is attained there is a sense of clear gain. The value of the unfallen soul may intrinsically be greater than the value of the redeemed; but the joy is proportioned, not to the value of the article, but to the amount of the anxiety that has been spent upon it. To the sinner, then, these parables say, It is your unspeakably happy privilege to give God joy. There is no joy comparable to the joy of successful love; of love, that is to say, not only recognised and returned, but which succeeds in making the object of it as happy as it desires, and does so after many repulses and misunderstandings and hazards. This is Gods greatest joy. When God succeeds in securing the happinessthe inward purity and rectitude, and therefore the happinessof any one who has been estranged from Him, there is joy in heaven. What can more worthily give joy to intelligent beings than the increase of goodness? This joy we have it in our power to give to God.Dods.

SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS ON Luk. 15:1-10

Luk. 15:1-2. Christ in Society.It is astonishing how often we read of Jesus being at feasts. He began His ministry by attending a wedding. Matthew made Him a feast, and He went and sat down among the publicans motley guests. He invited Himself to the house of Zacchus, another publican. Indeed, His eating with this class of persons came to be notorious. But He repeatedly dined with Pharisees as well. There was no fear of Him, in any company, obscuring His testimony for God. In these occasions of table-talk He dignified life, and embraced golden opportunities of doing good. You will be surprised to find how many of His words are spoken to His fellow-guests at meals. Some of His most priceless sayings, which are now the watchwords of His religion, were uttered in these commonplace circumstances.Stalker.

Receiving Sinners.We are indebted to the Pharisees for this testimony to our Lord, and His way with men. He takes His text from their lips. They would make Him a sinner because He seeks to save such sinners as they have never thought of saving. They would have it understood that He prefers such sinners; that these form the best material out of which His disciples and apostles can be made. And much preaching founded upon this course of action of our Lord has tended, unintentionally, to give a similar impression in these and other times, as if the best preparations for conversion and a holy life were a gross and degraded life! No mistake could be greater. He nowhere teaches that reckless and open vice is the best way to meet Him, or the best prior education for His disciples.D. McColl.

Publicans attracted to Jesus.The tax-gatherers were the home heathen of Palestine, and none were more scorned than they. These and other outcasts were drawn to Jesus. They kept far from other religious teachers, but somehow they could not help being drawn to Him. He had a magnet-like power over them. Just as the swallow is drawn to the sunny south, as the flower turns to the sun, and the chicken to the mother bird, so great sinners, shunning others, turned to Jesus in the days of His flesh. But the most decent and religious people murmured scornfully. To defend Himself and shame them Jesus spoke the three parables of grace in this precious chapter.Wells.

It is an Epitome of the Gospel.Originally, it was the saying of foes, not of friends. In this cavil there spoke for once the commonly suppressed voice of a self-ignorant and self-flattering world. The world exactly inverts the judgment of God and heaven. God hates the sin, yet loves the sinner; the world casts out the sinner, but will eat and drink with the sin.

I. The worlds definition of sinners.Those who have transgressed the worlds morals. The world has its tariff of sins, and its register of sinners. The solemn saying of the Old Testament is forgotten by the religious world, By Him actions are weighed. Weighed, not counted. Weighed, rather than measured.

III. They meant, This man loves the company of the wicked.A man is known by the company he keeps. A taunt which found no sanction from His judges. Pilate and Herod agreed as to His innocence. The taunt has had no acceptance with posterity.

IV. The words are true in their amplitude, and in their grandeur.Christ refuses none. With what mind on their part? With what view on His? Not resolving to continue in their sins. Not to bid them sin on. He takes them to forgive, to heal, to help, to go and sin no more. Christ receives no man except to rid him of his sin, and because that is his desire.Vaughan.

Jesus Christ ignoring Social Distinctions.In reference to the various classes of Palestinian society Jesus was not the slave of custom or class. He broke through them in obedience to the requirements of judgment, mercy, and faith. Scribe and Pharisee stood aloof from Him. Publican and sinner drew near. But His whosoever will was equally for all. There was to be no respect of persons. Just as gladly would He have ministered in the fellowship and ministries of the faith to Pharisee as to publican. He often did, and does so still. Barriers are self-erected. Beneath all social accidents were souls. And these, in their priceless value, would survive earthly distinctions. He traversed social distinctions in the interest of that higher society which might, without clashing with them, be inclusive of all. In so acting He ran counter to the principles and narrow-minded, cold hearted practice of exclusionists. In His love for man, He aroused the hostile opposition and criticism of certain men. Custom, indeed, is not to be violated for the sake of singularity. But the example of Christ justifies the doing of it for the sake of the great things of judgment, mercy, and faith.Campbell.

Luk. 15:1. Holiness United with Love.That which attracted publicans and sinners to Jesus was holiness, united with love; they were repelled by the haughtiness of the Pharisees. Goodness appeared to them in a guise they had never before known or even dreamed of.

To hear Him.Not merely to see His miracles. The motive that drew them was of a spiritual character, and contrasted strikingly with that of many who came to the Saviour. Hence, He received them, welcomed them, and opened up to them the treasures of Divine love.

It was precisely these who felt they had no means to build the tower, no forces to meet the opposing king; and hence they sought resources from One who manifested power, and through Him desired conditions of peace.
The humble hear and learn; they find the grace of God in the word issuing from the lips of Jesus. The proud murmur and condemn; their dark understandings would fain quench the love of God where it shines most brightly.

Luk. 15:2. Murmured.A twofold ground of offence:

1. Jesus receives persons of evil name and repute.
2. He allows Himself to be received by them, and consents to sit at their tables.

This man receiveth.They were scandalised at His procedure, and insinuatedon the principle that a man is known by the company he keepsthat He must have some secret sympathy with their character. But what a truth of unspeakable preciousness do their lips, as on other occasions, unconsciously utter!Brown.

A Culpable Pride.There is truth in the Pharisaic principle of abstaining from intercourse with sinful and defiled men, if it proceed from anxiety to avoid being tempted by their sins. In them, however, it was the result of haughty feeling which made them keep at a distance from such unfortunate men, even when their minds showed an inclination towards something better.Olshausen.

Christ Eating with Sinners.The words were meant as a reproach. 1. How much Christianity has done to change the prevailing estimate of men and things! It is no reproach now for a teacher or minister of religion to seek out the sinful. Such conduct is understood now, thanks to the gospel.

2. Still, we are cruel in our treatment of sinners in private and common life. How severely do we judge when we ourselves are not at the bar. To receive sinners and eat with them is still a crime in Christendom. And, of course, in some senses it would be a crime. To prefer by choice the company of the immoral: this would be a just reproachno virtue, but the very contrary. All depends upon the motive. If we would imitate Jesus in His treatment of sinners, let us imitate Him by His grace in His principle and in His motive.
3. He was not the friend of the sin, but the friend of the sinner. He would not leave the sinner in his sin. Not to embolden them in evil, but to win them for good. So the friend of the sinner must, to be Christlike, be the foe of the sin.Vaughan.

Luk. 15:4-10. The Lost One Sought.The twin parables have much in common. They both exhibit the seeking love of God. Jesus shames the Pharisees for their pride and holding aloof. He gives them two short parables.

I. The lost one.The two pictures of outdoor and indoor life were very familiar to His hearers. It is a figure of all, even of the Pharisees, if they had only known it.

II. Who seeks it.The seeking Shepherd is a common figure in Church windows and in sacred pictures. Jesus is still seeking the lost,by His Spirit, in His Church, through His people.

III. How He seeks it.The Incarnation. The earthly life. The atoning death. The Church, too, holds up the candle of the Word. Joy fills His heart at the discovery and restoration of even one wandering sheep, one lost coin.Watson.

Christs Sympathy for Sinners.

I. A yearning sympathy.

II. An active sympathy.

III. A tender sympathy.

IV. A joyful sympathy.

Walker.

The Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.

I. Love sorrowing.

II. Love seeking.

III. Love rejoicing.

Lessons.

1. The value of the soul.
2. God does not need to be made willing to save you.
3. Here is unsurpassed encouragement for every penitent.Wells.

Gods Love for the Lost.

I. The loss.

II. The finding.

III. The rejoicing.Taylor.

The Persistence of Thwarted Love.I. But first let me say a word or two about the more general thought brought out in both these clausesof the Shepherds search. Now, beautiful and heart-touching as that picture is, of the Shepherd away amongst the barren mountains searching minutely in every ravine and thicket, it wants a little explanation in order to be brought into correspondence with the fact which it expresses. For His search for His lost property is not in ignorance of where it is, and His finding of it is not His discovery of His sheep, but its discovery of its Shepherd. We have to remember wherein consists the loss before we can understand wherein consists the search. Now, if we ask ourselves that question first, we get a flood of light on the whole matter. The great hundredth Psalm, according to its true rendering, says, It is He that hath made us, and we are His; we are the sheep of His pasture. But Gods true possession of man is not simply the possession inherent in the act of creation. For there is only one way in which spirit can own spirit, or heart can possess heart, and that is through the voluntary yielding and love of the one to the other. So Jesus Christ, who, in all His seeking after us men, is the voice and hand of Almighty Love, does not count that He has found a man until the man has learned to love Him. For He loses us when we are alienated from Him, when we cease to trust Him. Therefore the search which, as being Christs is Gods in Christ, is for love, for trust, for obedience. If, then, the Shepherds seeking is but a tender metaphor for the whole aggregate of the ways by which the love that is Divine and human in Jesus Christ moves round about our closed hearts, seeking for an entrance, then, surely the first and chiefest of them, which has its appeal to each of us as directly as to any man that ever lived, is that great mystery that Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of God, left the ninety and nine that were safe on the high pastures of the mountains of God, and came down among us, out into the wilderness to seek and to save that which was lost. And, that method of winningI was going to say, of earningour love comes straight in its appeal to every single soul on the face of the earth. Do not say that thou wert not in Christs heart and mind when He willed to be born and willed to die. He seeks us by every record of that mighty love that died for us, even when it is being spoken poorly, and with many limitations and imperfections. And here, in our midst, that unseen Form is passing along and speaking to our hearts, and the Shepherd is seeking His sheep. He seeks each of us by the inner voices and emotions in our hearts and minds, by those strange whisperings which sometimes we hear, by the suddenly upstarting convictions of duty and truth which sometimes, without manifest occasion, flash across our hearts. He is seeking us by our unrest, by our yearnings after we know not what, by our dim dissatisfaction, which insists upon making itself felt in the midst of joys and delights, and which the world fails to satisfy as much as it fails to interpret. He seeks us by the discipline of life, for I believe that Christ is the active providence of God, and that the hands that were pierced on the Cross do move the wheels of the history of the world, and mould the destinies of individual spirits.

II. And now, in the second place, a word about the search that is thwarted. If so be that He find. That is an awful if, when we think of what lies below it. The thing seems an absurdity when it is uttered, and yet it is a grim fact in every lifeviz., that Christs effort can fail, and be thwarted. Not that His search is perfunctory or careless, but that we shroud ourselves in darkness through which that love can find no way. God appeals to us, and says, What more could have been done to My vineyard that I have not done unto it? His hands are clean, and the infinite love of Christ is free from all blame, and it all lies at our own doors. I must not dwell upon the various reasons which lead so many men among usas, alas! the utmost charity cannot but see that there areto turn away from Christs appeals, and to be unwilling to have this Man either to reign over them or to save them. One great reason is because you do not believe that you need Him. Some of us think we are in the flock when we are not. Some of us have no inclination for the sweet pastures that He provides, and would rather stay where we are. We do not need to do anything to put Him away. It is a very easy matter to turn away from the Shepherds voice. I called, and ye refused. I stretched out My hands, and no man regarded. That is all! That is what you do, and that is enough.

III. So, lastly, the thwarted search prolonged. Till He find! That is a wonderful and a merciful word. It indicates the infinitude of Christs patient forgiveness and perseverance. We tire of searching. Can a mother forget or abandon the seeking after a lost child? Yes! if it has gone on for so long as to show that further search is hopeless, she will go home and nurse her sorrow in her heart. For that is another thing that this word till preaches to usviz., the possibility of bringing back those who have gone farthest away and have been longest away. The world has a great deal to say about incurable cases of moral obliquity and deformity. Christ knows nothing about incurable cases.Maclaren.

That which was lost.None of these parables is meant to set forth with completeness either what wanderers have to do to go back to God, or what God has done to bring wanderers back to Himself. If this had been remembered, many misconceptions would have been avoided. They were meant to show us that a human instinct which prizes things lost, because they are lost, has something corresponding to it in the Divine nature, and so to vindicate the conduct of Christ.

I. The varying causes of loss.The sheep, the coin, the soneach was lost. But in each case, the reason for the loss was different. The sheep was heedless. It was lost through heedlessness. Many men live just so, and, all unwitting, wander from the right road. How considerate of our Saviour to put this explanation of mens condition in the foreground. In the second parable, the drachma did not lose itself, but, by the law of gravitation, rolled into a dark corner. It had no power of resistance. So there are people who are things rather than persons, so entirely have they given up their wills and so absolutely do they let themselves be determined by circumstances. There are masses of men who have no power to resist temptation. This thought lightens the darkness of much of the worlds sin. The third parable is a picture. The other two are parabolical representations; this is the thing itself. The exercise of self-will, impatience of controlthese are causes of loss that underlie the others, and which make for every one of us the sinfulness of sin. It is rebellion, and it is rebellion against a Fathers love. There is the individual choice in each case, desiring a separation, and kicking against control.

II. The varying proportions of loss and possession.A hundred, ten, two. One per cent, ten per cent, fifty per cent; a triflemore seriousheart-breaking. The ascending proportion suggests increasing pains and anxiety. There is something in human nature which makes anything that is lost precious by reason of its loss. Its absolute value may be little: its relative worth is great. Divine love goes after, not the greatest world, but the lost world.

III. The varying glimpses we have here into Gods claims upon us and His heart.Ownership describes His relation to us in the first two parables: love is the word that describes it in the third. It is a most blessed and heart-melting thought that God accounts Himself to have lost something when a man goes away from Him. God prizes us, is glad to have us, feels a sense of incompleteness in His possessions when men depart from Him. Think of the greatness of the love into which the ownership is merged, as measured by the infinite price which He has paid to bring us back. Let it lead us all to say, I will arise and go to my Father.Ibid.

The Twin Parables.These two parables are an inseparable pair. They are a double star; you cannot tell how much light comes from the one, or how much from the other.

I. Compare their structure.

1. They are alike.In each there is a loss, a seeking, a joyful finding.

2. They differ in the extent of the loss, the manner of the loss, and the toil of recovery.

II. Compare their teaching.

1. They are alike in teaching the lesson as to the lost condition of the sinner, the willingness and power of God to save the sinner, and the importance with which God and angels regard each sinners salvation.
2. They give different views of the sinner. He is wayward, weak, and foolish, like a sheep. He is dead and helpless, like the tarnished coin. The shepherd represents Christs active and suffering work for mans salvation; the womans work illustrates better the work of salvation in the soul itselfenlightening, cleansing, transforming work, necessary to fit it for close relationship with God.Taylor.

Luk. 15:1-7. The Lost Sheep.

I. The shepherd misses one when it has strayed from the flock.
II. He cared for the lost sheep. Although he possessed ninety and nine, he was not content to let one go.
III. He left the ninety and nine for the sake of the one that had wandered.
IV. When he finds it he does not punish and upbraid it.
V. He lays the sheep upon his shoulder.
VI. Far from being oppressed by the burden, he rejoices when he feels its weight upon his shoulder.
VII. He invites his neighbours to rejoice with him over his success.Arnot.

Luk. 15:4. The Bewildered, the Unconscious, and the Voluntary Sinner.The parable of the Lost Sheep represents the stupid and bewildered sinner; that of the Lost Piece of Money, the sinner, unconscious of himself and of his own real worth; that of the Prodigal Son the conscious and voluntary sinner, the most aggravated case.Alford.

What man?Jesusappeals to those who had condemned His conduct, and asks whether they do not in the lower order of things usually manifest the pity which they blame in Him. Does not a shepherd show compassion towards a sheep that has wandered from the fold? Shall not I much more show compassion to a poor, wandering sinner? It is pity rather than self-interest that moves the shepherd, for the loss of one out of a hundred sheep would not be very serious. His kindly feelings are excited towards the sheep which has not the sense to find its way back to the fold, and which cannot defend itself against its enemies.

In the wilderness.I.e., in the place of pasturage, where they were safe. The section of the nation who were faithful to the law and to religious duties, enjoyed means of grace which those who had openly broken with the covenant between God and His people had deprived themselves. They were in the place of pasturage, and if they made diligent use of their advantages, would certainly attain to salvation.Godet.

The Office of the Shepherd was to Seek the Lost. It was the office of the shepherd to seek the lost sheep (Eze. 23:6; Eze. 23:11; Eze. 23:23), yet with this the Pharisees and scribes found fault.

Luk. 15:5-6. Love Manifested.The loving heart of the shepherd is manifested

(1) in the perseverance with which he seeks the wandering sheep;
(2) in his carrying the exhausted animal upon his own shoulders;
(3) in the joy with which he bears the burden;
(4) in his summoning his friends and neighbours to partake in his happiness.

Luk. 15:5. Found it.It is one by one, and not in masses, that souls are saved. Jesus saves the Samaritan woman by convincing of the depth of her need, and leading her to seek the Living Water; He saves Zacchus by inviting him to receive Him into his house as his Guest and Redeemer. He saves Nicodemus by showing Him the necessity of being born again before he could enter into the kingdom of heaven; and He saves Mary Magdalene by delivering her from the power of seven evil spirits.

On His shoulders.For He bare our sins in His own body on the tree (1Pe. 2:24; Isa. 53:4-6; Heb. 9:28).

Luk. 15:6. Rejoice with Me.It is a beautiful principle of our nature that deep feeling, either of sorrow or of joy, is almost too much for one to bear alone, and that there is a feeling of positive relief in having others to share it. This principle our Lord here proclaims to be in operation, even in the Divine procedure.Brown.

Christs Joy in Finding the Lost.Christ experienced a perfect rapture of delight when He found a lost sheep; witness His bearing at the well of Sychar, when His joy over the repentance of the woman of Samaria made Him forget hunger, insomuch that the disciples wondered if any man had given Him to eat. That joy, hoped for or experienced, made all His burdens light, made even the cross itself, abhorrent to His sentient nature, more than bearable. Therefore, in drawing the picture of a faithful Shepherd, He might with a good conscience put in this trait, rejoicing.Bruce.

Luk. 15:7. I say unto you.Let us not, in this I say unto you miss a slight yet majestic intimation of the dignity of His person: I who know, I who, when I tell you of heavenly things, tell you of Mine own (Joh. 1:51; Joh. 3:11), announce to you this.Trench.

Joy shall be in heaven.We can scarcely avoid the thought that here the prospect of that joy hovered before His soul, which He, the Good Shepherd, was especially to taste when He, after finishing His conflict, should return into the celestial mansion of His Father, and should taste the joy prepared for Him.Van Oosterzee.

One sinner that repenteth.He does not joy over the sinner as a sinner, but over him repenting. He joys over his repentance, over the sinner ceasing to be a sinner.

Unity of the Kingdom of the Good.The kingdom of the good thus appears as standing in mutual connection and loving unity, so that if one member rejoices, all members rejoice along with it. Heaven and earth are joined together by the bond of perfectness, love.Olshausen.

Need no repentance.The Pharisees, indeed, were not called to manifest a repentance like that of the publicans and sinners, for they had kept from gross vices; yet even in them a profound change of heart was needed. They murmured at that which caused great joy in heaven, and thereby showed how far they were from true communion with God.

Something Higher than Legal Righteousness.The ninety and nine just persons are those who are righteous according to the legal standard, than which there is, however, something higher, even as there is something more inward. And unto this more blessed condition the truly penitent sinner is translated, so that his conversion is more a matter of rejoicing than the strict observance of the law by others.Speakers Commentary.

Luk. 15:8-10. The Lost Coin.A totally distinct idea is conveyed by the parable of the Lost Piece of Silver from that in the parable of the Lost Sheep. Pity moves the Shepherd; self-interest moves the woman to patient search. And so Christ teaches that man has value in the sight of God. He is made in the image of God, he is destined for service, and therefore God has need of him.

I. The Owner of the silver piece as representing God.

1. Her anxiety to find. The coin, like the soul of man, is valuable in itself; it is one of a number, or set, and if it be lost the store is broken in upon, and if it be not found, another may get it, whose it is not.

2. Her diligence in seekinglight brought into dark places, defilement swept away.

3. Her success.

4. Her joyfulness.

II. The silver piece as representing the soul of man.

1. Its innate value.
2. Its unconsciousness of loss.
3. Its helplessness.
4. Its proper place in Gods keeping.

The parable teaches

I. That man is lost.

1. By ignorance of the truth.
2. By falling into vice.
3. By his own heedlessness.

II. That he may be found and restored to his true place and value.

III. That his recovery occasions joy.

1. To himself.
2. To Christ.
3. To friends and neighbours.
4. To angels and to the spirits of the just made perfect.

Luk. 15:8. Ten pieces.The ten pieces of silver indicate in passing that the woman is not so rich as to be indifferent to the loss of even one piece; that is, one soul is estimated by the Spirit in the Church, not in the proportion which one piece would bear to the hoard of a man with millions, but in its proportion to the scanty store of such a woman as this.Stier.

Piece of silver.A drachma. Man, made in the image of God, and bearing a Divine superscription.

Sweep the house.The parable referring originally to the Jewish people, the house may be taken as representing the Church; the lighting of the candle and the sweeping, as representing the Spirits giving light to the world, stirring up the dust of worldliness which conceals the sinners true worth, and so applying the truth that he is found.

Luk. 15:10. Joy in the presence of the angels.

I. God rejoices over returning sinners, and that just because they were once lost.

II. God delights to have the inhabitants of heaven share in His gladness. If the sons of God shouted for joy and sang together at the first creation (Job. 38:7), by how much better right when a new creation had found place, in the birth of a soul into the light of everlasting life (Eph. 3:10; 1Pe. 1:12) (Trench).

Joy Shared with the Angels.Note carefully the language here employed: in the presence of the angels of God. True to the idea of the parables, it is the Great Shepherd, the Great Owner Himself, whose properly the joy is over His own recovered property: but so vast and exuberant is it (Zep. 3:17), that, as if He could not keep it to Himself, He calleth His whole celestial family to rejoice with Him. In this sublime sense it is joy before or in the presence of the angels: they only catch the flying joy, sharing it with Him.Brown.

An Unexpected Good.The angels delight in beholding a continued and uninterrupted course of righteousness. But yet in the deliverance of a sinner Gods mercy shines out so brightly that Christ attributes to angels a greater joy in it, arising out of an unexpected good.

Divine Joy over Repenting Sinners.Not joy among the angels, but joy in the presence of the angels. The joy of God Himself.

I. What is implied in sinners repenting?There are many incorrect and superficial views on repentance. Sorrow in consequence of sin has nothing to do with repentance. A man may even dislike sin and not experience true repentance. Repentance is a change of mind and heart, leading a man to turn from sin and turn to God. There must be both changesin mind and heart. Beliefs and sentiments in regard to spiritual things must be renounced, and others embraced in their stead. The affections must cease to be under a selfish or worldly bias, and become directed to God and the things of God. This experience is sweeter to God than even the songs of heaven.

II. What is implied in God rejoicing?Absolutely there can be no accession to the happiness of the ever-blessed God, and yet there must be a real meaning in this language. This joy of God is the

(1) joy of manifested mercy. He delighteth in mercy and in every opportunity for its exercise.

(2) Joy of gratified benevolence. God is benevolent as well as merciful. He not only pardons, but crowns with blessing.

(3) Joy of recovered possession. Man was made for Godhas wandered from God. The bringing back of the wanderer, the repairing of injury, the renewal of what has been defaced, the healing of the woundedsuch a change the all-loving Father cannot look upon but with complacency and delight.Alexander.

Fuente: The Preacher’s Complete Homiletical Commentary Edited by Joseph S. Exell

Appleburys Comments

Christ Receives Sinful Men
Scripture

Luk. 15:1-2 Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto him to hear him. 2 And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Comments

all the publicans and sinners.Jesus had just been talking about the cost of discipleship and the demands which He was making on those who would be His followers. But the crowds of publicans and sinnerssocial outcasts who were looked upon with contempt by the Phariseescontinued to draw near to hear Him teach. It seems that the high standard of discipleship served to attract those who really knew what it meant to need the Savior. The challenge of the cross will draw men to Christ where a diluted gospel of ease will fail.

The Pharisees were always ready to seize upon these occasions to condemn Jesus. They were eager to make it appear that He was a friend of sinners when, as a matter of fact, He is the Friend of sinners.

Tax-collectors were generally looked upon as guilty of abusing their office and, of course, were classed as sinners.

murmured.Jesus had on a few occasions been invited to have dinner with Pharisees, but when He ate with publicans and sinners these same Pharisees were quick to condemn Him. They tried to make it appear that He was a sinner tooguilt by association.

This same Satanic scheme is seen in various places in the ministry of Christ and His apostles, The Pharisees had tried to discredit Jesus in the eyes of the people by saying that He was casting out demons by the power of Beelzebub. Paul and Silas faced the possibility of having their work ruined because of the demon-possessed person who followed them at Philippi (Act. 16:16-18).

receives sinners.Jesus had made it clear that He had come to seek and save sinnersnot any kind of sinners, but those who repented. He required His followers to renounce all and take up their cross and follow Him daily. Pharisees, of course, felt that they needed no repentance.

In answering the charge of the Pharisees, Jesus takes them at their own estimate of themselves and still shows that they were wrong in condemning Him for His attitude toward sinners. In the three parables that follow, He more than justifies His position.

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

Butlers Comments

SECTION 1

Lost Sheep (Luk. 15:1-7)

15 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them.

3 So he told them this parable: 4What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost, until he finds it? 5And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.

Luk. 15:1-4 Rescue: Jesus had left the home of the Pharisees where He had been a guest at dinner (Luk. 14:1-24) and journeyed on through Perea. Great multitudes accompanied him (Luk. 14:25). Many publicans and sinners joined the crowds to hear Him teach about the kingdom of God. His words were so different from those of most religious teachers of that day. He taught that God was gracious and forgiving to those who would repent and believe His word. The compassion Jesus exhibited in His deeds was electrifying in comparison with the hypocrisy and unloving attitudes of the Pharisees and rulers of the Jews.

We do not know exactly where the following parables were spoken nor exactly when, but He was somewhere in Perea and it was sometime in the winter (probably February) of A.D. 30. After these parables of chapter 15, He went on to teach more parables to the same crowds and in the same general area. His trip to Bethany and Ephraim (Joh. 11:1-57) should be inserted immediately between Luk. 17:10-11. No doubt the multitudes were dwindling as a result of the stern and severe admonitions about the cost of discipleship. But His glorious descriptions of the ideal society where everyone is humble, loving and committed to God attracted those whom the self-righteous and proud had declared outcasts. Jesus offered a kingdom where penitent publicans and sinners would be welcomed as citizens with all other penitents on an equal basis.

Jesus had long ago established Himself as a friend of publicans and sinners (cf. Luk. 7:29; Luk. 7:34; Luk. 7:37). He had even called a publican to be one of His apostles (Mat. 9:9-13; Mar. 2:14-17; Luk. 5:27-32). These Pharisees contemptuously refused to use Jesus name when they said, This fellow (Gr. hoti houtos) receives sinners and eats with publicans. The Greek word prosdechetai is translated receives but means, more emphatically, allows them access to Himselfgives them welcome. He not only welcomed them, He ate with them. He accepted formal invitations from Levi and Zacchaeus and took His meals with other sinners when He was teaching out of doors. These Pharisees were correct in their statement but they were saying this to destroy Jesus reputation and His ministry. They were insinuating that because He received sinners and ate with them He was a sinner also.

To stop their slanderous and malicious cavilling Jesus told three simple stories in one parable which contained irrefutable truth and logic. Each story is an illustration of the main subject of the one parableGod sent His Son to seek and save the lost. Actually, there are four parables in one. The Elder Son is a parable in its own right. All these stories answer the accusation that Jesus receives sinners with a passionate and resounding, Yes! The theme of the entire parabolic discourse is The Grace of God. The grace of God is what the publicans and sinners were seeking. The grace of Christ is what the Pharisees criticized and rejected. Publicans and sinners know they are lost; Pharisees are too proud and self-righteous to acknowledge they are lost. The Greek word apollumi in the active voice means, to destroy, to kill, (Mat. 10:28; Mar. 1:24; Mar. 9:22); in the middle voice it means, to perish, (Mat. 8:25; Joh. 3:16). Someone has said, A man is lost when he cannot define his present or plan his future. Millions of human beings are lost today in the black night of guilt, fear and anxiety or in the jungles of passion, hatred and vengeance. These gracious words of Jesus are as relevant for todays sinners lost in the vast confusion of our age as they were for sinners of the first century.

The Lords first parable is of the lost sheep. The figure of lost sheep was a familiar figure to Jewish people. The Old Testament is replete with such usage (cf. Psa. 119:176; Psa. 23:1 ff.; Eze. 34:1 ff.; Zec. 11:16-17; Isa. 40:11). There is much quoted passage from Isaiah All we like sheep have gone astray . . . (Isa. 53:6). Sheep are rather dumb and helpless animals. They nibble themselves lost. Drawn by first one clump of grass, and then another, the animal just keeps on following the grass without looking up. Finally when he does look up, he finds himself in a canyon far away from the shepherd and with night coming on. The sheep is lost! He just kept on nibbling unaware he was becoming lost. He didnt even realize he was straying from the shepherd. What happens to sheep, happens to people. Few sheep or men ever start out to get lost. Becoming lost is usually something that happens almost imperceptively. Getting lost is almost always the result of nibbling farther and farther away from the shepherd and the flock. One little morsel of sin, then another, and another, until suddenly it is night and man is lost in the canyons of guilt, fear, rebellion and wastedness.

Lost is not a word most people would use to describe their condition. Many men even prefer to think of themselves as sinners rather than lost. There is a certain glamour or levity to the term sinner. But when men are told they are lost it means they are misdirected, wasted, useless and no one wants to own up to that! No man likes to confess he is lost. It is unmanly, humiliating, and a man will do almost anything to prove that he is not a poor lost child. Most men are like the Indian chief who says, Indian not lostwigwam lost! But God knows, and so do we, we are lost. The young German soldier in Alls Quiet On The Western Front turns away from the chaos and carnage of the battlefield, so symbolic of the confusion of his generation, and says, I . . . I think we are lost!

The logic of Jesus presentation is undeniable. Everyone in His audience would admit they would leave ninety-nine and go after one lost sheep until they find it. Everyone leaves everything to look for so little a thing as a pin, or a key. Now what would you do if you were a father and one of your children was lost? What could be more expected than for God to look for lost men who look for lost pins and keys? It is tragic but true that while men will look for lost pins and keys, they often will not look for lost men. But God is not like menHe took upon Himself the servant-robe-of-flesh and descended into this dark and dangerous canyon of wickedness to find His lost men and women. God cares and will not quit as long as there is opportunity to rescue the lost.

Luk. 15:5-7 Rejoicing: God is not satisfied with just ninety-nineHe wants every one. God is not willing that any should perish, but wants all people to come to repentance and salvation (2Pe. 3:9). Love cannot rest until that last one is at least searched for, and, hopefully safe. The great heart of God would have sent His Son to this world if there had been only one to be saved (cf. Jon. 4:11; Act. 17:30; Act. 18:10).

When the shepherd found the lost sheep he did not berate the sheep for getting lost; he did not kick or strike the sheep. He gave it a seat of honora ride of gloryhe put it on his shoulders and helped it back to the flock. Henceforth the shepherd would use his rod and staff to protect, to chasten and guide the errant sheep from straying again.
The shepherd was overcome with joy at finding his lost sheep. He rejoices all the way home and upon arriving there calls all his neighbors and friends to celebrate with him. This is the way men are. They feel compelled to share joys. It is human nature that the finding of something lost gives much more joy than the possession of things that are safe. Men rejoice more in recovery from sickness than they do in daily health. How much more intense and infinite is the joy of Heavens King over the recovery of, the lost!
The ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance probably refers to the self-righteous Pharisees or others who thought they needed no repentance. There are no human beings without the need of repentance! Barnes thinks the ninety-nine are angels: They know of how much value is an immortal soul. They see what is meant by eternal death; and they do not feel too much, or have too much anxiety about the soul (angels) that can never die. We believe Jesus meant the Pharisees for they were the ones who murmured against the Lords associations with publicans and sinners. Jesus places in sharp contrast the value Pharisees place on publicans and sinners and that of God!

Fuente: College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

XV.

(1) Then drew near unto him . . .Better, and all the publicans and the sinners were drawing near to hear Him. There is not quite the same direct sequence in the Greek as in the English, but what follows comes naturally after the mention of the multitudes in Luk. 14:25. Publicans and sinners knew that Jesus had turned, as in indignation, from the house of the Pharisee, and this, it may be, gave them courage to approach Him.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 15

THE SHEPHERD’S JOY ( Luk 15:1-7 )

15:1-7 The tax-collectors and sinners were all coming near to Jesus to hear him, and the Pharisees and scribes were murmuring, saying, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

He spoke this parable to them. “What man of you,” he said, “who has a hundred sheep, and who hast lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? And when he finds it, rejoicing he lays it on his shoulders; and when he comes home he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me because I have found my sheep which was lost.’ I tell you that just so there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents more than over ninety-nine just people who have no need of repentance.”

There is no chapter of the New Testament so well known and so dearly loved as the fifteenth chapter of Luke’s gospel. It has been called “the gospel in the gospel,” as if it contained the very distilled essence of the good news which Jesus came to tell.

These parables arose out of definite situations. It was an offence to the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus associated with men and women who, by the orthodox, were labelled as sinners. The Pharisees gave to people who did not keep the law a general classification. They called them the People of the Land; and there was a complete barrier between the Pharisees and the People of the Land. To marry a daughter to one of them was like exposing her bound and helpless to a lion. The Pharisaic regulations laid it down, “When a man is one of the People of the Land, entrust no money to him, take no testimony from him. trust him with no secret, do not appoint him guardian of an orphan, do not make him the custodian of charitable funds, do not accompany him on a journey.” A Pharisee was forbidden to be the guest of any such man or to have him as his guest. He was even forbidden, so far as it was possible, to have any business dealings with him. It was the deliberate Pharisaic aim to avoid every contact with the people who did not observe the petty details of the law. Obviously, they would be shocked to the core at the way in which Jesus companied with people who were not only rank outsiders, but sinners, contact with whom would necessarily defile. We will understand these parables more fully if we remember that the strict Jews said, not “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents,” but, “There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who is obliterated before God.” They looked sadistically forward not to the saving but to the destruction of the sinner.

So Jesus told them the parable of the lost sheep and the shepherd’s joy. The shepherd in Judaea had a hard and dangerous task. Pasture was scarce. The narrow central plateau was only a few miles wide, and then it plunged down to the wild cliffs and the terrible devastation of the desert. There were no restraining walls and the sheep would wander. George Adam Smith wrote of the shepherd, “On some high moor across which at night the hyaenas howl, when you meet him, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, armed, leaning on his staff and looking out over his scattered sheep, everyone of them on his heart, you understand why the shepherd of Judaea sprang to the front in his people’s history; why they gave his name to the king and made him the symbol of providence; why Christ took him as the type of self-sacrifice.”

The shepherd was personally responsible for the sheep. If a sheep was lost the shepherd must at least bring home the fleece to show how it had died. These shepherds were experts at tracking and could follow the straying sheep’s footprints for miles across the hills. There was not a shepherd for whom it was not all in the day’s work to risk his life for his sheep.

Many of the flocks were communal flocks, belonging, not to individuals, but to villages. There would be two or three shepherds in charge. Those whose flocks were safe would arrive home on time and bring news that one shepherd was still out on the mountain side searching for a sheep which was lost. The whole village would be upon the watch, and when, in the distance, they saw the shepherd striding home with the lost sheep across his shoulders, there would rise from the whole community a shout of joy and of thanksgiving.

That is the picture Jesus drew of God; that, said Jesus, is what God is like. God is as glad when a lost sinner is found as a shepherd is when a strayed sheep is brought home. As a great saint said, “God, too, knows the joy of finding things that have gone lost.”

There is a wondrous thought here. It is the truly tremendous truth that God is kinder than men. The orthodox would write off the tax-collectors and the sinners as beyond the pale and as deserving of nothing but destruction; not so God. Men may give up hope of a sinner; not so God. God loves the folk who never stray away; but in his heart there is the joy of joys when a lost one is found and comes home. It is a thousand times easier to come back to God than to come home to the bleak criticism of men.

Souls of men! why will ye scatter

Like a crowd of frightened sheep?

Foolish hearts! why will ye wander

From a love so true and deep?

Was there ever kindest shepherd

Half so gentle, half so sweet,

As the Saviour who would have us

Come and gather round his feet?

For the love of God is broader

Than the measure of man’s mind;

And the heart of the Eternal

Is most wonderfully kind.

THE COIN A WOMAN LOST AND FOUND ( Luk 15:8-10 )

15:8-10 Or, what woman who has ten silver pieces, if she loses one piece, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, “Rejoice with me because I have found the silver piece which I lost.” Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.

The coin in question in this parable was a silver drachma ( G1406) worth about 4 pence. It would not be difficult to lose a coin in a Palestinian peasant’s house and it might take a long search to find it. The houses were very dark, for they were lit by one little circular window not much more than about eighteen inches across. The floor was beaten earth covered with dried reeds and rushes; and to look for a coin on a floor like that was very much like looking for a needle in a haystack. The woman swept the floor in the hope that she might see the coin glint or hear it tinkle as it moved.

There are two reasons why the woman may have been so eager to find the coin:

(i) It may have been a matter of sheer necessity. 4 p does not sound very much but it was more than a whole day’s wage for a working man in Palestine. These people lived always on the edge of things and very little stood between them and real hunger. The woman may well have searched with intensity because, if she did not find, the family would not eat.

(ii) There may have been a much more romantic reason. The mark of a married woman was a head-dress made of ten silver coins linked together by a silver chain. For years maybe a girl would scrape and save to amass her ten coins, for the head-dress was almost the equivalent of her wedding ring. When she had it, it was so inalienably hers that it could not even be taken from her for debt. It may well be that it was one of these coins that the woman had lost, and so she searched for it as any woman would search if she lost her marriage ring.

In either case it is easy to think of the joy of the woman when at last she saw the glint of the elusive coin and when she held it in her hand again. God, said Jesus, is like that. The joy of God, and of all the angels, when one sinner comes home, is like the joy of a home when a coin which has stood between them and starvation has been lost and is found; it is like the joy of a woman who loses her most precious possession, with a value far beyond money, and then finds it again.

No Pharisee had ever dreamed of a God like that. A great Jewish scholar has admitted that this is the one absolutely new thing which Jesus taught men about God–that he actually searched for men. The Jew might have agreed that if a man came crawling home to God in self-abasement and prayed for pity he might find it; but he would never have conceived of a God who went out to search for sinners. We believe in the seeking love of God, because we see that love incarnate in Jesus Christ, the Son of God. who came to seek and to save that which was lost.

THE STORY OF THE LOVING FATHER ( Luk 15:11-32 )

15:11-32 Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the part of the estate which falls to me.’ So his father divided his living between them. Not many days after, the son realized it all and went away to a far country, and there in wanton recklessness scattered his substance. When he had spent everything a mighty famine arose throughout that country and he began to be in want. He went and attached himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs; and he had a great desire to fill himself with the husks the pigs were eating; and no one gave anything to him. When he had come to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, and I–I am perishing here with hunger. I will get up and I will go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer fit to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”‘ So he got up and went to his father. While he was still a long way away his father saw him, and was moved to the depths of his being and ran and flung his arms round his neck and kissed him tenderly. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer fit to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger; put shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it and let us eat and rejoice, for this my son was dead and has come back to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to rejoice.

“Now the elder son was in the field. When he came near the house he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what these things could mean? He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf because he has got him back safe and sound.’ He was enraged and refused to come in. His father went out and urged him to come in. He answered his father, ‘Look you, I have served you so many years and I never transgressed your order, and to me you never gave a kid that I might have a good time with my friends. But when this son of yours–this fellow who consumed your living with harlots–came, you killed the fatted calf for him.’ ‘Child,’ he said to him, ‘you are always with me. Everything that is mine is yours. But we had to rejoice and be glad, for your brother was dead and has come back to life again; he was lost and has been found.'”

Not without reason this has been called the greatest short story in the world. Under Jewish law a father was not free to leave his property as he liked. The elder son must get two-thirds and the younger one-third. ( Deu 21:17.) It was by no means unusual for a father to distribute his estate before he died, if he wished to retire from the actual management of affairs. But there is a certain heartless callousness in the request of the younger son. He said in effect, “Give me now the part of the estate I will get anyway when you are dead, and let me get out of this.” The father did not argue. He knew that if the son was ever to learn he must learn the hard way; and he granted his request. Without delay the son realized his share of the property and left home.

He soon ran through the money; and he finished up feeding pigs, a task that was forbidden to a Jew because the law said, “Cursed is he who feeds swine.” Then Jesus paid sinning mankind the greatest compliment it has ever been paid. “When he came to himself,” he said. Jesus believed that so long as a man was away from God he was not truly himself; he was only truly himself when he was on the way home. Beyond a doubt Jesus did not believe in total depravity. He never believed that you could glorify God by blackguarding man; he believed that man was never essentially himself until he came home to God.

So the son decided to come home and plead to be taken back not as a son but in the lowest rank of slaves, the hired servants, the men who were only day labourers. The ordinary slave was in some sense a member of the family, but the hired servant could be dismissed at a day’s notice. He was not one of the family at all. He came home; and, according to the best Greek text, his father never gave him the chance to ask to be a servant. He broke in before that. The robe stands for honour; the ring for authority, for if a man gave to another his signet ring it was the same as giving him the power of attorney; the shoes for a son as opposed to a slave, for children of the family were shod and slaves were not. (The slave’s dream in the negro spiritual is of the time when “all God’s chillun got shoes,” for shoes were the sign of freedom.) And a feast was made that all might rejoice at the wanderer’s return.

Let us stop there and see the truth so far in this parable.

(i) It should never have been called the parable of the Prodigal Son, for the son is not the hero. It should be called the parable of the Loving Father, for it tells us rather about a father’s love than a son’s sin.

(ii) It tells us much about the forgiveness of God. The father must have been waiting and watching for the son to come home, for he saw him a long way off. When he came, he forgave him with no recriminations. There is a way of forgiving, when forgiveness is conferred as a favour. It is even worse, when someone is forgiven, but always by hint and by word and by threat his sin is held over him.

Once Lincoln was asked how he was going to treat the rebellious southerners when they had finally been defeated and had returned to the Union of the United States. The questioner expected that Lincoln would take a dire vengeance, but he answered, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.”

It is the wonder of the love of God that he treats us like that.

That is not the end of the story. There enters the elder brother who was actually sorry that his brother had come home. He stands for the self-righteous Pharisees who would rather see a sinner destroyed than saved. Certain things stand out about him.

(i) His attitude shows that his years of obedience to his father had been years of grim duty and not of loving service.

(ii) His attitude is one of utter lack of sympathy. He refers to the prodigal, not as any brother, but as your son. He was the kind of self-righteous character who would cheerfully have kicked a man farther into the gutter when he was already down.

(iii) He had a peculiarly nasty mind. There is no mention of harlots until he mentions them. He, no doubt, suspected his brother of the sins he himself would have liked to commit.

Once again we have the amazing truth that it is easier to confess to God than it is to many a man; that God is more merciful in his judgments than many an orthodox man; that the love of God is far broader than the love of man; and that God can forgive when men refuse to forgive. In face of a love like that we cannot be other than lost in wonder, love and praise.

THREE LOST THINGS

We must finally note that these three parables are not simply three ways of stating the same thing. There is a difference. The sheep went lost through sheer foolishness. It did not think; and many a man would escape sin if he thought in time. The coin was lost through no fault of its own. Many a man is led astray; and God will not hold him guiltless who has taught another to sin. The son deliberately went lost, callously turning his back on his father.

The love of God can defeat the foolishness of man, the seduction of the tempting voices, and even the deliberate rebellion of the heart.

-Barclay’s Daily Study Bible (NT)

Fuente: Barclay Daily Study Bible

The TRIAD OF PARABLES in, behalf of the Peraean Publicans and Sinners.

1. Then drew near We suppose these transactions to have taken place in the Peraean ministry of our Lord, of which Bethabara was probably the rallying point. This, being near Jericho and the fords of the Jordan, with their custom-houses, many publicans and sinners would be in the neighborhood, to whom the preaching of our Lord presented powerful attractions. This section too was more plentifully stocked with aliens and Gentiles, who, mingling with the irreligious Jews, constituted in all probability the sinners here named in connection with the publicans. We therefore do not quite coincide with Stier and Alford, who understand Luke as merely affirming a general fact that publicans and sinners were in the habit in different places of attending the Lord’s ministry. On the contrary, we rather hold that the discourses of this entire chapter and the next took place on a very special day, namely, the closing day of his ministry in Peraea. See note on Luk 13:32. It forms, indeed, a key to the entire passage, Luk 15:1 to Luk 17:10, to note that among the Gentile and publican population in this region there was a general turning toward Christ, and that he is earnestly sustaining them against the cavils and sneers of the Pharisees. So also chapters 14 and Luk 18:9-14.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

THE PERAEAN MINISTRY, BETWEEN THE FEAST OF DEDICATION AND THE RETIREMENT TO EPHRAIM. Luk 13:22 to Luk 17:10. See Harmony, p. 101.

Jesus went to the Feast of Dedication, Joh 10:22-40. After which, according to Joh 10:40, he went to beyond Jordan, (Peraea,) where John at first baptized, and there abode. Many, as John assures us, who had the original testimony of the Baptist, were convinced of its fulfilment in him, and became believers on him. Of this PERAEN MINISTRY Luke here gives an account; covering apparently, however, but the two or three closing days. Jesus, then, as we learn from John, departed to raise Lazarus, and then retired to Ephraim.

A marked fact in this brief account of the Peraean ministry is the conversion of many Jewish publicans and [Gentile] sinners, and the Lord’s defences of them against the malignity of their Phariseean assailants. This contest draws out from Jesus a series of most striking discourses and parables. Jericho and the Jordan region probably abounded in Publicans and a Gentile population.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

‘Now all the public servants and sinners were drawing near to him to hear him.’

Gathered in the crowds around Jesus were large numbers of public servants and ‘sinners’. The ‘public servants were those who served the Romans in one way or another, either under Herod or under Pilate, both of whom represented Rome. They would include a large number of tax and toll collectors, men, often brutal men, who had taken advantage of the system to enrich themselves, and they would be as unwelcome to the sinners as they were to the Pharisees. We must not just ignore the truth about them. The ‘sinners’ were those who did not in Pharisaic eyes sufficiently follow the laws of cleanness and uncleanness, the laws of tithing, and so on. They would include those guilty of all kinds of sins, some mild, others more serious. But all shared one common position. They were despised by the Pharisees. Yet their presence here indicated that in their hearts there was a desire for the truth, and a recognition that their present lives were unsatisfactory. Jesus welcomed them as those who were seeking to change, not as those who would stay as they were. And while to the Pharisees their presence was an offence, to Heaven it was a joy.

‘Were drawing near.’ The verb is used similarly of crowds in Mat 15:8, and the tense probably indicates their continual drawing near over a period of time. It was during this period of regular association with the crowds that the Pharisees and Scribes began to mouth their criticisms.

‘To hear Him.’ This suggests a certain attentiveness about their listening, (compare Luk 14:35). They were listening, ‘the Pharisees and Scribes’ (for the order compare Luk 5:30; Mar 7:1; Mar 7:5; Mat 15:1) were not. This idea of listening is important in Luke, see Luk 5:1; Luk 5:15; Luk 6:17; Luk 6:27; Luk 6:47; Luk 6:49; Luk 7:29; Luk 8:8-18; Luk 8:21; Luk 9:35; Luk 10:16; Luk 10:24; Luk 10:39; Luk 11:28; Luk 11:31. He wants us to know that it is important that we genuinely ‘hear’.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

The Parables of The Seeking Shepherd and the Lost Coin (15:1-10).

In these twin parables Jesus illustrates Heaven’s concern over all lost persons, whoever they may be, and of whatever class they be, and stresses that His purpose in coming is to reach out to them and find them. He has the love of the shepherd for his wayward sheep. He has concern at the loss of a treasured possession. At the same time it illustrates God’s election of those who are His, and whom He has given to His Son (Joh 6:37; Joh 6:44-45; Joh 10:26-29). For Jesus makes clear that there is a certain inevitability about the finding of the sheep because it is His, and about the finding of the coin because it is in the house and is His own treasured possession. Both are sought for until they are found. In this picture of a compassionate God who seeks out those who have sinned against Him in order to have mercy on them we have an idea which is unique in religious history.

We may analyse the passage as follows:

a All the public servants and sinners were drawing near to Him to hear Him (Luk 15:1).

b Both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man receives sinners, and eats with them” (Luk 15:2).

c He spoke to them this parable, saying, “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” (Luk 15:3-4).

d “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing”

e “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbours, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost’.” (Luk 15:5-6).

d “I say to you, that even so there will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance.” (Luk 15:7).

c “Or what woman, having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, does not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it?” (Luk 15:8).

b “And when she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbours, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost.’ ” (Luk 15:9).

a “Even so, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents” (Luk 15:10).

Note how in ‘a’ the sinners draw near to Him to listen, and in the parallel the sinner repents and causes joy in Heaven. In ‘b’ the Pharisees and Scribes grumble at Jesus receiving sinners (those who have been lost and are now being found) and eating with them, while in the parallel the woman calls her sinner friends together to celebrate with them that what was lost has been found (something at which Heaven rejoices). In ‘c’ the man has lost his sheep, and is not satisfied until he has found it, and in the parallel the woman has lost her coin and is not satisfied until she has found it. In ‘d’ the shepherd rejoices over finding his sheep, and in the parallel Heaven rejoices over the ‘found’ sinner who repents. Central in ‘e’ is the calling of all together to rejoice at finding the lost sheep.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Three Parables Dealing With The Seeking and Saving of the Lost (15:1-32).

It will have been noted how great a concentration there is in this section on preparing for the eternal future, and on the Kingly Rule of God. This will lead on to an emphasis on the heavenly Son of Man, and the revelation of His future appearing in glory.

In this chapter Jesus commences by vividly illuminating His coming statement in Luk 19:10 that ‘the Son of Man came to seek and to save that which was lost.’ He does it by means of the parables of the shepherd going out into the wilderness to seek his lost sheep, the woman being concerned over her coins and seeking the one that was lost, and the three men, a father and his two sons, who are faced with choices. These themes remarkably parallel the descriptions in the parallel parable which immediately follows Luk 19:10, of the king who goes ‘into a far country’ to receive a kingship, dispenses ‘coins to be looked after’, and faces up ‘three men with their choices’ (Luk 19:11-27).

The three parables in this present chapter have the one theme, the rejoicing over the finding of what had been lost. In the first two parables that is specifically related to joy in Heaven. In the third it is the rejoicing of the father, but as in that case the father himself represents God, the idea is the same. The first two parables are also parallel to each other in that both depict the seeking of what was lost. They also follow Luke’s man/woman pattern which we find elsewhere (see Introduction), introducing alternately first a man and then a woman, both of who sought what was lost. In the third it is the father who is prominent, the father who compassionately welcomes one son and graciously guides the other, while the aspect of repentance also comes to the fore. Together the parables reveal the reaching out of God towards man, and man’s required response.

Jesus here delineates three types of sinner. The first is like a sheep, he goes astray through foolishness and thoughtlessness, drawn away by the promise of better pasture elsewhere; the second is like the coin, he simply goes astray by accident or as a result of the carelessness of those who should be watching over him; the third goes astray by his own self-will and as a result of a desire for pleasure. But all end up in the same situation and all need to come back to the father in the same way.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Men Must Live In The Light Of The Coming Of The Son of Man In His Glory (15:1-19:28).

Having established in Section 1 that Jesus was born in Bethlehem in the city of David where He was proclaimed ‘Saviour’ and ‘Lord Messiah’; and in Section 2 that as ‘the Son of God’ Jesus had faced His temptations as to what His Messiahship would involve and defeated the Tempter; and that in Section 3 He had proclaimed in parables the secrets of ‘the Kingly Rule of God’; and had in Section 4 taught His Disciples the Lord’s Prayer for the establishment of that Kingly Rule and for their deliverance from the trial to come; and having in Section 5 seen in the healing of the crooked woman on the Sabbath a picture of the deliverance of God’s people from Satan’s power; this section now centres on His coming revelation in glory as the glorious Son of Man (compare Dan 7:13-14).

(For the evidence that these points are central to the narrative see Introduction).

Section 6 follows the chiastic pattern that we have already seen abounds in Luke. It may be analysed in detail as follows:

a Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him (Luk 15:1).

b The parables concerning the seeking Shepherd who goes out into the wilderness, the woman with the coins, and the three, the father and the two young men, who each make their choice as to what they will do, and Heaven’s rejoicing when tax collectors and sinners repent (Luk 15:2-32).

c The steward who used his lord’s wealth wisely, and thoughts on using money wisely in preparation for the eternal future in the everlasting dwellings (Luk 16:1-13).

d The Pharisees are blind to the truth about Jesus and cavil at His teaching, but all who see the truth press into the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 16:14-18).

e The story of the rich man, and the beggar Lazarus, is a pointer to the wrong use of wealth in the light of the eternal future and to the unwillingness of many even solid Jews to truly listen to the Law of God, which will result in their being lost for ever (Luk 16:19-31).

f The danger of putting stumblingblocks in the way of others, especially of children, in the light of the eternal future (Luk 17:1-5).

g The servant who only does his duty in the expansion of the Kingly Rule of God does not expect a reward, for that is his duty (Luk 17:6-10).

h Ten lepers come seeking deliverance and are healed – but there is only one, a Samaritan, who afterwards seeks out Jesus with gratitude so as to give thanks. Among the many the one stands out. He alone finally seeks Jesus in faith and is abundantly vindicated. Jesus asks, ‘where there not ten cleansed, where are the nine?’ and stresses his faith (Luk 17:11-19).

i The Kingly Rule of God does not come with signs (Luk 17:20-21)

j After first being rejected the Son of Man, when He comes, will come in His glory (Luk 17:22-24), men must therefore beware of false Messiahs. After this we have a cluster of Son of Man sayings (Luk 17:26; Luk 17:30; Luk 18:8; Luk 18:31; Luk 19:10).

i The coming of the Son of Man will be unexpected (and thus without signs) (Luk 17:25-37).

h In parable there is an unrighteous judge, (who represents God), and he is faced by one who comes to him seeking for vindication, a picture of God’s elect seeking vindication. God’s elect must persevere in prayer and seek Him with faith that they too might find vindication. Among the many, the few stand out. Jesus asks, ‘when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?’ (Luk 18:1-8).

g The Pharisee who thinks he does his duty and expects thanks for it, is contrasted with the one who comes humbly and is justified (Luk 18:9-14).

f The Kingly Rule of God must be received as a little child (Luk 18:15-17).

e The approach of the rich young ruler and the difficulty of entering under the Kingly Rule of God, stressing the wise use of wealth for the sake of the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 18:18-30).

d While the Apostles remain partially blind to the truth about Jesus, (the fact that what is written about the Son of Man must be accomplished), the blind man at Jericho recognises Him as the Son of David and insists on being brought to Jesus and his eyes are opened, He insistently presses into the Kingly Rule of God (Luk 18:31-43).

c The chief tax collector Zacchaeus uses his wealth wisely and yields it to the Lord, demonstrating that the Son of Man has successfully come to seek and save the lost (Luk 19:1-10).

b The king goes to a far country to receive Kingly Rule, he gives coins to his servants to trade with, and his three servants have each to make their choice (Luk 19:11-27).

a ‘And when He had said thus He went on before, going up to Jerusalem’ (Luk 19:28).

Note how in ‘a’ the section opens with the tax collectors and sinners drawing near ‘to hear Him’, and ends with Him ‘concluding His words’ before moving on towards His death in Jerusalem. In ‘b’ the shepherd goes into the wilderness, the woman looks after her coins, and a father and his two sons make their choices, while in the parallel a king goes into a far country, he dispenses coins to be looked after, and three servants make their choices. In ‘c’ the steward uses money wisely and in the parallel Zacchaeus uses his money wisely. In ‘d’ The Pharisees are ‘blind’ to the truth about Jesus and cavil at His teaching, while those who see the truth press into the Kingly Rule of God, and in the parallel the disciples are ‘blind’ to Jesus’ teaching, while the blind man presses insistently into seeing Jesus. In ‘e’ we have the rich man who used his wealth wrongly and in the parallel the rich young ruler who refused to use his wealth rightly. In ‘f’ we are told of the danger of putting stumblingblocks in the way of others, especially of children, while in the parallel the Kingly Rule of God must be received as a little child. In ‘g’ the servant who only does his duty does not expect a reward, while in the parallel the Pharisee is confident that he has done his duty and boasts about it, but is seen as lacking. In ‘h’ ten men cry out for deliverance, but one man stands out as seeking Jesus and is commended and his faith alone is emphasised, in the parallel one woman seeks to a judge (God) and His elect are to seek out God for deliverance and are commended but lack of faith on earth is feared. In ‘i’ the Kingly Rule of God does not come with signs, and in the parallel His coming will be unexpected (and thus without signs). In ‘j’, and centrally, the rejected Son of Man is to come in His glory and false Messiahs are to be avoided (Luk 17:22-24).

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Jesus Teaches Pharisees on Loving Souls In Luk 15:1-32 Jesus addresses the Pharisees and teaches them about God’s love for all mankind. He uses three parables to illustrate His point.

The Parable of the Lost Sheep (Luk 15:3-7)

The Parable of the Lost Coin (Luk 15:8-10)

The Parable of the Lost Son (Luk 15:11-32)

The emphasis of this passage is found within the context of its narrative material where Jesus is teaching us how to enter into the narrow gate that leads to Heaven by keeping our hearts pure. The need to love others as God loves is another virtue that leads us towards a pure heart after humility (Luk 14:7-11), benevolence (Luk 14:12-14), forsaking the cares of this world (Luk 14:15-24) and forsaking family bonds (Luk 14:25-35).

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. Introduction Luk 15:1-2

2. The Parable of the Lost Sheep Luk 15:3-7

3. The Parable of the Lost Coin Luk 15:8-10

4. The Parable of the Lost Son Luk 15:11-32

Luk 15:1-2 Introduction Luk 15:1-2 serves as an introduction to the setting of Jesus teaching the people on the principles of God’s love for mankind in the Kingdom of God. These publicans and sinners were coming to Jesus, which testified of their faith in God and Jesus’ message of redemption.

Luk 15:3-7 The Parable of the Lost Sheep ( Mat 18:12-14 ) In Luk 15:3-7 Jesus teaches the Parable of the Lost Sheep to the murmuring scribes and Pharisees. It is generally agreed among scholars that the Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Parable of the Lost Coin are parallel in a number of ways. For example, they both address the same theme. They can be contrasted in that the Parable of the Lost Sheep describes the setting of a man’s vocational duties, while the Parable of the Lost Coin describes the setting of a woman with her domestic duties.

Luk 15:3 Comments – Jesus was responding to the complaints of the Pharisees and scribes when He told the Parable of the Lost Sheep. Thus, He was speaking primarily to these Jewish leaders, although the publicans and sinners were also present to hear Him.

Luk 15:4 Comments – Diana Hagee, the wife of John Hagee, said, “As the mother and father of five children, we have learned this great truth: a parent is only as happy as their saddest child.” [234]

[234] Diana Hagee, What Every Woman Wants in a Man (Lake Mary, Florida: Charisma House, 2005), 56.

Luk 15:8-10 The Parable of the Lost Coin – In Luk 15:8-10 Jesus teaches the Parable of the Lost Coin to the murmuring scribes and Pharisees.

Luk 15:11-32 The Parable of the Lost Son – In Luk 15:11-32 Jesus teaches the Parable of the Lost Son to the murmuring scribes and Pharisees. This story is also called the Parable of the Prodigal Son.

Luk 15:13 “and took his journey into a far country” – Comments – To every one of us is an inborn desire for adventure, to go and discover the new and exciting. If we use this desire to find our own ways, it will result in death. If we allow the Lord to guide us in His way, it is the way of an exciting adventure that only He could destine for our lives.

Pro 14:12, “There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.”

Luk 15:14 Comments – There is pleasure in sin for a season.

Heb 11:25, “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;”

Luk 15:16 Comments – The husks represent the unclean pleasures that people partake of in this life, which in reality are unfit for human consumption. Note these words from Frances J. Roberts:

“But My people have not cried: they have not called. Lo, they have been satisfied with the husks of this present world, and in an hour of indifference, they have allowed the pleasures of this life to fill that place which belongeth only unto Me. Yea, it hath displaced My Spirit, but it satisfieth not.” [235]

[235] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 55.

Luk 15:18 Comments – Many young African men attempt to enter Europe illegally by making their way through North Africa to the Mediterranean Sea, and by boat across the sea to the shores of Spain. Some make it through, but may are caught by border guards posted in North African countries. Those who fail to make it to Europe are often ashamed to return home, broken and weary. Instead, they stay in these border towns hoping to find some little money to take back home in order to save their face before their families. [236] The prodigal son must have felt much shame in returning home destitute.

[236] “International News,” Al Jazeera, Doha, Qatar, August 2009.

Luk 15:20 Comments – Michael Guido said, “He is not only waiting to meet you; He will run to greet you.” [237]

[237] Michael Guido, The Sower (Metter, Georgia), on Daystar Television (Beford, Texas, 2 January 2008), television program.

Luk 15:21-23 Comments Our Sins and Covered and Forgotten – Note these comments from Frances J. Roberts regarding the spiritual interpretation of Luk 15:21-23.

“Ye are never one of many to Me. Ye are precious and dear to My heart, yea, even as a very special treasure. For I love thee more than ye can ever comprehend, and I long to gather thee in Mine embrace and hold thee close to My heart. Do not hold Me at arm’s length because ye have a sense of unworthiness. Have ye not read that the redeemed are brought near by the blood of Christ? Thy sins are not covered: they are washed away! They are not forgiven: they are forgotten! Stay Me not. Be as the prodigal when embraced by his father. Though he would have resisted for a moment, he swiftly accepted his father’s forgiveness and reciprocated his love and affection. I, too, would bring thee into My house and spread for thee a feast of blessings, and place upon thee the garment of praise, the ring of relationship and the sandals of peace. Come, for all things are prepared for thee and naught shall be denied.” [238]

[238] Frances J. Roberts, Come Away My Beloved (Ojai, California: King’s Farspan, Inc., 1973), 26.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Witnesses of Jesus Justifying Him as the Saviour of the World (God the Father’s Justification of Jesus) Luk 4:31 to Luk 21:38 contains the testimony of Jesus’ public ministry, as He justifies Himself as the Saviour of the world. In this major section Jesus demonstrates His divine authority over man, over the Law, and over creation itself, until finally He reveals Himself to His three close disciples on the Mount of Transfiguration as God manifested in the flesh. Jesus is the Saviour over every area of man’s life and over creation itself, a role that can only be identified with God Himself. This was the revelation that Peter had when he said that Jesus was Christ, the Son of the Living God. Luk 4:14 to Luk 9:50 begins with His rejection in His hometown of Nazareth and this section culminates in Luk 9:50 with Peter’s confession and testimony of Jesus as the Anointed One sent from God. In summary, this section of material is a collection of narratives that testifies to Jesus’ authority over every aspect of humanity to be called the Christ, or the Saviour of the world.

Luke presents Jesus Christ as the Saviour of the world that was presently under the authority of Roman rule. He was writing to a Roman official who was able to exercise his authority over men. Thus, Luke was able to contrast Jesus’ divine authority and power to that of the Roman rule. Jesus rightfully held the title as the Saviour of the world because of the fact that He had authority over mankind as well as the rest of God’s creation. Someone who saves and delivers a person does it because he has the authority and power over that which oppresses the person.

In a similar way, Matthew portrays Jesus Christ as the Messiah who fulfilled Old Testament prophecy. Matthew’s presentation of Jesus as the King of the Jews supports His claim as the Messiah. John gives us the testimony of God the Father, who says that Jesus Christ is the Son of God. John uses the additional testimonies of John the Baptist, of His miracles, of the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies and of Jesus Himself to support this claim. Mark testifies of the many miracles of the Lord Jesus Christ by emphasizing the preaching of the Gospel as the way in which these miracles take place.

This major section of the public ministry of Jesus Christ can be subdivided into His prophetic testimonies. In Luk 4:31 to Luk 6:49 Jesus testifies of true justification in the Kingdom of God. In Luk 7:1 to Luk 8:21 Jesus testifies of His doctrine. In Luk 8:22 to Luk 10:37 Jesus testifies of divine service in the Kingdom of God as He sets His face towards Jerusalem. In Luk 10:38 to Luk 17:10 Jesus testifies of perseverance in the Kingdom of God as He travels towards Jerusalem. Finally, in Luk 17:11 to Luk 21:38 Jesus teaches on glorification in the Kingdom of God.

The Two-Fold Structure in Luke of Doing/Teaching As Reflected in the Prologue to the Book of Acts – The prologue to the book of Acts serves as a brief summary and outline of the Gospel of Luke. In Act 1:1 the writer makes a clear reference to the Gospel of Luke, as a companion book to the book of Acts, by telling us that this “former treatise” was about “all that Jesus began to do and to teach.” If we examine the Gospel of Luke we can find two major divisions in the narrative material of Jesus’ earthly ministry leading up to His Passion. In Luk 4:14 to Luk 9:50 we have the testimony of His Galilean Ministry in which Jesus did many wonderful miracles to reveal His divine authority as the Christ, the Son of God. This passage emphasized the works that Jesus did to testify of Himself as the Saviour of the world. The emphasis then shifts beginning in Luk 9:51 to Luk 21:38 as it focuses upon Jesus teaching and preparing His disciples to do the work of the Kingdom of God. Thus, Luk 4:14 to Luk 21:38 can be divided into this two-fold emphasis of Jesus’ works and His teachings. [186]

[186] We can also see this two-fold aspect of doing and teaching in the Gospel of Matthew, as Jesus always demonstrated the work of the ministry before teaching it in one of His five major discourses. The narrative material preceding his discourses serves as a demonstration of what He then taught. For example, in Matthew 8:1 to 9:38, Jesus performed nine miracles before teaching His disciples in Matthew 10:1-42 and sending them out to perform these same types of miracles. In Matthew 11:1 to 12:50 this Gospel records examples of how people reacted to the preaching of the Gospel before Jesus teaches on this same subject in the parables of Matthew 13:1-52. We see examples of how Jesus handled offences in Matthew 13:53 to 17:27 before He teaches on this subject in Matthew 18:1-35. Jesus also prepares for His departure in Matthew 19:1 to 25:46 before teaching on His second coming in Matthew 24-25.

Jesus’ Public Ministry One observation that can be made about Jesus’ Galilean ministry and his lengthy travel narrative to Jerusalem is that He attempts to visit every city and village in Israel that will receive Him. He even sends out His disciples in order to reach them all. But why is such an effort made to preach the Gospel to all of Israel during Jesus’ earthly ministry? Part of the answer lies in the fact that Jesus wanted everyone to have the opportunity to hear and believe. For those who rejected Him, they now will stand before God on the great Judgment Day without an excuse for their sinful lifestyles. Jesus wanted everyone to have the opportunity to believe and be saved. This seemed to be His passion throughout His Public Ministry. Another aspect of the answer is the impending outpouring of the Holy Ghost and the sending out of the Twelve to the uttermost parts of the earth. Jesus understood the necessity to first preach the Gospel to all of Israel before sending out the apostles to other cities and nations.

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Perseverance: Jesus Testifies of Striving to Enter Into Heaven In Luk 10:38 to Luk 17:10 Jesus testifies of striving to enter into Heaven through perseverance.

Outline: Note the proposed outline:

1. Narrative: Jesus Demonstrates Perseverance Luk 10:38 to Luk 13:21

2. Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance: Luk 13:22 to Luk 17:10

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance: Persecutions (Towards Jerusalem) In Luk 13:22 to Luk 17:10 Jesus moves further towards Jerusalem as He makes His way through the villages of Samaria and Galilee. In this section, Jesus trains His disciples in the area of perseverance in the midst of persecutions. The way into the Kingdom of God is narrow (Luk 13:22-30). The decision to leave all behind and follow Jesus begins with humility (Luk 14:7-11) and benevolence (Luk 14:12-14). A disciple of Christ forsakes the cares of this world (Luk 14:15-24) as well as his family bonds (Luk 14:25-35). A disciple begins to seek and to save the lost souls (Luk 15:1-32). Good stewardship to this calling is needed (Luk 16:1-13) and managing the riches that God entrusts to us (Luk 16:14-31). Only then can a disciple begin to understand what true faith in God involves (Luk 17:5-10). This kind of faith is not a one-time decision, but a series of daily decision of being a faithful servant.

Luk 15:1 to Luk 17:10 contains a continuous discourse by the Lord Jesus on perseverance in relation to the office of the prophet. The fundamental duty of the prophet is to preach the Gospel to the lost (Luk 15:1-32), being good stewards of one’s prophetic gifts (Luk 16:1-13), not covetous (Luk 16:14-31), neither offensive (Luk 17:1-4), so that their gifts may grow and flourish (Luk 17:5-10).

Outline – Here is a proposed outline:

1. Jesus Instructs on Striving to Enter the Kingdom Luk 13:22-30

2. Corrects Pharisees on Fulfillment of His Ministry Luk 13:31-35

3. Jesus Heals & Corrects the Pharisees on the Law Luk 14:1-6

4. Jesus Teaches on Humility Luk 14:7-11

5. Jesus Teaches on Benevolence Luk 14:12-14

6. Jesus Teaches on Forsaking Cares of the World Luk 14:15-24

7. Jesus Teaches on Forsaking All Luk 14:25-35

8. Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance Luk 15:1 to Luk 17:10

a) Jesus Corrects Pharisees on Seeking the Lord Luk 15:1-32

i) Parable of Lost Sheep Luk 15:1-7

ii) Parable of Lost Coin Luk 15:8-10

iii) Parable of Lost Son Luk 15:11-32

b) Jesus Instructs Disciples on Stewardship Luk 16:1-13

c) Jesus Corrects Pharisees on Covetousness Luk 16:14-31

d) Jesus Teaches Disciples on Offences Luk 17:1-4

e) Jesus Teaches the Apostles on Faith & Duty Luk 17:5-10

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Discourse: Jesus Teaches on Perseverance In Luk 15:1 to Luk 17:10 Jesus teaches a continuous discourse that places emphasis on perseverance. He discusses our need to love the sinner (Luk 15:1-32), to be good stewards of what God has given us in this life (Luk 16:1-13), to avoid covetousness (Luk 16:14-31) and offenses (Luk 17:1-4), and to live a lifestyle of servanthood as an expression of faith in God (Luk 17:5-10).

Outline Here is a proposed outline:

1. Jesus Corrects Pharisees on Seeking the Lord Luk 15:1-32

2. Jesus Instructs Disciples on Stewardship Luk 16:1-13

3.) Jesus Rebukes Pharisees on Covetousness Luk 16:14-31

4. Jesus Teaches Disciples on Offences Luk 17:1-4

5. Jesus Teaches the Apostles on Faith & Duty Luk 17:5-10

Fuente: Everett’s Study Notes on the Holy Scriptures

Parables of the Love of Christ to the Lost.

The murmuring Pharisees:

v. 1. Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him.

v. 2. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

The fifteenth chapter of Luke is, as one commentator has called it, the golden center of this Gospel, revealing in a wonderful way the love of the Savior for the lost and condemned sinners. The Lord here exhibits the unspeakable riches of His merciful love to all men, but especially to those that feel the need of that mercy. There were nearing to Him at that time, the evangelist writes. As iron filings are attracted to a magnet, so the message of love and forgiveness which Jesus proclaimed drew the broken hearts to His grace. It was not merely the attraction of human sympathy and kindness, but it was the sweetness of the Savior’s love and the glorious promise of pardon, full and free. Publicans and sinners they were, despised and cast out of the synagogues throughout the land; they were not permitted to associate on a plane of equality with the Jews in good standing. But these outcasts came, not like the majority of the other people, primarily for the purpose of witnessing miracles of various kinds, but to hear Him. The blessed words of salvation attracted them; they could not hear enough of the healing message which Christ proclaimed with unwearying kindness. Others, however, were present that had a different opinion concerning such intimacy of the Lord with publicans and sinners. The Pharisees and scribes murmured with indignation against Him, saying that He made Himself the equal of the scum of the lowly people by receiving them and eating with them. The mocking and derisive words of the Pharisees have now become the song of praise in the mouth of believing Christians: “Jesus sinners doth receive!”

Fuente: The Popular Commentary on the Bible by Kretzmann

EXPOSITION

Luk 15:1-32

The Lord speaks his three parable-stories of the “lost,” in which he explains his reason for loving and receiving the sinful.

Luk 15:1, Luk 15:2

Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them; more accurately rendered, there were drawing near to him. This was now, in the last stage of the final journey, the usual state of things. The great outside- class came in crowds to listen to Jesus. These were men and women who, through home and family associations, through their occupations, which were looked upon with disfavour by the more rigid Jews, often no doubt through their own careless, indifferent character, had little or nothing to do with their religious and orthodox countrymen. Poor wanderers, sinners, thoughtless ones, no one cared for them, their present or their future. Do not these in every age make up the majority? The religious, so often Pharisees in heart, despising them, refusing to make allowances for them, looking on them as hopelessly lost ones. But at no time was this state of things so accentuated as when Jesus lived among men. Now, among such care. less irreligious men and women, are man whose hearts are very tender, very listen if the teacher of religion has Mud, wise words for them. The grave and severe, yet intensely pitiful and loving, doctrines of the Galilaean Master found such. His words were words of stern rebuke, and yet were full of hope, even for the hopeless. No man had ever spoken to them like this Man. Hence the crowds of publicans and sinners who were now ever pressing round the Master. But the teachers of Israel, the priestly order, the learned and rigid scribes, the honoured doctors Of the holy Law,these were indignant, and on first thoughts not without reason, at the apparent preference felt for and special tenderness shown by Jesus to this great outside class of sinners. The three parables of this fifteenth chapter were the apologia of the Galilaean Master to orthodox Israel, but they appeal to an audience far greater than any enclosed in the coasts of the Holy Land, or living in that restless age,

Luk 15:3-5

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness? Now, there are two leading ideas in the three storiesone on the side of the Speaker; one on the side of those to whom the parable-stories were spoken.

(1) On the side of the speaker. God’s anxiety for sinners is shown; he pities with a great pity their wretchedness; he sets, besides, a high value on their souls, as part of a treasure belonging to him.

(2) On the side of the listeners. Their sympathy with him in his anxiety for stoners is claimed. He has sought it hitherto m vain. The imagery of the first story is very homelyeasy, too, to understand. A small sheep-master pastures his little flock of a hundred sheep in one of those wide uncultivated plains which fringe portions of the land of promise. This is what we must understand by “the wilderness.” The hundred sheep represent the people of Israel. The lost sheep, one who had broken with Jewish respectability. One only is mentioned as lost, not by any means as representing the small number of the outcast classthe contrary is the easebut as indicative of the value in the eyes of the All-Father of one immortal soul. And go after that which is lost, until he find it. And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. This diligent search after the lost one, the tender care shown by the shepherd when the object of his search was found, and the subsequent joy, pictured in a humble everyday figure the mode of acting of which the orthodox Jews complained. They said, “He receiveth stoners, and eateth with them.”

Luk 15:6

And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. And here the shepherd craves for sympathy from his fellows; he would have others share in his joy in finding the perishing, suffering sheep. This sympathy with his effort to win the lost the Galilaean Master had looked for among the rulers and teachers of Israel in vain. Now, sympathy, it must be remembered, is not merely sentiment or courtesy. True sympathy with a cause means working in good earnest for the cause. This, however, the ruling spirits in Israel, in every sect, coldly refused. They not only declined their sympathy with the acts of Jesus; they positively condemned his works, his efforts, his teaching.

Luk 15:7

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. “But,” the Master went on to say, “what I looked for in vain on earth, see, I have found in heaven. What men coldly refused me, the celestials have joyfully given. These understand me. They love both me and my work, do the holy angels.” This coldness, even opposition, on the part of the Pharisees and the religious men of Israel to himself and his works, to his teachings of mercy and love, seems certainly to be the reason why Jesus emphasizes, both here and in the next parable, the sympathy which he receives, not on earth from men, but in heaven from beings, inhabitants of another world. Men, have, however, askedWhy do these heavenly beings rejoice over the one more than over the ninety and nine? It is utterly insufficient to say that this joy is occasioned by the getting back something that was lost. Such a feeling is conceivable among men, though even here it would be an exaggerated sentiment, but in heaven, among the immortals, no such feeling could exist; it partakes too much of the sentimental, almost of the hysterical. This higher joy must be due to another cause. Now, the shepherd, when he found the wanderer, did not bring it back to the old fold, or replace it with the rest of the flock, but apparently (Luk 15:6) brought it to his own home. This would seem to indicate that sinners whom Jesus has come to save, and whom he has saved, are placed in a better position than that from which they originally wandered. This gives us the clue to the angels’ joy over the “found one” more than over those who were safe in the old ibid. The Talmudists have taughtand their teaching, no doubt, is but the reflection of what was taught in the great rabbinical schools of Jerusalem before its ruinthat a man who had been guilty of many sins might, by repentance, raise himself to a higher degree of virtue than the perfectly righteous man who had never experienced his temptations. If this were so, well argues Professor Bruce, “surely it was reasonable to occupy one’s self in endeavouring to get sinners to start on this noble career of self-elevation, and to rejoice when in any instance he had succeeded. But it is one thing to have correct theories, and another to put them into practice So they found fault with One (Jesus) who not only held this view as an abstract doctrine, but acted on it, and sought to bring those who had strayed furthest from the paths of righteousness to repentance, believing that, though last, they might yet be first.”

Luk 15:8

Either what woman having’ ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? Another and very homely picture is painted in this parable. This time the chief figure is a woman, a dweller in a poor Syrian village, to whom the loss of a coin of small value out of her little store is a serious matter. In the story of the lost sheep the point of the parable turns upon the suffering and the sin of man, under the image of a lost sheep searched for and restored by the Divine pity. Here, in the second parable-story, the ruined soul is represented as a lost coin, and we learn from it that God positively misses each lost soul, and longs for its restoration to its true sphere and place in the heaven life and work for which it was created. In other words, in the first parable the lost soul is viewed from man’s standpoint; in the second, from God’s. If, then, a soul be missed, the result will be, not only missing for itself, but something lost for God.

Luk 15:9, Luk 15:10

And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Again, as in the parable of the lost sheep, we find this longing for sympathy; again the finding of this sympathy in heavenly places, among heavenly beings, is especially recorded. There is a slight difference in the language of rejoicing here. In the first parable it was, “Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost;” here, “…for I have found the piece which I had lost.” In the first it was the anguish of the sheep which was the central point of the story; in the second it was the distress of the woman who had lost something; hence this difference in the wording. “What grandeur belongs to the picture of this humble rejoicing which this poor woman celebrates with her neighbours, when it becomes the transparency through which we get a glimpse of God himself, rejoicing with his elect and his angels over the salvation of a single sinner!” (Godet).

Luk 15:11

And he said, A certain man had two sons. It seems probable that this and the two preceding shorter parables were spoken by the Lord on the same occasion, towards the latter part of this slow solemn journeying to the holy city to keep his last Passover. The mention of the publicans and sinners in Luk 15:1 seems to point to some considerable city, or its immediate vicinity, as the place where these famous parables were spoken. This parable, as it is termed, of the prodigal sou completes the trilogy. Without it the Master’s formal apologia for his life and work would be incomplete, and the rebuke of the Pharisaic selfishness and censoriousness would have been left unfinished. In the apologia much had still to be said concerning the limitless love and the boundless pity of God. In the rebuke the two first parables had shown the Pharisee party and the rulers of Israel how they ought to have acted: this third story shows them how they did act. But the Church of Christas each successive generation read this exquisite and true storysoon lost sight of all the temporal and national signification at first connected with it. The dweller in the cold and misty North feels that it belongs to him as it does to the Syrian, revelling in his almost perpetual summer, to whom it was first spoken. It is a story of the nineteenth century just as it was a story of the first. We may, with all reverence, think of the Divine Master, as he unfolded each successive scene which portrayed human sin and suffering, and heavenly pity and forgiveness, man’s selfish pride and God’s all-embracing love, passing into another and broader sphere than that bounded by the Arabian deserts to the south and the Syrian mountains to the north, forgetting for a moment the little Church of the Hebrews, and speaking to the great Church of the futurethe Church of the world, to which, without doubt, this Catholic parable of the prodigal, in all its sublime beauty and exquisite pathos, with all its exhaustless wealth of comfort, belongs.

Luk 15:12, Luk 15:13

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together. The subject of the story this time is not derived from humble life. The family pictured is evidently one belonging to the wealthy class. There was money to be distributed; there were estates to be cultivated; means existed to defray the cost of feasting on a large scale; mention, too, is made incidentally of costly clothing and even of gems. Like other of the Lord’s parable-teachings, the framework of the story was most likely founded upon fact. The family of the father and the two sons no doubt had been personally known to the Galilaean Teacher. This imperious demand of the younger seems strange to us. Such a division, however, in the lifetime of the father was not uncommon in the East. So Abraham in his lifetime bestowed the main body of his possessions on Isaac, having previously allotted portions to his other sons. There was, however, no Jewish law which required any such bestowal of property in the parent’s lifetime. It was a free gift on the part of the father. But to the young son it was a hapless boon.

“God answers sharp and sudden on some prayers;
And flings the thing we have asked in our face,
A gauntletwith a gift in it.”

(E. B. Browning.)

And took his journey into a far country. The youth, who probably in the Master’s experience had suggested this part of the story, after receiving his share of money, started with unformed purposes of pleasure, perhaps of trade. The man, who was a Jew, left his home for one of the great world’s marts, such as Carthage or Alexandria, Antioch or Rome. And there wasted his substance with riotous living. This is an extreme case. Few probably of the publicans and sinners whose hearts the Lord touched so deeply, and who are examples of the great class in every age to whom his gospel appeals so lovingly, had sinned so deeply as the young man of the story. Indecent haste to be free from the orderly quiet home-life, ingratitude, utter forgetfulness of all duty, the wildest profligacy,these were the sins of the prodigal. It has been well remarked that the line runs out widely to embrace such a profligate, that every sinner may be encouraged to return to God and live. There is a grave reticence in sparing all details of the wicked lifea veil which the elder son with pitiless hand would snatch away (Luk 15:30).

Luk 15:14

And when he had spent all. True of many a soul in all times, but especially in that age of excessive luxury and splendour and of unbridled passions.

“On that hard Roman world, disgust

And secret loathing fell;

Deep weariness and sated lust

Made human life a hell.”
(Matthew Arnold.)

There arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. The “mighty famine” may be understood to represent difficult times. Wax or political convulsions, so common in those days, may have speedily brought about the ruin of many like the prodigal of our story, and his comparatively small fortune would quickly have been swallowed up. Selfish evil-living, excesses of various kinds, had gained him no real friends, but had left him to meet the ruin of his fortune with enfeebled powers, homeless and friendless; hence the depth of the degradation in which we speedily find him. Not an unusual figure in the great world-drama, this of the younger sonthe man who had sacrificed everything for selfish pleasure, and soon found he had absolutely nothing left but suffering. Very touchingly the greatest, perhaps, of our English poets writes of this awful soul-famine. In his case fortune and rank still remained to him, but everything that can really make life precious and beautiful had been wasted.

“My days are in the yellow leaf;

The flowers and fruits of love are gone;

The worm, the anguish, and the grief,

Are mine alone.

“The fire that on my bosom preys

Is lone as some volcanic isle;

No torch is kindled at its blaze

A funeral pile!”
(Byron.)

Luk 15:15

And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country. “That citizen,” says St. Bernard, quoted by Archbishop Trench, “I cannot understand as other than one of the malignant spirits, who in that they sin with an irremediable obstinacy, and have passed into a permanent disposition of malice and wickedness, are no longer guests and strangers, but citizens and abiders in the land of sin.” This is a true picture of the state of such a lost soul, which in despair has yielded itself up to the evil one and his angels and their awful prompt-tugs and suggestions; but the heathen citizen is well represented by the ordinary sordid man of the world, who engages in any infamous calling, and in the carrying on of which he employs his poor degraded ruined brothers and sisters. To feed swine. What a shudder must have passed through the auditory when the Master reached this climax of the prodigal’s degradation I For a young Israelite noble, delicately nurtured and trained in the worship of the chosen people, to be reduced to the position of a herdsman of those unclean creatures for which they entertained such a loathing and abhorrence that they would not even name them, but spoke of a pig as the other thing!

Luk 15:16

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. So low was this poor lost man reduced, that in his bitter hunger he even came to long for the coarse but nutritious bean with which the herd was fed. These swine were of some value when fattened for the market; but he, the swineherd, was valuelesshe might starve. The husks in question were the long bean-shaped pods of the carob tree (Caratonia siliqua), commonly used for fattening swine in Syria and Egypt. They contain a proportion of sugar. The very poorest of the population occasionally use them as food.

Luk 15:17

And when he came to himself. This tardy repentance in the famous parable has been the occasion of many a sneer from the world. Even satiety, even soul-hunger, did not bring the prodigal to penitence; nothing but absolute bodily suffering, cruel hunger, drove him to take the step which in the end saved him. There is no doubt it would have been far more noble on the young man’s part if, in the midst of his downhill career, he had suddenly paused, and, with a mighty and continued effort of self-control, had turned to purity, to duty, and to God. Certainly this had been hereto conducta term no one would think of applying to anything belonging to the life of the younger son of our story. But though not heroic, is not the conduct of the prodigal just what is of daily occurrence in common life? The world may sneer; but is not such a repentance, after all, a blessed thing? It is a poor mean way, some would tell us, of creeping into heaven; but is it not better to enter into God’s city even thus, with bowed head, than not at all? Is it not better to consecrate a few months, or perhaps years, of a wasted life to God’s service, to noble generous deeds, to brave attempts to undo past mischief and neglect, than to go sinning on to the bitter end? There is something intensely sorrowful in this consecrating to the Master the end of a sin-worn life; but there is what is infinitely worse. What a deep well, too, of comfort has the Church-taught teacher here to draw from in his weary life-experiences! How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! Among the bitternesses of his present degradation, not the least was the memory of his happy childhood and boyhood in his old home.

“For a sorrow’s crown of sorrows
Is remembering happier things.”

The family of the prodigal, as we have already remarked, was certainly possessed of wealth, and was probably one of high rank. In the old home there was nothing wanting.

Luk 15:18, Luk 15:19

I will arise and go to my father make me as one of thy hired servants. The repentance of the prodigal was real. It was no mere sentimental regret, no momentary flash of sorrow for a bad past. There was before him a long and weary journey to be undertaken, and hebrought up in luxuryhad to face it without means. There was the shame of confession before dependents and relatives and friends, and, as the crown of all, there was the position of a servant to be filled in the home where once he had been a son, for that was all he hoped to gain even from his father’s pitying love.

Luk 15:20

And he arose, and came to his father. And so he came safe home; sad, suffering, ragged, destitute, but still safe. But, in spite of this, the parable gives scant encouragement indeed to sin, poor hope indeed to wanderers from the right way, like the hero of our story; for we feel that, though he escaped, yet many were left behind in that sad country. We dimly see many other figures in the picture., The employer of the prodigal was a citizen, but only one of many citizens. The prodigal himself was a servantone, though, of a great crowd of others; and of all these unhappy dwellers in that land of sin, we only read of one coming out. Not an encouraging picture at best to any soul purposing deliberately to adventure into that country, with the idea of enjoying the pleasant licence of sin for a season and there coming home again. Such a home-coming is, of course, possiblethe beautiful story of Jesus tells us this; but, alas I how many stay behind! how few come out thence! But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. But although many who wander never escape from that sad country, it is not because they would be unwelcomed should they choose to return. The whole imagery of this part of the parable tells us how gladly the eternal Father welcomes the sorrowful penitent. The father does not wait for the poor wanderer, but, as though he had been watching for him, sights him afar off, and at once takes compassion, and even hastens to meet him, and all is forgiven.

Luk 15:21

Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. Many, though not all, of the older authorities add here (apparently taking them from Luk 15:19) the words, “make me as one of thy hired (servants).” The selfsame words of store original resolution are repeated. They had been stamped deep into the sad heart which so intensely desired a return to the old quiet, pure home-life; but now in his father’s presence he feels all is forgiven and forgotten, therefore he no longer asks to be made as one of the servants. He feels that great love will be satisfied with nothing less than restoring him, the erring one, to all the glories and happiness of the old life.

Luk 15:22

But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. The older authorities add “quickly” after the words “bring forth.” Everything is done by the father to assure the wanderer of full and entire forgiveness. Not only is a welcome given to the tired, ragged son, but he is invested at once, with all speed, with the insignia of his old rank as one of the house. But it is observable not a word is spoken of reply to the confession; in grave and solemn silence the story of the guilty past is received. Nothing can excuse it. He forgives, but forgives in silence.

Luk 15:23, Luk 15:24

And bring hither the fatted calf. There was a custom in the large Palestinian farms that always a calf should be fattening ready for festal occasions. And let us eat And they began to be merry. Who are intended by these plurals, us and they? We must not forget that the parable-story under the mortal imagery is telling of heavenly as well as of earthly things. The sharers in their joy over the lost, the servants of the prodigal’s father on earth, are doubtless the angels of whom we hear (Luk 15:7, Luk 15:10), in the two former parables of the lost sheep and of the lost drachma, as rejoicing over the recovery of a lost soul.

Luk 15:25

Now his elder son was in the field. The broad universal interest of the parable here ceases. Whereas the story of the sin and the punishment, the repentance and the restoration, of the prodigal belongs to the Church of the wide world, and has its special message of warning and comfort for thousands and thousands of world. workers in every age, this division of the story, which tells of the sour discontent of the prodigal’s elder brother, was spoken especially to the Pharisees and rulers of the Jews, who were bitterly incensed with Jesus being the Friend of publicans and sinners. They could not bear the thought of sharing the joys of the world to come with men whom they had despised as hopeless sinners here. This second chapter of the great parable has its practical lessons for every day common life; but its chief interest lay in the striking picture which it drew of that powerful class to whom the teaching of Jesus, in its broad and massive character, was utterly repulsive. Now, while the events just related were taking place, and the lost younger son was being received again into his father’s heart and home, the elder, a hard and selfish man, stern, and yet careful of his duties as far as his narrow mind grasped them, was in the field at his work. The rejoicing in the house over the prodigal’s return evidently took him by surprise. If he ever thought of that poor wandering brother of his at all, he pictured him to himself as a hopelessly lost and ruined soul. The Pharisees and rulers could not fail at once to catch the drift of the Master’s parable. They too, when the Lord came and gathered in that great harvest of sinners, those firstfruits of his mighty workthey too were “in the field” at work with their tithings and observances, making hedge after hedge round the old sacred Hebrew Law, uselessly fretting their lives away in a dull round of meaningless ritual observances. Theythe Pharisee partywhen they became aware of the great crowds of men, whom they looked on as lost sinners, listening to the new famous Teacher, who was showing them how men who had lived their lives too could win eternal lifethey, the Pharisees, flamed out with bitter wrath against the bold and daring Preacher of glad tidings to such a worthless crew. In the vivid parable-story these indignant Pharisees and rulers saw themselves clearly imaged.

Luk 15:28

Therefore came his father out, and entreated him. The disapprobation of Jesus for Pharisee opinions was very marked, yet here and elsewhere his treatment of them, with a few exceptional cases, was generally very gentle and loving. There was something in their excessive devotion to the letter of the Divine Law, to the holy temple, to the proud traditions of their race, that was admirable. It was a love to God, but a love all marred and blurred. It was a patriotism, but a patriotism utterly mistaken. The elder brother here was a representative of the great and famous sect, both in its fair and repulsive aspect, in its moral severity and correctness, in its harshness and exclusive pride. The father condescended to entreat this angry elder son; and Jesus longed to win these proud mistaken Pharisees.

Luk 15:29-32

Lo, these many years do I serve thee. Bengel quaintly comments here, “Serous erat.” This was the true nature of this later Jewish service of the Eternal. To them the eternal God was simply a Master. They were slaves who had a hard and difficult task to perform, and for which they looked for a definite payment. Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. We have here reproduced the spirit, almost the very words, of the well-known answer of the young man in the gospel story, who was no doubt a promising scion of the Pharisee party: “All these things have I kept from my youth up.” The same thought was in the mind, too, of him who thus prayed in the temple: “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are,” etc. (Luk 18:11, Luk 18:12). Yet thou never gavest me a kid All that I have is thine. Thy brother has the shoes, the ring, the robe, the banquet; thou the inheritance, for all that I have is thine. Why grudge to thy brother an hour of the gladness which has been thine these many years? As soon as this thy son was come, For this thy brother was dead. The angry elder son will not even acknowledge the prodigal as his brother; with bitter scorn and some disrespect he speaks of him to his father as “thy son.” The father throughout the scene is never incensed. He pleads rather than reproaches, and to this insolence he simply retorts, “Thy brother was dead to us, but nowIt was meet that we should make merry, and be glad.” What was the end of this strange scene? The last words, breathing forgiveness and joy, leave a sweet sense of hope upon the reader that all would yet be well in that divided household, and that the brothers, friends again, would clasp hands before the loving father’s eyes. But when Jesus told the parable to the crowds, the story was not yet played out. It depended on the Pharisees and rulers how the scene was to end. What happened at Jerusalem a few weeks later, when the Passion-drama was acted, and some forty years later, when the city was sacked, tells us something of what subsequently happened to the elder son of the Lord’s parable. But the end has yet to come. We shall yet see the brothers, Jew and Gentile, clasp hands in loving friendship before the father, when the long-lost elder son comes home. There will be joy then indeed in the presence of the angels of God.

HOMILETICS

Luk 15:11-32

The parable of the prodigal son.

This parable is at once a history, a poem, and a prophecy, A history of man in innocence, in sin, in redemption, in glory. A poemthe song of salvation, whose refrain, “My son was dead, and is alive again, was lost, and is found,” is ringing through the courts of the Zion of God. A prophecy, speaking most directly and solemnly, in warning and meditation, emphasis of reproof or of encouragement, to each of us. It is beyond the reach of the scalpel of criticism. Its thoughts, its very words, have enriched every speech and language in which its voice has been heard. It stands before us “the pearl of parables,” “the gospel in the gospel” of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. It is the last of three stories, illustrative of Divine grace, which were spoken especially to the Pharisees, and to them with reference to their cavil as expressed in Luk 15:2. Without minutely analyzing the three, the progress of the teaching may be indicated. Bengel has, with his usual felicitousness of touch, indicated this progress. The silly sheep represents the sinner in his foolishness. The sinner lying in the dust, yet still with the stamp of Divinity on him, is figured by the piece of money. Finally, the younger of the two sons is the representation of the sinner left to the freedom of his own will, and falling into an estate of sin and misery. We can trace, too, a progress in the setting forth of the Divine love. The journey of the shepherd into the far wilderness speaks to us of the infinite compassion of highest God; for the sheep’s own sake he goes after it until he finds it; and the recovery is the occasion of the joy of heaven. The aspect specially illustrated by the search for the piece of silver is the infinite value to God of every soul. Not one will he lose; for his righteousness’ sake he will seek until he finds. The last of the parables combines the two former, with a glory superadded: Infinite Compassion recognizing the infinite preciousness of the human life, but this, now, in the higher region of Fatherhood and sonship. Let us discard all stiffening exposition of Christ’s words; e.g. that which takes as its key-thought that the younger son is the Gentile world, the elder son the Jewish Church. Let us regard it in the width of its generosity, as the picture of him whose love is reflected in the “Man who receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” The two words of the parable are “lost” and “found,” Let us try to open up the wealth of meaning in them.

I. LOST.

1. Whence? There is a glimpse into the sweet home-lifethe father with the two sons. The joy of the father’s home is the communion of his children. It was what he saw in the Father which moved the prayer of Jesus, “That they whom thou gavest me may be with me where I am.” The joy of the child’s home is the communion of the Father, and is realized when the Father’s lifenot the Father’s livingis the desire, and the word of the psalm is fulfilled, “In thy presence is fulness of joy, and in thy right hand are pleasures for evermore.” So we think of the days speeding on-musical, blessed days, such as we recollect, perhaps, in the home of our childhood, when, as we look back, the sun seemed to shine far more brightly than now, and the day was longer, and all was peace. Parents and children together! For it is man’s home to abide with God as Father. By-and-by there comes the far country, because there is no Father.

2. How? The younger son demands the portion of goods that falleth to him. Mark how the tone has lowered, how the eye has drooped. “Father, give me!” is the cry of the filial heart. “Give me my daily bread!” is a true prayer, because it waits on God; it sees the living in the life which he gives. But “my portion of goods” is the voice of a sinful independence. It separates “what is mine” from what is “my Father’s;” it conceives of his as being, by some right or title, mine. Himself, as the good, is no longer the all. This is the serpent’s lie. “Ye shall not surely die, for God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” Such was the seductive whisper in the beginning. As if

(1) God was keeping to himself a Goddom, in jealousy preventing the enjoyment of a blessedness which was the man’s right. And as if

(2) the way to know good is through the experience of evilgood discerned as the opposite of that which we have tasted, instead of evil being felt only as the darkness seeking to overtake the light in which we are abiding. The serpent’s lie repeats itself in many forms, not the least familiar that which insinuates, “Let the young man sow his wild oats; the good oats will come afterwards. Let him take his fill of enjoyment; there will come the sober days and the quiet time.” It works in us all; it is the tendency of the sinful mind to withdraw from the authority of Heaven, from the rule of duteous love, to appropriate for sell’, and in mere self-will, the living of God. The father does not deny the son. He respects the sovereignty in the son which is derived from himself. “He who suffers us to go our way takes care indeed that it be hedged with thorns.” But a son cannot be forced as a slave. If go he will, go he must. The father divides the living.

3. Whither? Not at once, possibly, does the separation in will show itself. It is not always easy to trace the first moment of the apostasy. Many a one continues, for a time, in the semblance of piety, even after he has ceased to desire spiritual things But “not many days after” the rift in the lute appears, “He gathers all together. Now the purpose of the will is active; no advice will stand in the man’s path. The father’s tear, the father’s smile, avails not; not the sight of the old roof-tree, or the remembrance of the sweet life that lies behind. There is an eager “farewell;” he rushes forwardWhither? “To a far country.” Yes; yield to appetite, to fleshly lust, it will take the soul on and on, away from the fences of religion, away to the far-off Nod, bidding it, as Cain did, build there the city of habitation, yet bidding only to mock, since he who would put miles between him and the face of his Father in heaven must be a sorry fugitive and vagabond. “A far country!” That is wherever God is forgotten, is dishonoured as the Father. No ship is needed to bear one to the uttermost parts of the earth; the distance is measured not by oceans or continents, but by tracts of affection and sympathy. “Alienated from the life of God “this is the far country. Observe the two stages of the existence in the far countrythe fulness and the famine.

(1) There is fulnessa season of apparently inexhaustible happiness: “riotous living.” The life of the youth is like a mountain-torrent that has been pent up and bursts forth. The Greek word has the force of “prodigally.” And prodigal the wanderer is in the earlier period. Fill high the bowl; loud let the revel swell; eat, drink; there is more to follow, there is more behind.

“Such is the world’s gay garish feast

In her first charming bowl,

Infusing all that fires the breast,

And cheats th’ unstable soul.”

Butwhat? “The substance is wasting;” literally, is “scattering abroad;” for so it is. As has well been said,” All creaturely possession consumes itself in the using; all wealth must turn itself into poverty, either by its actual dissipation or in consequence of the folly of covetousness, which the more mammon increases is the less satisfied by it. Thus man, in his sin, consumes first of all his earthly goods, so that he can no more find comfort or satisfaction in them; and then, alas! the true and real possessions which his heavenly Father communicated to him are also consumed.” What a description of substance scattered (Pro 5:7-14)!

(2) Then comes in the second stage. All which had been gathered together spent; then arises the famine. For one who has nothing there is always a famine in that land. The world will give you so long as you have to give it; when you can bring nothing, when you are used up; ah, the fields which seemed golden become the bleakest of moors. There is no sight more pitiful than a worn-out, used-up worldling.

“The fire that on my bosom preys

Is lone as some volcanic isle;

No torch is kindled at its blaze

A funeral pile”

Alas! the pleasure has died out; the soul, the immortal self, not yet dead, is in want in a famine-stricken land, How is this want to be met?

4. Wherein? It is an evil and bitter thing to forsake the Lord. The son’s own wickedness is correcting him, and his backslidings are reproving him. In want, but not yet in poverty blessed with desire. Here is the witness. Hitherto the son has been the son, wicked, reckless, but still not naturalized in that far country. The day of this separation has passed; and, oh! the double degradation! “He joins himselfpins himself” is the wordbecomes wholly, abjectly dependent on, “a citizen of that country.” He began by being his own master; he ends by being the slave of the citizen. The world uses for its pleasure the one who uses the world for his pleasure. A man’s passion is his minister for a time; by-and-by it becomes his tyrant. A very hard tyrant! The devil has no respect for the freedom of the will: “I was your companion, your Mephistopheles, your slave. Now I have you, you are mine; get out and feed these swine.” It was an employment which conveyed the idea of utter wretchedness to a Jew. Strong, thickly laid, is the colouring; it is not one whit too strong or too thickly laid for fact. How do we behold this prince, this son of the Father? Toiling in the fields, with no shelter except the rude hut which he makes, and his only companionsthe herd of swine! And all the while the hunger gnawing! Were not these swine, wallowing in the mire, picking the carobs, eating the scanty grass, happy as compared with him? They got what they wanted; he provided their food for them, but there is none to give him. He had rejected his father’s hand, and there is no hand in all the world outstretched to him. In Oriental lands there grows a tree whose fruit is like the bean-pod, though larger than it, with a dull, sweet taste; the swine would take of it; and the longing eye of the swineherd is cast on it. It is all he can get, for there is no food in that far country suited to him. The soul starves, whether in riotous living or in want, until it looks upwards and learns the old home-cry, “Father, give me!”

II. FOUND. Consider the return, the welcome, the supper. “It is meet,” says the father, “that we should make merry and be glad.”

1. Mark the steps oft he return. The hopeful feature about the poor swineherd is that, although pinned to the citizen of the country, he is yet a person distinct. He has sold himself; but himself is more then, other than, the citizen. There is an inalienable nobility which even “riotous living” cannot stamp out. There are “obstinate questionings, “blank misgivings,” “fugitive recollections of the imperial palace whence he came.” Ponder the record of the finding of the conscience, and the Litany first, and the Jubilate afterwards, which followed the finding. “He comes to himself.” He has never been the right true self from the moment when he demanded the portion. The right self is sonship. This wallowing in the sty with swine, this bound-overness to tyrant appetite and earthliness ah! as one awaking from a horrid dream he recognizes the reality. And wherein does the conscience, now awakened, become articulate?

(1) There is the sense of an awful discord and wrong. The menial of that citizen left to starve. How different are the menials in his father’s house! They have bread enough and to spare. “Whatever is orderly is blest. I, the disorderly, the one out of place, out of my right mind, am the unblest, the one perishing with hunger.” It was this feeling which came over the wild student when, in the solemn sweet moonlight, he gazed from the height on one of the fairest scenes of nature. And the cry was evoked, “All lovely, all peaceful, except myself!”a cry that bade him back to another and nobler life. Who is there that in calmer moments does not understand the inward glance of the visionthe peaceful father’s house, and the misrule, unrule, of the self-willed and undutiful?

(2) There succeeds a higher thought: “The menial in that house, and I, the son!” Gradually there emerges the feeling of the heaventhe authority from which the soul has broken, the order it has contravened, and more still, “against heaven, and before thee. The recollection of the father rushes in, bringing tides of holy ardour. His eye, the son feels, has been following him in the journey, in the wasting of the substance; it has been all “before him. “O my father, my father! to have grieved and wounded thee! I will weep no longer. I will arise and go. I will throw myself on thee. I will ask for a place anywhere, if only it is near thee; if I may be again in thy sight, and no longer the sinner!” It is a repentance not to be repented of. The matter of it is not, “I have played the fool exceedingly;” it is ever and throughout “I have sinned.” What causes the will to arise is the longing to be again with the father, to pour out the broken and contrite spirit on his bosom. And he arises and goes. “The best and most blessed said and done” that can be in heaven or on earth.

2. And now for the welcome. The love that descends is always greater than the love that ascends. The love of the child is only a response to the love of the parent. And as to this father! Most touchingly explicit is the word of Jesus. “When yet a great way off, the father saw him.” A very great way off! Even in the far country he had been near. The seeing expresses the knowing all about the misery, and the earnestness of the returna seeing that is a drawing also, a drawing through the need, and all along the journey forming an atmosphere of love that compassed him about. To come to the love of God is to realize that he was first; it is to find that which found us when yet a great way apart. What more? A reproach? A reproof? The arms are at once thrown around the neck, and the kiss of reconciling fatherliness is printed on the cheek. The forgiveness, observe, comes before all confession. In confessing the sin we meet the blessing that has already covered us, But there is a confession. “The truest and best repentance,” as it has been said, “follows, and does not precede, the sense of forgiveness; and thus too, repentance will be a thing of the whole life long, for every new insight into that forgiving love is as a new reason why the sinner should mourn that he ever sinned against it.” Only, note, beneath the pressure of that fatherly heart there is no mention of the hired servant’s place. The “Father, I have sinned,” is sobbed forth on the father’s heart, and the son leaves himself to the father’s will. And how the expression of the welcome rises! The best robe is ordered out; a sonship higher than that of mere birth. “The adoption of children by Jesus Christ to the Father” is the best robe. And the ring is to be put on the handthe ring with the seal of the spirit of adoption. And shoes are provided for the torn and weary feet, that henceforth they may walk up and down in the Name of the Lord. And hasten, complete the tokens of the rejoicingmake ready the supper in which the father can rejoice over his child with joy, and rest in his love.

3. The fulfilment of the welcome is the supper, with the slain fatted calf, and the dancing and music. It denotes the free festal joy of God, of heaven, in the found, repenting sinner. It denotes also the festal blessedness of the sinner himself when the great Object of all need and longing is found, when he is at home with his God. There is a representation of the supper in Rom 5:1-21. We hear the music and dancing in Rom 8:1-39. They express the truth of the new existence. There had been, in the past, a living, but not a fellowship, with the Father; henceforth it is fellowship: God is the soul’s Good, and the life is lived in and out of him. Oh the swellings of harmony, of poetic triumphant raptures, now! “My son was dead; and is alive again; was lost, and is found.” So much for the younger son and the father. But we must not overlook the elder son. And we must not misjudge him. He was not bad; he is not a mere churl. He is faithful, if he is not free; he is just, if he is not generous. He had never transgressed a command; if his life had no heights, it had no depths; it had been even and calm. And he had been blessed, for he had been ever with the father, and all that was the father’s had been his. We need not fix on any particular representation of the elder son. The Pharisee-heart is, no doubt, castigated in the picture. But it touches many who would resent being associated with the Pharisee. Krum-macher was once asked his opinion of the elder son. He quietly said, “I well know now, for I learned it only yesterday.” Being asked further, he laconically remarked, “Myself,” and confessed that yesterday he had fretted his heart to find that a very ill-conditioned person had suddenly been enriched with a remarkable visitation of grace. The sketch supplies the foil to the love of God. It brings out, also, his patience and gentleness in the dealing with the elder son. How the father bears even with the foolish wrath! How he reasons and expostulates, and invites to a share in the joy! “Meet that we should make merry, and be gladI over my son, thou over thy brother.” Two things notice.

1. The one as bearing on the elder son. He comes out of the. fields, punctual and orderly in all his ways. He cannot understand the merry-making; he never had received a kid. That son’s life had been a wholesome one, The prodigal had his ecstasies; but the elder son had had his lifetime. He is the man of habithabit which is to us better than instinct. The danger to the man of habit is that he becomes mechanical, doing his part steadily, but without the oil of gladness.

2. The other as bearing on the younger son. Let not Christ’s teaching be misapplied. Do not think that it is a higher thing to be first irreligious and then religious; to spend the best part of the life in self-gratification, and give God only the remnants. Ah! years of godlessness leave their record. They write their impression on brain and heart; and, free and full as is God’s forgiveness, the impression cannot be obliterated. What a man sows, he reaps.

HOMILIES BY W. CLARKSON

Luk 15:1, Luk 15:2

A bitter charge the highest tribute,

The great Teacher himself said that the things which are highly esteemed among men may be abomination in the sight of God; and we may safely assume that the converse of this proposition is true also. Certainly, in this bitter charge brought against our Lord we now perceive the very highest tribute which could be paid him.

I. A BITTER CHARGE AGAINST THE SAVIOUR. It is not easy for us to realize the intensity of the feeling here expressed. The Jews, arguing from the general truth that holiness shrinks from contact with guilt, supposed that the holier any man was, the more scrupulously would he avoid the sinner; and they concluded that the very last thing the holiest man of all would do was to have such fellowship with sinners as to “eat with them.” Their patriotic hatred of the publican, and their moral repugnance toward “the sinner,” filled them with astonishment as they saw him, who claimed to be the Messiah himself, taking up a positively friendly attitude toward both of these intolerable characters. Their error was, as error usually is, a perversion of the truth. They did not understand that the same Being who has the utmost aversion to sin can have and does have the tenderest yearning of heart toward the sinner; that he who utterly repels the one is mercifully pitying and patiently seeking and magnanimously winning the other. So the men of acknowledged piety and purity in the time of our Lord failed completely to understand him, and they brought against him the charge which might well prove fatal to his claimsthat he was having a guilty fellowship with the outcast among men and the abandoned among women.

II. THE HIGHEST TRIBUTE TO THE SAVIOUR. In that attitude and action of his which seemed to his contemporaries to be so unworthy of him we find the very thing which constitutes his glory and his crown. Of course, association with sinners, on the basis of spiritual sympathy with them, is simply shameful; and to break up their association with the intemperate, the licentious, the dishonest, the scornful, is the first duty of those who have been their companions and have shared their wrong-doings, but whose eyes have been opened to see the wickedness of their course. It is for such to say, “Depart from me, ye evil-doers; for I will keel) the commandments of my God.” But that is far from exhausting the whole truth of the subject. For Christ has taught us, by his life as well as and as much as by his Word, that to mingle with the sinful in order to succour and save them is the supreme act of goodness. When a man’s character has been so well established that he can afford to do so without serious risk either to himself or to his reputation, and when, thus fortified, well armed with purity, he goes amongst the criminal and the vicious and the profane, that he may lilt them up from the miry places in which they are wandering, and place their feet on the rock of righteousness, then does he the very noblest, the divinest thing he can do. It was this very thing which Jesus Christ came to do: “He came to seek and to save that which was lost.” It was this principle which he was continually illustrating; and nothing could more truly indicate the moral grandeur of his spirit or the beautiful beneficence of his life than the words by which it was sought to dishonour him: “This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” It is this which will constitute the best tribute that can be paid to any of his disciples now. “There is nothing of which any true minister of Jesus Christ, whether professional or not, ought to be so glad and so proud, as to be such that the enemies of the Lord shall say tauntingly, while his friends will say thankfully, ‘This man receiveth sinners.'”

III. THE GREATEST POSSIBLE ENCOURAGEMENT TO OURSELVES. There are men who know they are sinners, but care not; there are those who do not know that they are guilty in the sight of God; and there are others who do know and who do care. It is to these last that the Saviour of mankind is especially addressing himself. To them all he is offering Divine mercy; restoration to the favour, the service, and the likeness of God; everlasting life. On their ear there may fall these words, intended for a grave accusation, but constituting to the enlightened soul the most welcome tidings”This Man receiveth sinners.’C.

Luk 15:3-7

The parable of the lost sheep.

Of these three parables, illustrative of the grace of Christ shown to lost human souls, the first brings into view

I. THE GREAT FOOLISHNESS OF THE WANDERING SOUL. It goes from God as a foolish sheep strays from the fold. So doing, it leaves security for peril. In the fold is safety; in the wilderness are many and serious dangers. At home with God the soul is perfectly safe from harm; its life, its liberty, its happiness, is secure; but, apart and astray from God, all these arc not only gravely imperilled, they are already forfeited. It also leaves plenty for want. In the fold is good pasture; in the wilderness is scarcity of food and water. With God is rich provision for the spirit’s need, not only satisfying its wants, but ministering to its best and purest tastes; at a moral distance from him the spirit pines and withers. To go from God is an act of uttermost folly.

II. THE STRAITS TO WHICH IT IS REDUCED.

1. It is on the point of perishing. Without the interposition of the seeking Shepherd, it would inevitably perish.

2. It is reduced to such utter helplessness that it has to be carried home, “laid upon his shoulders.”

(1) Under the dominion of sin the soul draws nearer and nearer to spiritual destruction; and

(2) it is often found to be reduced to so low a state that it can put forth no effort of its own, and can only be carried in the strong arms of love.

III. THE LOVE OF THE DIVINE SHEPHERD. The strong and keen interest taken by the human shepherd in a lost sheep is indicative of the tender interest which the Father of our spirits takes in a lost human soul. The former is more occupied in his thought and care with the one that is lost than he is, for the time, with the others that are safe; the latter is really and deeply concerned for the restoration of his lost child. And as the shepherd’s sorrow leads him to go forth and search, so does the Father’s tender care lead him to seek for his absent son. Christ’s love for us is not general, it is particular; it reaches every one of us. He cares much that each one of the souls for whom he suffered should enjoy his true heritage, and when that is being lost he desires and he “seeks” to restore it.

IV. HIS PERSISTENCY IN SEEKING. “Until he find it.” The shepherd, in pursuit of the lost sheep, is not detained by difficulty or danger; nor does he allow distance to stop his search; he goes on seeking until he finds. With such gracious persistency does the Saviour follow the wandering soul; year after year, period after period in his life, through several spiritual stages, the good Shepherd pursues the erring soul with patient love, until he finds it.

V. HIS JOY IN FINDING IT. The shepherd’s joy in finding and in recovering, shown by calling his friends and neighbours together, saying, “Rejoice with me,” etc., is pictorial of the Saviour’s joy when a soul is redeemed from sin and enters into the life which is eternal. He rejoices not only, not chiefly, because therein does he “see of the travail of his soul,” but because he knows well from what depth of evil that soul has been rescued, and to what height of blessedness it has been restored; he knows also how great is the influence, through all ages, which one loyal and loving human spirit will exert on other souls.C.

Luk 15:10

The joy of the angels.

Our first thought may beWhat do the angels know about us? But our second thought should beHow likely it is that the angels would be deeply interested in us! For, granted that there are “heavenly hosts” who are in supreme sympathy with God, and who are therefore careful to watch the workings of his holy will in the broad realm he rules, what is there more likely than that they would be profoundly interested in the recovery of a lost world, in the restoration of a rebellious and ruined race? We could well believe that it would be the study of the angelic world, the practical problem that would engage their most earnest thought, if it did not occupy their most active labours. And this being so, we can understand the greatness of their joy “over one sinner that repenteth.” For

I. THEY KNOW, BETTER THAN WE, THE STERN CONSEQUENCES OF SIN. Not, indeed, by experience. Experience is not the only teacher, and it does not at all necessarily follow that one who has had some experience of a course of conduct knows more about it than another who has had no experience at all; otherwise we should be driven to the absurd conclusion that guilty man knows more about sin than God does. Many of the inexperienced are a great deal wiser than many who have had “part and lot in the matter,” because those learn from all they witness, and these do not learn from anything they do and suffer. The “angels of God” witness the commission and also the fruits of sin they see what lengths and depths of wrong and wretchedness it brings about from year to year, from age to age; they see what evil it works within and without, in the sinner himself and on all with whom he has to do. As they live on through the centuries, and as they learn Divine wisdom from all that they behold in the universe of God, they must acquire a hatred of sin and a pity for sinners which is beyond our own emotion and which passes our reckoning. How great, then, their joy when they witness the emancipation of one human soul from spiritual bondage, the birth of a spirit into the life eternal!

II. THEY KNOW, BETTER THAN WE, THE BLESSED FRUITS OF OBEDIENCE. Here they have their own angelic experience to guide and to enlighten them. With added years of loyalty to the King of heaven; with the spiritual enlargement which (we can well believe) comes with a holy and stainless life, they rejoice in God and in his service with ever-deepening delight; their heritage becomes ampler, their prospects brighter, as the celestial periods pass away; and when they think what it means for one holy intelligence to be filled with the fulness of Divine life and of heavenly blessedness, we can comprehend that they would rejoice “over one sinner that repenteth.”

III. THEY ARE DEEPLY INTERESTED IN THE PROGRESS OF THE KINGDOM OF GOD, and they know, better than we, how limitless is the influence one soul may exercise.

1. Because they earnestly, supremely desire the honour of God, the glory of Christ on the earth, they rejoice that one more spirit is brought into loyal subjection to his rule.

2. Because they desire that everything may be put under his feet, they rejoice that all that one man can dowhich means more in their measurement than it means in ourswill he done to further his cause and exalt his Name.C.

Luk 15:11

The Father’s home.

By the Father’s home we commonly mean the heavenly home, the sphere where the nearer and more immediate presence of God is realized. But heaven once included earthearth was once a district of heaven. God meant this world to be a part of his own home; this, but for the separating force of sin, it would be now; and this, when sin has been cast forth, it will be again. And it is properly regarded as a home because the relation in which God wished its inhabitants to stand toward himself was that (and is that) of children to a Father. The truest picture, the nearest statement, the least imperfect representation of that relationship, is not found in the words, “A certain king had subjects,” or “A certain proprietor had servants (or slaves),” but in those of our text, “A certain man had sons. Nothing so adequately represents God’s position toward us as fatherhood, or our true position toward him as sonship, or the sphere in which we live before him as the Father’s home. This family relationship means

I. HIS DWELLING WITH US. God’s dwelling with us or in us is very closely associated with his Fatherhood of us (see 2Co 6:16-18). The ideal human father is one who dwells under the roof where the family resides; who is at home with his children, maintaining a frequent and a close and intimate intercourse with them. Such is God our Father’s desire concerning us. He wishes to be near us all and near us always; so near to us that we have constant access to him; that our free, full, happy, unconstrained “fellowship is with the Father;” that it is the natural and instinctive thing for us to go to him and make our appeal to him in all time of need.

II. HIS CONTROL OF OUR LIVES. God’s purpose is to direct the lives we are living, to choose our way for us, even as a father for his children; so that we shall be going where he sends us, be doing his work, be filling up his outline, be walking in the path his own hand has traced.

III. HIS EDUCATION OF OUR SPIRITS. Our children come to our home with great capacities, but with no power. It is our parental privilege to educate them, so that their various facultiesphysical, mental, spiritualshall be developed, so that they shall gain knowledge, acquire wisdom, exert influence, be a blessing and a power in the world. God places us here, in this home of his, that he may educate us; that, by all we see and hear, by all we do and suffer, we may be taught and trained for noble character, for faithful service, for an ever-broadening sphere.

IV. HIS PARENTAL SATISFACTION WITH US. Perhaps the most exquisite satisfaction, the very keenest joy which fills and thrills the human heart, is that which is born of parental love; it is the intense and immeasurable delight with which the father and the mother behold their children as these manifest not merely the beauties of bodily form but the graces of Christian character, and as they bring forth the fruits of a holy and useful life. God meant and still means to have such parental joy in us; to look on us, the children of his home, and be gladdened in his heart more than when he looks on all the wonders of his hand in field and forest, in sea and sky. It is our docility, our affection, our obedience, our rectitude and beauty of character and of spirit, that constitute the source of his Divine satisfaction. The children of the Father’s home are dearer and more precious far than any marvellous things in all the breadth of his universe. Thus God’s thought concerning our race was to establish a holy family, himself the Divine Father; we his holy, loving, rejoicing, human children; this world a happy home. That was his thought in creation, that is his purpose in redemption. To its blissful realization the best contribution each one of us can make is to become his true and trustful child, reconciled to him in Jesus Christ, living before him every day in filial love and joy.C.

Luk 15:12, Luk 15:13

Departure; the far country.

We all know only too well that God’s gracious purpose concerning us (see previous homily) has been diverted by our sin; the holy and happy home-life which he designed and introduced has been broken up by our unfilial attitude and action. From the Father’s home we have wandered away into “the far country.” The strict parallel to this picture we find in the disobedience of our first parents and in the gradual departure of our race from God and from his righteousness to a great distance from him. As to ourselves, there never was a time when we were not outside the home; yet we may speak of

I. THE NEARNESS OF CHILDHOOD. For not only does a great poet speak of “heaven lying about us in our infancy,” but One from whom there is no appeal tells us that “of such [as the little child] is the kingdom of heaven.” In childhood are those qualities which are most favourable to the reception of the truth and grace of God. And if in our childhood we did not stand actually within the door, we did stand upon the threshold of the Father’s house. Then God spoke to us, whispered his promises in our ear, laid his hand upon us, touched the chords of our heart, drew forth our thought, our wonder, our hope, our yearning, our prayer. And well is it for us, blessed are we among the children of men, if, thus hearing that voice and feeling that hand Divine. we chose the good part, entered in at the open door, and have been thenceforth inmates of that home of faith and love! But perhaps it was not so; perhaps, like the prodigal son, we were dissatisfied with the heritage of the Father’s favour, of a Saviour’s love; perhaps we wanted a “portion of goods” quite different from this, and went away and astray from God. And there came

II. A DEPARTURE FROM THIS NEARNESS OF CHILDHOOD. We opened the Bible with less interest and closed it with less profit; we neglected the throne of grace; we began to shun the sanctuary; we became less careful of our speech and our behaviour; God was less and still less in our thought; our hold upon Christian principle became relaxed, and the cords of the temporal and the material were wound around us. Then we dwelt in

III. THE FAR COUNTRY OF SIN. For sin is a “far country.”

1. It is to be a long way off from God himself; to be separated from him in spirit and in sympathy; to be willing to spend our time without his society; to be satisfied with his absence. The soul, instead of continually looking up for his guidance and his good pleasure, shuns his eye and tries to shake itself free from his hand; instead of placing itself under his elevating teaching and enlarging influence, the soul sinks into lower conditions, and loses its grasp of truth and power and goodness; instead of sharing his likeness, the soul goes down into folly and wrong.

2. It is to be a long way from his home. For God’s home is the home of righteousness, of wisdom, and of blessedness; and to be living under the dominion of sin is to be dwelling in a sphere of unrighteousness; it is to be spending our days and our powers in an element of folly; it is to be cutting ourselves off from the sources of true joy, and to be where all the roots of sorrow are in the soil. Surely there is no epithet anywhere applied to sin which so truly and so powerfully characterizes it as thisit is the far country of the soul; under its sway the human spirit is separated by a measureless distance from all that is worthiest and best. Why should any soul continue there, when God is ever saying, “Return unto me, and I will return unto you;” when Christ is ever saying, “Come unto me, and I will give you rest.”?C.

Luk 15:13-15

Life in the far country.

When the prodigal son had attained his wish and was free to do as he liked without the restraints of home, how did he fare? He found, as in our distance from God we shall find, that life there meant three evil things

I. A TWOFOLD WASTE. He “wasted his substance in riotous living.” He misspent his powers, devoting to frivolous and unremunerative enjoyment those bodily and mental faculties that might have been put to profitable use, and he scattered the material resources with which he started. Sin is spiritual waste.

1. It is the waste of consumption. The “substance of the soul includes:

(1) Spiritual understanding; a noble capacity to perceive Divine truths and heavenly realitiesthe thoughts, the wishes, the purposes of God. Under the dominion of sin this capacity becomes enfeebled; in disuse it rusts and is eaten away: “From him that hath not [uses not what he has] is taken away that [unused capacity] which he has.”

(2) Spiritual sensibility; the capacity of feeling the force of things Divine, of being sensibly and practically affected by them, of being moved and stirred by them to appropriate decision and action. No man can live on in conscious sin without continually losing this sacred and precious sensibility. Neglected and unapplied, it withers away, it wastes.

2. It is the waste of perversion. Man was made for the very highest endsmade for God; to study, to know, to love, to serve, to rejoice in God himself. And when he spends his powers on himself and on his own animal enjoyment, he is “wasting his substance,” turning from their true Object to one immeasurably lower the faculties and the opportunities with which he came into the world.

II. PITIABLE WANT. “He began to be in want.” Indulgence is expensive, and unfits for work; sinful companions are happy to share the treat, but they are slow to refill the purse. Sin leads down to destitution; it takes away a taste for all pure enjoyment, and provides nothing lasting in its stead. The man who yields himself to the power of sin loses all joy in God, all relish for spiritual enjoyments, all gratification in sacred service, all capacity for appreciating the fellowship of the good and great, all sense of the sacredness and spiritual worth of life. What has he left? He is beggared, ruined. “No man gives unto him;” no man can give unto him. You cannot give to a man what he is not capable of receiving; and until he is radically changed he cannot receive anything truly precious at your hands.

III. GRIEVOUS DEGRADATION. He was “sent into the fields to feed swine.” This was bad enough; yet was there one thing worse” he was fain to fill his belly with the husks the swine did eat.” He went down to the lowest grade imaginable. The degradation of the soul is the very saddest thing under the sun. When we see a man who was made to find his heritage in God’s likeness and service satisfying himself with that which is bestial, degrading himself to the drunkard’s song, to the impure jest, to the part of astute roguery, and finding a horrible enjoyment in these shameful things, then we see a human heart satiating itself with “husks that the swine do eat,” and then we witness the most lamentable of all degradations. Such is life in the “far country.” Distance from God means waste, want, degradation. Its full and final outworking may take time, or it may hasten with terrible rapidity. But it comes sooner or later.

1. There is a way of return even from that “strange land,” that evil estate (see succeeding homilies).

2. How wise to place ourselves out of danger of these dire evils by connecting ourselves at once with Jesus Christ!C.

Luk 15:17-19

The soul’s return.

Out in the far country, living a life of guilty waste, of dreary want, of shameful degradation, the prodigal son was in truth a man “beside himself;” he was lost to himself; he had taken leave of his own better self, of his understanding, of his reason; from his own true self he was afar off. But now there is

I. A RETURN TO HIMSELF.

1. He regains his wisdom as he gains a sense of his folly. He returns to his right mind; he loses his infatuation as he perceives how great is his foolishness to be in such a state of destitution when he might “have all things and abound.” What insensate folly to be starving among the swine when he might be sitting down at his father’s table! The soul comes to itself and regains its wisdom when it perceives how foolish it is to be perishing with hunger in its separation from God when it might be “filled with all the fulness of God.” Our reason returns to us when we refuse to be any longer misled by the infatuation, by “the deceitfulness of sin,” and when we see that the pining and decay of our spiritual powers is a poor exchange indeed for the wealth and health of spiritual integrity.

2. He is restored to sanity of mind as he obtains a sense of his sinfulness. To be able to say, as he is now prepared to say, “I have sinned,” is to come back into a right and sound spiritual condition. We are in a wholly unsound mental state when we can regard our disloyalty and disobedience to God with complacency and even with satisfaction. But when our ingratitude, our forgetfulness, our unfilial and rebellious behaviour towards God, is recognized by us as the “evil and bitter thing” it is, as the wrong and shameful thing it is, and when we are ready, with bowed head and humbled heart, to say,” Father, J have slinked,” then are we in our right mind; then have we returned to ourselves.

II. A RESOLVE TO RETURN TO GOD. This return on the part of the prodigal:

1. Arose from a sense of the greatness of his need.

2. Was based on a sound confidence, viz. that the father, whose disposition he knew so well, would not reject but receive him.

3. Included a wise and right determination, viz. to make a frank confession of his sin and to accept the humblest position in the old home which the father might allot him.

(1) Out of the greatness and soreness of our need we come to the conclusion that we will return unto God. Our state of guilt and shame is no longer tolerable; we must turn our back on the guilty past and the evil present; there is no refuge for our soul but in God”in God, who is our home.”

(2) We may hold fast the firm conviction that we shall be graciously received. Of this we have the strongest assurance we could have in the character and the promises of God, and in the experience of our brethren.

(3) Our resolution to return should include the wise and right determination:

(a) To make the fullest confession of our sin; meaning by that not the use of the strongest words we can employ against ourselves, but the full outpouring of all that is in our heart; for, above all things, God “desires truth in the inward parts.”

(b) To accept whatever position in God’s service he may appoint us. Not that we are expecting that he will make us “as a hired servant;” we may be sure (see next homily) that he will place us and count us among his own children; but so humble should our spirit be, such should be our sense of undeservedness, that we should be ready to be anything and to do anything, of however lowly a character it may be, which the Divine Father may assign us in his household.C.

Luk 15:20-24

The welcome home.

Having seen the younger son of this parable dissatisfied with his estate, having followed him into the far country of sin, having seen how there he frittered or flung everything away in his guilty folly and was reduced to utmost want and degradation, and having been with him in the hour of self-return and wise resolve, we now attend him on his way home to his father. We look at

I. THE WISDOM OF IMMEDIATE ACTION. “He said, I will arise and he arose. “Most blessed said and done,” as has been well remarked. What if he had lingered and given room for vain imaginations of things that would “turn up” on his behalf where he was, or for needless fears as to the reception he would have at home] How many more sons and daughters would there be now in the Father’s home if all who said, “I will arise,” had at once arisen, without parleying, without giving space for temptation and change of mind! Let there be no interval between saying and doing; let the hour of resolution to return be the hour of returning.

II. THE ABOUNDING GRACE OF HIS FATHER‘S WELCOME.

1. He eagerly desired his son’s return; he was looking out for it; when he was yet a great way off he saw him, and recognized him in all his rags and in all his shame.

2. He went forth to meet him; did not let his dignity stand in the way of his giving his son the very earliest assurance of his welcome home; he “put himself out,” he “ran” to receive him back.

3. He welcomed him with every possible demonstration of parental love. He tenderly embraced him; he had him at once divested of his livery of shame and clad with the garments of self-respect and even honour; he ordered festivities to celebrate his return. As if he would say, “Take from him every sign and token of misery and want; remove every badge of servitude and disgrace; clothe him with all honour; enrich him with all gifts; ring the bells; spread the table; wreathe the garlands; make every possible demonstration of joy; we will have music in our hall to utter the melody in our hearts,’ for this my son,’ etc.” It all means one thing; every stroke in the picture is intended to bring out this most precious truththe warm and joyous welcome which every penitent spirit receives from the heavenly Father.

(1) We do not wonder at the misgivings of the guilty heart. It is natural enough that those who have long dwelt at a great distance from God should fear lest they should fail to find in God all the mercy and grace they need for full restoration.

(2) Therefore we bless God for the fulness of the promises made to us in his Wordpromises made by the lips of the psalmist, of the prophet, and of his Son our Saviour.

(3) And therefore we thankfully accept this picture of the prodigal’s return; for as we look at it and dwell upon it we gain a sense and a conviction, deeper than any verbal assurances can convey, of the readiness, the eagerness, the cordiality, the fulness, of the welcome with which the Father of our spirits takes back his erring but returning child. If any wandering one comes to us and says, “Will God receive me if I ask his mercy?” we reply, “Look at that picture, and decide; it is a picture drawn by the eternal Son to indicate what the eternal Father will do when any one of his sons comes back to him from the tar country of sin. Look there, and you will see that it is not enough to say, in reply to your question, ‘He will not refuse you;’ that is immeasurably short of the truth. It is not enough to say, ‘He will forgive you;’ that also is far short of the whole truth. That picture says, ‘O children of men, who are seeking a place in the heart and the home of the heavenly Father, know this, that your Father’s heart is yearning over you with a boundless and unquenchable affection, that he is far more anxious to enfold you in the arms of his mercy than you are to be thus embraced; he is not only willing, but waiting, ay, longing, to receive you to his side, to give you back all that you have lost, to reinstate you at once into his fatherly favour, to confer upon you all the dignity of sonship, to admit you to the full fellowship of his own family, to bestow upon you the pure and abiding joy of his own happy home.'”C.

Luk 15:31

Ungrateful recipiency and ample heritage.

The “elder brother” is by no means so unpopular out of the parable as he is in it. As he is seen in the picture every one is ready to throw a stone at him. In actual life there are many Christian people who pay him the high compliment of a very close imitation. We are in danger of setting up a certain type of Christian character as a model, and if one of our neighbours should show any serious departure from that type, we are disposed to be shy of him and to shun him. Is the returned penitent whom Christ has received into his love always cordially welcomed into our society and made to feel at home with us? But let us look at this young man as

I. A TYPE OF THE UNGRATEFUL RECIPIENTS OF THE CONSTANT KINDNESS OF GOD. He complained of his father’s partiality in that for his brother there had been killed a fatted calf, while not even a kid had been slain for himself and his friends. But the reply was that, without any intermission, he had been enjoying the comfort of the parental hearth and the bounty of the parental table; that one extraordinary feast granted to his brother was nothing in comparison with the constant and continued manifestations of fatherly love and care he had been receiving day by day for many years. “Thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.” It is for us to remember that our Divine Father’s continual loving-kindnesses are much more valuable than one interposition on our behalf. A miracle is a much more brilliant and imposing thing than an ordinary gift, but one miracle is not such evidence of fatherly love as we have in an innumerable series of daily and hourly blessings. A greater gift than the manna in the wilderness were the annual harvests which fed many generations of the people of God. A more valuable gift than the water that issued from the rock in the desert were the rains, the streams, and the rivers that fertilized the soil from year to year. Kinder than the providential rescue from threatening embarrassment or impending death is the goodness which preserves in peaceful competence and unbroken health through long periods of human life. It is a sad and serious mistake; it is indeed more and worse than a mistake when we allow the very constancy of God’s kindness, the very regularity of his gifts, to hide from our hearts the fact that he is blessing us in largest measure and in fullest parental love. He is saying to us the while, “Children, ye are ever with me, and all that I have is yours.”

II. A TYPE OF OUR COMMON SONSHIP. In the parable the father says to his son, “My property is thinethine to use and to enjoy; there is nothing I have made that is within your view and your reach which you are not free to partake of and employ; all that I have is thine.” Is not that our goodly estate as the sons of God? This world is God’s property, and he shares it with us. He interdicts, indeed, that which would do us harm or do injury to others. Otherwise he says to us, “Take and partake, enrich your hearts with all that is before you.”

1. And this applies not only to all material gifts, but to all spiritual goodto knowledge, wisdom, truth, love, goodness; to those great spiritual qualities which are the best and most precious of the Divine possessions.

2. It has also a far-reaching application, it is a promise as well as a declaration. Of” all that God has” we only see and touch a very small part now and here. Soon and yonder we shall know far more of what is included in his glorious estate, and still and ever will it be true that what is his is ours; for he lives to share with his children the blessedness and the bounty of his heavenly home.C.

Luk 15:1-10

Murmurs on earth, and joy in heaven.

Our blessed Lord, in his progress towards Jerusalem, had shown the same kindly interest in the outcast classes which had always characterized him, and his love was beginning to tell. Publicans and sinners gathered eagerly around him to hear his tender, saving words; while the reputable Pharisees and scribes eyed him from a distance with self-righteous suspicion. Their murmurs, however inaudible to mere man, were audible to him to whom all things are naked and open, and he exposes their criticisms by a trinity of parables which are without peers in literature. Stier thinks that the trinity of parables is intended to present the Persons of the adorable Trinity in their respective relations to our salvation. The first would thus represent the Son’s shepherd-care; the second, the Spirit’s maternal solicitude for the restoration of lost souls to the heavenly treasure; and the third, the Father’s yearning that prodigal sons might come home. This view is certainly commendable, and not too artistic for such a weighty Preacher as the Lord Jesus Christ, and such a reporter as St, Luke, Leaving the third and greatest of the parables for separate treatment, let us, in this homily, discuss the other two; and as they are so similar, we need not separate them in our treatment.

I. WE ARE HERE TAUGHT BY CHRIST WHAT UNFALLEN BEINGS THINK ABOUT THEMSELVES. (Verse 7.) A door is opened by these parables into heaven, and we have glimpses of the celestial world. Jesus is here testifying about heavenly things (Joh 3:12). Now, we must know, in the first place, who are meant by the ninety and nine sheep which never went astray, and by the nine pieces of silver which were never lost. They cannot mean self-righteous souls such as the Pharisees and scribes. For they needed repentance, and over them no celestial ones would think of rejoicing. Hence they can only refer to unfallen beings. Now, the parables imply that there is joy over the unfallen. Why should there not be? To us who are fallen it appears but right that the most intense joy should be taken in the unfallen and sinless. They are a new type of beings to us. We have only had one of them in this world. The sinless Saviour broke the law of continuity, and constitutes the marvel of human history. Ninety and nine unfallen beings would seem to us a marvellously interesting group. A sinless city, such as the new Jerusalem is, appears to our comprehension such a novelty, such a new notion and thought amid the sad monotony of sin, that we almost wonder how those who have got within the city could ever think of aught beyond it. And yet to the unfallen ones themselvessinlessness being the rule, and no exception being found within the celestial citythere must come over the joy with which they contemplate each other a certain monotony, which must keep the joy down to a certain uniform level. Where everything is exactly as it should be, and no tragedy is possible, the joy of contemplation must be so uniform as to partake almost of what is common. The sinless ones contemplate one another with rapture, doubtless, but the joy is not of the intensest type by reason of the monotony and sameness associated of necessity with it. We may make sure of this by simply contrasting the complacency of the self-righteous with the consciousness of the sinless that they never can be more than unprofitable servants, for they can never rise above the sphere of duty. Nothing corresponding to the self-satisfaction of the Pharisee, who thanks God that he is not as other men, can be entertained by the celestial world. They are not absorbed in self-admiration. That is only possible with lost men! So that the joy of unfallen beings over one another is modified by the thought that their sinlessness is nothing more than should be expected from those possessed of such privileges as they. Unlost sheep and money receive but moderate admiration.

II. WE ARE HERE TAUGHT WITH WHAT INTENSE INTEREST UNFALLEN BEINGS CONTEMPLATE THE CAREER OF LOST SOULS. (Verses 4, 8.) The problem of sin comes upon the sinless as an exception to the rule. They contemplate the career of the lost as a tragedy added to the monotony of life. They hover over the lost ones with intense interest. They follow their career and study its issues. We must not regard the celestial world as walled out from the tragedies of this earth. All, according to Christ’s idea, is open to the celestial side. We may not see with’ our dull eyes the city of the Apocalypse; but the celestials can follow our terrestrial careers and note the lessons of our different destinies. “The bourne from whence no traveller returns” is the celestial country. The lack of tidings is here, not there! The majority beyond the shadows may seem all silent, like the grave, to us; but the din of our voices reaches across the void to them, and constitutes a study of unfailing interest.

III. THE UNFALLEN ONES HAVE SENT FORTH MESSENGERS TO SAVE THE LOST. (Verses 4-6, 8, 9.) Angels hover around us, and with intensest interest contemplate our sin-burdened, sin-stained careers. But the celestial world did not contemplate the problem from a distance, and allow the wanderers to die. Two, at all events, came forth from heaven in the interests of lost menthe shepherd Son of God, and the Spirit, with all womanly tenderness. The Second and Third Persons of the adorable Trinity have come forth as messengers to save lost men. In addition, there are multitudes of ministering angels who exercise a mysterious but real ministry, and aid the heirs of salvation in their pilgrimage home. To the celestial visitants, however, who are set before us in these parables, we must meanwhile give our attention.

1. The good Shepherd. He follows the lost sheep over the mountains into the wilderness, up the rocky steeps, wherever lost souls wander and are waiting to be found. It was arduous work. It involved the exchange of Paradise for this wilderness-world, and a life of privation and trouble of many kinds, and all that the lost sheep might be found and brought home. Christ’s work was self-denial and self-sacrifice in the highest degree. He had to lay down his life for the rescue of the sheep.

2. The painstaking Spirit. Like the housewife Who searched so thoroughly the dust of the house until she found the lost piece of money, so the Spirit comes down and searches in the dust of this world for lost souls, that he may restore them to the heavenly treasure. There is no work too severe or too searching for the Spirit to undertake in the rescue of our lost souls. As Gerok puts it, “No trouble is too great for God to undertake in seeking out a soul.”

IV. THE JOY OF THE CELESTIAL WORLD OVER REPENTANT SOULS IS GREATER THAN THEIR JOY OVER THE UNFALLEN. (Verses 7, 10.) Our Lord represents the joy of heaven over one repentant sinner as greater than the joy over even ninety and nine unfallen beings. No angel of light amid his sinless glory ever caused such rapture to the heavenly world as does a sinner repenting and returning to God. “Gabriel,” says Nettleton, “who stands in the presence of God, never occasioned so much joy in heaven. We may number ninety and nine holy angels and then say, ‘ There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over those ninety and nine just persons.’ The creation of the world was a joyful event, when ‘ the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.’ But this is not to be compared with the joy over one sinner that repenteth The joy of angels is most sensibly felt every time one more is added to the company of the redeemed. The ninety and nine already redeemed seem to be forgotten, when, with wonder and joy, they behold their new companion with whom they expect to dwell for ever. Could we know, as well as angels do, the reality of a sinner’s repentance, we should know better how to rejoice.” How important, consequently, should we regard the repentance of a sinner! Instead of our indulging in Pharisaic suspicion and murmuring, should we not join the joyful companies above in their ecstasy over the lost being found? And does it not further help us to understand why evil has been permitted, seeing that grace can translate it into so much joy? In all the assemblies of the saints we have reason to believe angels are present, watching with intense interest the exercises and noting what repentances result. The interest we take in such services is, we must believe, as nothing to the interest of the heavenly world. How they must wonder at so much indifference on our part! How they must wonder at the cool and matter-of-fact way we receive tidings of credible conversions to God! The joy of heaven over penitent sinners is a standing rebuke to our murmurings or apathy! May the thought of it lead to a better feeling and a better life!R.M.E.

Luk 15:11-32

“From home, and back.”

The two previous parables which our Lord related in defence of his conduct are really but introductory to what has been with justice called “the pearl of parables,” that of the prodigal son. To it we will now devote ourselves, under the title recently given to it as “From home, and back.” It brings out in a most interesting way the attitude of God the Father towards lost souls. It is necessary before setting out, however, to notice that, according to the ancient Law, the division of the family inheritance was not conditioned by the parent’s death. If a son insisted on his share, the father publicly declared to his household his testamentary intentions, and the son entered at once into possession. What our Lord’s parable supposes, therefore, is what constantly occurred. The father did not keep his testamentary intentions a secret to be revealed only at his death, but got up and declared publicly how the inheritance was to be allotted, and the impatient son entered at once into possession. Death, as a matter of fact, does not enter into the case at all. There is another preliminary point which we had better distinctly state, and that is that historically the younger son is intended to cover the case of the “publicans and sinners” Jesus was receiving into the kingdom of God; while the elder son covers the case of the “Pharisees and scribes” who murmured at Christ’s policy. If we keep this clearly in view, it will hell) us greatly in our interpretation. We shall take up the two sons in the order presented in the parable.

I. THE PRODIGAL LEAVING HOME AND COMING BACK. (Luk 15:11-24.) Imagining he could not enjoy life with his father and amid the restraints of home, he clamours for his share of the inheritance, turns it into money, and sets out. We cannot do better than take up the stages in the history one by one, and interpret them as we proceed. We have, then:

1. The emigration. (Luk 15:13.) Now, if this younger son represents historically “the publicans and sinners,” we must remember that they did not leave Palestine or even Jerusalem when separated from the Jewish Church. The emigration pictured in the parable was, therefore, not emigration to a locally distant land, but to a morally distant land; in other words, by the “far country” is not meant a foreign country, but the country of forgetfulness of God. The soul that lives at a distance from God, that never considers that he is near, has by that forgetfulness of him emigrated to the “far country” and gone from home. In strict accordance with this principle of interpretation, the “substance” which was gathered and wasted in the far country was moral wealth, not monetary. As a matter of fact, the publicans, or tax-gatherers, were in many cases careful, money-gathering men. and not spendthrifts in the vulgar sense. What was squandered, therefore, in the far off land of forgetfulness of God was moral wealth, the wealth of the heart and mind. The waste was moral waste. And it is just here that we have to notice what may be called the defamation of the prodigal, in that painters and expositors have represented his “riotous living” as including actually the deepest immorality. This was the line adopted, too, by the elder brother, who represented his brother as having devoured the father’s living with harlots (Luk 15:30), although, as a matter of fact, he had no evidence of such “excess of riot” in the case at all. The most careful expositor of this parable has accordingly pointed out that the prodigal did not reach the sphere of sensuality until he envied the swine, and then only entered it by the mental act. It is when we note how carefully our Lord constructed the parable, that we can see how the moral character of the publicans was appreciated in the picture, and they were not confounded with sinners of the more sensual type. The far-off country, then, and the waste which took place there, represent the land of forgetfulness of God, and the waste of mind and heart that a God-forgetting life is certain to experience.

2. The famine. (Luk 15:14.) This is the second stage. It represents the hunger of the heart and mind which comes over the soul that has forgotten God and taken to worldly courses. The famine is the utter vacancy of heart that settles down upon the moral emigrant. He begins to realize what he has lost by leaving God.

3. The effort after recovery. (Luk 15:15, Luk 15:16,) The famished worldling betakes himself to work; becomes a swineherdan unlawful occupation for a Jewour Lord touching thus gently on the question of the farming of the taxes for Rome by the publicans; and finds that there is no real regeneration to be found in work. He, in his utter want of satisfaction, wishes he could satisfy his soul as the swine satisfy their nature, upon husks. Sensuality is seen by the famished one to be as unsatisiying as work. And then the last experience is the utter helplessness of man. “No man gape unto him;” no one could minister to his mental trouble. It is through a similar experience the soul comes. Self-recovery turns out to be a delusion, and man is found to be of no avail.

4. The return of reason. (Luk 15:17-19.) In his isolation he begins to see that all the past forgetfulness of God was a mistake; that he was insane to take the course he did; and that in his right mind he must act differently. Accordingly he begins in sane moments to reflect on the Father’s house, how good a Master God is, how his hirelings have always enough and to spare, and that the best thing for him to do is to return, confess his fault, and get what place in God’s house he can. This is repentancethe remembrance of God and how we have sinned against him.

5. Coming back. (Luk 15:20.) The resolution to come home must be put in practice. The hope may only be for a servant’s place, yet it is well to begin the return journey and test the loving-kindness of God.

6. The welcome home. (Luk 15:20, Luk 15:21.) The father has been on the look-out for the son, and, the moment he begins the journey, the father’s compassion becomes overpowering, and. he runs and falls on the prodigal’s neck and kisses him. And when the broken-hearted son pours forth his penitence, and that he is no more worthy to be called a son, he is met by the father’s welcome and passionate embrace. In this most beautiful way does our Lord bring out God’s yearning for lost souls, and his intense delight when they return to him.

7. The feast of joy. (Luk 15:22-24.) Orders are given to the servants to take away his rags, and put upon him the best robe, and a ring on his hand, as signs of his rank as his father’s son, and shoes on his feet, and to prepare the fatted calf and have a merry feast. In this way does our Lord indicate the joy which fills God’s heart and that of the angels and that of the returned soul himself when he has come home to God. It is indeed “joy unspeakable and full of glory.” These are the stages, then, in a soul’s history as it passes into the far-off land of forgetfulness of God, and then gets back to his embrace.

II. THE ELDER SON STAYING AT HOME, BUT NEVER HAPPY. (Luk 15:25-32.) We now turn to our Lord’s picture of the Pharisees and scribes, under the guise of the elder brother. Although these men had not left the Church, although they put in their appearance at the temple, they never were happy in their religion.

1. Nominally at home, the elder son is yet from home. (Luk 15:25.) The elder son was always at work i u the fields, happiest away from the father. The self-righteous spirit is after all an isolating spirit. The elder son was really as forgetful of God as the younger, only the forgetfulness took a different form.

2. The merry-making at home distresses him. (Luk 15:26-30.) He first asks an explanation of the unusual mirth, and then, when he gets it, bursts into a fit of censoriousness of the most exaggerated character, in which he accuses the father of favouritism in. receiving his penitent child, and refuses to be any party to such merry-making. How it exposes the gloomy, Pharisaic spirit which with some passes for religion!

3. The godless spirit manifests itself within him. (Luk 15:29.) He has been a faithful and faultless servant, he believes, and yet he has never got even a kid to make merry with his friends. His whole idea of joy is away fern the father. He is still in the first stage of the younger brother, from which he happily has escaped.

4. He is unable to realize how meet it is to rejoice over the return of the lost. (Luk 15:31, Luk 15:32.) The father’s expostulations are vain, although they ought to have been convincing. Joy over the recovery of the lost is one of the necessities of an unwarped nature. It was this great sin of which the scribes and Pharisees were guilty, that they would not rejoice at the recovery of fallen fellows by the ministry of Christ. May the broken-heartedness of the prodigal be ours, and never the heartlessness and censoriousness of the elder brother!R.M.E.

Fuente: The Complete Pulpit Commentary

Luk 15:1-2. Then drew nearall the publicans, &c. To do good unto all sorts of men, was the employment and highest pleasure of the Son of God; accordingly, when the tax-gatherers and sinners came to hear him, he rejoiced at the opportunity, received them courteously, and, though they were persons of infamous characters, went with them to their houses, that he might scatter the seeds of wisdom among them, and, if possible, bring them to a right temper of mind. Some suppose that these publicans and sinners came by a particular appointment from all the neighbouring parts; but, as St. Luke goes on with the history without any intimation of a change, either in the time, or the scene of it, it is most probable that these discourses were delivered the same day that Christ dined with the Pharisee; which being the sabbath-day, would give the publicans, who on other days were employed in their office, a more convenient opportunity of attending him. The Pharisees, whose pride was intolerable, thinking our Lord’s behaviour inconsistent with the sanctity of a prophet, were much displeased with him for it, and murmured at his charitable condescension, which ought rather to have given them joy. Wherefore, that he might justify his conversing familiarly with sinners, in order to convert them, he delivered the parable of the lost sheep, which he had spoken once before, (see Mat 18:12-13.) together with the parables of the lost money and prodigal son. From men’s conduct in the common affairs of life, described in the parable of the lost sheep and lost money, Christ proved that every sinner should be sought after by the teachers of religion: for as men are so moved by the loss of any part of their property, that they seem to neglect what remains, while they are employed in recovering that which happens to be missing; and when they have found it, are so overjoyed, that they cannot contain themselves; but,calling their friends to whom they had given an account of their misfortune,tell the good news, that they may partake in their joy; so the servants of God should labour with the greatest solicitude to recover whatever part of his property is lost; such of his reasonable creatures as, having strayed from him, are in danger of perishing: and they have powerful encouragement to do so, as the conversion of a single sinner occasions more joy in heaven, than the steadfastness of ninety-nine just persons, who need no repentance; that is to say, conversion; for so the word signifies, as it should be translated, Luk 15:7.unless by the just persons here mentioned, we understand the glorified saints. By this circumstancelikewise our Lord insinuated, that the Pharisees, who pretended to more holiness than others, instead of repining at his conversing with, and instructing sinners, ought to have imitated the example of the heavenly beings, and to have rejoiced to find these men delighted with his company and discourses; as he enjoined them a much stricter and holier life than they hitherto had been used to;and since this was a good token of their repentance, and seemed to promise a speedy and thorough conversion. The drift of both parables is to shew, that the conversion of sinners is a thing highly acceptable to God; and consequently, that whatever is necessary thereto, is so far from being inconsistent with goodness, that it is the very perfection and excellence of it.See Dan 12:3.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Luk 15:1-2 . Introduction to a new, important, and for the most part parabolic set of discourses (down to Luk 17:10 ), which were uttered after the incidents previously narrated on the continuance of the journey (Luk 14:25 ), and are set forth by Luke in accordance with his source of the story of the journey. After that exacting discourse, to wit, Luk 14:25-35 , many of the publicans and sinners at once attached themselves to Jesus (which psychologically was intelligible enough); and He was so far from rejecting them, that He even fraternized with them at table. This arouses the murmuring of the Pharisees, and thereupon He takes the opportunity of directing the discourse as far as Luk 15:32 to these (Luk 15:3 ), and then of addressing Luk 16:1-13 to His followers ; whereupon He again being specially induced (Luk 16:14 ) discourses anew against the Pharisees (Luk 16:15-31 ), and finally closes the scene with instructions to His disciples .

.] They were actually engaged in, busied with, drawing near to Him. The usual view: solebant accedere , is arbitrary, because in that way the connection with what precedes is needlessly abandoned.

] a hyperbole of simple narrative. The throng of such people became greater and greater. Comp. Luk 5:29 f.

.] as Mat 9:10 .

] “certandi significationem addit,” Hermann, ad Viger . p. 856. Hence always of several , whose alternate murmuring is meant, Luk 19:7 ; Sir 34:24 ; Exo 16:2 ; Exo 16:8 ; Exo 17:3 , and elsewhere; Heliodor. vii. 27.

] receives them , does not reject them. It is quite general, and only with . does any special meaning come in.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

2. The Lost Sheep and the Lost Piece of Money (Luk 15:1-10)

(Gospel for the 3d Sunday after Trinity.In part parallel with Mat 18:12-14.)

1Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with 3them. And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilder ness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found mysheep which was lost. 7I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just [righteous] persons, which need no [have no need of] repentance.

8Either [Or] what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth notlight a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? 9And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours [ , fem.] together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.10Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL

Luk 15:1. All the publicans and sinners., not in the sense of all manner of (Heubner, a. o.), but a popular way of speaking, with which the collective mass of all the there present publicans and sinners is designated. Comp. Luk 4:40.Drew near unto Him.The common explanation: were wont to draw near unto Him (De Wette), is grammatically not necessary, and has this disadvantage, that thereby the connection with that which precedes is unnecessarily given up. Better: They were at this moment occupied with this matter of coming to Him, and that with the distinct intention of hearing Him. We have therefore to represent to ourselves an audience which, at the time of the Saviours departure from Galilee, had apparently streamed together in a public place, and the majority of which consisted of publicans and sinners, who, at the moment, had pressed before the Pharisees, and by that fact excited their bitterness.

Luk 15:2. Murmured, . indicates the murmuring of a number among themselves, which for that reason became also plainly audible to others. The cause of this dissatisfaction is, in general, that the Saviour benevolently receives and accepts men of evil name and repute ( without article). ( in the sense of comiter excipere. Comp. Rom 16:2; Php 2:29.) This is the general accusation, while the following states a special grievance. He receives not only, but permits Himself also to be received. We need not assume that the Saviour on this very day had taken part in a feast of publicans, as, e. g., Sepp will have it, who, without any ground, l. c. ii. 169, asserts that the parables here following were delivered immediately after the calling of Matthew, at the feast given by him on that occasion. The Pharisees are now thinking of what the Saviour was often wont to do, and utter their dissatisfaction with it publicly. By such a course of conduct they believed the Master lowered Himself, inasmuch as He showed to the worst part of the nation an undeserved honor, and at the same time injured the Pharisees, who previously had, indeed, now and then, allowed Him the distinction of being received at their table, but who now would have to be ashamed of such a guest.

Luk 15:3. And He spake this parable.When we consider that the chief parable, Luk 15:11-32, is introduced only by a simple , and that the two examples from daily life, Luk 15:3-7 and Luk 15:8-10, bear less than the narrative of the Prodigal Son the character of a thoroughly elaborated parable, we are then disposed to assume that Luk 15:3-10 constitute only the introduction to the actual parable, , which is announced in Luk 15:3, but not begun until Luk 15:11. On the other hand, however, it is not to be denied that Luke uses the word in a wider sense also, and that to designate not only an invented narrative, but also a parabolic expression, or an example from daily life; see, e. g., Luk 4:23; Luk 5:36; Luk 6:39; Luk 14:7-11. It will therefore probably be simplest to assume that the announced in Luk 15:3 is actually uttered, Luk 15:4-7; that the Saviour immediately after that expresses the same thought, Luk 15:8-10, in a second , and finally, Luk 15:11, after a brief interval, takes up the word again in order once more to present this cardinal truth in more perfect parabolic form.

Luk 15:4. What man of you.From this commencement, as also from Luk 15:8, it immediately appears that the Saviour appeals to that universal human feeling which impels, as well the man as the woman, to seek what is lost, and to rejoice with others over what is found again. With this He introduces the first of the three parables contained in this chapterthat of the Lost Sheep. It cannot well be doubted that this triplet belongs together, and that we have, therefore, here no chrestomathic combination of parabolic discourses of the Saviour, but a well-connected didactic deliverance, which has as its purpose to express the same main thought in different ways. As to the question whether the first of the here-given parables and that communicated by Matthew, Luk 18:12-14, are one and the same, see Lange, ad loc. We do not know what there could be against the opinion that the Saviour may have repeatedly availed Himself of the same image, once for the instruction of His Apostles, another time for the shaming of His enemies. The two parables are different: 1. In form. In Matthew the ninety-nine remain on the mountains; in Luke, in the wilderness. Luk 15:5-7 also is very different from the parallel passage in Matthew, and serves as a proof that Luke communicates the more elaborated and later developedMatthew, on the other hand, the originally simpler, form of the parable. 2. In purpose and meaning. With Luke it is Gods infinite love for yet lost sinners; but with Matthew, Christs labor of grace on wandering believers, that is the main thing. According to the connection then, the purpose of the discourse is a different one in Matthew and Luke. Besides this, the image itself is so natural, so taken from life, that it cannot surprise us to learn that even in later Rabbins an analogon of this parable is found. See Sepp, ii. p. 169.

Having a hundred sheep. not only used as a round number, but also to bring into view the comparative smallness of the loss in opposition to what yet remains to Him. In the most striking way the Saviour now portrays the faithful love that seeks the lost, so that even on account of the freshness of the portraiture, this parable belongs, with very good right, in the Gospel of Luke. The Good Shepherd at once leaves the ninety-nine , the accustomed pasturing-place of the sheep, and leaves them for the moment with entire unconcern as to the great danger to which he exposes the majority. He goes after the lost one (), with a definite intention to fetch it back. Not speedily does he give up his efforts. His love is therefore a persevering and continually renewed effort for the deliverance of the lost one; and when it is finally again within His reach, he does not chase the wearied sheep unmercifully back, nor commit it even to the most trusted of his hirelings, but lays it on his own shoulders (). He bears it joyfully home, and now calls as well his neighbors as also his more distant friends together. Having heard of his loss, the well-known lost sheep, to , they must now also share his joy, which even exceeds his thankfulness for the undisturbed possession of that which is not lost.

Luk 15:7. Likewise joy shall be in Heaven.Here as yet quite general. Afterwards, Luk 15:10, with more special mention of the angels. It is noticeable how here the Saviour designates the joy in Heaven as something yet future (), while He afterwards, Luk 15:10, speaks of it as of something already actually beginning (). We can scarcely avoid the thought that here the prospect of that joy hovered before His soul which He, the Good Shepherd, was especially to taste when He, after finishing His conflict, should return into the celestial mansion of His Father, and should taste the joy prepared for Him. Joh 14:2; Heb 12:2.

More than over ninety and nine.The question whom we have now to understand by these , has been at all times differently answered Luther, Spener, Bengel, interpret it of those already become righteous through faith, since they have already repented, and stand in a state of grace with God, such as Manasseh, a. o.De Wette: The actually righteous, that is, more righteous than publicans, and the like.Meyer: characterized from the legal point of view, not from that of inward ethical character.Grotius: Only an anthropopathic element of the picture, quia insperata et prope desperata magis nos afficiunt. According to our opinion, passages like Mat 9:13; Luk 18:14, are particularly to be brought into the comparison. If we consider, moreover, that the hearers of the Saviour consisted partially of Pharisees, and in what way these had, a little before, manifested their inward spite (Luk 15:12), we can then no longer doubt that we have to understand fancied righteous ones of a legal type, who, however, if one applied a higher standard, must appear yet more sinful than others. Comp. Mat 21:31-32. We know not what should hinder us here also, as often already, to assume a holy irony in the words of the Saviour, nor why He should only in the third parable have indirectly attacked the Pharisaical pride of virtue. The comparison of the greater joy over one, with that over the ninety-nine, over whom, strictly speaking, there can be no joy at all, is then to be taken just as the declaration Luk 18:14.

Luk 15:8. Either what woman.In order to indicate that not the material worth of what is lost, in itself, but the worth which it has in the eyes of the possessor, is the cause of the carefulness of the love which seeks it, the Saviour takes a second example from daily life, but not now from something so valuable as a sheep, but from a , in itself rather insignificant. For the woman, however, this loss is of great importance, since her whole treasure consists of ten such drachm., the common Greek coin which, at that time, was in circulation among the Jews also. The Attic drachma was = stater, [17.6 cents]; the Alexandrian twice as heavy. It appears that we have here to understand the first, which, not seldom even somewhat lighter, was in circulation at the time of the Saviour. The ten drachmae are then about equal to $1 76.1 See Winer, in voce.

Doth not light a candle.In the most practical manner the labor of the woman to come again in possession of the lost drachma is now sketched after the life. It is as though one saw the dust of the broom flying around in sweeping, until she succeeds in discovering in a dark corner the lost piece, and immediately picks it up. The coin, which was originally stamped with the image of the Emperor, but had been thrown into the dust and become almost unrecognizable, is the faithful image of the sinner. Sum nummus Dei, thesauro aberravi, miserere mei. Augustine. As to the rest, the lighting of the lamp, the sweeping, and the seeking, belong, in our eyes, so entirely to the pictorial form of the representation, that it appears to us almost arbitrary to see therein (Stier) the indication of the threefold activity of the preacher, the eldership, and the whole Church for the saving of the lost one. If we would attribute to every single word a deeper significance than appears, we should not seldom incur the danger of bringing much into the Scripture which is not at all contained in it; for as the artist, for the beautifying of his picture, does much that is not indispensably necessary, so has Christ also spoken many words which stand to the main matter which is to be imaged forth by the figure in only a remote, often, indeed, in no relation at all. Zimmermann.

Luk 15:10. Likewise there is joy, .Here the Saviour speaks not comparatively, but absolutely; not only in general of joy in Heaven, but . . . It is, however, not entirely correct, if this word is used as a direct proof of the opinion that the angels rejoice over the conversion of a sinner, for the Saviour is not speaking directly of the gaudium angelorum, but coram angelis. As the Shepherd and the Woman rejoiced before and with their friends, so does God rejoice before the eyes of the angels over the conversion of the sinner; but as the friends and neighbors rejoice with the Woman and the Shepherd, so can we also conceive the angels as taking part in this Divine joy. But if it is God, in the whole fulness of His being, who is represented, it is then inadmissible to understand it exclusively, either of the Holy Ghost (Stier, Bengel), or of the Church of the Lord (Luther, Lisco). The applicability of the parable to both is willingly acknowleged by us, but that the Saviours intention was here to refer to the munus, either of the spiritus sancti, or of the ecclesi, peccatores qurentis, can hardly be proved. Equally rash does it appear when Bengel, in the friends and neighbors of the Shepherd and of the Woman, finds an intimation of the different ranks and classes of the angels, vel domi, vel foris agentes.

DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL

1. Not without reason does the eye rest with continually new interest on the picture: Jesus among the publicans and sinners. It is the Gospel within the Gospel, like Joh 3:16; Rom 1:17, and some other passages. This of itself is remarkable, that the greatest sinners feel themselves drawn, as it were, with a secret attraction to Jesus; what an entirely unique impression must His personality have produced upon these troubled and smitten hearts! Thus does He reveal Himself at the same time as the Prince of Peace, of whom Psa 72:12-14, and so many other passages of the prophetic Scriptures, speak; and what the Pharisees impute to Him as a trespass, becomes for faith an occasion the rather for praise and thanks. The feast which He keeps with publicans is a striking symbol of the feast in the kingdom of God, Luk 14:21-23, and at the same time the happy prophecy of the heavenly feast which He will hereafter share with His redeemed in the fulness of bliss.

2. The parable of the Good Shepherd sets forth for us, in a striking manner, the image of the pastoral faithfulness of Gods searching for the sinner. Israel had already been compared, even under the Old Testament, to a strayed sheep, Isa 53:6; Eze 34:5; Psa 119:176, etc., and Jehovah also was, even from ancient time, represented under the amiable figure of a shepherd, Ezekiel 34, and Psalms 23; Isa 40:11; as in Homer also, the best kings are designated as . But inasmuch as this pastoral faithfulness of God reveals itself most admirably in the redeeming activity of Christ (comp. John 10), we may at the same time, in the first parable, see an image of the earthly activity and of the heavenly joy of the loving Son of Man. But certainly it is going too far to find even the atoning death of the Saviour (Melanchthon) indicated in the shepherd with his sheep on his shoulder: Ovem inventam ponit in humeros suos, i. e., nostrum, onus transfert in se ipsum, fit victima pro nobis. Such an allusion would then at least have been as yet understood by no one of the hearers of our Lord, and yet they had no farther to look than upon Him in order to convince themselves that the Good Shepherd in the parable was no ideal, but a reality; and surprised we cannot be that even the most ancient Christian art laid hold of this symbol with visible affection. See the examples, e.g., in Augustis Beitrge zur christlichen Kunstgeschichte und Liturgik, ii. Even the present moment proved how much the Saviour had at heart the seeking of the lost. Ideo Jesus Christus secutus est peccatores usque ad victum quotidianum, usque ad mensam, ubi maxime peccatur. Bengel.

3. What the Saviour relates of the Woman and the Shepherd was at the same time an admirable model of pastoral prudence and Halieutics for His first apostles. Only when they should care for the wandering and lost with so much pleasure and love would they be fitted for the work of their calling. That they did not forget the teaching appears, among other things, from the beautiful narrative of the aged John and the young man Theagenes, which Clemens Alexandrinus communicates to us in his Quis Dives Salvetur, cap. 42,the best practical commentary on the parable of the Good Shepherd.

4. These two parables, as in particular the third, that of the Prodigal Son, are a palpable proof of the falsity of a one-sided fatalistic deterministic view of the world, according to which the lost coin and the lost sheep must absolutely be found again, and therefore we can scarcely speak of any trouble in seeking, or of a joy in finding.
5. What the Saviour declares of the joy in heaven over that which is found again on earth, deserves to be named one of the most striking revelations of the mysteries of the life to come. To the Saviour the angel-world is more than a poetic dreammore than an sthetic form; it is to Him a community of self-conscious, rational, and holy beings. These are acquainted with that which goes on in the moral world on earth; they take lively interest in the saving of the sinner; they rejoice as often as in this respect the work of love succeeds: this joy springs from their knowing how, even through the conversion of one sinner, the honor of God is exalted, the kingdom of Christ is advanced, the blessedness of mankind is increased, the future reunion of heaven and earth is brought nearer. The Saviour in this leaves to our faith the reckoning how high their joy, since the foundation of the kingdom of God on earth must have already risen, and what a height it shall hereafter reach when all converted sinners shall have been fully prepared and sanctified. Comp. Eph 3:10; 1Pe 1:12; and the whole imagery of the Apocalypse.

6. Were anything more necessary for the removal of any doubt in so glorious a revelation, it would be the remembrance that, according to this parable, the joy over the finding of the lost is, in God and His angels, quite as natural as in the Woman and the Shepherd. Even in an extra-ecclesiastical sphere, the striking character of this thought has been already recognized and uttered with emphasis, e.g., by Goethe, when he in the ballad, The God and the Bayadere, says:

Es freut sich die Gottheit der reuigen Snder,
Unsterbliche heben verlorene Kinder
Mit feurigen Armen zum Himmel emper.

[The Godhead rejoices over repentant sinners; the immortals raise lost children with fiery arms upward to heaven.]
7. See below on the following parable.

HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL

How much attractiveness Jesus has for publicans and sinners. In Him they see, 1. The highest ideal of mankind realized; 2. the highest revelation of the Godhead manifested.Jesus, even as Friend of the publicans and sinners, is sent for the fall of some and the rising of others.The joyful message of salvation proclaimed by the blasphemers of the Saviour. See further the ideas in Luk 7:34.

The Good Shepherd, the image of the love of God in Christ for sinners: 1. Its unexampled compassion; 2. its persevering patience; 3. its forbearing tenderness; 4. its blessed joy.Till he find it, the highest goal of Divine love: 1. How much is requisite before it is reached; 2. how heartfelt its joy when it is reached.Rejoice with them that do rejoice!Human feeling the best pledge of the riches of the Divine compassion.The sinners salvation, the angels joy.The worth of a single soul.Grounds for the joy of heaven when the lost sheep is found.The angels rejoice then, 1. For Gods sake; 2. for Jesus sake; 3. for the sinners sake; 4. for their own sake.The joy of the angels on its practical side: the Saviours declaration hereupon contains, 1. A striking revelation of the blessed love in heaven; 2. a powerfully rousing voice to conversion; 3. a strong impulse to the work of seeking love; 4. a ground for quickening the longing of the Christian for the life in heaven.How much the greatest unrighteousness has, on the platform of the Gospel, the advantage above self-righteousness.The Lost Coin: 1. What the loss of it has to surprise us; it is lost, a. out of a well-guarded treasure, b. lost in the house, c. lost, almost without hope of finding again; 2. What this loss has to quicken us. It impels a. to kindle a light, b. to sweep, c. to seek till it is found.The Lost Coin the striking image of the sinner: 1. Its original brilliancy; 2. its present deterioration; 3. its worth when it shall hereafter be found again.The soul of the sinner the object of the greatest sorrow, labor, and joy: 1. No loss so great as when the soul is lost; 2. no trouble too great if only the soul is preserved; but 3. no joy so blessed as when the soul is saved.The human heart needs the sympathy of others in its own joy.No sinner so mean but that he may become an object of the joy in heaven.Jesus love of sinners: 1. The objects (Luk 15:1); 2. the adversaries (Luk 15:2); 3. the ground (Luk 15:3-9); 4. the preciousness of the same (Luk 15:7-10).

Starke:Quesnel:The main thing that we have to do in this life is to draw near to Jesus.The company of bad people one does well to avoid, yet he must not wholly withdraw himself from them.Hypocrites are harder to convert than open sinners.What a blessing it is for an evangelical preacher when even the greatest sinners like to hear him.Osiander:The world puts the worst interpretation on everything in faithful preachers.Christs whole discharge of His office is a good summary of pastoral theology;let us therein diligently study and imitate it.Brentius:Returning sinners are to be received with much love and friendship, and all previous evil of theirs to be thrown into forgetfulness.Philemon Luk 15:10; Eze 34:16.Quesnel:The church triumphant and the church militant are one heart and one soul.Nova Bibl. Tub.:A lost sinner cannot be found again so easily but that there needs a heavy besom of law and discipline thereto.Peccatorum lachrym sunt angelorum delici.

Heubner:The living intercourse of a pastor with his church is more than literary activity, at which the world is agape.The beginning of conversion is: to hear Christs word.The holier thou art, so much the milder art thou too.Even yet the world delights to mock at the conversion of the sinner.Everywhere does Jesus show the inconsistent self-contradictions of man in earthly and in spiritual things.As the shepherd knows his sheep and tells them, so does God His children.God waits not till the lost one returns of himself, He seeks him.Never has God shown Himself as love more than when He redeemed man.Nothing weighs too heavy for love; he is willing to take all costs who for Gods sake loves souls, and knows what Christ has done for them.Quesnel:The business of men in the search of temporal, stands in contrast with their negligence in the search of spiritual, things.By the amendment of a single sinner others again may be saved.

On the Pericope:Heubner:Christian care for the deliverance of lost souls.Lisco:How important to Jesus the saving of every sinner is.The saving love of the Christian a copy of the pastoral faithfulness of Christ: 1. A copy which is like the model; 2. but which never equals the model.Palmer:1. Jesus receives sinners when they come to Him; 2. Jesus seeks sinners even before they come to Him.Fuchs:The different hearts of those who are mentioned in this Gospel: 1. The repentant heart of the sinners; 2. the envious heart of they Pharisees; 3. the loving heart of the Lord.Ahlfeld:The Son of man comes to seek what is lost:1. His toil; 2. His success; 3. His joy.Reichhelm:Seeking love: 1. Whom it seeks; 2. how; 3. why it seeks.Souchon:Jesus will make the righteous sinners, the sinners righteous.Von Kapff:The joy over a sinner that repents: 1. The joy of the repentant sinner himself; 2. the joy of the saints; and 3. the joy of God over him.W. Thiess:Jesus receives sinners: this word Isaiah 1. The one centre of the Bible; 2. the true centre of Christian preaching; 3. the chiefest jewel in life.Rautenberg:Who is found? 1. Whoever is drawn back from wandering; 2. carried by Christ; 3. and brought into the fellowship of His people.Hpfner:How great is the compassion of the Lord! 1. He seeks the lost; 2. brings again the straying; 3. binds up the wounded; 4. tends the weak; 5. guards what is strong. (Numbers 3, 5 are, however, hardly to be deduced from the text.)Burk:The blessed experience in spiritual things: 1. I am lost; 2. God seeks me; 3. God has found me.

The whole Pericope is, either as a whole or in part, admirably fitted to be the foundation of a communion sermon.

Footnotes:

[1][Of course then worth at least ten times its present value.C. C. S.]

Fuente: A Commentary on the Holy Scriptures, Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical by Lange

Luk 15

Contents

The Lord is here teaching by Parables. Here are three contained in this Chapter; namely, the Lost Sheep, the Lost Piece of Money, and the Prodigal Son.

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

The imagination can hardly form to itself a more striking portrait than what those verses represent. Figure to yourself, Reader, a company of poor, despised outcasts of society, in a body, of publicans and sinners, drawing nigh, with looks of hope and desire to Christ, as if to say, Can there be mercy for us? And on the other side of the representation, look at the proud, disdainful, self-righteous Pharisees and Scribes withdrawing from the Lord, with countenances of the most sovereign contempt, as if Jesus and his company should pollute their holiness. This man (say they) receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. Precious Jesus! Well is it for me that thou dost; for what must have become of me had this not been the case? How truly lovely doth the Son of God appear by such marvellous condescension! And what can more endear Christ to his people?

Fuente: Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

The Approachableness of Christ

Luk 15:1-2

This truth of the approachableness of Christ, the freeness with which He opened Himself to every needy and suffering soul, is not of subordinate importance, but of the very essence of His Gospel. It rests on the constitution of His Person. It is necessitated by the very fact of His being what He is, the man Christ Jesus, and by His having come to do what He declared to be the object of His mission.

I. First of all, it rests upon the fact of His humanity. He assumed our human nature pure and simple, the humanity which is common to us all; but He did not assume any of its distortions, or those idiosyncrasies into which it runs and works itself up in every other person. This truth we express when we say that He became not a man, but man. In virtue, then, of His becoming man, Christ has brought Himself equally near to us all. He is related in exactly the same degree to every one, and to every one He belongs exactly to the same extent. None has a prior or special claim upon Him, and when you come to Him you come with precisely the same recommendation which every one has had, and with the same certainty of success. All you have to make out, in order to succeed in your errand to Him, is the fact of your being also a man. It is this that binds Him to you, and constitutes the tie between you.

II. The second ground on which the approachableness of Christ rests is the declared purpose of His mission. He Himself said: ‘God sent not His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved’. The reason why He lived and died as He did was simply that He might take hold of us and deliver us from death. He is not, then, a God who happens to be a Saviour who, in addition to various other offices, if I may use that word, such as Creator. Preserver, Lawgiver, Judge, fills also the office of Redeemer. Christ, the God-man, is pre-eminently the Saviour, the Divine Deliverer, who makes everything subordinate to the good of men. And you must not think of Christ as having a great many things to do, as God, which to a certain extent He must leave alone if He is to pay regard to you. When you come to Him you do not interrupt Him in the doing of something else, or call Him aside from a more momentous or congenial occupation. He is on the outlook for you. He is waiting for the first symptom of a relenting heart. He is listening for the faintest sound of a returning step.

C. Moinet, The Great Alternative and other Sermons, p. 19.

References. XV. 1, 2. J. Clifford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 281. W. P. Balfern, Glimpses of Jesus, p. 139. J. Marshall Lang, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 124. XV. 1-3. J. S. Boone, Sermons, p. 318. XV. 2. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv. No. 219; vol. xi. No. 665. F. B. Woodward, Sermons (1st Series), p. 93. J. Edwards, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. x. p. 180. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year (2nd Series), vol. ii. p. 25. W. H. Harwood, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p. 218. R. W. Hiley, A Year’s Sermons, vol. i. p. 312. W. Baird, The Hallowing of our Common Life, p. 77. XV. 3. H. Howard, The Raiment of the Soul, p. 97. A. P. Stanley, Sermons on Special Occasions, p. 127. J. Flanagan, Man’s Quest, p. 25. XV. 3-7. C. Perren, Outline Sermons, p. 293. XV. 3-10. J. Bowstead, Practical Sermons, vol. i. p. 255.

Man’s Need of God and God’s Need of Man

Luk 15:4

The three parables of St. Luke xv. record for us man’s need of God and God’s need of man. They describe in all its phases and in all its intensity our sin and His love. The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son.

I. Man’s Need of God:

(a) Sin in its beginning. The lost sheep is for us the picture of transgression, of that which sin is, in its beginning, the careless wandering from the Father’s home, from the shelter and the pasture which is our normal condition of life the carelessness which forgets the prayers, the memories, the teachings of the past, the little road out of the common line of spiritual life, the heedlessness concerning the warnings by which God would limit and discipline our souls, the blindness, temporary blindness, which refuses to look at the notice boards which God has set upon the road of life, warning us that trespassers will be prosecuted.

(b) Sin through worldliness. And then there is the second aspect of sin in the lost coin. What is the lost coin? It has fallen through carelessness, through the attraction of the earth, in other words, through worldliness, out of the Father’s hand, and it has rolled away into the dark corners of life, where life is dark, because deeds are evil, mere worldliness, the law of earth’s gravitation that attracts us downward instead of lifting us upward, so that the coin that goes out of the Father’s hand of necessity goes down and not up.

(c) Sin in its open defiance. And then the third aspect of sin is in the lost son, and it is open defiance, lawlessness. It marks the last stage of all in the history of sin. It is when the man or the woman has grown so discontented with life as God has ordered it that he or she means to live life without God in future. It is the open defiance of God, it is the cry of those who say, ‘Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me, and I will go into a far country where God is not known and I can do as I will’.

II. God’s Need of Man. God is the owner Who is robbed.

(a) God robbed of His Property. In the lost sheep it is His property which is taken from Him, it is that which is His own possession, created by Himself to serve Him and be of use to Him, that is gone, and therefore, as the Owner robbed of His property, He goes after that which is lost until He find it.

(b) God robbed of His honour. And in the lost coin we have the loss not merely of property, but of honour. To the Jewish woman the loss of one of those coins in the circlet which she wore round her forehead meant not only loss of property, but of honour, loss of prestige.

(c) God robbed of His love. And then, lastly, there is the lost son. And if, in the transgression which wanders from God, He loses His property, and in the lost coin which has slipped away from Him through the attraction of worldliness He is robbed of His honour, in the lost son He is robbed of His love. It is the great heart of God that is wounded when the prodigal goes into a far country.

III. For You Two Questions Remain. (1) What are you doing to help God in His search? (2) Where do you stand in that category, that threefold category of sin?

References. XV. 4. Bishop Spalding, Church Times, vol. lx. p. 152. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xlix. No. 2821. W. M. Clow, The Cross in Christian Experience, p. 243.

Luk 15:4

What is Christianity? It is the belief in the inexhaustible love of God for man. He came to seek that which is lost, until He find it.

Erskine of Linlathen.

Seeking the Lost

Luk 15:4-5

Christ’s three most precious parables, the lost sheep, the lost coin, the prodigal son, all illustrate the one thought that the Divinest act of the Divine love is to seek the sinner and bring him back. They do so from different points of view, and if we wish to get the whole breadth of Christ’s teaching we must take them altogether. Consider, then, three things:

I. God seeking man.

II. God finding man when man seeks God and finds Him.

III. God rejoicing in the found man, and man rejoicing in the found God.

A. Maclaren.

References. XV. 4-6. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxxv. No. 2065. XV. 4-7. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xxx. No. 1801. XV. 4, 8, 11. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke, p. 49. XV. 4-9. Expositor (4th Series), vol. i. p. 27, XV. 5. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii. p. 37.

Twenty-fifth Sunday After Trinity

Luk 15:6

We are very familiar with this parable as the parable of the Lost Sheep. Shall we look at it now in the light of a parable of the Seeking Shepherd? The chief interest of the parable centres in most people’s minds round the sheep. But did it so centre in the mind of Christ? The real centre of the parable is not the sheep, but the Shepherd. The real interest of the parable lies in Him. It was not a parable which illustrated a lost soul; it was one which revealed am anxious redeemer. And, after all, is not that what we want not parables to show us what we are, but greater parables than these to show us what Christ is? There are three points in the attitude of the Shepherd towards the lost sheep.

I. The Seeking Shepherd. The first is this: The Shepherd goes in search of the sheep. He has no notion in His soul that the sheep will ever come in search of Him. The Incarnation of the Lord Jesus was the girding of Himself to go after lost humanity till He found it. His whole life was lived for that purpose. Just think for a moment how He lived for souls, how He worked for them, how He prayed for them, how He died for them, and now that the redemptive work is over and accomplished, Christ is still bent on the single mission of seeking for souls by His Spirit.

II. Seeking till He Finds. And then, secondly, the Shepherd goes in search of the sheep till He finds it. That is just a life-sized picture of the untiring patience and inexhaustible love of Jesus. Till He finds it; for remember the great object of all Christ’s work, and what ought to be the great object of all our work for Christ, is not to seek that is a mere process; but to find that is the object. The Saviour does not go after the wandering sheep for a mile or two in the wilderness, and then because the way is wet, or the sun is hot, or the body is weary, or the clouds of evening are thickening, say to Himself in a self-satisfied kind of way, ‘I have done the best, I could do no more’. Not till He finds it, is the measure and the limit of His love. What a word, for you and me, for all the servants of Jesus Christ who, it may be with troublesome sheep, are trying to do work for Him.

III. Bringing Back the Lost. Then, thirdly, notice, one more thing about the Shepherd. When He has found it He brings it on His shoulders. There is something more than seeking yes, there is, I know; but there is something more than finding there is bringing back.

The Gospel for the Lost

Luk 15:6

In reply to the murmuring of the Pharisees the Saviour spake unto them ‘this parable’ a parable that is three and yet is one, as the artist sometimes tells his story in three panels, each complete in itself, yet each finding its completeness in the others. In the first there is the. lost sheep. The second panel is of a woman who has lost a piece of money not much to many, perhaps, but very much to her. The third panel is of the prodigal son. We well may think of these three pictures as setting forth three types of character.

I. The first is the sheep the silly sheep, that goes astray almost without meaning it or knowing it. Is it not the picture of thousands about us souls not bad so much as weak and silly? May it not be that the Lord Jesus put these first because they are so common, and because it is so easy to turn away from them as if they were scarcely worth saving? There is nothing attractive about them, nothing hopeful. But does not love see in this their every need, their claim upon our help? About us are ten thousand men and women who can never get to heaven unless they are carried there on somebody’s shoulder. Such people swarm about us: people without any resolution, without any strength of character.

II. The lost piece of money sets before us another type of character. Here it is not weakness that goes astray; you cannot blame the piece of money that it had gone down in the dirt, or got lost in the darkness. Somebody let it slip somehow; somebody’s misfortune, or carelessness, or sin brought it where it is. This is the picture of those who are damned by their circumstances.

III. The last is the prodigal son type of him who has deliberately gone astray, and must deliberately come back again who will go on, and therefore must go down, down until there comes the blessed want that brings him to his senses, that kindly hunger that prompts him to come home. The great lesson here is that at his coming there be no hard words, no cold suspicion, no harsh probation; but love, glad love, that runs and cries: ‘Bring out the best robe, and bring hither the fatted calf,’ and that begins to be merry.

M. G. Pearse, Naaman the Syrian and other Sermons, p. 201.

References. XV. 6. J. Reid, Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xvii. p. 262. Mark Guy Pearse, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliii. p. 316.

Joy in Heaven

Luk 15:7

I. Notice the joy of Jesus in repentant souls. The sources of His joy were: (1) Obedience to and communion with God. (2) Self-forgetting love to men.

II. The joy of Jesus is the joy of God. The firm starting-point is that Christ is the Revealer of the Divine Mind and Nature. So when He yearns over sinners and when He rejoices over penitents He is revealing to us God.

III. The joy of God is spread through all His friends.

A. Maclaren.

The Angels’ Joy

Luk 15:7 ; Luk 15:10

We have in these two verses a positive statement that (1) there is joy in heaven, (2) there is joy in the presence of the angels of God, and (3) that the object of the joy is the sinner, the man who repents.

I. What is Exactly the Nature of the Angels? It is impossible for us to say. It would appear that the angels are constituted like men in respect of joy. I do not see that they are affected by grief or pain. I apprehend that even under the most grievous and distressing circumstances the presence of the angels, according to God’s Word, ever sheds brightness and comfort and peace. The statement that there is joy in the presence of the angels of God must apply to some capacity which these servants of God are able to express. It is only reasonable that they should be affected by the happiness of man; the joy of God’s creatures. If the most beautiful things in this world were merely shadows, images emblematical of future reality, surely these portents of pleasure must indicate the magnitude of pleasure in God’s presence, which we are told is the fullness of joy.

II. The Object of this Particular Joy. It is the change from sin, the alteration of the man or woman over which there is joy. There is an expression of joy. Will this have the effect of enlarging our ideas to imagine that the greatest interest is taken over the affairs of man and woman in heaven? If we carry out this idea of repentance and forgiveness and the restoration of every sinner into the arms of Jesus Christ, into the fold of God, it enhances the amount of joy which ever abides in the hearts of God’s special ministers the angels.

III. It is a Beautiful Thought. It should lead every one of us who have any doubt about our way of living to try and examine our hearts to see if we are doing anything to diminish the happiness of the souls in heaven the angels of God. So simple and yet such a beautiful picture moral and spiritual change in the man or woman or child producing happiness for those celestial beings. Is it not a glorious idea that the angels of God have no sorrow or pain? Try to enhance the pleasure of God’s angels, who are His ministers and our guardians. They are His mouthpiece, and always speak, although we do not always hear them. God has given them their duty to guard and keep His children that they may be saved when He comes Himself to take them in His arms to the fold.

Luk 15:7

It was probably a hard saying to the Pharisees, that there is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, than over ninety and nine just persons that need no repentance, and certain ingenious philosophers of our own day must surely take offence at a joy so entirely out of correspondence with arithmetical proportion. But a heart that has been taught by its own sore struggles to bleed for the woes of another that has ‘learned pity through suffering’ is likely to find very imperfect satisfaction in the ‘balance of happiness,’ ‘doctrine of compensations,’ and other short and easy methods of obtaining thorough complacency in the presence of pain; and for such a heart that saying will not be altogether dark…. For the man who knows sympathy because he has known sorrow, that old, old saying about the joy of angels over the repentant sinner outweighing their joy over the ninety-nine just, has a meaning which does not jar with the language of his own heart. It only tells him that for angels too there is a transcendent value in human pain, which refuses to be settled by equations; that the eyes of angels too are turned away from the serene happiness of the righteous to blend with yearning pity on the poor erring soul wandering in the desert where no water is; that for angels too the misery of one casts so tremendous a shadow as to eclipse the bliss of ninety-nine.

George Eliot, in Janet’s Repentance.

By His saying, ‘There is more joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth than over ninety-nine just persons, who need no repentance,’ He made humility the gate of entrance into paradise.

Amiel.

References. XV. 7. A. B. Bruce, The Galilean Gospel, p. 108. W. J. E. Bennett, Sermons Preached at the London Mission, 1869, p. 37. Expositor (5th Series), vol. i. p. 362.

The Worth of Man

Luk 15:8

One of the most striking features of Christ’s work on earth was His vindication before men of the worth of man. In those days the value of man as man had sunk very low. Human life was so little valued in those days that it was thought fitting for men to die by the score in the Roman Coliseum to amuse a holiday crowd. Slavery in one of its worst forms prevailed too, and the degradation which existed among the slave caste passes description. Yet no one protested; it never occurred to any one that man as man had any great or sacred value to be asserted or defended. Now Jesus Christ came and altered all that; He came to proclaim and to vindicate the worth of man as man. The title He Himself most cared to use was that of Son of man; by that name, you know, He always described Himself, by it He asserted the dignity of humanity and claimed brotherhood with all, the least and the lowest as well as the great; and by so doing He lifted the least and the lowest of the race to the nobility of fellowship with Himself. He sought the company of the despised, eating and drinking with them, He cared not if He were called the Friend of publicans and sinners; and in doing this He never sunk to their level, rather He raised them to His. He purposely depicted humanity as none before had ever done, showing men that sin and degradation are not their normal, proper state, but an abnormal one, an unnatural one into which they had fallen, and out of which He had come to lift them.

I. Man, Christ taught, was the true Son of the Heavenly Father, Who had never ceased to love him and was waiting and longing for him to give up his degradation and sin. That surely is one of the lessons which the short parable teaches us; the parable of the lost piece of silver which its owner cared for and sought for till it was found.

II. You and I are that lost Piece precious metal and stamped with the image of the Great King, but we have fallen into the dust, we have lost ourselves, the brightness of the Divine effigy is dimmed and spoilt. But thanks be to Him, though lost, though fallen, we are not despairing; we are members valued, sought for, we may be saved and restored. It is for us to respond to the Divine Seeker’s labours, Who, when He finds, rejoices with exceeding great joy, for we are precious in His sight.

III. But the Story has also Something to tell us of how we should Regard our Fellow-men. Those whom you and I perchance despise God loves and values. Get a heart big enough to love as God loves; get a hope large enough to hope as God hopes; get eyes penetrating enough to see as God sees the good that lies in each and every human being.

References. XV. 8. Expository Sermons on the New Testament, p. 86. H. Howard, The Raiment of the Soul, p. 106. J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, pt. i. p. 84. A. G. Mortimer, The Church’s Lessons for the Christian Year, pt. iv. p. 260. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vii. p. 117. XV. 8-10. T. Davies, Sermonic Studies, p. 114. Hugh Macmillan, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lii. p. 376. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No. 970.

The Choir Invisible and Their Music

Luk 15:10

In the higher universe the true value of things is known, and this peep into glory is most instructive.

I. We are taught the significance of the individual. ‘Over one sinner.’ It is often seen how Christ sets at nought the tyranny of numbers, and concentrates attention on the unit. Christ discovered humanity; there was no sense of the solidarity of the race before He came: yet He also discovered the individual, for there was no recognition of the value of the single soul before He came. One of the very foremost teachings of Jesus Christ declares the supreme worth of personality. The lowliest must not forget his mysterious greatness nor the fact that in the highest world his fortune is followed with impassioned interest.

II. A further lesson of the text is that the importance of the individual lies in his moral life. ‘One sinner.’ The heavenly universe is interested exclusively in the history of souls. How different with us! We survey life from an altogether different standpoint; and gold, culture, greatness, or pleasure is the consuming theme of our contemplation. If the celestial world is absorbed in the history of the soul, ought we not to concern ourselves far more than we usually do with the inner life?

III. The final lesson we note is that the most important event in the individual life is the restoration of the lapsed soul to God. ‘One sinner that repenteth.’ He who came into the world to revolve all our values declares that the return of the prodigal son to his heavenly Father is the most momentous of all acts.

How vividly this narrative brings out the blessedness of repentance! God rejoices. ‘In the presence of the angels.’ The angels also rejoice. When the tide rises in the ocean, it rises in a thousand creeks and rivers; and when the sunny sea of God’s blessedness swells, it streams through the celestial universe, and fresh music everywhere breaks out like the sound of many waters. But if repentance is an event to make heaven glad, is it not one to make us glad also?

W. L. Watkinson, The Ashes of Roses, p. 256.

References. XV. 10. J. Bunting, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 264. J. H. Ball, Persuasions, p. 178. E. W. Attwood, Sermons for Clergy and Laity, p. 301. R. J. Campbell, The Restored Innocence, p. 73. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv. No. 203, and vol. xlviii. No. 2791. John Thomas, Myrtle Street Pulpit, vol. iii. p. 211. XV. 11, 12. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 16. G. W. Brameld, Practical Sermons, p. 260. XV. 11-13. J. Keble, Sermons for Lent to Passion-tide, p. 420. G. Body, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p. 162. XV. 11-16. C. Perren, Revival Sermons in Outline, p. 199. J. Laidlaw, Studies in the Parables, p. 96. XV. 11-24. C. Perren, Revival Sermons in Outline, p. 334. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke, p. 69. XV. 11-32. H. Howard, The Raiment of the Soul, p. 114. John Watson, Scottish Review, vol. iii. p. 360. A. M. Fairbairn, Christian World Pulpit, vol. liii. p. 33. R. W. Dale, The Epistle of James, p. 160. XV. 12. J. J. Ingram, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 122.

Luk 15:13

Though science gives us a good deal to boast of, and may enter for a great deal into our hopes, the most that can be said in this respect is that it is like a splendid inheritance, which gives the wise man twenty years start in life, and precipitates the prodigal into irretrievable ruin.

C. H. Pearson.

Profligacy consists not in spending years of time or chests of money, but in spending them off the line of your career.

Emerson.

References. XV. 13. G. Body, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p. 166. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 29.

Luk 15:13 ; Luk 15:30

In the pain and the repentance, and in the acquaintance with the aspects of folly and sin, you have learned something; how much less than you would have learned in right paths, can never be told, but that it is less is certain. Your liberty of choice has simply destroyed for you so much life and strength, never regainable. It is true you now know the habits of swine who taste of husks: do you think your Father could not have taught you to know better habits and pleasanter tastes, if you had stayed in His house; and that the knowledge you have lost would not have been more, as well as sweeter, than that you have gained?

Ruskin, Queen of the Air, sec. 153.

References. XV. 14. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 40. XV. 14-16. J. Keble, Sermons for Lent to Passion-tide, p. 429. XV. 15. Expositor (6th Series), vol. xii. p. 20. XV. 15, 16. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 49.

Disillusionment

Luk 15:17

The Prodigal and Miser. The prodigal in this, the greatest of Jesus’ parables, was a miser. He is the type and picture of the present day. You tell me that there is no vice so abhorrent to your nature as avarice. You say that the thin, bloodless, shrivelled creature, whose lean and bony claws are nervously outstretched to rake in the glittering coin, and who hugs his money-bags beside the dying embers of a penurious fire, has no place in our free and generous English life, where those who have money are expected to turn it over, and a liberal hand is all but inseparable from a full purse. And we are scarcely less ready to repudiate the life of riot and excess, which dissipates upon unworthy pleasures what has been painfully amassed by years of unremitting toil. If a generous, we are a thrifty people, and of reckless waste we are no less scornful than of miserly stint. But pardon me, what is it in the miser that seems to your enlightened judgment absurd, incomprehensible, and vain? Is it not the strange, unreasonable fascination with which he fondles the yellow pieces or smooths out the curling notes? Poor dotard! you exclaim, unhinged in mind and fancy. To wear the chain of a bondage to those inanimate tokens which should be the ministers of his own comfort and happiness! He has lost his conception of the end in the eagerness with which he gathers the means. For him the means have become the end. He is a bondservant, a slave. But is it not precisely the same with him whom you call the prodigal? He, like the miser, is squandering his opportunities. He has exchanged his coin for that which it represents. He has purchased his money’s worth of that material outside himself which a modern philosopher has described as permanent possibilities of sensation. That only means what you can touch or taste, hear or see. The spendthrift is only surrounding himself with a profusion of material means, so that the prodigal and the miser are alike in what is essential to both characters the exaltation into an end of what, according to the true proportion of things, has no value whatever except as a means to the development of a higher life.

J. G. Simpson, Christus Crucifixus, p. 175.

The Homesickness of the Soul

Luk 15:17

I want to take the thought that the soul is homesick, and use it to shed a little light on dark places.

I. First, then, under this light we may view the unrest of sin. It is notable that it was in this light that Jesus viewed it, in the crowning parable from which we have taken our text. The prodigal was an exile; he was in a far country. It was the memory of his home that filled his heart. It was not terror that smote the prodigal deep. He came to himself, and he was homesick. (1) Now I think that Jesus would have us learn from that that wickedness is not the homeland of the soul, and that all the unrest and the dissatisfaction of the wicked is just the craving or his heart for home. We were not fashioned to be at home in sin. The native air of this mysterious heart is the love and purity and joy of heaven. We shall always be dissatisfied, always be homesick, if we are trying to live in any other land. (2) This thought, too, helps us to understand why men cover evil with a veil of goodness. It is just the longing of the exile or of the emigrant to give a homelike touch to his surroundings. (3) And we can understand the loneliness of sin when we remember this homesickness of the soul. The man who is homesick is always lonely. Slowly but surely, if a man lives in sin he drifts apart into spiritual isolation.

II. Under this light we may view the craving for God. We often speak of heaven as our home, and in many deep senses that is a true expression. But in deeper senses heaven is not our home, or if it is, it is just because God is there. In the deepest sense our home is not heaven, but God. Do you see, then, the meaning of that craving for God that is one of the strangest facts in human history? (1) We crave for God because He is our home. (2) Now this homesickness of the soul for God is one of our surest proofs of God. It is an argument more powerful than any that philosophy affords to convince me that there is a God. Without a home, homesickness is inexplicable. My craving for God assures me that God is.

G. H. Morrison, Sunrise: Addresses from a City Pulpit, p. 1.

Coming to Oneself

Luk 15:17

‘When he came to himself’ when he became himself then in his years of riot he was not himself. It was not the prodigal who was the real man. The real man was the penitent, not the prodigal. This parable has not only influenced thought; like all the parables it has also affected language. When some one whom we love is cross or irritable, we say of him, ‘He’s not himself today’. And what is that but our instinctive certainty that a man is more than his vices or his failures, and that if you want to know him as he is, you must take him at the level of his best. It was always thus that Jesus judged humanity. I would remark, too, about this prodigal, that his one object in leaving home was just to find himself. We come to ourselves when we deny ourselves; when life has room for sacrifice and service; when the eyes are lifted to the love of heaven, and the heart is set upon the will of God.

I. That our text was no chance expression of the Master’s we may gather from many Gospel passages. Think, for example, of that memorable hour when Jesus was journeying to Jerusalem. Our Lord had begun to speak plainly of His death, and it was all so shocking and terrible to Peter, that Peter had taken Christ to task for it. ‘Far be it from Thee, Lord; this never shall befall Thee. While I have a sword to draw they shall not touch Thee.’ And then the Lord flashed round on His disciple, and said to him, ‘Get thee behind Me, Satan’. Only an hour before he had been Peter ‘Thou art Peter, and on this rock I build’. That was the true Peter, moved of God, kindled into the rapture of confession. Of course in such a hopeful, splendid outlook there is no lessening of responsibility. A man is not less guilty for his failures, because they do not represent his real manhood.

II. I would further remark that when He was on earth that was one great aim of Jesus’ toil. It was not to make men and women angels. It was to make men and women their true selves. Christ aimed at more than making people better; His aim and object was to make them themselves. And that is the reason why the follower of Christ is the possessor of the largest freedom. The nearer a man is to being himself, the nearer is he to sweet liberty.

G. H. Morrison, The Wings of the Morning, p. 246.

References. XV. 17. Archbishop Magee, The Gospel and the Age, p. 277. D. W. Simon, Twice Born and Other Sermons, p. 21. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii. No. 1000, and vol. xli. No. 2414. W. H. Brookfield, Sermons, p. 105. XV. 17-19. J. Keble, Sermons for Lent to Passion-tide, p. 436. G. Body, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. p. 182. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 66. XV. 17-21. J. Laidlaw, Studies in the Parables, p. 109. XV. 18. J. G. Simpson, Christus Crucifixus, p. 188. F. J. A. Hort, Village Sermons in Outline, p. 10. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii. No. 113. F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. ii. p. 235. Expositor (5th Series), vol. i. p. 26. XV. 18, 19. J. J. Blunt, Plain Sermons, p. 292. XV. 19. W. G. Rutherford, The Key of Knowledge, p. 264. J. Kelman, Ephemera Eternitatis, p. 275.

The Greeting

Luk 15:20

Here we are carried right up into the heart of the Christian revelation. We shall be prepared to allow, I think, that the picture of the father, going forth with eager haste to anticipate his son’s return, requires some justification before it can be accepted as adequately representing the Christian doctrine of the forgiveness of sins. What I mean is this. There is a passage in the Epistle to the Romans, in which the Apostle Paul declares that the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, the propitiation set forth in His Blood, meets a great necessity, which could not have been satisfied by an act of amnesty extended to transgressors of the eternal law. God cannot pronounce a verdict of acquittal which is not true in fact. He cannot be the justifier of the ungodly and at the same time just, unless He can show, make good, and vindicate His righteousness.

I. The Lord Jesus has Himself made it plain to us that there is a true analogy between human and Divine forgiveness, and that the oblivion, in which the tenderness of human compassion will consent to shroud the unhappy past, is the counterpart of that remission of sins, whereon are based the relations of the Father with His reconciled children in the kingdom of heaven. A pardon freely granted has justified itself again and again in the experience of ordinary human relations.

II. Nothing can be plainer than the certainty with which Scripture ascribes the whole work of our redemption from the penalty and power of sin to the free grace and spontaneous loving kindness of the Eternal Father. It was God who ‘so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son’. It was God who was ‘in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself’. It is God who ‘commendeth His love towards us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us’. ‘This,’ says the Saviour Himself, ‘is the will of Him that sent Me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth in Him, may have eternal life.’ Or again, ‘He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father’. Passage after passage, Scripture after Scripture, might be quoted to show that the atoning work of Christ takes its rise in the heart of the Divine Fatherhood. The plan of our salvation, as it is unfolded to our adoring gaze, is nought if it be not the means which the Father has Himself devised that His banished may return.

III. But, while we make this declaration without reserve, it must be claimed with equal emphasis that the Scripture sets forth the Crucifixion as a meritorious act of propitiatory sacrifice. What else but the language of ancient ritual is uttered by the Baptist when he cries, ‘Behold the Lamb of God’? What is the whole argument of the Epistle to the Hebrews but an exhibition of the reconciling work of Christ, in terms of the Mosaic ritual, as an expiation offered for the sins of the people by a merciful and faithful High Priest? ‘God hath set (Him) forth to be a propitiation,’ says St. Paul. ‘He is the propitiation for our sins,’ says St. John. Such language as this will not hold in the ordinary relations of mankind.

When I find the Epistle to the Hebrews declaring that ‘without shedding of blood is no remission, I see in these words the expression of that great mystery of propitiation, which provides ‘the lamb for the burnt-offering,’ the perfect substitute, the complete representative, which covers the approach of the outcast to a God from whom he has been separated by his sins.

Explain it how you will, it yet remains true, and, while human nature continues what it is, it will always remain true, that no religion will satisfy the heart of man which does not turn upon the presentation of an offering for sin. And, if it is a fact that Christ reveals the Father as the fountain of inexhaustible love, the source of a compassionate forgiveness, it is also a fact that He reveals Himself as the Way, the new and living Way, which through the offering of His body He has consecrated once for all, and of which He declares that ‘no man cometh unto the Father but by Me’.

On its manward side the Cross of Jesus is big with the power of an intense morality the victory of patience, the consecration of pain, the supremacy of love, the power of a regenerated life. On its God-ward side it is a truth veiled yet manifested. ‘He tasted death for every man.’ ‘The Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all.’ ‘He made Him to be sin for us.’ It is because such words ring out from Calvary that it is eloquent also of a Divine mystery.

J. G. Simpson, C hristus Crucifixus, p. 200.

Recognised, Though Afar Off

Luk 15:20

I. This parable shows us that man is very far off from God. You and I never realised how far we were from God until we tried to come back; then we found we had gone far off from Him. But why do we go far from God? We go from God for the same reason that that poor prodigal went from his father. He could not enjoy himself in his father’s presence.

II. But this text assures me that in spite of the distance there is recognition. ‘Whilst he was yet a great way off, his father saw him.’ Why? Because, I fancy, he had always been looking out for him. God sees us however far off we may be.

E. A. Stuart, The City Pulpit, vol. x. p. 51.

Luk 15:20

Many anxious and honest Christians may be yet consciously far from the spiritual haven where they would be. Let such be consoled in remembering that the Father who draws us to Christ beholds us, yea, sets forth to meet us, while we are yet a great way off. A great way off, and yet upon the way herein lies all the difference between resistance and returning.

Dora Greenwell.

References. XV. 20. H. P. Liddon, Sermons Preached on Special Occasions, p. 1. G. Body, Christian World Pulpit, vol. li. pp. 196, 214. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv. No. 176; vol. x. No. 588; vol. xx. No. 1189; vol. xxxvii. No. 2236; vol. xliii. No. 2507. T. G. Selby, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliii. p. 243. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 80. XV. 20, 21. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xliii. No. 2520. XV. 20-22. G. Body, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. p. 218. XV. 20-24. J. Keble, Sermons for Lent to Passion-tide, p. 442.

The Father and the Three Sons

Luk 15:20 ; Luk 15:25

I. Withdrawing the light from Himself, our Lord concentrates it on three, the prodigal son, the father, and the elder brother. He teaches us what we have been so ready to forget, that the coming home of the soul is not merely a coming to oneself, a coming to the father, but also a coming to the elder brother. That was how Christ peopled the house which the son had left with a father and an elder son. He might have filled it otherwise, for sometimes the prodigal comes back to a mother and brothers and sisters, but for His purpose He needed but the two. Christians are very slow to learn that conversion in the New Testament sense is not the return of the lonely soul to the only God. It is the renewal of human ties that have been broken as well as of Divine. The return to God is a return to the Church. There have been mystics who have found God and lived on Him without entering into relation with their brethren in Christ But just as the perfection of human life cannot be achieved apart from fellowship, so the soul separated from its kindred takes distorted forms. The New Testament contemplates every Christian as a member of the Church of which Jesus is the Head, growing up in harmony and fullness to the measure of the stature of Christ. Christian growth becomes fair and strong not in a cloistered and remote piety, but in the communion of the household of God. So whenever evangelistic work has been fruitful and permanent in its results, it has conducted the soul home to the Church as well as home to God. The work of George Whitefield was in its day as successful and outstanding as that of Wesley, but there is no comparison now, for whereas Whitefield allowed his work to become scattered by ignoring methods of organisation, Wesley was constructive, and formed his converts into classes and churches. This, then, is the first lesson, that conversion is a return to the brethren as well as a return to the Father.

II. Nothing could add to the picture of the father and his grace given by Jesus. A modern writer has said that the feature of the parable is the magnificent repentance of the prodigal. It was a magnificent repentance, a repentance that made no excuses, that humbled itself utterly. But more magnificent by far was the forgiveness of the father. Day after day he was watching when there seemed no hope of the wanderer appearing, day by day looking out with a hungry, expectant heart, running a great way to meet the sinner whenever he turned to the abandoned home, asking no question, speaking no word of rebuke, refusing to hear the confession out, calling for the robe, and the ring, and the feast. How Jesus delighted in God the Father as He told this story! What faith He had in the abysses of fatherly tenderness. This was the love which had been the life of Christ, the love of the Son for the Father, of the Father for the Son. To Him there was no love like a Father’s love. There was no wonder of grace too wonderful for the Father’s heart.

On the part of the father there is no obstacle. He is willing to be gracious, he is waiting to be gracious, he is on the watch-tower, he runs a great way to meet the penitent. Day by day, year by year, he keeps looking, and when every one else has given up hope, the father still refuses to despair and to say, ‘He will not return to me’.

III. What is the attitude of the Church to the self-made exile? What is the attitude of the elder brethren? This parable contains a representation of that attitude by the Eldest Brother, and we shall see the more we dwell on it how true and pitiful the picture is. In the first place, there is a good side to the Church, for we read ‘his elder son was in the field’. That was a good place to be in, incomparably better than the far country. We are told how the elder brother worked there. ‘Lo, these many years do I serve thee,’ and it is a great thing to serve for many years in the heat by day and in the frost by night. ‘Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment,’ and that also is a great thing to say, no black, foul transgression staining and soaking the years, a record of obedience never broken by a refusal. Yes, it meant much, and the father knew it, for he said, ‘Son, thou art ever with Me, and all that I have is thine’. Let us not be unjust to the elder brother, for the Eldest Brother is most just. The farm had to be kept up and worked, and he did his part well. He had never been away perhaps, had not even sought amusements or holidays. Prosaic and monotonous all must have been at times, as all good work is, but he had stuck to it, and therein was most worthy of praise. Now what is true of him is true of the Church of Christ. The Church of Christ is being constantly reproached in these days, reproached by those outside, reproached by her own, till loyal workers grow disheartened, and wonder sometimes whether there is any better means of doing God’s work in the world than by being faithful and diligent in His Church. There is no better way. In spite of all failures, how much of loyalty, fidelity, self-denial, endurance, and heroic constancy mark the life of the wonderful Church of Christ! What the critics do for the regeneration of the world has never been clear to me. What is clear is that it is the work of the Church in the field, the unnoticed, regular, obscure work, that has kept the soul alive in England.

IV. What is the Church to do?

1. Keep the children at home. Who drove the prodigal out? Perhaps it was his elder brother. Anyhow, we must never let the children out. Christ never meant we should. Bom into the Church of Christ, they should never leave it Hear the solemn and tender command of Christ, more imperative as it comes to a parent than as it came to an apostle, ‘Feed My lambs’.

2. Then, are we sure we wish them to come back after they have long gone? They have been in the far country for years now, and will never be what they were. Do we want them to come again and trouble us in their rags, their misery, their sores, their shame? Are our eyes on the long, dusty road down which they may be coming even now? When the Church longs for the prodigal as the Father longs, then will come the great day of reconciliation and weeping.

3. You will observe that the Eldest Brother leaves the end doubtful. Did the elder brother go in and sit down with the father and the prodigal and servants? Will the Church of Christ cease to play the part of the elder brother, and share the father’s heart? We have been letting them slip; all the time they have been slipping from our homes, from our Sunday schools, from our churches. They are slipping away still every hour of every day. If we are to bring them back we must do much more than welcome them. Some of us at least must go out with the Eldest Brother to seek and to save that which is lost. ‘The Church was born crucified,’ said Lacordaire. Have her wounds been healed and their record obliterated? If so, the wounds must be inflicted anew. The world will come back to the Church when it sees the Church crucified with Christ And so

Measure thy life by loss instead of gain,

Not by the wine drunk, but by the wine poured forth.

W. Robertson Nicoll, The Lamp of Sacrifice, p. 172.

Reference. XV. 21, 22. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 91.

The Robe

Luk 15:22

So we reach the accomplishment of the purpose of reconciliation. The awakening, the meeting, the home-coming, and now the festal array. ‘Bring forth’ the father speaks to his servants; the robe is laid up for the penitent sinner in the father’s house. ‘Quickly’ then it is a transformation which is immediate and complete. ‘The best robe’ it is the garment of praise which they wear who feast in kings’ houses. ‘Put it on him’ it is the grace and favour of him who makes the feast which clothes the returning wanderer in a vesture not his own. ‘They found the man sitting, clothed and in his right mind, at the feet of Jesus.’

I. Here I see the great truth to which the Reformation of the sixteenth century recalled the mind of the Church, the doctrine of justification by faith which carries with it, as I believe, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ. It is the teaching, I rejoice to think, of the Church of England, and nowhere has it received a nobler vindication than in the writings of the greatest English theologian. ‘Faith,’ says Richard Hooker, ‘is the only hand which putteth on Christ unto justification; and Christ the only garment which, being so put on, covereth the shame of our defiled natures, hideth the imperfections of our works, preserveth us blameless in the sight of God.’ While this is preached from our pulpits you need have no fear for the Protestantism of our Church. Do not, I beseech you, be suspicious of the lighting of a candle or the swinging of a censer. But be very jealous for the evangelical doctrine of justification by faith.

II. The correlative of the doctrine of justification by faith is the imputed righteousness of Christ God covers us with the robe of righteousness, which is the merits of our adorable Redeemer. For consider what the full statement of the doctrine of justification is. It is expressed thus: ‘By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God’. We have, then, to ask, What does the Bible mean when it speaks of grace? A word so constantly on the lips of the preacher as this is apt to lose the fullness of its meaning in the variety of its applications. What, then, is grace?

Grace, as the Bible employs the term, is God’s free favour. St. Paul opposes it to debt. ‘To him that worketh the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt.’ The contrast is obvious. It is with a salvation to which we have earned the right by our own toil that we contrast a salvation bestowed upon us as God’s free gift. This is the very breath and life of the Gospel. Of our own we have nothing save the surrender of faith to Christ. All the rest, including those fruits of righteousness which manifest themselves in the saintly life, is His, and remains His, even when it seems to become ours.

III. The whole power of the Gospel, its moral and spiritual power to transform the life and transfigure the character, lies in its appeal to the disturbed and anxious soul to cast all its care on Him who has wrought salvation. ‘Be of good cheer, my son, thy sins are forgiven. Believe in Jesus Christ who was crucified for thy sins.’ I do not want the assurance that by the careful use of a medicine provided for sick souls I may at last achieve a character upon which God can look with approval. I want the message that the debt is paid, that the pardon is sealed, that my restored sonship is an actual and present fact.

It is only under cover of this shelter that we can make anything of our lives at all.

It is related of one of the greatest men who have ever consecrated the finest gifts of intellect to the furtherance of religion and the service of the Church of England, that, as he lay a-dying, he confessed to his chaplain that he was oppressed with a sense of his own unworthiness. If there ever was a man who might have been content to stand upon his achievement, then this was the man. Not only had he lived a pure and blameless life, but he had given to the Church an immortal vindication of faith in his Analogy of Religion. But in the hour of death he was great enough to know that of himself he had nought to plead. ‘But, my lord,’ replied the chaplain, ‘our Saviour has said, “Him that cometh to Me I will in no wise cast out”.’ ‘Ah,’ was the answer, ‘I had forgot. I die happy.’

J. G. Simpson, Christus Crucifixus, p. 231.

The Best Robe

Luk 15:22

God has no second best. For Himself and for us He will have no other than the best. He would have the best of everything and everything at the best. He is always putting upon things the best robe. God loves beauty. He is Himself the author of all beauty and can only rest in things beautiful. How the Lord Jesus loved beauty. How He turned to the fowls of the air and the flowers of the field and the little child, that He might illustrate and adorn His teaching, ‘Bring forth the best robe.’ It seems to be the voice of God in the summer, and the days are swift to obey the command of the Most High. ‘Bring forth the best robe.’ To the very birds it seems to be spoken in the spring-time. And now what think you? Is there not in all this a blessed message and promise for us men and women? For you and me it shall be spoken Bring forth the best robe. Let us see something of what this meant in the wonderful story that the Lord has given us. The prodigal has wandered into the far country and spent his substance in riotous living has spent all. At last in his sorry plight he said; I will arise and go to my father. And what then? ‘When he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And he said to the servant, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him.’ Nothing was too good for him.

I. The best robe is the beautiful picture of an utter and complete forgiveness. All that had been the rags, the wretchedness, the poor, thin, wasted frame are all covered and hidden by it. It is the very picture of what God’s great love longs to do for us. ‘The best robe.’ Ah, what a costly robe it is! Who could count its worth? ‘God so loved the world, that he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.’ And lo, this best robe is for us if we will have it.

II. ‘The best robe’ then see what goes with it. When God gives the best robe He gives the character of which it is but the token and expression. The best robe goes with a right spirit. See how God decks the earth with its best robe, not from without but from within. The seed in the earth is quickened by the sun in the heavens; the soft wind blows and woos the timid bud into the light A host of subtle influences that we know not of work together until at last the earth is decked in all her summer glory from within, not from without. So is the best robe ours. The love of God moves upon us, the truth becomes as a seed in the heart and is quickened into life. Our will and God’s commandment are made one.

III. Then, again, the best robe was a claim and a pledge. It meant on the son’s part a claim, ‘If I am to have the best robe, father, I must have all that is in keeping with it. I must have all that I want to live up to it’ And it meant on the father’s part a pledge. ‘My son, I give thee the best robe, and all that goes with it is thine.’

M. G. Pearse, The Preacher’s Magazine, vol. xi. p. 245.

References. XV. 22. J. G. Simpson, Christus Crucifixus, p. 213. XV. 22, 23. A. Maclaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture St. Luke, p. 65.

Luk 15:22-24

In Robert Falconer, George Macdonald makes the hero read this parable to the dying soutar: ‘There,’ cried the soutar triumphantly, ‘I telled ye sae! O Lord, I’m comin’ hame as fast as I can; but my sins are jist like muckle bauchles upon my feet, and winna lat me. I expec’ nae ring and nae robe, but I would fain hae a fiddle i’ my grup when the neist prodigal comes hame!’

Mr. Cardrew began by saying that this parable had been taken to be an exhibition of God’s love for man. It seemed rather to set forth, not the magnificence of the Divine nature, but of human nature of that nature which God assumed. The determination on the part of the younger son to arise, to go to his father, and above everything to say to him simply, ‘Father, I have sinned,’ was as great as God is great: it was God God moving in us; in a sense it was far more truly God far greater than the force which binds the planets into a system. But the splendour of human nature is shown in the father as well as in the son. ‘When he was yet a great way off.’ We are as good as told, then, that day after day the father had been watching. Oh, my friends, said the preacher, just consider that it is this upon which Jesus Christ, the son of God, has put His stamp, not the lecture, not chastisement, not expiation, but an instant unquestioning embrace, no matter what the wrong may have been!

Mark Rutherford, Catherine Furze.

References. XV. 22, 23. Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx. No. 1204. XV. 23, 24. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 103. XV. 24. H. M. Butler, Harrow School Sermons, p. 161. W. Brock, Penny Pulpit, No. 1705, p. 679. J. M. Neale, Sermons Preached in a Religious House, vol. i. p. 1. XV. 25. Bishop Alexander, The Great Question, p. 80. F. Ballard, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xliii. p. 211. XV. 25-28. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 119. Christianity in Daily Conduct, p. 199. XV. 27. Mark Guy Pearse, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlvi. p. 277.

Our Duty Towards Our Equals

Luk 15:28

On the matter of our duty to our equal, the New Testament is comparatively silent. It speaks to us, not infrequently, of the duty which we owe to our superiors. Men are to reverence those who sit in Moses’ seat; they are to render unto Csar the things which are Caesar’s; they are to pray for kings and all who are in authority. It speaks constantly of our duty to inferiors. That is one great theme of the New Testament. Everywhere, with all variety of appeal, that is insisted on and urged. But as we read the Gospels and Epistles we gradually become aware of a strange silence it is the silence, the comparative silence of the Gospel, on the matter of our duty to our equals. That does not mean that such duties were of little consequence to the men who have given us our New Testament. It means that there were certain causes which inevitably put the emphasis elsewhere. Let me suggest three of these causes.

I. In the first place, there was that new humility which was present so powerfully in Christian character. Working in the heart of the new-born, it did not suggest equality at all. However glad was the good news of the Gospel, however it cheered and comforted the world, one of its first effects on human hearts was to deepen the sense of personal unworthiness. And this deep feeling of personal unworthiness so coloured every estimate of self, that men were readier to deny than to assert their equality with anyone whatever.

II. The second reason is to be found in this in the Gospel message of compassion. That was so new, so new and so amazing, that for a little it obscured all else. There may be elements in the ethic of the Gospel which were familiar to the older world. That is exactly what we should expect, since God has never left Himself without a witness. But there was one thing in the Gospel which was new, and set it apart from all the thought of ages, and that was its magnificent insistence on the need and the blessing of compassion. It was the Christian’s mark to be compassionate to help the poor, to cheer the solitary. He went to the least and lowest of mankind, in the great love wherewith his heart was burning. And you cannot wonder that that great enthusiasm, so utterly unknown in paganism, pushed into the background, as it were, the statement of our duty towards equals.

III. But there is another reason, not opposed to these, yet standing just a little apart from them. It is the fact that Christian morality is so vitally dependent upon Christ. Paul never thought of morals by itself. He never spoke of isolated ethics. For him to live in every realm of life for him to live was Christ. To be like Christ was his idea of goodness; to be in Christ his idea of glory; to follow in the steps of Christ was his compendium of all morality. Now the very foundation of the Church was this, that Jesus Christ had no equal. ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God’ it was on that foundation that the Church was built. Neither in heaven above nor on earth beneath had Jesus Christ a duty to His equal.

Trials from inferiors are bad enough, trials from superiors are worse; but trials from our equals are worst of all, and I shall tell you why it is so. The reason is that trials from our inferiors are trials from which we always can escape. We can return again to our own levels, and leave thus the sphere of our vexations. But from the trials of our equals there is no such refuge our equals are our habitual environment and therefore always, every day we live, we are exposed to the buffet or the thorn. It is thus that the trials of our nearest may be blessed in a more certain way than any others. There is no one we can fly to except God; there is no one we can lean on except God. Tried by inferiors we have still our equals, in whose society we are secure. Tried by our equals every refuge fails, and ‘hangs my helpless soul on Thee’.

And so, I would urge upon you to test and try your character that way. Be chary of accepting any verdict, except the verdict of equality, Distrust the subtle flattery of deference. There is no self-knowledge to be gained that way. Distrust the judgment of the poor and needy, whom in your warmth of compassion you have helped. If you want to know yourself go to your equals find what you think of them, and they of you. Reckon yourself by what you are at home, or with your brother merchant or your brother minister. It is thus and thus alone we learn the truth, and when we learn the truth we are never far from Christ Seeing ourselves, we see our need of Him, and in that sight is the beginning of salvation. Driven from the rest of self-esteem, so easily fostered by our very pity, we hear Him saying to us irresistibly, ‘Come unto Me and I will give you rest’.

G. H. Morrison, The Return of the Angels, p. 152.

The Elder Brother Spirit

Luk 15:28

I want to speak to you, not about the central figure in this, the pearl of all parables, not about the erring son who went away and lived in a far country, and then, drawn back by the memory of a father’s love, returned to experience a father’s forgiveness; but I want, rather, to speak about the other brother, the one who did not leave home, and yet who, I venture to think, was still further away from the mind and heart of his father than the prodigal son ever got. What is the significance which the warning of the record of his action, and his father’s word to him, and all that took place has for us, individually and personally, today?

I. I say that the interest in this parable has mainly centred in the prodigal, whereas Christ meant to teach equally important lessons in introducing the elder brother. It would have been entirely unnecessary for Christ to introduce the elder brother and speak of the elder brother’s spirit, if all he had meant to teach was the course of sinful self-will and the compassion of God, and the certainty of forgiveness to those who return to Him in penitence and in faith. No; Christ meant, I take it, to teach His people the difference between the Spirit of their Father and the spirit which they too often manifest before Him and to those whom He seeks to love and to bless. If the figure of the prodigal son is meant to convey lessons to the publican and the sinner of the Fatherliness of God, and His grace and tenderness and His willingness to receive them, surely what Christ said and He had no words of condemnation, remember, concerning the elder brother was meant to apply to those stiff, unlovely, dutiful if you will, but altogether unsympathetic and ungodlike souls the Pharisees and the scribes, who were not all insincere, but just unconsciously hypocritical, unconsciously absorbed with the externals of worship, unconsciously taken up with those things but accidental to any man’s relationship to God, and the relationship of God to His people, unconsciously hard towards God and hard towards His people And Christ meant to rebuke them.

II. Now, it is characteristic of present-day thought that men take as settled God’s relationship to man, and man’s relationship to God, and the best thought of today is largely concerned with man’s relationship to man. This is not modern. It is not really new except in so far as perfection is toward the source and not the mouth of the stream. For Christ has made this vital to His Gospel, that love to God is mainly shown in love to man. That debt which the people of God acknowledged they owe to Him is payable on the bank of the need of humanity. However eloquent the word, however musical the tongue, no man loves God who does not do so in deed and in truth. ‘Whoso hath this world’s good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?’

III. It is clear, then, that the elder brother and his descendants and he has many of them, they are in our churches, and anyone of us who works for Christ may meet them again and again, and possibly suffer through them it is clear that just here the elder brother and his descendants fail. They may have high moral standards. They may have no fault in their rectitude, their ethical standards and ideals; their efforts for the accomplishment of their duty are toilsome, and their loyalty to good causes is often commendable, but they entirely lack and all their excellencies only serve the more vividly to make this great lack seen sympathetic understanding either of the parent God, or of the prodigal at the gate. Those who act like the elder brother are those who show no real interest in the work of God, who spend no time in prayer for it, who give no sacrificial offerings for its support, who express no rejoicing at its success, and who manifest no sympathy for those who are pouring out their lives for the name of Jesus Christ. Such ones unconsciously become Pharisees, and such ones unconsciously become like the elder brother. It is the spirit of the elder brother which has been manifest so long, and which has gone on unchecked, unrebuked, and often unrecognized within the Church. It is this more than anything possibly which keeps far off from Christ and from God and from home and from love and from light those for whom Christ died, and methinks I hear Christ saying of such men, ‘It were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea’.

J. Stuart Holden, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxxix. p. 33.

Ill-temper

Luk 15:28

When we look into sin, not in its theological aspects, but in its everyday clothes, we find that it divides itself into two kinds. We find that there are sins of the body and sins of the disposition. Or more narrowly, sins of the passions, including all forms of lust and selfishness, and sins of the temper. The prodigal is the instance in the New Testament of sins of passions; the elder brother, of sins of temper. ‘He was angry, and would not go in.’ It is the thundercloud, a thundercloud which has been brewing under all his virtues all his life. The subtle fluids from a dozen sins have come together for once, and now they are scorching his soul. Jealousy, anger, pride, uncharity, cruelty, self-righteousness, sulkiness, touchiness, doggedness, all mixed up together into one Ill-Temper.

I. One of the first things to startle us about sins of temper is their strange compatibility with high moral character. The elder brother, without doubt, was a man of high principle. We have no criterion for estimating at their true worth men who figure as models of all the virtues. Everything depends on motive. The virtues may be real or only apparent, even as the vices may be real though not apparent. The fact that there are these two distinct sets of sins, and that few of us indulge both, but most of us indulge the one or the other, explains the compatibility of virtuous conduct with much unloveliness of disposition. Now it is this very association which makes sins of temper appear so harmless. We excuse the partial failure of our characters on the ground of their general success. Temper is the vice of the virtuous.

II. Look at the effects of ill-temper. (1) The influence of temper on the intellect. It has sometimes been taken for granted that a bad temper is a positive acquisition to the intellect. Its fieriness is supposed to communicate combustion to surrounding faculties, and to kindle the system into intense and vigorous life. The point, however, at which temper interferes with the intellect is in all matters of judgment. A quick temper really incapacitates for sound judgment. (2) But it is in their moral and social effects that the chief evil lies. Society is an arrangement for producing and sustaining human happiness, and temper is an agent for thwarting and destroying it In its ultimate nature Distemper is a sin against love. A sin against love is a sin against God, for God is love.

III. This tracing of the sin to its root now suggests this further topic its cure. But is not temper a constitutional thing? Is it not hereditary, a family failing, a matter of temperament, and can that be cured? Yes, if there is anything in Christianity. All sins mar God’s image, but sins of temper mar God’s image and God’s work and man’s happiness.

Henry Drummond, The Ideal Life and other Addresses, p. 43.

Reference. XV. 28. W. Y. Fullerton, Christ and Men, p. 42.

Our Relation to Foreign Missions

Luk 15:31

This parable is a representation of the insider and the outsider in their relation to the kingdom of God’s grace; and you can begin to think about them in no better way than that they are brothers. It would be interesting and instructive to be told what the brother in hunger and wretchedness thought of his well-fed brother at home. It would be interesting to know what the heathen thinks of the Christian after he has lived next to him Christian trader, soldier, missionary. But it is better still to listen to the voice of the Father. That we can do by the aid of this parable (a) We can see the position of the elder brother as regards his father, and (b) his relation to the man far away.

I. His relation to his father is described ‘Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine’. Let us mark the splendour of the position, the position of the child at home with God. The opportunity of constant and close intercourse, a deepening knowledge of His goodness and His love, His manifestation of it every day; the privilege of service, the possibility of complete and close confidence, fellowship, loving co-operation. That is the ideal. But really we have a picture of a man who sets no high value on these privileges. Meanwhile, you perceive a grievance lying in his mind. He had not been sufficiently rewarded for his labour, and he breaks out into complaining. Now it is by no means certain that the Christian people of today are conscious of the magnificence of their inheritance what Paul calls the riches, the exceeding riches of His grace. Many are following Christ in the pathway of duty, few rejoicing with a joy unspeakable.

II. But there is another and a deeper shadow to be seen in the parable a shadow which must in the nature of things alienate the father and the son. What is the father thinking about every day? The child far away. What is the elder brother thinking about? Anything but that. Evidently his own farming and the excellence of his deserts his own needs and merits. Does this not bring out sharply before your eyes the solitude of God in redemption? We have yet to learn how high a value God sets upon our relation to our fellow-men, and how completely that relation affects our relation with Him. Two things stand out in perfect clearness, to my mind at least. One is that the heathen is at the swine-trough. The other thing that is clear is the restless longing of the Divine heart to bring them all not a few of them, but all home to God, to be satisfied with the bountiful provisions of His grace.

Charles Brown, Light and Life, p. 235.

References. XV. 31. R. Rainy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlix. p. 263. F. B. Woodward, Sermons (1st Series), pp. 114, 135. John Watson, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lviii. p. 129. J. H. Jellett, The Elder Son, p. 1. R. J. Campbell, Christian World Pulpit, vol. lxi. p. 328. XV. 31, 32. J. Keble, Sermons for Lent to Passion-tide, p. 451. J. Denton Thompson, God and the Sinner, p. 144.

The Joy of Finding

Luk 15:32

These three parables illustrate what may be called the joy of finding. It has sometimes been urged against the whole trio that whilst they speak of the lost soul’s return to God there is no mention of the distinguishing characteristic of the plan of salvation in any one of them. But the parable only brings into prominence that which it was spoken to illustrate. What gave rise to the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin and the prodigal son was this. Certain Pharisees and scribes grumbled and murmured, with a great deal of noise, at the kind of people, publicans and sinners, that the Blessed Saviour was pleased to receive. When He heard this grumbling and murmuring He spoke these parables. The purport of the saying was not a bit to explain the way of salvation, but to show, that receiving this kind of people is just the object for which He came into the world, just to show, that receiving sinners is exactly the course that God is always longing to pursue, appealing to the lost, seeking for them and, if it may be, recovering them back again.

What the Saviour intended to teach was this:

(1) The condition of heart, or the condition of soul that God is pleased to meet with a blessing; and

(2) The everlasting joy of God in giving the blessing.

The parables bring into view not only the fact that we are lost but three of the various respects in which it is true that we are lost. The parables set them forth in what you may call an ascending scale, of which the parable of the prodigal son, the last and the chiefest, is the ultimate climax.

I. Lost in Respect of our Happiness. The lost sheep.

II. Lost in Respect of our Usefulness. The lost coin.

III. The Guilt of Estrangement. And then you have the great climax of all reached in the parable of the prodigal son, where you step for the first time into the higher region of consciousness the higher region of moral action, moral responsibility; and in the parable of the prodigal son for the first time you see the guilt of estrangement.

IV. The Preciousness to the Owner. In all these parables you will notice that that which is lost is represented as being exceedingly precious to the person who lost it, and, more than that, in every case, it was the loser that felt the loss most. The coin did not feel it a bit, the sheep hardly felt it at all, I do not know whether the prodigal son seems to have felt it until he was pressed to the very extremest, but God feels our loss and estrangement from Him far more than we feel it ourselves. And then notice, the parable is full of expressions which illustrate the welcome which God gives to recovered souls. Take the parable of the lost sheep, ‘He layeth it on His shoulders, rejoicing’; take the parable of the woman who had lost that bit of money, ‘She calleth her friends and her neighbours together’; and in the third parable you have the same thing, ‘There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth’. It is often preached that God is willing to save souls. That is only part of the truth, it is only the narrowest, tiniest half of the truth. He loves to do it, because God’s heaven is made distinctly happier by sinners entering into it.

References. XV. 32. C. S. Horne, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xlv. p. 380. XVI. Expositor (4th Series), vol. p. 114; ibid. (6th Series), vol. vii. p. 273. XVI. 1. R. W. Hiley, A Year’s Sermons, vol. ii. p. 64. S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year (2nd Series), vol. ii. p. 74. XVI. 1, 2. H. P. Liddon, Sermons on Some Words of Christ, p. 177. XVI. 1-9. Expositor (6th Series), vol. vi. p. 34. XVI. 1-12. Ibid. (4th Series), vol. vii. p. 21. XVI. 1-13. J. Laidlaw, Studies in the Parables, p. 121.

Fuente: Expositor’s Dictionary of Text by Robertson

The Prodigal Son

Luk 15

The man was a man of substance. It may be a fortunate or an unfortunate circumstance, as events may prove. There is nothing wrong in being a substantial man in society; yet the very fact of a man having great riches may be one of the greatest calamities that ever occurred in his life. The younger son did not say, “Father, I am tired of a lazy life, and now I am determined to do something for my own bread. I have been turning over this great problem of life in my mind, and I find that life is a responsibility, life is a discipline, and though I have been born under circumstances of conspicuous advantage, yet I think it right to go out and do something to make my own position, to establish my own title, to be called and to be treated as a man.” What did the young man say? He said, “Father, I am a youth of fortune; please give to me the portion of goods that falleth to me.” He had been scheming, it appears, but scheming in a wrong direction. He had been scheming in the direction of self-enjoyment; he was going out to taste the sweets of liberty; the time had come, in his consciousness, when he thought that he would enjoy a little more freedom, and the first notion that occurred to him was to get clear of his father. Many a man has had precisely the same lucky suggestion presented to his mind by the great enemy. The father has stood in the way; the father’s old-world notions have been impediments in the path of supposed progress and enjoyment and liberty; and the young man’s great concern has been to get rid of his own father! It looks well. “Let me open a door in my father’s house, go into the wide world with the portion of goods that falleth to me, and all will be sunshine and beauty, music and rest.” It is evident that the young man was not a man of robust understanding; yet he was not to be blamed for having had very little experience of the world. He thought that life would be enjoyable if only he had liberty. I propose now to follow him in his journeyings, to see what his experience was, to collect it for the advantage of all who need a moral exhortation upon this point, and to inquire at last whether there cannot be some better way of spending the days which God has put into our keeping as a trust.

The young man gathered all together, took his journey into a far country, thinking that the farther from home the sweeter and larger would be the liberty. I fear he has planned something in his heart, which he would not like to do just within the neighbourhood of his own father’s house. If not, he gave way to the sophism which exercises a very malign influence upon a good many of us, namely this: That we must go a long way off in order to be blest, not knowing that the true blessing grows just at arm’s length, forgetting that the fountain of the truest joy springs within us and not outside of us. Yet how many there are who travel mile on mile to get joy, to secure rest; when they are forgetful of the fact that they might have it without going out of themselves, except in so far as they go into God and truth and purity!

The young man has gone then, and a merry day he has of it at first. His pockets are full, he has health on his side, many a pleasant memory sings to him, he has not yet tasted of the bitterness of life. It would be cruel if a man who is going to serve the devil could not have just a few hours of introductory enjoyment, or something that he mistakes at least for delight. A man cannot cut off good ties all in a moment; the ligaments require some time to get thoroughly through; and whilst the spell of old memories and traditions is upon the man he imagines that he is going out into a large and wealthy place, and that every step he takes is a step in the direction of comfort and honour. When he got into the far country what did he do? He wasted his substance in riotous living; stepped out of liberty into license. At one bound he seems to have cleared the region of discipline and entered into the sphere of licentiousness. He wasted his substance. There is nothing so easy as waste. It does not require any genius to waste property, to waste beauty, to waste life. Any man can waste what he has. It is easy to do the destructive part of life’s work; the difficulty is to gather, to accumulate, to amass, and yet to hold all that has been brought together in the right spirit, and to administer it to the right ends. Why did he show such bad skill? How does it come that in a moment he was master of the art of wasting? Because he had never mastered the art of earning his own living. Everything had been provided for him. When he came down to breakfast towards ten, the family hour being seven in the morning he found the things still waiting for him, and at dinner he found the table lavishly spread without his having worked for a single morsel of food that was upon the board; when he was sick the physician was within call; and when he felt any desire to please himself his father and his mother were but too ready to gratify his desires. Now the young fool goes out into the world to find his joy in wasting, destroying, trampling under foot all the things that he has got! And what blame? We wonder if the rod ought not first to have been used upon his father? It is a question (if we may modernise the instance) whether the old man at home was quite blameless in this matter. But so it is; men mistake enjoyment and the scope of pleasure; they forget that in the absence of discipline there can be no true profound enjoyment of any of the greatest gifts of God. He who escapes discipline escapes one of the purest enjoyments; he who mistakes license for law goes downward to the pit at a rapid rate! Let us read:

“And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want” ( Luk 15:14 ).

Such men help to bring about famines, men who eat all and produce nothing, men who are consumers and non-producers. These are the men that make famines. A man that will eat up a whole wheatfield and do nothing in the way of sowing, is the man that will make a famine anywhere, logically, necessarily. He is eating, appropriating, consuming, absorbing, never working, never doing anything in return. Why, here is cause and effect. The man is eating the things that are round about him, and when the last meal has gone, he says, “There is a famine in the land.” Of course there is. A man cannot always go on consuming and not producing without soon coming to the end of his patrimony, and finding a famine staring him in the face. “And when he had spent all” all that he possessed admitted of being spent! You see my meaning? He had nothing that could not be spent. All that he had was outside of him. A man could get through the very stars of heaven if every one of them was a golden coin; a man could spend the sands upon the seashore if every sparkling atom was a silver coin! He could get through it all and be a pauper at the last! Who is he, then, who cannot spend all? A man who lives spiritually, a man of character, of purpose, of high conception, of noble sympathy, a man who knows truth and loves truth never can spend his fortune. Once that fortune was attempted to be described, and the words of the description I remember well. “An inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and that fadeth not away.” May I ask any young man what he possesses in the way of property, substance, security? If he says that all he has is outside of him, then I say it is very possible for him to get through it all, and at the last be compelled to face a famine. Gold can be spent; ideas cannot be wasted by the wise man. There is that scattereth, and yet increaseth; there is that withholdeth more than is meet, and it tendeth to poverty. Be sure of this, that any man in society who has not given back a fair equivalent for what he gets in the way of bread, and dress, and physical blessing, is the man who is working mischief in society, that man is one of the causes of destitution and famine.

“And he began to be in want” ( Luk 15:14 ).

A new experience came upon him. And oh! it is pitiful when a man who has never known want just begins to feel it. Better be born at the other end of things; better be born in poverty than in riches to be spent so. You should have seen him when he felt the first pang. It was pitiful! The man had a fine face; there was a gentle expression upon it at times, all the signs and tokens of refinement had not been quite taken out of it; and when the young man began to feel the pain of want, I was sorry for him; I saw his blanched face, and saw him look round as if he might see his father somewhere, or his mother, and there was nothing but strangers, emptiness, desolation! He called out, and the mocking echo answered him. It was very sad, but it was right, it was right! If a man can go upon a course like that, and at the end of it be prosperous and joyful, having fulness of satisfaction) why, then, life is not worth having, and destiny is cruelty. I saw him in want, friendlessness, pain, hunger; and, though I feel that it might have been myself standing there, yet I own that it was right.

“And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine” ( Luk 15:15 ).

But could he do nothing better than feed swine? No There was the great mischief. His father (again we modernise the instance) had never taught him a trade. Shame on his father! We blame the father more than we must blame the young man, in so far as this may be true. What could the young man do? Nothing. He had no skill in his fingers; he had no power of putting things together so as to make a living out of them. All he could do was the meanest work, he could feed swine. Do you feel it to be somewhat a hardship, young man, that you are sent to work? It is the beginning of your prosperity, if rightly accepted. Do you say that you ought to have been something finer? There is time to prove how far you are worthy of elevation and honour. Meanwhile, whatever you are, do your work with all patience, believing that he who does so will in the end have a sufficient and appropriate reward. Let us follow him in his menial employment and see how it fares with him, with him who was once so pampered, who was the delight of the household and the hope of his father’s life.

“And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him” ( Luk 15:16 ).

Is that true? It is literally true. Is it true in this young man’s experience? Then it is true in ours. We cannot allow any dispute upon this for a moment, so far as the book is concerned, because the same thing is done every day amongst ourselves. While the man spent his substance in riotous living he had friends, he had companions; there were many who shared his bounty and hospitality, where are they now? They are not within his call; they do not know him now. He spent his money freely, and so long as he had any left they lived with him, and were his friends they prostituted that sweet and holy name friend, in order that they might the better accomplish their own purposes; and as soon as they saw him lay down the last coin, and they had helped him to devour it. they turned their backs upon him and declared they never knew him! No man gave unto him, though he had given to so many men. Bad men always disappoint their victims. Bad men always make dupes and leave them. I would to God I could teach that thoroughly, effectively. The bad man cannot be a friend! The bad man who follows you, tracks you about, waits for you at the ware-house door, and spends your substance for you, cannot be a friend. He looks like a friend, but he is an enemy in disguise. “He apparently loves my company.” Not a bit of it! He loves what you have; he loves your money. “He seems to prefer my society to anybody else’s.” He will ruin you to suit his purpose! The bad man cannot be a friend. He can be a sneak; a vampire; he can suck your blood, but he cannot be a friend! Only he can be a friend who can suffer for you, sympathise with you, own you in darkness as well as in light, defend you in danger, as well as smile upon you in the time of prosperity. I know this to be true. It has been burnt into our history as with a red-hot iron. This is no poet’s fancy; this is no touch of dramatic genius, this is sadly, tragically, awfully true. It is not long since that a case in point occurred within the sphere of my own observation. A young man was taken up by a crafty villain, pursued by him, flattered by him, he could call upon this man to do what he pleased for him; there was plenty of money on the one side, and a bottomless pit of perdition on the other, along with a smooth outside, with a fair tongue, with a gentle tone of expression. As long as there was any property to be squandered the villain was at hand. He would do anything; set the young man up houses, and find him means of so-called enjoyment; he was his right-hand man, making all his arrangements, opening all the gates for him, and indicating the road that he was to take. And when the young man had spent thousands upon this policy, it came of course to a break, it came to a crisis. Where was his friend? Did he turn round and say, “I will be your friend still”? No. He said, “I will drag that young man through the mire.” This was not an accident a single separate event standing by itself. It is a doctrine, a truth, that badness never can be sincere, that badness is always selfish, and that selfishness will always allure and destroy its dupes. And the young man’s future went so. The old man at home perhaps had some difficulty in getting the property together. He used to be a workman himself, a man of good understanding and of great industry in matters of business, and it took him some twenty-five years to amass the property, and the young man spent it in a month! Be your own executor; you lay up money and you know not who will spend it You say, “Five seven ten thousand for my youngest boy. That will be a nice start in life for him; he will never know hardship as I have known it; he will never have to eat brown bread as I have eaten it; he will begin in very comfortable circumstances, and be able to take a very high position at once.” Take care! He may spend it in a fortnight! See, at one toss of the dice your estate may be gone! He may be doing but a poor thing for his child who tries to turn nine thousand into ten thousand for him. Better send him to shoe-blacking, to crossing-sweeping, better make him a boy waiting in the shop, than so to train him as not to know the value of what you have amassed for his advantage. It may seem hard that he should begin where you began; but depend upon it that unless the young man be of singularly high principle and fine integrity, you are laying up for him that which will turn into a scorpion and sting him!

“And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” (Luk 15:17 .)

Mark the beauty of the expression, When he came to himself. All sin is insanity; all wickedness is madness. A wicked man is not himself. He has lost self-control; all his best memories have been darkened or forgotten; and he is no longer to be counted a sane man in the true and proper sense of that term. Wickedness blinds the intellectual faculties, disorders a man’s vision spiritual, intellectual, moral; gives him exaggerated notions of all other persons and things. A course of wickedness has a madhouse at the end of it! How much we are mistaken upon this matter of insanity. We think only those persons insane who are imprisoned in asylums, who are restrained by a strait waistcoat, who have watchers and keepers appointed over them. We say about such, “Poor creatures, alas! they are insane!” not knowing that there is an insanity of wickedness, a moral insanity, and of all insanity moral insanity is the worst. Responsibility begins there. If a man’s reason be blighted, then responsibility goes along with it, he cannot distinguish the right hand from the left in morals. But where the insanity is moral, where there is a love of evil, where iniquity is rolled under the tongue as a sweet morsel, then there is obligation, there is responsibility, and where there is responsibility there is the possibility of damnation! “When he came to himself.” He never would have come to himself but for his poverty, his desertion, his pain. So, Almighty God has strange ministers in his sanctuary. All his ministers are not mere speakers of holy and beautiful words. He hath employed some grim teachers to instruct a certain class of mankind in the first principles of right: grief, hunger, pain, homelessness, ill-health, desertion. These are all the hired servants of the Father. He sends them out after sons that have left the old, dear home. This young man had to thank his swine-feeding, his experience of famine, his homelessness, as the beginning of his better life. Many of us probably have had to do precisely the same thing. We found no religion in luxury; no altar in the carpeted room; so long as we had everything within reach and call, our hearts never went out of us in incense of praise, in utterance of prayer. Not until we were breadless, homeless, until we exchanged fatherhood for citizenship; not until we got under influences that were keenly bitter and tormenting in their effects, did we begin to know that we had done wrong. Some of us, again, have had to thank God for poverty, for ill-health, for friendlessness, for being left out on the streets, without bread to eat or a pillow to rest upon, the rain dashing into our faces and no man knowing us. It was then we called for God, and it was then the Father met us! What did the young man say? Did he say, “Now I have taken this step, I cannot retrace it; I have said farewell to my father, I am not the man to succumb, to go back to my father’s door and say, ‘Please be kind enough to open this door to me again.’ No, no; I will rise up from this state of poverty I have been suffering by a heavy hand I will yet make a man of myself; I will get back my fortune, I will renew my companions, and my latter time shall be better than my first”? If he had done so he would have shown but another phase of his insanity. He took the right course; he humbled himself; he got a right view of his way. He felt it to have been bad bad in its purpose, bad in its conception, bad in its whole course. He said, “I will go without a defence; I will get up no argument; I will not explain how it came to be; I will just go and throw myself at his feet and say, ‘Make a servant of me, only take me back again.'” He won the battle then! The moment he threw off his pride, the moment he said, “I shall not stand before him, but fall down at his feet,” he was victor! So long as there is a spark of pride left in a man, as between himself and God, a great battle has to be fought. So long as a man thinks he can make out a sufficient statement, an explanation of how he came to be wrong, and to do wrong, and can defend himself, in some degree at least, he is far from the kingdom of heaven.

What, then, is this that we have to say? This: there must be no excusings, no pleadings, no apologies, arguments, defences or palliations. Man must surrender; he must say, “There is no health in me; I yield; I have grieved thee, insulted thee, wounded thee: it seems as if I never could be a son again. Make something of me in thy house still. I will keep a door, I will follow the poorest of thy servants to be his servant, only have me somewhere in thy care, dear, grieved, brokenhearted Father!” When a man begins to talk so he is saved is saved! The young man went forward with his speech, a beautiful speech, not a single strain of selfishness in it; all a speech of condemnation, self-renunciation. He got so far with it, and the father interrupted him, fell on his neck, and kissed him, and said, “Make a son of him again.” It is God’s way with the sinner. He never lets us finish our speech of penitence. We struggle and sob on to about a comma, or at most a semicolon, and then his great love comes down and says, “That will do; begin again; begin at the Cross, my son; my child, begin at the Cross!” Were I to talk through many hours, even until sunrise, I could say no more than this, that a right state of acceptance before God is a state of self-abhorrence, self-distrust, self-renunciation. So long as we stand, God will not have anything to do with us, because he cannot. But when we fall down at his feet; when we feel our nothingness and own it it is then that he would put all heaven into our hearts.

Personal Pronouns

Luk 15

We have often lectured on the parable of the prodigal son without bringing out these pronouns vividly and emphatically: “My son”; “thy brother “; “let us eat, and be merry.” “My”; “thy”; “us.” The prodigal has his own pronoun; he says, “I will arise, and go to my father,” not my brother’s father, but my own. Repeat these pronouns “my,” “thy,” “us.” We cannot keep great joys in the singular number. You must at one point or another pluralise. Let us follow the course of this little river pronominal.

“My son.” The father recognised facts. He said, “My son was dead.” He was not in a school, he was not a boy of equivocal behaviour; he was not a diamond oft colour, a little yellow but still a diamond. The father did not thus confuse his own understanding and conscience. He looked facts dead in the face. Until we do that we can make no sound progress. We shall never evangelise the world if we think the world is only in a swoon. The Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost. He has not come to prop up a reeling polity; he is going to reconstruct shattered ruin. “Dead” how dead? There is a dead that has poetry in it; there is a dead, a death, which means that the family have taken a bulb and planted it, sure that it will flower in heaven. That is not death: but the dear friend is thus merely planted or sown. We might sing at such a planting. But for this poor little natural feeling of ours which overflows its own narrow channels, we might sing loud sweet psalms in the cemetery, praising God that another bulb was put into the earth with the assurance that it would be all flowers presently. The son was not dead in this sense, or the father never would have wished him back again; he would have made no feast for him if he had returned. Given the conviction, not the mere sentiment, that our departed ones are in heaven, and when we are asked to give a judgment in the court of the highest reason and reverence, we should say, Do not disturb them, let them alone in their high ecstasy; it is too cold down here for such as they are now. “Dead ” twice dead, all dead; the body alive but the soul dead; understanding, conscience, imagination, heart, all the highest powers and qualities of the soul dead. That is death. Death is not the worst evil that can befall any man or any family or any nation. There are living men who are too dead to be buried, there are living forces emitting continual and devastating pestilence. When we have them in the house the house is no longer sweet; though we open all the windows of the dwelling and let in the strongest west wind, it cannot quell that miasma. Such were some of us: “we were by nature the children of wrath, even as others.” Do not let us trifle with realities, and say that the human heart is “not as good as it ought to be.” Whilst we are thus talking we never can understand Christ and his gospel. We must get to the tragedy of sin before we can get to the tragedy of the Cross. They go together; in a sense, they balance one another; in a sense they are equivalent to one another. If you set down a unit on the one hand and say that it is equal to a fraction on the other, you are arithmetically wrong; and if you set down sin on the one side as a mere offence against moral colour and the Cross on the other, then are you guilty of creating an infinite and shocking disproportion.

“Alive again” alive in his soul, in his conscience, in his reason, in his sense of right; alive in his broken-heartedness. That is the point at which true life begins. True life begins at contrition, at self-renunciation, at self-hatred. When we are most deeply in tears we are nearer than we ever were before our loudest, sweetest song. “Alive,” because he has come home. Life seeks the centre; life yearns for fatherhood; life turns round, as it were, and in dumb quest asks for home. The young man was alive the very moment he said, “I will arise.” He was alive before the father knew it. He had been alive some considerable time, walking on it may be day after day, for he had to come from “a far country”; yet he was alive all the time, and he himself hardly knew it. We sometimes pray without fully seizing all the meaning of the act. Many a man who would almost resent the idea that he prays cannot help praying, in some form, in some degree, in some sense. The yearning, the backward look to the things left long ago, the question in the heart as to how they all are at home; the unconfessed looking out for the post if haply there may be a letter from the old place: all these are aspects of prayer, they are expressions of desire, they are hints at a great gnawing want in the soul. It is a good thing for a man to have even a passing feeling of this kind. It is an excellent thing for a man to take pen and paper and sign some holy vow. He may break it tomorrow, but he has had four-and-twenty hours of it. That has done him good. He may not break it tomorrow; the four-and-twenty hours of release which he has had may prepare him for four-and-twenty more, and the eight-and-forty may constitute quite a defence between him and the old temptation. It is good for a man to come to his old church and hear one of the old hymn-tunes and try to take part in the singing, though it be musically but a poor part: somehow it connects him by fine filaments with things sacred and ineffable. The whole world is changed from that point of view; the grass is greener, and the birds never sang with so penetrating and comforting a trill before. These are all mysteries, but they are mysteries of education, they are all stimulants in an upward direction, they are all part of that marvellous and inexplicable apocalypse which we call Life.

“My son”: did not distance destroy both the noun and the pronoun? No. We go back to our mother tongue: and it was part of this man’s mother tongue to say concerning each of his children, “My son.” We are sometimes suddenly startled into our real way of speaking. There is a conventional way, or there is a way to which we have schooled ourselves, so that we say, The next time we meet the offender we will address him swiftly. So we might if we had a week’s notice of his coming; but the Lord oftentimes makes suddenness quite a part of his process of human education. Before we are aware of it there stands the man straight in front of us, the prodigal, the lost son, the lost daughter, and we have not time to do anything but cry. We were going to be very haughty; we were going to treat the offender off-hand. Trust the heart that was once really in love with you, that truly and deeply felt the necessity of your nearness and comfort; and though there may be for a time alienation between you, yet there shall come another time when the old language shall utter itself and familiar cries shall put down all the meaner music. John B. Gough told us of a husband who had acted so badly that he could no longer be kept in his own home. He had been taken into that home again and again, and again and again he had wrecked it. In his old age he thought he would try again. He found his way to his wife, who would not speak to him, or approach him, or have anything to do with him. She recited the story of her wrongs, and no honest man could listen to her without taking her side and rejecting the so-called husband as a plague intolerable. Mr. Gough was present at the interview. It was a fruitless communication. The old man, he said, rose to retire, and taking up his old muffler for his throat, he was trying with feeble and fumbling hands to put it on. He could not do so, and his wife gave it just one touch in the right direction: but that one touch brought her to herself; she fell on his neck and kissed him. It is the touch, the sudden impression, the unlooked-for vision, the thing we never calculated it is that that touches us with a new and higher, brighter and diviner relation.

Thy brother” The pronoun “thy” comes out of the pronoun “my,” “thy” because “my.” An hour before the elder brother had no brother. Even nominally he would reject and scout the idea, but the father called him “thy brother” because he first called him “my son.” Until we get the larger relation right we never can get the inferior relation put right. The one depends upon the other. Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, mind, strength, and it is out of that “and,” that copulative word, that falls all neighbourliness, all true fraternity, all sacred and noble quality. The mischief is that men will try to work the other way. Why do we attempt to overget gravitation? Gravitation never has been overcome but temporarily. The little lark overcomes it; the ascent of the lark is an argument against gravitation, but a very short and lame argument. The lark will soon come down again. Even larks, and singing birds of every name, and eagles, and eagles that dare the sun, soon tire of wrestling with gravitation. The action of gravitation in this sense is a movement from God to man, from the first commandment to the second; and until we have obeyed the first commandment we cannot touch the second, or if we do touch it we shall soon drop it again as involving a tremendous and impossible task. Here therefore stands the Church in its supreme majesty as the reformer and saviour of the world. It works along the right line, it keeps step with gravitation, it moves with the action of God. Of course, the elder brother had an argument. He is a despicable fool who cannot argue about something. He would be an intolerable person who could not find fault with some other person. That role is always open to us if we care to make havoc of life’s finest opportunities. Find a man with an argument, and you find a man with a grievance, and find a man with a grievance and he can never go into the feast. He feeds on hunger, he asks a blessing in the open air upon tables spread with nothing; he takes a pride in his very food. He is a homemade martyr to a homemade conscience. Never trouble about the elder brother. Why do preachers try to explain such a character? He is not worth explaining. You join the sacred revel, find your way to the interior banqueting-room where soul is brought to soul in new wedlock, and new fatherhood, in new sonship, and let the elder brother fill himself to satisfaction with the east wind.

“My” “thy” “us.” Who is meant by that “us”? The explanation is in the parable. The father said to his servants, Take such and such a course, “and let us eat and be merry.” And they began to be merry. It is a poor joy that does not overflow the parlour and get down to the kitchen. It is a party not worth going to if the servants are not interested in it; it is a mean, despicable kind of uninviting show; it is not a festival. Great emotions do not know who are men or kings or peasants or servants or masters. Great emotions touch our human nature; they are humane, civilising, fraternising, uniting, consolidating. Herein is the marvellous miracle that is wrought by Christian sympathy. Men who are under the influence of the Cross have all things in common. That rule has never been suspended and has never been put out of practice. There is a literal way of reading the story which ends in saying, All this sort of thing has passed away. Nothing of the kind. It cannot pass away. It is immortal because the love of Christ is eternal. Our love for Christ may have removed, our passionate loyalty to the Cross may have gone down in volume and quality. If we could bring back the love we could bring back the true communism. No man would say that anything he had was his own. Blessed be God that miracle is always possible. It is always possible that love to Christ may be so great, efflorescent, exuberant, that man shall simply forget his own individuality and petty concerns, and call all hunger to share his loaf. We shall certainly go down at the social end if we go down at the spiritual beginning. There is a law of cause and effect in these things. Keep up your religion if you would keep up your morality. Keep up your Christianity if you would keep up your socialism. Keep up your prayer if you would keep up your service. Knees unused to bending before God soon tire in endeavouring to run the errands of men.

Blessed be God for these eternal pronouns. You could not live on “it” and “they,” although “they” is plural enough to include a great many things. You want the “my,” the “thy,” the “us,” personal, warm, sympathetic, human. This is what Christ came to work out amongst us. This is Christ’s own sweet parable. The Man who spoke this parable ought not to have been crucified. This parable should have saved him from murder. It is a beauteous poem. It has the music of all generations in it. He who spake it was the Son of the carpenter so-called. True: but Christ was not murdered. The speaker of that parable never could have been merely killed. He gave himself. Said he, “I lay down my life: I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again.” That man was not a victim, he was a Priest. To his priesthood I call all the sons of men who have wandered into a far country.

Fuente: The People’s Bible by Joseph Parker

X

FIVE PARABLES: THE LOST SHEEP; THE LOST COIN; THE LOST BOY; THE UNJUST STEWARD; DIVES AND LAZARUS

Harmony, pages 123-125 and Luk 15:1-17:10 .

We are now in the section treating generally of the closing ministry of our Lord in all parts of the Holy Land, but particularly of his Perean ministry. We have already (in The Four Gospels, Volume I of this INTERPRETATION) learned what is a parable, etymologically and by usage; we have stated clearly the distinctions in the meaning between the word “parable” and such other words as proverb, allegory, illustration, fable, myth, and legend; we have given the principles of interpreting parables, particularly noting the discrimination between what is important and what is the mere drapery of the illustration, and we have noted the wisdom of our Lord in grouping parables so that the many sides of a great truth or of a complex subject may be shown.

It has been my custom, hitherto, particularly when considering our Lord as the great Teacher, to lay special stress on his method of teaching by parables. And to this end I have prepared a large chart showing, in the order of their occurrence and in the setting of their occasion, all of his parables, citing for each the page of the Harmony, the chapter and verse, and the leading thought, or principal lesson. Every Bible student, every Sunday school teacher should have such a chart. (For this chart see The Four Gospels, Volume I of this INTERPRETATION.)

Since there has been so much injudicious and even wild interpretation of the parables, I warn the reader against certain books purporting to expound them, and especially commend certain other books which treat generally of the whole subject in a masterly way and expound each particular parable on sane and profitable lines. And even now I delay the present discussion long enough to urge the reader to put into his library and to master by close study, the books of both Taylor and Trench on the parables. I do not endorse every particular statement, or detail, in either of the books, but on the whole I can commend them most heartily. To those who are more advanced in scholarship and general information, I commend in the same general way Edersheim’s discussion of the parables in his really great work The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah. What a pity that many young preachers, following the promptings of an unripe judgment, waste their scanty means for purchasing good books, and fill up their few shelves with not only profitless, but poisonous literature. But now to our subject.

It would not be difficult to show some connection between these parables and the others closely following in Luke’s Gospel, but it is more important just now to note the close connection between the two last parables of this group and the three parables immediately preceding, namely, the lost sheep, or one of a hundred; the lost coin, or one of ten; the lost boy, or one of two.

There five parables arise from one occasion, to wit, the censure of the Pharisees on our Lord’s receiving sinners, and make an incomparable group, surpassing in value all of the uninspired wisdom of the ancients and the philosophies of all heathen sages since the world began.

The first exhibits the attitude of mind toward sinners and his special work in their behalf, of God the Son, who, like a good shepherd, seeks and saves the lost. The second illustrates the part of God the Holy Spirit in the same salvation as a shining light which discovers the lost coin. The third discloses the heart of God, the Father, in receiving the penitent prodigal. The third also exhibits, in an inimitable way, the experience of the sinner himself in passing from death unto life, and all three vividly exhibit heaven’s joy at the salvation of the lost, in sharp contrast with earth’s scorn and censure. (For detailed explanation of the parable of the prodigal son see author’s sermon in Evangelistic Sermons .)

It is the purpose of the fourth, that is, the unjust steward, to teach a forward lesson to these saved publicans, viz., as God the ‘Son had come down from heaven to seek out and save them; as God the Spirit had shined into their hearts the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of his Son; as God the Father had embraced them coming in their penitence, and, as all the bells of heaven ring out their welcome, so, after salvation, they should offer their service and, the particular lesson is that the wisdom which prompted them as publicans to make provision for the future in time must now be applied to making provision for the future in eternity, else the “children of this world in their generation will be wiser than the children of light in their generation.”

The reader must not fail to note the mixed audience listening to these parables. The lesson of the unjust steward is indeed addressed primarily to his disciples, that is, mainly to the recently disciplined publicans, but yet in the hearing of the Pharisees, while the warning lesson of Dives and Lazarus is addressed primarily to the Pharisees, but yet in the hearing of the others. It is important to note that both parables have one theme, namely: “How the use or misuse of money in this world affects our status in the world to come, whether in heaven or hell.” But we must bear in mind that, while the parables in Luk 16 discuss-service and rewards, we must carefully hedge against the idea of any power in money to purchase heaven or evade hell. I repeat that the three preceding parables in Luk 15 teach us the way of salvation; the parable of the unjust steward, on the other hand, is addressed to saved men to show how their lives as Christians may yet affect their status in heaven. It is a matter of rewards, not salvation. Just so, the parable of Dives and Lazarus does not teach that the rich man was lost because of the wrong use of money, but that being already lost, his misuse of money in time aggravates his status in hell. Apart from salvation and damnation is the question of awards when saved or of aggravated suffering when lost. And as both parables have one theme, so one moral links them together indissolubly. That moral is, “And I say unto you, make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they [the friends made by it] may receive you into the eternal tabernacles.”

In the case of both parables the leading thought is that a reasonable mind should provide for the future, and that the use or abuse of what we have in time, whether opportunities, or talents, or money, does in some way affect our status in eternity. Other important things may be taught incidentally; and in the parable of Dives and Lazarus, particularly, other quite important things are certainly so taught but sound principles of interpretation require that first of all there should be due stress on the main point. With these premises in mind we now consider

THE PARABLE OF THE UNJUST STEWARD

As has been said, it is addressed primarily to “his disciples,” that is, particularly to the publicans recently discipled; that its purpose is to show that after their salvation comes service, with its appointed rewards in glory; that since the publicans, before their conversion, had endeavored to provide for their future on earth, so now as disciples they must with the same foresight, only better directed, provide for an eternal future; that for only a little while on earth they are blessed with opportunities and means of usefulness, and that these are held in trust. How then shall they be transmuted into eternal exchange? This grave question is answered by this illustrative parable. The substance of the story is this: A rich lord, on learning that his steward was wasting the substance entrusted to him, notifies him that he may no longer be steward, and orders him to give an account of his stewardship. This dishonest servant had no illusions, attempted no self-deceptions, but in a candid, practical way, looked the facts and the logic of the situation squarely in the face. He knew that his own books would confirm the accusation against him; that his office was inevitably lost; that there was no defense possible; and that there was no hope of future employment from his lord. He must, therefore, rely wholly on himself. He saw clearly and rejected both of the ordinary alternatives, hard manual labor or beggary. He felt himself unable to dig and was ashamed to beg. What remained then? In some way he must provide for his future. He was as quick to decide what to do as he was clear in his apprehension of the facts. Being only a child of this world, no moral scruples hampered his decision. Moreover, as the time was short he must be as prompt in action as in decision. Having yet the power of attorney that accompanies stewardship, his disposition of his employer’s interests would be legal. That point he must safeguard. So he proceeded at once to make friends in another direction by further misuse of his employer’s means, according to the saying, “In for a penny, in for a pound,” or “One may as well hang for a sheep as for a lamb.” Rapidly and separately he approached his lord’s debtors and by sharp reduction of the amount due in each case he succeeded in securing the good will and gratitude of each debtor. By that creative faculty, the imagination, he could vividly see each relieved debtor going home, and hear him tell the delighted family all about the kind offers of the friendly steward who sympathized with labor against capital; with the oppressed tenant against the bloated landlord. He argued: “Now, when I am cast out of this office these grateful debtors will receive me into their homes with welcome and hospitality, and so I shall be provided for the rest of my days with shelter and food without the necessity of digging or begging.” It is also true that he could hold in terror over these tenants the fact that they had knowingly conspired with him to defraud the landlord, but there is no hint in the parable that he relied upon exciting fear in the tenants, but friendship only. When his lord (not our Lord) heard of this new exploit of rascality, he could not but admire the sagacity and shrewdness with which the cornered steward had escaped from his dilemma and caught upon his feet with catlike dexterity. We must not for a moment suppose that in relating this story our Lord approves either the rascality of the steward or shares the employer’s commendation of his shrewdness. He is merely showing how children of this world, without thought of heaven or hell, do from their worldly viewpoint, make shrewd provision for the future in this life and how they apply a shrewdness that wins by any means without technically breaking any human law. He is showing how with practical business sense they are clear in their apprehensions of the facts of a case, quick to decide on a course, prompt to act on their decision, and ready to use all available means to attain their object.

The application is that “the children of light” from a higher viewpoint of the future, extending into an eternity of heaven and with higher moral standards, should so wisely use their fleeting wealth as to make it a friend, not an enemy; to make friends by it, who passing ahead into eternal habitations await to greet and welcome them when they arrive.

There is a difference between a mere entrance and an abundant entrance. Two ships sail from one harbor and are bound for the same port. Much depends upon skillful seamanship and the prompt use of all available means. Both reach the port of destination. One of them by bad seamanship arrives at last, a battered hulk, masts broken, shrouds riven, cargo damaged, and is towed by a tug into safe anchorage. It is much to get there at all. But the other arrives with every mast standing, every sail filed, freighted to the water’s edge with precious cargo, and flags flying. How joyous her welcome! Friends crowd the wharf to greet her coming. Salvos of artillery salute her. So, while salvation is one definite thing for all, the heavenly status of the saved is not one uniform, fixed quantity. In my Nashville, Tennessee address on the death of Spurgeon I gave an illustration of the meaning of the scripture, “Make to yourselves friends by means of the mammon of unrighteousness; that, when it shall fail, they may receive you into the everlasting tabernacles.” Spurgeon was saved by grace, not money; but he made wise use of his money in building orphanages, almshouses for widows, and his pastoral college. Orphans, widows, preachers were not only beneficiaries of his bounty, but many of them had been led to Christ by him, and others comforted and strengthened by his ministrations. Many of these died before he died, and waiting up there, welcomed him when the Master called him home.

THE PARABLE OF DIVES AND LAZARUS The parable of Dives and Lazarus shows another side of the same picture. It is addressed to the scornful Pharisees who were lovers of money and callous to human suffering, who lived with reference to this world and not at all with reference to the world to come. Keeping in mind first the main thought, that the misuse, or ill use, of money on earth will affect the final status in eternity, we may by a diagram make visible this leading thought, as the words make it audible (diagram on next page). From the upper left hand corner (marked A) is a line to the lower right hand corner (marked C). So from the lower left hand corner (marked B) is a line to the upper right hand corner (marked D). Then two perpendicular lines in the center, inclosing the crossing point of the diagonal lines. The perpendicular space is death; all to the left in this world; all to the right, the eternal world. In this world Dives has the upper place at A, faring sumptuously every day, while Lazarus has the lower place at B) starving with hunger for even the crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. In the other world the position of the two is reversed: Lazarus has the upper place (marked D) reclining at the heavenly banquet with Abraham, while the rich man has the lower place (marked C) starving with hunger and burning with thirst. It will be observed that death does not break the continuity of being in either case, nor interrupt the exercise of the senses of the disembodied soul. Both are alive, conscious, sensible (the one to enjoyment, the other to pain), seeing, speaking, hearing, feeling, remembering. It will further be observed that there is no midway stopping place for either after death, but both pass at once to a final place and state; to the one, a place and state of happiness; to the other, a place and state of wretchedness. It will be noted that in this world Lazarus may pass to the rich man and the rich man to Lazarus; not so after death; neither can pass to the other. Here wealth may help poverty and poverty may serve wealth. The rich man may send crumbs to hungry Lazarus. Yonder the opportunity is dead; Lazarus may not bring water to thirsty Dives. It will be more particularly observed that neither Dives nor Lazarus may return to this world for any service to the living; that opportunity is dead. The rich man, conscious that hell’s restrictions prevent his own return, pleads that one from heaven may return and bear a message for him. But the one from heaven is not permitted to return. Each has gone to a bourne from which no traveler, except One, has ever returned. If, therefore, we desire to make friends with our money or our service, we must do it in this world or never. If we desire to keep the lost from hell and lead them to salvation we must do it while we are living in the body and they are living in the body. If they die first, from earth we cannot help them by prayer, money, or service. If we die first, we cannot return to help them from either heaven or hell. In either case, so far as we are concerned, “their redemption must be let alone forever.”

The main thought is that while Dives and Lazarus were both living the rich man had an opportunity by means of the wealth entrusted to his stewardship to make a friend of Lazarus. But failing to use the means, when, at death his wealth failed, he, in his eternal habitation of woe could not have the friendly service of Lazarus. The parable implies that Lazarus was a Christian and the rich man an unconverted Jew, relying upon fleshly descent from Abraham. It does not teach that Lazarus went to heaven because he was poor in this world, but because in this world he prized future good above present good. Nor that Dives went to hell because he was rich in this world, but that he prized present good above future good. This is implied in the words of Abraham: “Son remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and Lazarus in like manner evil things: but now here he is comforted, and thou art in anguish.” Each man made deliberate choice. The rich man, according to the saying, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush,” preferred his good in time and despised eternity; the poor man elected eternal good instead of temporal good, and each reaped according to his sowing.

But let us consider more particularly the details of the story. Lazarus was laid at the rich man’s gate. This fact stops Dives from pleading ignorance of the special case. The opportunity to do good with his wealth was brought home to him who would not seek it. The destitution was real and great. The poverty, hunger, rags, and sores advertised themselves and all pleaded for help, though Lazarus, in the parable, utters no word. It is related that a traveler in Ireland coming upon a diseased, emaciated wretch, ill-clad in dirty rags, silently standing by the wayside, said, “Why are you dumb? Why don’t you ask for help?” “Can my mouth,” replied the miserable one, “speak louder than my rags and sores and skeleton bones?” Dives was abundantly able to help without impoverishing himself, as even crumbs falling from his table were desired. But he so fully trusted in his wealth he could not conceive that he ever might, himself, be in want. He had no realization that death would strip him of all he possessed and send him bankrupt into eternity. He could not conceive that he ever would be in a situation to desire the help of Lazarus. We can almost hear him saying, “What impertinent busy-body thrust this disgusting nuisance upon my attention? Let every man take care of himself. When I put money out it is to make more money. It is absurd to think that I should ever need, in return, anything that this diseased and helpless beggar could do. I do not care for his friendship or good will. And so let him die the sooner the better.” And the beggar died; the rich man never expected to see or hear of him again. He could not see the angels bearing the disembodied soul to heaven. He could not see heaven’s banquet table awaiting the starved pauper. He could not see his place of honor, resting his head on Abraham’s bosom as he reclined at the table, even as the head of the beloved John rested on the bosom of his Lord at the Last Supper. “The rich man also died,” and, what a revelation! All his wealth gone! Gone all his purple and fine linen, all his obsequious servants! And, oh, this burning thirst, this eternal hunger! With uplifting eyes seeking help he sees the sore-smitten, rag-covered, starving Lazarus of earth, now healed, now in shining apparel whose sheen out-glistens all his fine linen in time, now feasting at a banquet whose viands far surpass his own sumptuous, everyday fare on earth, now resting his head on the heart of glorified Abraham.

What a revelation! What a reversal of earth’s conditions! What an overthrow of his time confidence that he was a true child of Abraham! But shall he not still think to himself that Abraham is his father? Is he not a Jew and shall not a Jew claim relationship with the father of the Jews? In his torment may he not appeal to his father?

HE PRAYS Mark where he prays. In hell.

Mark to whom he prays. To one of the heavenly saints, Abraham.

Mark for what he prays. One drop of water.

Mark for whose service he prays. “Send Lazarus.”

Mark how small a part of Lazarus. “The tip of his finger.”

These questions thunder:

May prayers in hell avail?

May prayers to saints avail?

Can the thirst of hell be quenched?

May the saved in heaven minister to the lost in hell?

THE ANSWER “Son” The fleshly relation acknowledged.

“Remember” So memory survives death.

Remember what? The supreme choice of time. “In yonder world you preferred your good things and Lazarus had his evil things.”

The appeal to reason: “Now here he is comforted and thou there art in anguish.” So reason survives death. So time fruits in eternity. So is the law of cause and effect inexorable: “What a man sows that shall he also reap.”

The answer reveals another law, viz.: One may not invoke the service of friendship where no friend was made. The rich man, wretched in eternity, had no title to the services of Lazarus, whose wretchedness he had ignored in time.

The answer reveals a far greater law: Between the saved in heaven and the lost in hell yawns a fixed and impassable gulf. No saint in heaven may pass to hell on a mission of mercy. No lost soul may after death enter heaven.

HE PRAYS AGAIN

Mark what he accepts that his own case is without remedy. “I pray thee therefore Father” i.e., since no help can come to me.

Mark what he remembers: “I have five brothers in yonder world,” not yet forever lost.

Mark what he implies: It is as if he said, “I am now at last concerned for their future. I am now troubled at the thought of my influence over them. They looked to me as the head of the family. They imbibed my spirit. They endorsed my business maxims. They are following in my footsteps. I hear them coming! They are under my delusions. They are nearing the boundary line of death. I am in great anguish already, but if they come here my anguish will be greater, my hell enlarged. Then, must I eternally remember that my influence dragged them here. Oh, my brothers! My brothers! I cannot myself return to warn them. Hell’s restrictions forbid. I am in prison, in everlasting chains.”

Mark what he prays for: “Send Lazarus to my father’s house.” Ah! He needs again the friendship and service of Lazarus. Send him for what? “That he may testify unto them; lest they also come into this place of torment.” Let us suppose that the testimony was permitted. He comes to the house he so well remembers, the house whose portals were shut against him in time when he was in need. He obtains an audience. “I am Lazarus, who died unpitied and unhelped at your gate. From that very gate angels carried my soul to recline at the banquet with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven, while you were carting off my body and rattling my bones in a pauper’s grave. In that glorious place and company we heard a voice from hell, the voice of your brother in torment. That voice said, ‘Send Lazarus to my father’s house to testify to the reality, certainty, and eternity of the heaven and hell in which they do not believe, and to tell my brothers not to come to this place of torment.’ So here I am, risen from the dead, with testimony and message from the eternal world. I testify that I saw your brother lost forever, and bring you his very words.” But be was not permitted.

The answer: “They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.” That is, they have light enough. God’s written inspired Word is sufficient. Or, as teaches Paul: Every one of these holy writings is God-inspired and is profitable for teaching what one should believe or do, and for convicting one of any error in belief or deed, and for correcting the error of belief or deed, and for training one into right belief or deed that one should be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work. What more light is needed?

THE DESPERATE PERSISTENCE of A LOST SOUL

“Nay, father Abraham: but if one go to them from the dead, they will repent.” Ah! The incorrigible blindness and delusions of the lost! They keep on affirming that they need more light, when what they need is an eye to see the light and a heart to walk in the light. If our God’s light be hid, it is hid to them whom the god of this world has blinded. Their condemnation is, that light has come into the world, but they love darkness rather than light because their deeds are evil. All whose deeds are evil hate the light and shun it.

The final answer: “If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, if one rise from the dead.” This very Moses suffered not a wizard, witch, necromancer, or soothsayer to live, because they taught the people that messages from the dead could be obtained throwing more light on the other world than shines in God’s revelation. Isaiah, the most evangelical of the prophets taught: “And when they shall say unto you, Seek unto them that have familiar spirits and unto the wizards, that chirp and that mutter: should not a people seek unto their God? On behalf of the living should they seek unto the dead? To the law and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no morning for them” (Isa 8:19-20 ).

Now let us impress our minds with a brief restatement of some of its great doctrines, expressed or implied:

1. At death probation ends, character crystallizes, the constant tendency to fixedness of type reaches its consummation. This is evident because in all the Scriptures there is no hint that any man is brought into judgment for speech, thought, or conduct after death. The final judgment is only on “deeds done in the body.” But if there were probation after death there must needs be judgment for deeds done out of the body. As the tree falls, so it lies. He that dies just remains just, and he that dies unjust is raised unjust.

2. There is no half-way stopping place between death and the final place of happiness or woe. The banquet feast at which Lazarus reclined, leaning his head on Abraham’s bosom, is in “the kingdom of heaven.”

The tormenting flame into which the rich man was cast was the real and only hell for the soul. The body after the resurrection will go to the same place. It is true that the word in this parable is Hades, not Gehenna. But Hades means only the invisible world where disembodied spirits go, whether good or bad. The idea of hell is not in the word Hades, but in the torment and flame into which the rich man enters, its irretrievable nature and its eternal fixedness. There is no purgatory from which souls may ascend after purification unto heaven, or becoming confirmed in wickedness, pass on to hell. Therefore, all prayers for the dead are without scriptural warrant. Lazarus and Dives each passed at once without a pause to his final home.

3. No saint or sinner after death can return to earth in behalf of or against the living. Going from this world to the next, death is passable; returning from the other world, it is impassable.

All attempts through mediums, necromancers, wizards, and witches or spirit-rapping is expressly contrary to God’s law and does despite to the sufficiency of God’s revelation.

4. We should not pray to the saints, but unto God only. Jesus Christ is the one Mediator between God and man, and we need no human mediator between ourselves and Jesus. He is more approachable, more willing to hear than Mary or Peter or Paul. They are but sinners themselves saved by grace.

The stupendous system of Mariolatry is one of the most blasphemous heresies ever propagated by priestcraft. The only prayer to a saint in heaven recorded in the Bible is the prayer of Dives in hell to Abraham, and every request was denied.

5. We should stand upon the impregnable rock of the Holy Scriptures as the sufficient means of light in defining creed and deed.

6. Between the saved and lost, from death to eternity, there is a fixed and impassable gulf. On earth the saved may go to the lost in order to seek their salvation or the lost may hopefully appeal to the saved for help, but after death no saved man can pass over to the lost in any kind of helpful ministration, not even to carry on the tip of one finger a single drop of water to cool the tongue.

The parable, as a whole, and in all its parts, stresses the thought: Now, not hereafter, is the day of salvation.

QUESTIONS

1. Where are we in the discussion of the life of our Lord, generally and particularly?

2. What instruction on parables precedes the discussion at this point?

3. What books are commended on the parables?

4. What parables constitute the group which are discussed in this chapter, what was their occasion, and what is the direct connection of the two last with the preceding ones of the group?

5. What is the purpose of the parable of the unjust steward?

6. To whom was the parable of the unjust steward addressed, to whom the parable of Dives and Lazarus, and what is their common theme?

7. In interpreting these parables what teaching must be hedged against; and what is the moral of both?

8. What question is answered by the parable of the unjust steward?

9. What is the substance of the story?

10. What are the points illustrated by our Lord in this parable as it relates to the children of this world and what is the application?

11. Illustrate the difference between mere entrance and an abundant entrance into heaven.

12. How is this truth illustrated in the life of Spurgeon?

13. Give the diagram showing bow the misuse of money on earth affects the final status in eternity, as illustrated by the parable of Dives and Lazarus.

14. What three observations worthy of note relative to the change wrought by their exit from this world?

15. What changes have been wrought as to possibilities & opportunities each?

16. What does the parable imply, what does it not teach and what the basis of the implication?

17. Show how the opportunity came to Dives in this world, illustrate how he disposed of his responsibility and the reversed state of Dives and Lazarus in eternity.

18. Dives prays, where, to whom, for what, whose service asked, how much, and what four questions arise from this prayer?

19. What is the answer to this prayer and what three laws revealed?

20. What was his second prayer, what does he accept, what does he remember, and what does he imply?

21. What was the answer, what the meaning and application?

22. Show the desperate persistence of a lost soul and what the final answer.

23. What was the teaching of Moses and Isaiah on this very point?

24. What are the great doctrines of this parable expressed or implied?

QUESTIONS ON Luk 17:1-10

1. Why is it “impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come”? Answer: This arises from the sin of man and the domination of the devil.

2. What is the meaning of “stumbling”? Answer: Sin.

3. What is meant by “little ones” in Luk 17:2 ? Answer: Young converts.

4. What law of forgiveness is ‘here stated? Answer: That we must forgive those who repent of their sins against us. (See author’s discussion of this subject in The Four Gospels, Volume I of this INTERPRETATION.

5. What kind of faith is referred to in Luk 17:6 and what its nature? Answer: Miracle-working faith, which was temporary & passed away with apostolic age.

6. What is the lesson of the parable on unprofitable servants, and what of the Romanist doctrine to the contrary notwithstanding? Answer: The lesson here is that we cannot go beyond God’s law in works, and is a strong teaching against the Romanist doctrine of supererogation.

Fuente: B.H. Carroll’s An Interpretation of the English Bible

1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

Ver. 1. All the publicans and sinners ] Christ familiarized himself with these despised persons, and thereby much won upon them. Affability easily allureth, austerity discourageth; as it did that honest citizen, which having in himself a certain conflict of conscience, came to Master Hooper the martyr’s door for counsel; but being abashed at his austere behaviour, dared not come in, but departed, seeking remedy of his troubled mind at other men’s hands.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

1 7. ] THE LOST SHEEP. It does not appear where or when this [gathering of publicans and sinners to hear him] happened, but certainly in the progress of this same journey, and, we may well believe, consecutively on the discourses in the last chapter. This first parable had been spoken by our Lord before, Mat 18:12-14 ; but, as Trench has remarked, (Par. in loc.,) with a different view: there, to bring out the preciousness of each individual little one in the eyes of the good Shepherd; here, to shew that no sheep can have strayed so widely, but He will seek it and rejoice over it when found . The second is peculiar to Luke.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

1. ] ., were busied in drawing near were continually about Him, struck perhaps with penitence, found, by His seeking them: having come from the husks of a life of sin, to the bread of life; so the three parables seem to imply.

, a general term, admitting of course of exceptions, see ch. Luk 13:33 and note.

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 15:1-2 . Historic introduction . : either were in the act of approaching Jesus at a given time (Meyer), or were in the habit of doing so. The position of before in [124] [125] favours the latter (Schanz). On the other hand, it is not improbable that the reference is to the Capernaum gathering. We may have here, in fact, another version of that story taken from the Logia , the occasion slightly described, the words spoken carefully reported. In that case we may take following somewhat strictly, and not as a mere exaggeration of the evangelist’s. There were many at the feast. The aim was to have all the outcasts of the town present ( vide on Mat 9:9-13 ). True, they came to feast according to the other report, whereas here stress is laid on the hearing ( ). The festive feature is referred to in the complaint of the Pharisees ( , Luk 15:2 ). Of course there would be hearing as well as eating, and probably what the guests heard was just these same parables in slightly different form. In that case they served first as a gospel and then as an apologia .

[124] Codex Sinaiticus (sc. iv.), now at St. Petersburg, published in facsimile type by its discoverer, Tischendorf, in 1862.

[125] Codex Vaticanus (sc. iv.), published in photographic facsimile in 1889 under the care of the Abbate Cozza-Luzi.

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Luke Chapter 15

Luk 15:1-2

Nevertheless His words drew to Him the outcast and degraded, too wretched not to feel and own their need. The tax-gatherers and sinners, instead of bearing a repulse, were coming near, immensely attracted, to hear what they felt to be the truth, and what conscience bowed to, though they had never heard it before. They heard, indeed, that which they could not but perceive levelled the pretensions of proud men. For the Pharisees and scribes had no notion of following Jesus any more than of coming to Him. They deified self in the name of God. It was their own tradition they valued; and if they seemed to make much of the law, it was not because it was of God, but because it was given to their fathers and identified with their system. Their religion was a settled setting up of self – this was their idol. Hence they murmured at the grace of Christ toward the wretched. For the ways of Christ, like His doctrine, levelled all and showed, according to the subsequent language of St. Paul, that there is no difference. No doubt the man who is in quest of his own passions and pleasures will neither go to Christ nor follow after Him: still less will he who has got a religion of his own on which he plumes himself. Grace goes down to the common level of ruin that sin has already made. It addresses man according to the truth; and the truth is that all is lost. And where is the sense of talking of differences if people are lost? How blind to be classifying among those who are cast into perdition! To be there at all is the awful thing – not the shades of distinction in ways or character that may be found among those who are there. The tremendous fact is that, having all equally sinned against God and lost heaven, they are all equally consigned to hell.

But there is that also in the sayings of the Pharisees and scribes which shows that they, too, felt the point of the truth, and what they resented most was grace. For they murmured saying, “This [man] receiveth sinnerstid=60#bkm380a- and eateth with them.” Indeed He does; it is His boast. It is the going out of Divine love to receive sinners. And it was His grace as a man that deigned to eat with them. Had He not done so, with whom could He have eaten at all? But in truth, if He deigned to eat with men, He did not choose His company. He had come down and been manifested in the flesh expressly to manifest the grace of God; and, if so, He received sinners and ate with them.

Luk 15:3-7 .

Mat 18:12-14 .

The Lord answers in a parable – indeed, in three. But the first of them is that which we will look at now. He puts the case of a man – of themselves – having a hundred sheep. “if he loses one of them, doth he not leave the ninety and nine in the wildernesstid=60#bkm381- and go after that which is lost until he find it?” He appeals to them: not one of them but would go after his lost sheep and seek to recover it. With us, indeed, it is not a question here of our going in quest of Christ, but of the man Christ Jesus, the good Shepherd, going after us – that which was lost. Supposing a man has ninety-nine that did not so urgently call on his energetic efforts, he can leave the sheep that abide in comparative safety. The one that is in danger is that which draws out his love until he finds it. “And having foundtid=60#bkm382- it, he layeth it upon his own shoulders rejoicing.” It is evidently the work of the Lord Jesus that is set forth here. Who can fail to recognize in it the mighty manifestation of Divine love which characterized Jesus? It was He Who came, He Who undertook the labour; it was His to endure the suffering unto death, even the death of the cross; it was He Who found and saves the lost sheep; it is He Who lays it on His shoulders rejoicing. Whose joy can be compared with His? No doubt the sheep does reap the benefit; yet assuredly it was not the sheep that sought the Shepherd, but the Shepherd the sheep. It was not the sheep that clambered on His shoulders, but He that laid it there with His own hand. And who shall pluck it thence? It was all, all His work. It was the sheep that strayed; and, the longer it was left to itself, the farther it got away from the Shepherd. It was the work of the Lord Jesus, then, both to seek and to save.

But further, He has His joy in it, though it goes forth far beyond the object of His care. “And having come to the house, he calleth together the friends and the neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.” It is altogether to forget the fullness of love that there is in God and in Christ Jesus our Lord, to suppose that it is merely a question of the sinner’s need to be saved or his joy when he is. There is a far deeper joy; and this is the foundation of all proper worship. In fact, our joy is not the mere sense of our own personal deliverance, but our appreciation of His delight in delivering us, His joy in our salvation. This is communion, and there can be no worship in the Spirit without it. And such seems to be the bearing of what is figuratively set forth in the parable as described at the close. “He calleth together the friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my lost sheep.”

Thus the heart of man that feels the comfort of recovering what belongs to him could apprehend in some measure how God has joy in saving the lost. At any rate, Christ appeals to the one to vindicate the other. “I say unto you, that thus there shall be joy in heaven for one repenting sinner,tid=60#bkm382a- [more] than over ninety and nine righteous, such as have no need of repentance.” But man as such does not rejoice when his fellow turns in sorrow and self-judgment to God. This is not the feeling of the earth where sin and selfishness reign; but assuredly it is the mind of heaven. What joy there is over the repenting sinner! Angels sang at the good news of grace to Israel and to man above all. And so do they rejoice still, as we may fairly gather from the later words of our Lord Jesus. Here it is more general. The manifold wisdom of God in the Church is the continual object and witness to the principalities and powers in heavenly places; the Lord here gives us the assurance that a repentant sinner gives the keynote of joy on high. There are no murmurers there; it is universal delight in love. Is it so with us? Yet we have a new nature not less but more capable of appreciating the joy of grace, not to seek of ourselves, knowing the need of a sinner and the mercy of God’s deliverance in Christ as no angel can.

Remark in the last place that it is joy “for one repenting sinner,” not exactly over his salvation. It is joy over a soul brought to confess its sin and judge itself and vindicate God. We are apt to be more occupied with the deliverance from imminent danger. In short, we are apt to feel for the human side far more than we enter into God’s moral glory or His grace. The joy in heaven is over the repenting sinner.

Luk 15:8-10 .

To my mind it is impossible to avoid the conviction that these parables have a root in God Himself as well as a reference to His operations on the heart of man. As we saw that the first is a most clear prefiguration of Christ’s work (the Shepherd being the well-known figure that He Himself adopted to set forth His interest and His grace for those that need Him), so also in the last parable there cannot be a question that the father sets forth God Himself in the relationship that He establishes by grace with the returning prodigal. There is also another sense of that relationship with the elder son, whose self-righteousness was so much the more glaring because of his want of respect and love for such a father, though known, no doubt, on a lower ground.

But if this be so, how can we avoid the conviction that the intermediate parable has a similar connection and that the woman has a propriety and a peculiar fitness, just as much as the shepherd and the father? If, therefore, the shepherd represents the work of the Son of God come as Son of man to seek and to save that which was lost, and if the father shows the relationship in which God reveals Himself to him who is brought back to Him and who learns His love within the house, we cannot doubt that the woman must set forth the ways of God working by His Spirit.” We know that the Spirit now particularly deigns, not only to act in man, but also in the Church, and this may account for the fact of the figure of the woman, a woman being habitually used to set forth the Church of God. However this may be, that in some form or another under the woman is set forth the activity of the Spirit of God cannot be questioned. So we shall find that all the details of the parable fit in with this view.

“Or, what woman having ten drachmas, if she lose one drachma,tid=60#bkm384- doth not light a lamp and sweep the house and seek carefully till she find it?” Now we find the lost creature is represented, not by a sheep, which, if it has life of a certain sort, has it only to go astray; not by a man, who is at last, after having perverted all that God gave him, brought into intelligent enjoyment of God; but in this parable the lost piece of money is an inanimate thing, and this is most fitted to express what a lost sinner is in the mind of the Spirit of God. He not only slipped aside, though capable of being the object of a new action by grace outside self to find him; but meanwhile the soul is but a dead thing spiritually, with no more power to return than the missing piece of silver. The propriety, therefore, of this coin being used to represent the sinner where there is evidently not the slightest power to go back to God, where it is utterly helpless, where only the Holy Ghost can avail, is manifest. But the woman does not so easily reconcile herself to. the loss of her piece of silver. She lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and seeks diligently till she finds it. The lamp clearly sets forth the testimony of the Word of God; and this it is particularly in the use of the Spirit of God. The Lord Jesus Himself and God as such are thus spoken of. But it is the Spirit alone who, as we know, brings it home to the heart in conscience or peace, when we are brought to God. The Spirit has the character of agency very peculiarly, and in this agency employs the word. The lamp, therefore, is said here to be lit. But that is not all. The woman sweeps the house and searches diligently till she finds it. There is painstaking love, the removal of obstacles, minute working and searching. Do we not know that this is pre-eminently the part God’s Spirit is wont to take? Do we not remember when truth was powerless to reach us? The Lord Jesus is rather the suffering Saviour; His mighty work assumes that form. The Holy Spirit of God is the active agent in the soul. The Father freely gave according to His infinite love and counsels. Having in Himself the deep enjoyment of love, He would bring others, in spite of their sins, to be righteously without them, in order to make themselves happy in the enjoyment of Himself. But the Spirit of God, just as beautifully, engages Himself in activity of effort and ceaseless painstaking, till the lost thing is found.

“And having found it, she calleth together the friends and neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma, which I had lost.” In every case, whether it be the Son, or the Father, or the Holy Ghost, there is communion. We know that our communion is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ; but it cannot be less familiar to the believer that there is the communion of the Holy Ghost. This is what appears to be set forth here at the close of the second parable: the spreading of universal joy among those who enter into the mind of God. “She calleth together the friends and neighbours, saying, Rejoice with me.” Thus on all sides is real delight, every person of the Godhead having His own appropriate place and part in the wonderful work of redemption, but, further, deep Divine joy in the result of redemption. “Thus I say unto you, There is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner.” It is not here generally in heaven, but joy in the presence of the angels of God. They enter into it. They may not have the same immediate concern in it, but it is in their presence; and they delight in it ungrudgingly and unjealously without being the parties to derive direct or personal results from it. Their joy is in what God delights in, and hence in what He is to the creatures of God. What a new scene of enjoyment, too – joy among those who had been lost to God, and enemies to God! “There is joy before the angels of God for one repenting sinner.”

Vv 15: 11-32.tid=60#bkm385-

We have seen the Lord Jesus in His work set forth by the shepherd, and the more hidden but at the same time the active, painstaking operation of the Spirit of God, no less necessary in order to bring home the work to men in both giving the light to see and also searching them out. Now we have in the third parable the effect produced; for the work is not merely conversion or pardon, and therefore Nothing that is done in this way would suffice unless there was the full bringing of the soul to God and also into fellowship with Him, the new and intimate relationship of a son by grace. This is what the third parable accordingly sets forth. And hence it is no longer a sheep or a piece of money, but a man. It is there that we find intelligence and conscience, and so much the more guilt. Such is man’s case. The first Adam had a certain relationship to God. When he was formed out of the dust, God dealt with him in tender mercy and gave him special advantages in Eden, privileges of every suited sort. But man fell from God, as the prodigal here left his father’s house.

In a general way this is represented by a certain man who had two sons. “And the younger of them said to the father, Father, give to me the share of the property that falleth [to me]. And he divided unto them his living.” There was the point of departure, the first and main step of evil. There is scarce anything in which men are apt more to mistake than in what the true nature of sin consists. They measure sin by themselves instead of by God. Now the desire to have one’s own way at a distance from God is positive sin and the root of all other sin. Sin against man is sure to follow; but sin against God is the mainspring. What more evident denial of Him in works than to prefer one’s own will to His?

The younger son then (which makes the case the more glaring) said to his parent, “Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.” He wished to go away from his father. Man would be at a distance from God, and this in order to be the more at ease to do what he likes. “And he divided unto them his living.” Man is tried – he is responsible; but, in fact, he is not hindered from having his way, God only keeping the upper hand for the accomplishment of His own gracious purposes. Still, as far as appearances go, God allows a man to do what he pleases. This alone will tell what sin means, what the heart seeks, what man is with all his pretensions, and the worse the more he pretends.

“And after not many days the younger son gathering all together went away into a country a long way off, and there dissipated his property, living in debauchery.” There was eagerness to get away from his father. It was, as far as his will was concerned, a complete abandoning of his father to do his own pleasure. He wished to be so thoroughly at a distance as to act according to his own heart without restraint. There, in a far country, he wastes his substance with riotous living. It is the picture of a man left to himself, doing his own will in this world, with its ruinous consequences for the next as well as this. “But when he had spent all, there arose a violent famine throughout that country, and he began to be in want.” Such, again, is the picture, not only of the active course of sin but of its bitter issues. Sin indulged in brings misery and want. There is a void that nothing can satisfy, and the selfish waste of all means only makes this to be more felt in the end.

So, in the extremity of distress, “he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” Now we find the sinner’s degradation; for love is not there, but self is. The citizen does not treat him as a fellow-citizen, but as a slave. There is no slavery so deep or degrading as that of our own lusts. He is treated accordingly; and what must this sound to a Jewish ear? He is sent into the fields to feed swine. “And he longed to fill his belly with the huskstid=60#bkm386- which the swine were eating; and no one gave unto him.” He is reduced to the lowest degree of want and wretchedness; yet no man gives to him. God is the giver, man grudgingly pays his debts, if he pays them: never to God, only half-heartedly to man. But no man gives: so the prodigal found.

Now we begin the work of God’s goodness. He comes to himself, before he comes to God.”tid=60#bkm387- “And coming to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have abundance of bread and I perish here* by famine.” It is God giving him the conviction of his state. Hence his feeling is that even those who have the lowest place in his father’s house are well and even amply provided for compared with him.

*”Here”: so Edd., after BDL, some cursives (1), Syrr. Old Lat. Vulg. Memph. The word is not in APX, etc., nor in most cursives (as 33, 69).

His mind was made up. “I will rise up and go to my father, and I will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaventid=60#bkm3878- and before thee;* I am no longer worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” The last words betray the usual legal state. It is one who conceives that God must act according to his condition. This grace never does. He had wronged his father, he had been guilty of folly, excess, and lewdness; and he could not conceive of his father doing more for him at best than putting him in the lowest place before him, if he received him at all. He felt that he deserved humiliation. Had he judged more justly, he would have gathered that he deserved much worse; that the more favoured he was, seeing that he was so guilty, he must be put away – not merely go away, but be put into outer darkness where should be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.

*Before “I am no longer,” EG, etc., most cursives, Syrr. have “and,” which Edd. omit, after ABDK. etc., 1, Old Lat. Sah. Memph.

But although there was this wrong reasoning, at bottom there was at least a real sense, however feeble, of his sin, and, what was more and better, a real sense of love in God the Father. If he could only see Him, hear Him, be with Him! He rises accordingly and comes to his father, “but while he was yet a long way of, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell upon his neck and covered him with kisses.”

It is not the son who runs; but, even though a long way off, the father saw him. It was the father ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. The son would not have dared to have done so, still less would he have expected his father to do so. But grace always surprises the thoughts of men, and therefore reason can never find it out, but rather denies and opposes and enfeebles it, qualifying it, putting clogs and fetters on it, which only dishonour God, and do not alter the truth, but most surely injure the man. The father, then rantid=60#bkm389- and fell on his neck and kissed him. Not a word about his wicked ways! and yet the father it was who had wrought secretly, producing the conviction of his own evil and the yearning after his own presence.

Further, it was the father who deepened all that was of himself in his own soul immensely, now that the prodigal was come to him. It is not true, therefore, that by not putting forward the evil in this case our Lord implied that the father was indifferent to the evil, or that the prodigal son was not to feel his outbreaks or his fleshly nature.tid=60#bkm389A- Surely it should be so much the more, because it was allowed him to judge himself and the past in the light of unspeakable grace. “And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee: I am* no more worthy to be called thy son.” He cannot say more. It was impossible in the presence of the father to say “Make me as one of thy hired servants.”tid=60#bkm390- It was well, as far as it went, to acknowledge that he was no more worthy to be called his son. It was unqualifiedly right to say, “I have sinned against heaven and before thee”; but it would have been still better if he had said not a word about anything of which he could be worthy or unworthy. The sad truth was, that he was worthy of nothing but bonds or death. He deserved to be banished for ever – to be driven out from the presence of his father.

*E, etc., 33, 69, Syrr. have “and I am n. l.,” which Edd. reject, after ABD, etc., Old Lat. Memph.

W. H. add these words in brackets: after BD, etc., Syrhcl Aeth,, which Tisch. and Treg., both of whom cite Augustine, followed by Weiss and Blass, reject as interpolation from verse 19. They are supported by AL, etc., Latt. Syrrsin pesch hier. See further, note tid=60#bkm390- , in Appendix.

Grace, however, does not give according to what man deserves, but according to Christ. Grace is the outflow of love that is in God, which He feels even towards His enemies. For this reason He sent His Son, and He acts Himself. All must now be of the very best, because it must be in accordance with the grace of God and the gift of Christ. “Bring out* the best robe, and clothe him in [it], and put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet,tid=60#bkm391- and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry.” The younger son had never worn the best robe before; the elder son never did wear the best robe at all. The best robe was kept for the display of grace.

*”Bring out” so APQ and other later uncials, all cursives, Sah. Syrr. Recent Edd. adopt “Quickly b. o.,” as BDLX, Syrsin Old Lat. Goth. Memph. Arm. Aeth. This addition Treg. brackets.

The two sons, therefore (of course, the prodigal before his return), do not represent children of God in the sense of grace, but such as have merely the place of sons of God by nature. Thus Adam is said to be so (Luk 3 ). All men are spoken of similarly in that sense – even the heathen – in Act 17:28 , as being endowed with a reasonable soul as men, and as having direct personal responsibility to God in presence of His favours and mercy. It is also doctrinally affirmed in “one God and Father of all” (Eph 4:6 ).

But then, sin has completely separated men from God, as we have seen in this very parable. Grace brings into the nearer and better relationship of “sons of God by faith in Christ Jesus.” (Gal 3:26 .) The prodigal only enters this state when he at length comes back to his father, confessing his sins and casting himself upon Divine grace.tid=60#bkm391A- The best robe, the ring on his hand, the shoes on his feet, the fatted calf, all these belong, and belong solely, to the relationship of grace, to him who is born of God by believing in the name of Jesus. It is God magnifying Himself to the lost. “For this my son was dead,”‘ and has come to life, – was lost, and has been found. And they began to be merry.”

It is important to note this common joy. It is not only that there is personal blessing for the heart that is brought back to God, but there is the joy of communion, which takes its rise in and its strength from God, whose joy in love is as much deeper than ours as He above us. Nor is it now only in heaven as we saw before, but there is the effect produced on earth, both individually and also in other hearts; and the great power of it all is, after all, communion with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ, which the Holy Ghost sheds abroad – His love shed abroad in the heart, no doubt, but issuing also in communion with one another. “They began to be merry.”

But here we have a farther picture,tid=60#bkm393- “And his elder son was in the field; and as, coming up, he drew nigh to the house “he heard music and dancing.” The joy of true Christian worship, of living fellowship in grace, is unintelligible to the natural heart. This was what struck repugnantly the ears of the elder son. “And having called one of the servants, he inquired what these things might be.” He could have understood debt, he could have urged right, he could see and pronounce on failure; but he did not scruple to judge God Himself, as we shall see. The servant “said unto him, Thy brother is come, and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and well.” But he became angry, and would not go in. “And* his father went out and besoughttid=60#bkm394- him.” His heart was outside the home of his father, nor did he breathe the spirit of the love that was being shown to the returned prodigal. He was a stranger to grace, so he had no part in all this joy. He was pursuing his own things. No doubt he was active and intelligent “in the field,” in the world, away from the scene of Divine mercy and spiritual joy.

*”And”: so Edd., after ABDL, etc., 1, 33, Old Lat. Goth. Memph. Arm. E and most of the later uncials, nearly all cursives (69), Syrr. Amiat. and Vulg. have “therefore.”

When, therefore, the servant told him that his brother had come, and of the way the father had received him, he showed his aversion on the spot, and yet more the more he heard what made the others happy. Grace was to him most irksome and even hateful. Doubtless he took the ground of righteousness, though he had none – plenty of talk and theory, but nothing real. His father comes out in the fullness of love and entreats him. “And he, answering, said to his* father,” with that kind of pious, or rather impious, indignation against Divine love which belongs to and does not shock the natural mind, “Behold, these many years I serve thee [hollow and wretched service!]tid=60#bkm395- and never have I transgressed a commandment of thine [the unhappy sinner had no sense of sin!] and to me thou hast never given a kid, that I might make merry with my friends.” Thus he was bold enough to judge the father as the self-righteous shrinks not from judging God. To the thought of the unbeliever He is hard and exacting. There is utter blindness as to all the favours of God, total insensibility of heart as well as conscience. “But when this thy son, who has devoured thy living with harlots, is come, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.” There is manifest dislike of grace and its ways. He does not call the prodigal his brother,tid=60#bkm395A- but tauntingly “thy son.” And though it was what the father had given, he calls it “thy living,” in every case putting the worst aspect forward.

*”His”: so Treg., W. H., after ABDG, etc., 69, Syrsin. Tisch.: “the,” after O, Goth. Memph. Arm.

Truly the patience of God is as wondrous as His love. Hence the father perseveres: “But he said unto him, Child [for nothing can exceed the tender mercy of the father, even to the unthankful and the evil, the ungrateful and rebellious son],tid=60#bkm396- thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine.” It was just the place of the Jew under the law. But it is the same position that every unconverted man in Christendom takes who is endeavouring to walk after the flesh religiously. It is just so that the natural man in these lands thinks and speaks. And no doubt the Jews had the chief place, and indeed the only place, that God claimed in this earth. All other countries God had given to the children of men, but His land He had reserved for Israel. He had brought them to Himself through redemption of an outward sort and put them under law. The same principle is true of any self-righteous man who is in his way endeavouring to be good and serve God, but insensible to the truth that it is mercy that he wants and delivering grace. “It was right to make merry and rejoice.” Wonderful thought! God Himself delighting in the joy of grace and putting Himself in it along with others. “Truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.”

Notice again, “Because this thy brother was dead and has come to life again, and was lost and has been found.” “Thy brother” is to be observed. God is not in any way disposed to allow the denial of proper relationship. Hence one of the sins that will draw out the last judgments of the Jews is not merely their base ingratitude toward God, but also their hatred of the grace He is showing to the poor Gentiles in their wretchedness and sin. This we find strongly put by the Apostle Paul: “Forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they might be saved, to fill up their sins alway: for the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost” (1Th 2:16 ). They cannot endure that others, does of the Gentiles, should hear the Gospel of grace, which their pride of law induced them to despise for themselves.tid=60#bkm397-

NOTES ON THE FIFTEENTH CHAPTER.

380 If the section containing Luke 15 – 17: 10 be chronological, it synchronizes with Joh 11:54 .

380a Luk 15:2 . – “Receiveth sinners”: cf. Joh 6:17 , and the well-known hymn, “Sinners Jesus will receive,” etc. (“Sacred Songs and Solos”).

The late Professor Hermann Cremer of Greifswald never tired in lecture room or pulpit of saying that the forgiveness of sins is the Alpha and Omega of Christianity (Boehmer, p. 239).

381 Luk 15:4 . – “In the wilderness;” Matt., “on the mountains”: see Harnack, “Sayings,” p. 92, and cf. Weiss, “Sources of the Synoptic Tradition,” p. 247.

Dr. Alexander Maclaren, in his second volume of “Expositions,” has made effective use of this as an answer to sceptics’ query as to the great GOD concerning Himself with this microcosm (p. 49 ff.).

382 Luk 15:5 . – “Having found”; Matt., “if it should come to pass that he find.” Jlicher (followed by Loisy, “Synoptic Studies,” p. 166) treats Luke’s variation as capricious. The simple explanation is, that his record regards the matter from the standpoint of Grace, whilst Matthew’s views it from that of Responsibility. Observe also the different connection in which the parable is introduced by Luke.

See Spurgeon’s Sermons, 1801 and 2065. Luther also preached on the passage, as did H. Melvill.

Bossuet preached from verse 7 (vol. ix.); so also Toplady and Robert Hall.

382a “One repenting sinner.” Warner: “The great goal of Christian endeavour is the individual unsaved life” (p. 357).

383 Luk 15:8 . – “Woman.” The Expositor, as Stier and Alford, has followed Bengel in treating the woman as symbol of the Holy Spirit, the Hebrew word for which is feminine. Maclaren, however, on this and verse 4, observes that “the owner should be the seeker . . . Jesus” (B. C. E., p. 189). The “friends and neighbours” (verses 5, 9) seems to bear this out.

384 “Drachma,” otherwise called “denarius,” of the value of 8.5d.(A.D.1901). As to this picture, see Schor, p. 81.

385 Marcion discarded the Parable of the Prodigal Son, so-called, because of the consideration shown by the father to his elder son, the symbol of Judaism.

386 Luk 15:16 . – “To fill.” American Revv., “to have filled.” As to the “husks,” see Trench on the Parables, and Schor (loc. cit.).

387 Luk 15:17 . – “Coming to himself.” Cf. Act 12:11 of Simon Peter. Upon the question of sudden conversion, see Murray, “Christian Ethics,” p. 170 ff.

388 Luk 15:18 . – “I will arise, etc.” Swete: “Repentance is the sinner’s return to the Father. . . . Faith makes the return possible” (“Studies,” p. 178).

“Sinned, etc.” Cf., of course, Psa 51 .

“Heaven.” Wellhausen notes this as the only case in the Gospels where it is so used of GOD. He seems not to regard Mat 5:34 as in point. Indeed, Zahn on Matthew will not allow that the terms are interchangeable. Cf. note 296. It is not to be supposed that our Lord countenanced mistaken reverence. “For the anonymous God . . . Christ substituted the Father” (Mackintosh, “Christian Ethics.” p. 44).

389 “Ran.” Aristotle had said that the “high-minded man” () “will not be hasty . . . ought to move slowly” (“Ethics,” iv. 3, 8). For the contrast, cf. Isa 55:8 f.

389a Luk 15:21 ff. – Jlicher: “The Father does not receive the son by reason of Christ’s death, but because He cannot help forgiving” (Parab. Discourses, ii., p. 365). In the same strain Bousset (“Jesus,” p. 101), whose exposition is naturally welcomed by Montefiore (“Synoptic Gospels,” ii., p. 990), and J. Weiss ad loc. But the whole chapter is to bring out why, rather than how, men are saved (A. R. Habershon). As the English writer just referred to observes: “The scope of the fifteenth of Luke is exactly as large and comprehensive as the word sinner” (cf. note 153). The German writers fail to distinguish Grace from Love, see the excellent note of Dr. Whyte, in his Commentary (p. 46) on the “Shorter Catechism” (Q. 20).

It would seem that even for such a writer as Foster, “it is for the personality of Jesus that faith cares” (p. 405). That goes a long way; because a man who believes that He is “the CHRIST” is born of God (1Jn 5:1 ).

390 How unhappy is the result of neglect by textual critics (not by Weiss) of the internal evidence – in particular, the spiritual aspects of each question – may be seen from the foisting in, by W. H., of the further words that the prodigal had thought of using (verse 19) because of these curious documents and “D,” and apparently because with these MSS. “B” here agrees. Augustine notes their absence, and the versions are almost solidly against the repetition.

391 Cf. Exo 3:5 . Wellhausen: “Hand without ring were as slavish as foot without shoe.”

391a “Father . . . son.” The idea of a personal, individual relation between God and man had already emerged in the apocryphal writings since the Exile: see Sirach, xxiii. 1, 4, Lev 10 ; Wisdom. ii. 13, 16, 18, xiv. 3; Tobit, xiii. 4 (Enoch lxii. 11).

For the “Fatherhood of God,” reference may be made to Fairbairn, “Philosophy of the Christian Religion,” p. 350 (cf. p. 352); also to the chapter under this heading in Gore, “The Creed of the Christian”; but especially to Orr, “The Progress of Dogma.” in which the doctrine is carefully and wisely stated. Swete observes: “It is only in the sinner that repents that the paternal love of God finds free exercise” (“Studies,” p. 65). Both Pullan and Selbie remark that it was to the multitude, as well as disciples, that the Lord spoke as He did in Mat 23:9 . What about His adversaries? See Joh 8:42 , comparing it with the first part of Luk 11:23 above.

As to the father’s interruption of the son (Wesley), Farrar aptly refers to Isa 65:24 .

For the need of absolute change of nature, see Mat 12:33 , another Synoptic passage, compared with Joh 1:12 f.

392 Luk 15:24 . – “Dead.” This word has a Pauline ring about it, whatever Harnack and others may say about the Evangelist’s view of Forgiveness not being in line with the Apostle’s doctrine of Redemption.

393 Luk 15:25 ff. – Were Pfleiderer right in treating this as Luke’s own addition to the Lord’s words, we should miss in Christ’s mouth the lesson which He designed for the Pharisees.

394 Luk 15:28 . – “Besought,” or “kept beseeching” (imperf.). Adeney: “There is a Gospel even for the Pharisees.”

395 Luk 15:29 . – “Serve.” The verb is , “to serve as a slave.” Cf. Heb 2:15 , “all their lifetime subject to bondage.”

395a Luk 15:30 . – Contrast Joh 20:17 .

396 Luk 15:31 . – “Child” (R.V. margin), .

397 Spurgeon preached seven sermons on a topic so near to his heart. These are Nos. 43, 176, 588, 1000, 1189, 1204 and 2236. See also Maclaren, “Expositions,” vol. ii., pp. 59-74.

Massillon preached from verse 13.

This parable pre-eminently pictures to us, in Luke’s characteristic manner, what the heart of man is Godward, and what God’s heart is towards man.

Newman and Robertson have both misused it. The quondam Vicar of St. Mary’s, Oxford, in his sermon on Christian Repentance (vol. iii. No. 7) said: “We must begin religion with what looks like a form”: and he illustrated from the prodigal’s begging to be made one of his father’s servants! The famous Brighton preacher in his discourse on “The Word and the World” (vol. iv., No. 15) declared that “It is a matter of no small importance that a strict life . . . should go before the peace which comes of faith in Christ.”

God will even own in His government, to their temporal advantage, the rectitude of all “whose life is in the right”: such men are to be felicitated. But to make that the foundation of peace with Him is just as fatal as Antinomianism itself, which is abhorrent to every bon-fide, real disciple of Christ (cf. note 457a). From either point of view Death, not life, is annexed to Law as between men’s souls and JESUS as Saviour: it will not harmonize with Grace – “the grace of life” (1Pe 3:7 ) – the glory (Eph 1:6 ) of which is impaired by supposed precedent human merit. Gal 6:7 ff. and many other like passages were addressed to those who had been “called in Christ’s grace” (1: 6), and have to do with the “Kingdom.” The words “sowing to the flesh” are more comprehensive than the “Litany,” the pitch of which is relatively high. The highest standard must ever be before those “not under the Law but under Grace.” Until we come to close quarters with God, the lesson conveyed to Job (Job 42:5 f.) is feebly apprehended.

Fuente: William Kelly Major Works (New Testament)

NASB (UPDATED) TEXT: Luk 15:1-2

1Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2Both the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”

Luk 15:1 “all” Luke often uses hyperbole (i.e., use of “all” in Luk 3:16; Luk 4:15; Luk 9:1) to accentuate the impact that Jesus had on the outcasts of Palestine. Surely not every outcast and sinner approached Jesus, but many did (cf. Luk 1:65-66; Luk 2:1; Luk 2:38; Luk 2:47; Luk 3:15; Luk 3:20; Luk 4:5; Luk 4:15; Luk 6:26; Luk 7:16-17; Luk 7:29; etc.).

“tax collectors” These Jews worked for the Romans (or Herod) and their salary usually came from over-taxing their countrymen. They were hated and ostracized by the local people. Jesus even called one of them to be an Apostle, Levi ( cf. Mat 9:9-10).

“sinners” This refers to either

1. openly immoral persons

2. persons who were outcasts because of their occupation

3. common villagers who did not completely follow the Oral Traditions

It was very difficult for common people to fully observe all the rabbinical rules.

These two groups characterized all those rejected by the religious elite of Jesus’ day (cf. Luk 5:30; Mar 2:16). The sects (Pharisees, Sadducees, zealots, Essenes) of Judaism even excluded each other as acceptable to God. Religion had become a status based on performance or exclusive party affiliation.

“were coming near Him” This PERIPHRASTIC IMPERFECT implies this was a normal occurrence. They found acceptance with Jesus, which they never found with the other religious leaders. It is interesting that this same Greek VERB is used for approaching God in Heb 7:19 and Jas 4:8. These people were seeking God (cf. 2Ch 15:2); the Pharisees were claiming to seek Him, but in reality, they were clinging to their traditions (cf. Isa 29:13) and leading people away from God (cf. Mat 23:16; Mat 23:24; Rom 2:19).

“to listen to Him” This is a present infinitive. These outcasts wanted to hear Jesus’ teachings.

Luk 15:2 “the Pharisees and the scribes” This is the same order as Luk 5:30; usually the order is reversed i.e., Luk 5:17; Luk 5:21). They were probably part of an official delegation sent from Jerusalem to spy on Jesus. They were hoping to find something to officially charge Him with in court. In Jesus’ day most scribes (Mosaic lawyers) were Pharisees. See Special Topics: Pharisees at Luk 5:17 and Scribes at Luk 5:21.

“began to grumble” This is an imperfect active indicative, which denotes repeated action in past time (cf. Luk 5:30).

This is a compound (dia + gogguz) used only here and in Luk 19:7. Both involve the grumbling of the religious elite. In the Septuagint this compound was used of the Israelites who grumbled at Moses and even YHWH during the Wilderness Wandering period (cf. Exo 15:24; Exo 16:2; Exo 16:7-8; Num 14:2).

“This man” This is often used in the Gospels in a derogatory sense as a way to not use the person’s name (cf. Mar 14:71).

“receives sinners” This present middle (deponent) indicative means Jesus continuously made the choice to include these people. He may have sponsored this meal and specifically invited them. This same criticism is seen in Luk 5:27-32 (cf. Luk 7:34).

Jesus’ reception of the outcast, needy, and sick is one of the OT Messianic signs these religious leaders should have recognized (see note at Luk 14:13). The surprising aspect of these three parables is not only the type of people addressed (shepherds, women, rebellious children), but also the implication that Jesus receives and forgives sinners. This is the unique domain of God (cf. Mar 2:1-12)! This is a powerful evidence of Jesus’ self-understanding (i.e., Incarnated Deity).

“and eats with them” This is a present active indicative. Often wealthy Jews fed the poor of their community by giving alms to the local synagogue (see Special Topic at Luk 11:41). However, they never ate with them. To eat with someone in this culture showed full acceptance and fellowship. Jesus loved/loves sinners and tried/tries to reach them for God, which changes them from being sinners to guests and friends. In a sense these eating events foreshadow the Messianic banquet. Some who think they will be there, will not.

This is the theological setting of all three parables in Luke 15. The parallel in Mat 18:12-13 also shows the heart of God.

Fuente: You Can Understand the Bible: Study Guide Commentary Series by Bob Utley

Then drew near = Then were drawing near.

all. Put by Figure of speech Synecdoche (of the Part), App-6, for a large number.

publicans = tax-gatherers.

for to hear = to hear.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

1-7.] THE LOST SHEEP. It does not appear where or when this [gathering of publicans and sinners to hear him] happened,-but certainly in the progress of this same journey, and, we may well believe, consecutively on the discourses in the last chapter. This first parable had been spoken by our Lord before, Mat 18:12-14; but, as Trench has remarked, (Par. in loc.,) with a different view: there, to bring out the preciousness of each individual little one in the eyes of the good Shepherd; here, to shew that no sheep can have strayed so widely, but He will seek it and rejoice over it when found. The second is peculiar to Luke.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Chapter 15

Then drew near to him all the publicans and sinners to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receives sinners, and eats with them ( Luk 15:1-2 ).

Notice the four groups that had gathered divided into two categories. First of all, the publicans and sinners. Publicans were tax collectors, the outcast of that society, one of the most hated persons in the community. They were considered by the Jews to be traders and quislings. And they were always classified with sinners.

So the publicans and the sinners had gathered to hear Jesus. It is amazing that many of the publicans were attracted to Jesus. Matthew was a publican called to be a disciple. He left his receipt of customs and followed Jesus. Zacchaeus was a publican. And after his encounter with Jesus, he said, “Behold, I will take half of my goods (they were always wealthy people) and give it to the poor. And if I have taken fragrantly from any man, I will restore to him twofold.” Jesus said, “Today salvation has come to this house.” The publicans were attracted to Jesus as were the sinners, because He had a message of hope for them. They gathered to hear. But the others, the Pharisees and the scribes, they gathered to find fault. They were looking for things by which they might accuse Jesus. They were waiting for a slipup. They were waiting for some mistake so that they could pounce upon it and accuse Him. So they began to say, murmuring,

He receives sinners, and eats with them ( Luk 15:2 ).

They thought they were saying something horrible in condemning Him, but in reality, they were proclaiming a glorious gospel. Jesus receives sinners and you can become one with Him.

John wrote, “That which we have seen and heard declare we unto you, that you might have fellowship with us: and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and His Son Jesus Christ.” He receives sinners and He eats with them. He becomes one with them. He dips in the same sop with them. He eats the same bread with them. He is identifying with them. Yes, He does. Thank God He does, and because He does there is hope for every one of us.

So, there were those that were hearing Him, desiring to hear Him. And there were those who were seeking to find fault with Him, looking for something to condemn.

Now, what should have been if they were truly righteous men, the Pharisees and the scribes? What should be their attitudes when sinners were responding to the gospel? What should be the reaction if we see sinners saved? I oftentimes hear people criticize Billy Graham and his campaigns. You see hundreds of people flowing forward to accept Jesus Christ, and they say, “Yes, but a lot of them don’t stick.” They are sour apples, rather than saying, “Bless God! Look at that. Praise the Lord,” and rejoicing that all of these people are accepting the Lord. Instead, they are looking for something to find fault in. They say, “He preaches a cheap gospel.”

When the hippies were coming to Jesus by the hundreds, as I was going across the country, I would have pastors come up to me and say, “I saw pictures of your baptisms at Corona Del Mar, but when are they going to cut their hair?” Rather than saying, “I saw the pictures, and my, a thousand young people being baptized, how glorious. Bless God; that is glorious. That’s thrilling!” They have to pick on something and they can’t really rejoice that the Lord receives sinners. But instead, they are sour apples over it. Jealous or whatever.

And so Jesus spoke this parable unto them ( Luk 15:3 ),

Unto who? Unto the Pharisees and scribes, because of their sour apple remark.

He said,

What man of you, you have a hundred sheep, and you lose one of them, will you not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until you find it? And when you have found it, laid it upon your shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, and he says unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep that was lost ( Luk 15:4-6 ).

So when you find the lost sheep there is the rejoicing. There is the rejoicing in the neighborhood. “Rejoice, I have found the lost sheep.”

And then Jesus said unto you,

I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than ninety-nine just persons, who don’t need to repent ( Luk 15:7 ).

So while the guys down here are saying, “When are they going to cut their hair?” The angels are up having a whoopee time rejoicing that the lost has been found. Joy in heaven.

Either what woman has ten pieces of silver, and she lose one piece, does not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she had found it, she called her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which was lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents ( Luk 15:8-10 ).

Again, the natural response to finding that which is lost is rejoicing. The Lord said that there is joy in heaven over just one sinner who repents.

And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And so he divided unto them his living ( Luk 15:11-12 ).

Now, under the law when there were two sons, the older son received two thirds of the inheritance and the younger son received one third of the inheritance. That was just the law. And many times if a father wanted to retire, he would divide the inheritance to the sons before his death. It would automatically belong to the son after the death of the father. But this boy had the audacity to come his dad and say, “Dad, I would like my inheritance now.” So the father divided the inheritance.

And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there he wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent everything, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine ( Luk 15:13-15 ).

This was a job forbidden to the Jew. “Cursed is the man that feeds the swine.”

And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man would give to him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have enough bread that they could spare, and yet I’m dying of hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called your son: but make me as one of your hired servants. And he arose, and he came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on him [the family signet ring], and put shoes on his feet ( Luk 15:16-22 ):

Shoes on the feet were significant, because the slaves were never given shoes, only the family members, the son. Slaves were never given shoes by their masters. That is why in that old Negro spiritual that came out of the slave days, “You gotta shoes, I gotta shoes, all God’s children got shoes. When we get to heaven gonna put on our shoes.” I am not going to be a slave any more. I am a son. I am a child of God. And that hymn looked forward to that day when they would have shoes. They would be acclaimed the sons of God in that heavenly kingdom. That was just one thing about slavery, you never gave your slave a pair of shoes.

So the son said, “Hey, I am not worthy to be called your son, just a servant.” The dad didn’t even let him finish the speech. He said, “Put the shoes on him.”

And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and let’s be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard the music and saw the dancing. And he called one of the servants, and said what’s going on. And he said unto him, your brother has come home; and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore his father came out, and entreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years I have served thee, and I didn’t transgress at any time your commandment; and yet you never gave me a kid, that I might have a party with my friends: But as soon as this your son was come, which has devoured your living with prostitutes, you have killed for him the fatted calf ( Luk 15:23-30 ).

Now, here is the, really, the real point of the parable. Though it may teach many things, the parable was intended against the Pharisees. All three actually did, but He is building up. In each of the parables, there is something lost that is found and the result of finding that which was lost was rejoicing, happiness. Jesus receives sinners. That shouldn’t be said in a derogatory sense. That should be said in a rejoicing sense. Jesus receives sinners! There is hope, friend. Rejoice! Jesus receives sinners. And yet, they were not saying it with that inflection, but they were saying it in a derogatory sense. “He receives sinners and eats with them.” So as the natural reaction to finding something that is lost should be rejoicing, the Pharisees are angry. They are condemning. They are sitting back and judging. So the story was given.

In the third story, Jesus adds the older brother and his attitude towards the rejoicing, because the father receives sinners. And here he is out there sulking, angry and upset. He is not going to join in. “You have never done anything like this for me.” And his sulking attitude, because the father received the sinner. “He went out and spent everything he had on prostitutes. He is a sinner. Yet, you have a big party because he comes home.” This was the same attitude that the Pharisees were expressing.

To me it is interesting that the father said,

Son, you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours ( Luk 15:31 ).

You see, the younger son had taken his inheritance, so that everything that was left belonged to the older son. “All that I have is yours.”

It was necessary that we should have this party, and be glad: for this your brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found ( Luk 15:32 ).

Because the Lord receives sinners and eats with them, the lost is found. Jesus said, “I have come to seek and to save that which was lost” ( Luk 19:10 ).

So we so often hear marvelous sermons preached from the parable of the prodigal son, but rarely do we ever hear a message that really gives the true meaning of the parable, or the real reason for the parable. The reason wasn’t just to show the father receiving with joy a son that was lost, but the parable was used to show the Pharisees how wrong was their condemnation of Him when they said, “He receives sinners and eats with them.” They should have been rejoicing over it, rather than griping over it.

May God help us that we will not have a pharasaical attitude towards the work of God in receiving sinners, because maybe He is receiving them at some other church in the county rather than here. It doesn’t matter where He receives them. Let us rejoice that He is receiving them. Let us pray that God will send a great spiritual wakening throughout the county in every church. Let us not be so shortsighted and narrow-minded that we are only praying for God’s blessing upon Calvary Chapel, because God knows we can’t house them all. But let us begin to really pray that God will revive His church throughout this entire county and that sinners would be brought to Christ, that the Lord might receive sinners anywhere and everywhere, that there might be revival in the Baptist church and the Methodist church, the Lutheran church and the Presbyterian church. Let us just pray that God might just be able to receive sinners in all of these churches, that there would be a real move of God’s Spirit throughout the whole area.

If we hear of revival somewhere, let us not go and try to find the faults that may exist in their doctrines or positions. “Well, Lord, they didn’t follow us so we told them not to do it.” Jesus said, “You should not have done that. If they are out there doing it in My name, they can’t very well be against us. Don’t stop them.” God deliver us from narrow sectarianism, from an attitude of the Pharisee, but to the same heart of Jesus. Let us rejoice that the Lord receives sinners and eats with them.

Shall we pray.

Father, we thank You that You have received us. We’ve had that glorious joy of eating with You, sitting down, Lord, and partaking of Thee, the Bread of Life. Lord, we pray that today our hearts will be united with Yours, our visions will be united with Yours, and that we, Lord, might come to that place of rejoicing in Thy work wherever it is being done, by whomever it is being done. Lord, keep us from that narrowness that would seek to restrict Your work only in our midst, that would seek to restrict Your blessings only to our fellowship, and may we seek to pray for Your blessings upon all who call upon Your name in truth. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.

Next week chapters 16 and 17. Next week in chapter 16, tremendously interesting discussion by Jesus on the subject of Hades. That place that is in the center of the earth. So we will be looking at the subject of Hades next Sunday evening and what Jesus has to say about it in contrast to what the Jehovah Witnesses have to say about it. Then you’ll have to determine whether you want to believe Jesus or the Jehovah Witnesses. I’ve already made my mind up.

May the Lord be with you now and go before you this week and bless you with His blessings and His love. May He keep His hand upon you and may He guide you in each of the decisions that you’ll have to make, that you might be led of the Lord in all things. May the good hand of our Lord be upon you. In Jesus’ name. “

Fuente: Through the Bible Commentary

This is a chapter that needs no explanation; it carries its key within itself, and the experience of every child of God is the best exposition of it. The three parables recorded here set forth the work of saving grace in different aspects.

Luk 15:1-2. Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

The Pharisees and scribes formed the outside ring of Christs hearers, but the inner circle consisted of the guilty, the heavy-laden, and the lowly. They pressed as near to Christ as they could, that they might catch his every word; and besides, there was an attractiveness about his manner that drew them towards him. His mercy attracted their misery. They wanted him, and he desired them; they were thus well met. There will be an inner circle tonight when the gospel is preached, and it will not consist of the self-righteous. They that are full will not press to the table on which the gospel feast is spread, the hungry will be found nearest to the heavenly provision.

Luk 15:3. And he spake this parable unto them, saying,

There are three parables here; but, inasmuch as it is called this parable, it is really only one. It is a picture in three panels, representing the same scene from different points of view.

Luk 15:4. What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?

It has a new importance in his eyes, for it is lost. Before, it was only one of a hundred in the fold; but now it is one distinct and separate from all the rest, and the shepherds thought is fixed upon it.

Luk 15:5-6. And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.

No doubt he was glad that the other sheep were not lost; but that joy was, for a while, quite eclipsed in the more striking and vivid joy over the one which had been lost.

Luk 15:7. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.

If such there be,and there are many who think that they belong to this class,they bring no joy to the great Shepherd; but you who have had to mourn over your lost estate set the bells of heaven ringing with a new melody when you are recovered by the great Redeemer. The first of these three parables may he said to represent salvation in reference to the work of the Son of God as the great Seeker and Saver of the souls of men. In the second, we have a representation of the work of the Holy Spirit in the Church of God.

Luk 15:8. Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?

Her thoughts were all concerning that one lost piece. It had not more intrinsic value than the rest, but being lost it called off her attention from the other nine. She valued it, and for the hope of finding it she lighted a candle, swept the house, and sought diligently till she found it. This is a picture of the Holy Spirits work in seeking for lost souls. They bear the Kings impress, they are coins of the realm. This woman knew that the silver coin was not far away, so she swept the house, and sought diligently, using all her eyes, devoting all her time to this one object, quitting all other avocations until she found it.

Luk 15:9. And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbors together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

She might never have called them together to rejoice that she had ten pieces of silver, she might even have hidden them away; and the joy she had in them might have been only her own, a solitary joy; but now that one piece had been lost, and had been found again, she says, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost.

Luk 15:10. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.

Not joy among the angels, as some read it, though no doubt that is a truth; but joy in the presence of the angels of God; and what can that mean but that God himself rejoices, and rejoices so that angels perceive it; and no doubt they then join in the delight? But all this points out that it is the lost one that is the great object of consideration, that out of any congregation where the gospel is preached, it is the lost one who is the most important person in the whole place. In the next verses, we get the Fathers part in the work of the recovery of the wanderer.

Luk 15:11-13. And he said, A certain man had two sons: and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me.

And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. His heart was far away when he asked his father to give him his portion; and now his body is far away as he goes into the outward wandering which follows after the inner wandering.

Luk 15:14. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land;

There generally does arise a mighty famine in such cases. Famines and other miseries are Gods messengers, which he sends after his wandering children.

Luk 15:14. And he began to be in want.

This was a new sensation to him; he had never known it when he was at home. He did not know it in his first boisterous days away from his fathers house, but now he began to be in want.

Luk 15:16. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.

Perhaps he did not want to employ him, but said that he would give him that occupation if he cared to accept it. It was small pay, very dishonouring work to a Jew, not fit employment for the son of a nobleman; yet half a loaf is better than no bread, so he took it, though even the half loaf must have been a very small one.

Luk 15:16. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

Such a thing as generosity was not known in that country. His companions could share his riches when he was living riotously, but they will not share their riches now that he is in his poverty.

Luk 15:17. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

My fathers day-labourers have bread enough and to spare, yet I, his child, perish with hunger.

Luk 15:18-19. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

You notice that this last part of the prayer he never did pray; for it was stopped by his fathers love. There was a legalism about it naturally suggested by his own despair, but it was not such as his father would tolerate.

Luk 15:20-21. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son.

There comes an interruption there; the kiss upon his lips stops the rest of the prayer, which he had prepared, and now the father declares his will concerning the wanderer.

Luk 15:22-24. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

I have never read that they left off being merry, for the conversion of a soul is enough to make eternal joy in the hearts of the righteous.

Luk 15:26; Luk 15:26. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant.

This was a new thing, and apparently a thing that he did not care much about. How had it come to pass that there was such noise, such joy?

Luk 15:27-28. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and treated him.

I hardly know which to admire most, the love of the father when he fell upon the neck of the prodigal, or the love of the father when he went out to talk with his elder son: Therefore came his father out, and treated him. Oh, our God is very good to us when we give way to naughty tempers! If we begin to think that we are very holy people, that we have been long the servants of God, and that there ought to he some little fuss made over us as well as over great sinners that come into the church, then our Father is very gentle, and he comes out and entreats us.

Luk 15:29. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:

I have had no banquets. I have kept at home, a patient worker, and have had no extraordinary joys. I know some Christian workers who are very much in this condition. They keep on and on and on in holy service, and they do well; but they seldom have great entertainments of high joy and unspeakable delight. It is their own fault, and it is a thousand pities that they do not have them, for they might have them if they would. There is a tendency to grow so absorbed in service, like Martha, that we are cumbered by it; and we do not have the joy of Mary in communion at the Masters feet. I am sure that this elder son was out of fellowship with his father, or else he would not have talked as he did. We are all apt to get into such a condition. See to it, ye who work for Jesus, that it is not so with you. Then the elder brother went on to say,

Luk 15:30. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.

I do not read that the prodigal had devoured his fathers living with harlots; that is the elder brothers version of it. I dare say that it was true, but it is always a pity to give the roughest interpretation to things. He had spent his substance in riotous living. When we are cross, we generally use the ugliest words we can; we may think that we are speaking forcibly, but indeed we are speaking naughtily, and not as our Father would have us speak.

Luk 15:31. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

Oh, what a word was that! How it reminds Christians of their privileges, if they would but appropriate them! It is yours, beloved, to live always with your God, and to know that all that he has is yours. You ought to live in a perpetual festival; for you there should be one joyful Christmastide that lasts from the beginning of the year to the end of it: Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine.

Luk 15:32. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

It was the fit thing, and the proper thing, and the right thing, that there should be extraordinary joy over a returning sinner. There ought to he, there must be, there shall be, special music and dancing over sinners saved by the grace of God. The Lord give us some such tonight, and make us glad over them! Amen.

Fuente: Spurgeon’s Verse Expositions of the Bible

Luk 15:1. , all) Not merely very many; all who were in the place. [It is evident from this passage in what way the Saviour afforded to those who flocked together to Him, and joined themselves eagerly to Him, that very advantage, which He would have afforded to the people of Jerusalem, had they for their part been willing; namely, after the image of a hen, which protects and cherishes her young brood under her wings, so He cherished them.-Harm., p. 415.]

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

Luk 15:1-32

20. SOME PARABLES: LOST SHEEP,

LOST COIN, PRODIGAL SON

Luke 15:1-32

1 Now all the publicans and sinners-It is thought that these parables were spoken the next day after the dinner with the “ruler of the Pharisees.” (Luk 14:1.) This was probably in Perea near one of the fords of the Jordan and not far from Jericho, where publicans were numerous on account of trade centers. “Publicans” were tax gatherers; there were two classes of “publicans”-the first were Roman knights, who usually lived in Rome; the second class were subordinate collectors, each of whom was required to pay a certain sum to his superior with the privilege of raising as much more as he pleased for his own profit. Publicans were very odious in the sight of many Jews. They are usually classed with “sinners,” who were depraved characters or open transgressors of the law of Moses. The publicans were infamous among the Jews by their occupation and sinners were notorious offenders against the tradition of the law. They had a noble purpose in coming to Jesus; they came “to hear him.” They did not come through curiosity, but keenly felt a need of his blessings and had a strong desire to be instructed by him. There is a wide contrast between the purpose of their coming to Jesus and that of the Pharisees and scribes.

2 And both the Pharisees and the scribes murmured,-The Pharisees were a religious party or sect which originated about a hundred and fifty years before Christ their name means “separatists”; they separated themselves from traditional impurity. To become a Pharisee one had to agree to set apart all the sacred tithes and refrain from eating anything that had not been tithed; they believed in the resurrection of the dead. “Scribes” were learned men who preserved, copied, and expounded the law and the traditions. (Ezr 7:12; Neh 8:1; Mat 15:1-6.) They were called lawyers and doctors, or teachers of the law. (Mat 22:35; Luk 5:17-21.) Both classes “murmured”; the original means that they were murmuring among themselves against him; the form of the verb in the original is intensive, implying frequency, or in groups among themselves, with mingled indignation. Their murmuring was because Jesus received and ate with sinners. He received them into his presence, instruction, and favor he went into their houses and ate with them. The Pharisees separated themselves from such classes and would not even eat with them.

3-7 And he spake unto them this parable,-This parable is also recorded by Matthew (Mat 18:12-13); there are some points of difference in the two records. The parable is addressed to these murmuring scribes and Pharisees and in the presence of publicans and sinners. This parable and the one following it are introduced by questions. “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” The interrogative form served to fix attention at once; Jesus appealed directly to that human feeling which leads a man to seek that which is lost, and rejoice when he has found it. This flock consisted of one hundred sheep in round numbers; a flock of this number would show that the man was in very good circumstances. If one of them is lost, the others are left while search is made for the lost one. Very likely there were present some who had had such experience as Jesus here related. The people were familiar with such incidents in the life of shepherds. (Eze 34:12.) The seeking after the lost sheep shows the eager desire to find it; it does not show that he thinks more of the one sheep than he did of the ninety-nine. The ninety-nine were left and the concern about them was suspended until the lost one was found. The ninety-nine are left “in the wilderness,” or the rural section of pasture land. The search continues until the lost is found, and then he “layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing.” The shepherds of the east often carried on their backs the lost sheep of the flock; this could be done with less trouble than driving the sheep. When the shepherd returned home with the lost sheep, he and his friends and neighbors gathered in and rejoiced together.

I say unto you, that even so there shall be joy in heaven- Here Jesus draws his own conclusion and makes the application of the parable. There is rejoicing “in heaven over one sinner that repenteth”; the word “sinner” here points to verse 1 these sinners were repenting; the lost sheep were being brought to the fold; the joy in heaven is in contrast with the grumbling Pharisees and scribes. There is more rejoicing over that which has been found than over “ninety and nine righteous persons, who need no repentance.” Jesus does not mean to say that the Pharisees and scribes did not need to repent; he, for the sake of argument, accepts their claims about themselves and by their own words condemns them for their criticisms of his efforts to save the lost sheep. This is the same point that he made against them when they criticized him and his disciples for being at the feast of Levi. (Luk 5:31 ff.) They posed as “righteous”; they were not, but on their own claim, Jesus condemns them for murmuring against him in receiving and eating with sinners.

8-10 Or what woman having ten pieces of silver,-This parable is recorded only by Luke; it is introduced by a question, and has the same general meaning as the parable of the lost sheep. This parable advances the thought; the coin was lost and the place where it lay was concealed from the eye. The original word for “pieces of silver” was “drachma” and had a value of about sixteen or eighteen cents in our money. The name “drachma” is a term used in weighing medicines, but here it is applied to the value of the coin. The former parable represented a scene in the country and had to do with sheep; this was especially interesting to men. This parable is a scene in a house; the woman in the house usually kept the small treasury hence this parable would be interesting to the women who were present. A woman had lost one of her ten pieces of silver. She lighted her candle, used her broom, and searched diligently until she found the coin. She then rejoiced and called her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her.

Even so, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels-In the former parable there was rejoicing “in heaven,” but in this there is “joy in the presence of the angels”; however, the context shows that the two parables have the same meaning. The first parable is founded upon the affection, manifested by a shepherd toward a lost sheep the second parable relates to a poor woman who had lost a piece of money, which she could not afford to spare from her scanty treasury. The joy in the presence of the angels is the same as the joy that shall he in heaven. Emphasis is put again upon the “sinner that repenteth.” This does not mean that God finds more satisfaction in a repentant sinner than in a sinless saint; Jesus was here referring definitely to the penitent publicans and to the self-righteous Pharisees. God did not take delight in the sins of the publicans, nor did he regard the state of the Pharisees and scribes as perfect, even taking the Pharisees at their best.

11, 12 And he said, A certain man had two sons:-This parable is recorded only by Luke. It is said to be the most beautiful of all the parables; it is full of human sympathy and love. Some have objected to calling this a parable; however, it seems that no violence is done in classing it as a parable. By common consent it has been called the “Parable of the Prodigal Son,” yet the word “prodigal” is not used in the narrative. The parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin help to introduce this parable. The three parables were spoken in the presence of “publicans and sinners” and the “Pharisees and the scribes”; the first class had come to Jesus “to hear him” teach, but the last class had come to spy, criticize, and accuse him. It is well to keep these two classes in mind as we study the parable. This may be called the “parable of the lost son” as the other two and called the “lost sheep” and “lost coin.”

and the younger of them said to his father,-The father had two sons. In the first parable the lost sheep strayed of itself, but a piece of money could not be lost of itself; in the one the attention is fastened upon the condition of the thing lost, while in the second case attention is fastened upon her sorrow of the one who lost it; but in the parable of the prodigal son there is blame to be attached to the one that is lost. There were two sons, and, according to Jewish law of inheritance, the older son would receive two portions; the younger son would receive only one-third of the inheritance. According to the custom, the father might, during his lifetime, dispose of all his property by a gift as he may wish.

13 And not many days after, the younger son-The father graciously gave the son his share, and soon this son, after gathering all his possions together, “took his journey into a far country.” The father may have divided the estate in such a manner that the younger son could take his property away with him if he desired; or the son may have made such disposition of it as to convert it into money and other valuables. He “took his journey,” which shows that he resolved and acted deliberately; he not only went from home, but he went “into a far country.” He not only wanted to be out of sight, but beyond the influence and control of his father; he was as far away in character as he was in geographical situation. He had taken all of his possessions out of his father’s hands, and now he is placing himself beyond the reach of his father. We are not told into what country he went.

and there he wasted his substance with riotous living.-He “wasted.” That is, dissipated, squandered this was the very opposite of “gathered together.” It means more exactly that he scattered his property like winnowing grain. (Mat 25:24.) We know how he “wasted his substance”; it was done “with riotous living.” This means that he lived dissolutely or profligately; he was a spendthrift, a profligate, a prodigal. He plunged recklessly into extravagance, dissipation, and dissolute living. (Prow. 28:19; Gal 5:19-21; Eph 4:17-19.) This is a very dark picture and shows the depravity to which he had fallen; he was not so much a disturber of the peace, but had wasted his substance in “riotous living,” and probably as the elder brother accused him later, he had “devoured” his substance by “living with harlots.”

14 And when he had spent all,-He soon spent all that he had; one spends recklessly when one lives a dissipated life; he had no income, and all that he spent diminished his capital; he did not use good judgment even in spending what he had. There is an end to be reached and this son soon reached that end. After spending all in his riotous living, “a mighty famine” arose in that country. Famines were terrible scourges in the east; they were caused by lack of rain in season, wars, and pestilences. In ancient times there were no means of relieving the wants of a country by the products of another. They did not have railroads, trucks, or other means of transporting products from one country to another, as we now have; the ships could go only along the water courses and caravans would convey the products to the interior; but this was done only on special occasions. People had to suffer. This son “began to be in want.”

15, 16 And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens -He moved now from his haunts of vice and dissipation and put himself in the service of some man of that country. He “joined himself” to “one of the citizens of that country.” The verb here means to “glue or cement”; this implies that he forced himself upon the citizen, who was unwilling to engage him and who took him into service only upon persistent entreaty. This unhappy and miserable young man is now a useless appendage to a stranger who did not care for him. He was sent “into his fields to feed swine.” Presumably this young man was a Jew; swine were unclean animals with the Jews; this once proud and wealthy Jewish son is now the feeder of unclean animals; it is worse than that, for he associates with the swine and “would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat.” He had wanted the wrong thing all along, and it was no better now; all he wanted before was to fill his belly, and he now must fill it with that which gives him no satisfaction. “Husks” generally signifies a covering of grain, a dry and useless substance, which is hardly fit for food for any animal. This means that his food was so scanty that even the pods which the swine were eating were the object of his craving appetite; but these were denied him probably by the overseer.

17 But when he came to himself-He had been deaf to all reason; his state was a form of reckless living, devoid of all good reason; he had lost sight of all that was good, reasonable, and just; he had lost sight of his better nature and the virtues of righteous living. His eyes were blind to all that was good, his ears were deaf to wise counsel, and his appreciation of the better things of life was lost. Some describe his state as being a state of insanity. The time came when he “came to himself”; he comes back to his better self; he regains his good judgment and opens his eyes and unstops his ears and heightens his appreciation of the better things of life; the spell of his youthful infatuation is broken and he begins to take a sensible view of his own situation. When he thus came to himself he remembered that even the servants in his father’s house had sufficient bread to eat and to spare, while he was perishing with hunger. For the first time in his life he now sees the folly of calling for his portion of the estate, going into a far country, and spending his estate in riotous living. While the servants in his father’s house had plenty, he, a born son, was starving; he had no one to blame but himself. His mind was soon made up.

18, 19 I will arise and go to my father,-When he came to himself and made up his mind, he resolved to play the fool no longer. There was no delay in making up his mind as to what he would do; if he stayed longer, he would be too weak to make the journey, as he was perishing at that time. He had deserted his father, but now he is resolved to return to him. He framed what he would say to his father: “I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight.” He will make no apology for his sin, but frankly and fully confess his sins; he would blame no one for his sin. No apology, no attempt to deceive, nothing but a frank confession of sins repented of would he say to his father. Sincere and humble confession is connected with repentance. (2Sa 12:13; Pro 28:13; Hos 14:2; 1Jn 1:9-10.)

I am no more worthy to be called thy son:-This expressed a true state of mind; he had not shown the love and respect of a child to his father; he had reasonably forfeited all claim to support as a son; he had been an ungrateful sinner, who had remained among strangers until poverty and hunger had forced him to change his course. He was willing to be taken and treated as one of the hired servants. This shows how deeply penitent he was. Though a son, he would not claim that relationship; lie would gladly act and be treated as any one of the hired servants. He will gladly take whatever may be offered him.

20 And he arose, and came to his father.—“He arose”; that is, immediately put his resolution into action. He “came” that is, he went directly to his father. We know not how long it took him to go from this “far country” to his father’s home. “His father” in the original means ‘his own father.” The picture is emphatic; he left the herd of swine and his association with it and came to his father-what a change in environment! Though forced by circumstances, yet it was an exercise of his own will power in putting into execution his good resolution; his decision and his execution of it were voluntary acts of this son.

But while he was yet afar off,-The father seems to have been waiting and expecting his son; though he was at a distance in space, yet his son and the father were together in thought and spirit. We do not know whether the worn and dimmed eyes of his venerable father had been watching for the return, but we do know that at some eminent place his father caught sight of his prodigal son and “was moved with compassion” to receive his wayward son back into his home. His eagerness is shown in the fact that he “ran” to greet him. There is an eastern proverb which says: “Whoever draws near to me (God) an inch, I will draw near to him an ell; and whoso walks to meet me, I will leap to meet him.” This expresses the eagerness with which the father ran to meet his son and the glow of affection with which he greeted him. The father “fell on his neck, and kissed him.” Old man as his father was, yet he ran and fell on the neck of his son and kissed him. “Fell on his neck” refers to the act of embrace with which he greeted his son. (Gen 45:14.)

21 And the son said unto him, Father,-The son as quickly as he could free himself from the affectionate embrace of the father began to recite his oft-repeated confession that he had framed in his resolution to return to the father and had repeated over and over as he wearily wended his way back home. His confession was full and open as was the outburst of paternal love at the greeting. The son began his confession, and with trembling tones and many sad sobs had repeated the first part of his confession. He had sinned in the sight of God against his father and against heaven. Every sin is in some sense against God; it may be also against self or others, but always against God. It may be that this was the first awakening of filial love on the part of this prodigal son. Some ancient authorities add here: “Make me as one of thy hired servants.” However, it is omitted from the manuscript from which the Revised Version was made. This phrase was in the resolution that he formed (verse 19), but it seems that he did not get to recite it to his father.

22-24 But the father said to his servants,-“Bondservants” is used here in the original, and there is a fine touch in bringing in the “bondservants” immediately after “my son.” He commanded the servants to “bring forth quickly the best robe” and put it upon his son. There was to be no delay; the “best robe,” the first and most honorable one, was to be placed upon his son. This was a long flowing robe, a festive garment. (Mar 16:5 Luk 20:46.) The father commanded that “a ring” be put upon his hand, “and shoes on his feet.” The “ring” was a symbol of restored sonship. Pharaoh placed a ring upon Joseph’s hand to honor him. (Gen 41:42.) A “gold ring” on the hand was a distinguished honor. (Jas 2:2.) Sandals were placed upon his feet. These were to take the place of the ragged garments with which his son was now clad. The son was a changed son and deeply penitent and affectionate, and the honorable dress in which he is now to be clad signifies the changed and forgiven son. The fatted calf was to be killed. This was the custom an animal was kept for guests, and a refusal to kill the animal was an insult to the guest. The law of hospitality required the killing of the fatted calf.

for this my son was dead,-To the father he was dead, but now is very much alive. Here is an open and explicit acknowledgement of “this my son”; he was dead to the father, dead to all that was good and righteous, but now is alive in warm affection to the father, and alive to all that is good. He “was lost” in all that pertains to virtue and happiness; he is now found at home and restored to an honorable station. No wonder the joy of the father was expressed in a feast. “They began to be merry.” This merrymaking took place at the close of the feast; in this joyful celebration the son himself doubtless took a prominent part, and in this there was a great advance on the preceding parables, the lost sheep and piece of money being insensible of joy which their recovery had inspired.

25 Now his elder son was in the field:-We now come to another scene in this most interesting and fruitful study of the parable of the prodigal son. There are several well-arranged scenes that complete the picture-the first scene is in the home with the younger son asking for his portion of the inheritance; the second scene is the prodigal son in a far country living riotously; the third, the prodigal son reduced to poverty, feeding swine, and friendless, and homeless, coming to himself and resolving to return home; the fourth, the meeting and greeting of the father and son, the making merry and rejoicing together; the last scene, the elder brother coming to the house, discovering what was doing on, rebuking the father, and his cool treatment of his brother. Many conflicting interpretations have been given about the elder brother’s part in the scene. Some have regarded him as a type of the angels in heaven; others have said that he represents the Jewish nation; still others make him represent the proud Pharisees. The music which the elder son heard was of that kind which he knew to be accompanied with a dance; hence both music and dancing are joined to the verb “heard.” At weddings, birthdays, and all other festal gatherings music was their chief entertainment.

26, 27 And he called to him one of the servants,-Instead of entering the house, as his position in the family would have justified, upon learning what was going on, he called a servant and inquired as to the particulars. His cool and calculating selfishness betrays itself in this little incident. There are three words in the Greek for servants in the parable; there are “hired servants,” “servants,” and “footboys” or “lackeys”; the elder brother called one of the “lackeys.” These three classes of servants may indicate the wealth and high standing of this family. The servant reported: “Thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.” This should have been good news to the elder brother. This servant seems to have thought that the elder brother would receive the announcement with like emotions of the father; hence he says: “Thy brother” and “thy father” are rejoicing together, and that the father had “killed the fatted calf.” No mention is made of the robe, ring, and shoes with which the younger son had been clothed; only “the fatted calf” was mentioned, which was enough to indicate that great honor was bestowed upon the returned son. He was “safe and sound,” which was an added reason for the merrymaking; the returned son was in a healthful condition.

28 But he was angry,-The original means that he was not angry with a mere temporary fit of passion, but with a deepseated wrath. “But” puts the elder brother’s attitude and disposition in direct contrast with what the environments of the occasion would seem to indicate. He “would not go in”; that is, he was unwilling to go in the house and celebrate with his father and brother; he refused in his anger to lend himself to the joy of the occasion. While the house was resounding with music and merrymaking, the elder brother stood sullenly out and nursed his anger. He showed not only a lack of brotherly love, but also of sympathy with the joy of his father at the return of the son. When he refused to go in, his father `came out, and entreated him.” The father went forth to meet the prodigal son; now he goes out to entreat the elder son to lay aside his anger and enter the house; his happiness was not complete even on the return of the prodigal, while his other son stood without angry, displeased, and unhappy. The father leaves the company within, in the presence of his long-lost son, and condescends to go forth to plead with the elder brother and to urge him to enter the house.

29, 30 But he answered and said to his father,-The elder son was “in the field” and missed the affection at the scene of the meeting of the aged father and the now penitent son; in his deep anger he does not respect his venerable father when he came out and entreated him to enter the house, but in his reply he reflected upon his father. He said: “Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine.” This seems a boastful statement, for such an ugly disposition that he now showed would lead one to think that he was not so good and obedient as he claimed. He puts the “many years” which he had served his father in contrast with “when this thy son came” that moment the father began to make merry. The elder brother represents his own life in as favorable way as he can, and puts his younger brother’s conduct in as unfavorable light as is possible; to him the contrast is very wide, and he has some ground to justify him in the contrast. According to his statement, he had not only served many years as a “slave,” but he had “never transgressed a commandment” of his father, while his younger brother had “devoured thy living with harlots.” Again, according to the elder brother, the father had never given him a kid that he, also a son, who had served him so long, might “make merry with” his friends. But, so soon as the prodigal son returned, the father killed the fatted calf and now was making merry; to the elder brother this seemed to be unfair; it showed that the father did not appreciate the elder brother’s service, and seemed to put a premium on the dissipation and prodigality of the younger son. The elder brother thinks that he has made out a clear case of ungratefulness on the part of the father toward himself and convicted him of sanctioning the life that the younger son had lived. The elder brother speaks to his father of his brother as “thy son,” not “my brother”; he puts the emphasis upon the dissolute life that the younger son had lived. In his own heart he thinks that he had been grossly neglected and abused. Again, the elder brother had accused the younger son of devouring “thy living with harlots.”

31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me,-Note the calm and conciliatory address of the father , he speaks tenderly, which is a contrast between his manner and that of his elder son. The elder son did not begin his address by saying “Father”; but this did not prevent his father from addressing him affectionately as “Son.” True, “a soft answer turneth away wrath; but a grievous word stirreth up anger.” (Pro 15:1.) The father not only addressed his son in this affectionate way, but he reminded him of the fact that “all that is mine is thine.” This was another conciliatory statement; the father is the mediator between the two. He had given the younger son the portion that belonged to him, and as he had only two sons, all that he now possessed belonged to the elder brother; the father did not propose to take the portion that belonged to the elder brother and give it to his younger son. The father was just and fair, tender and affectionate, merciful and forgiving. This was a beautiful example for this elder brother.

32 But it was meet to make merry and be glad:-The last words of the father are at once truthful, temperate, and tender; they were calculated to destroy the force of the contemptuous and sneering words uttered apparently by the elder son with the express purpose of wounding the feelings of the father. It was fitting to “make merry and be glad,” said the father. This was a very tactful way of rebuking the elder son’s attitude. The father gives the reason for the rejoicing. “For this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” The father tactfully refers to the younger son as “thy brother”; this was a gentle rebuke and reminder of the close relation of his two sons. It seems that the father has quoted from his son’s language; the elder son had said “This thy son.” But the father says: “This thy brother.” He was “dead”; he was as one dead to the father and to the elder brother; vicious persons are represented as dead. (1Ti 5:6.) He was not only dead, but now “is alive again”; he is represented as being raised to a new life. He was lost to his father and to all that was good, lost to his elder brother, but now he is “found.” The father said the one long dead to us now lives again; the one long lost to us is now found and restored to us. The parable seems to end abruptly.

Fuente: Old and New Testaments Restoration Commentary

Our Lord’s attitude toward the sinning multitudes aroused the hostility of the Pharisees, and to them principally He uttered the great discourse of this chapter, consisting of a threefold parable. In its entirety it constitutes a wonderful revelation of the divine heart.

In the first phase, that of the Shepherd, the aspect of grace in the work of the Son is revealed. In the second, the aspect of grace is revealed in the work of the Spirit. The third phase of the parable necessarily unveils the heart of the Father. It shows unending love for the sinner following him to the far country, waiting for his homecoming, and then shining out in the welcome. The divine love is the theme throughout. Love goes to the wilderness. Love continues to seek. Love welcomes home.

The story ends wit? the account of one of whom we ever speak as the elder brother. It is at least significant that he is not called so in the narrative. The prodigal is spoken of as brother to this man, but he is ever called the “elder son.” His attitude forfeited his right to be called a brother. Nevertheless, his story reveals the possibility of living in the father’s house and failing to understand the father’s heart. This was the failure which characterized those who criticized the work of our Lord.

Fuente: An Exposition on the Whole Bible

15:1-32. Three Parables for the Encouragement of Penitent Sinners. The Love and Free Forgiveness of God. The Lost Sheep (3-7) and the Lost Coin (8-10) form a pair. Like the Mustard Seed and the Leavin (13:18-21), and the Rash Builder and the Rash King (14:28-32), they teach the same lesson, which the Prodigal Son (11-32) enforces and augments. In the first two Jesus justifies His own conduct against the criticisms of the Pharisees. In the third He rebukes their criticisms, but at the same time continues the lesson to a point far beyond that touched by the objectors. When we regard them as a triplet, each parable teaching a separate lesson, Bengals classification will stand: 1. Peccator stupidus; 2. sui plane nesciens; 3. sciens et voluntarius. But the insertion of (ver. 11) clearly marks off the third parable from the first two, whereas these are closely connected , which almost implies that the second is little more than an alternative way of saying the same thing as the first.

1-3. The Murmuring of the Pharisees against Christs Intercourse with Publicans and Sinners. We have had several other cases in which Jesus has made a question, or an appeal, or a criticism, the occasion of a parable: ver. 15, 10:25-29, 12:13-15, 14:15. There is once more no indication of time or place; but connexion with what precedes is perhaps intended. There a thoughtless multitude followed Him, intending to become His disciples, and He warns them to count the cost. Here a number of publicans and sinners congregate about Him, and He rebukes the suggestion that He ought to send them away. It was well to check heedless enthusiasts, that they might be saved from breaking down afterwards. It would have been a very different thing to have sent away penitents, that He might be saved from legal pollution.

1. . The meaning of determines the meaning of the tense. We may regard it as hyperbolical for very many,-a common use of all. Or it may mean all the tax-collectors and other outcasts of the place in which He then was. In either of these cases (see on 1:10) will mean were drawing near on some particular occasion. Or we may take literally of the whole class of publicans and sinners; and then the verb will mean use to draw near, wherever He might be. This was constantly happening, and the Pharisees commonly cavilled (imperf.), and on one occasion He uttered these parables (aor.). It was likely that He would attract these outcasts more and more. Comp. 7:29, 37, and see on 11:29. For the characteristic see on 1:66, 6:30, 12:10, etc Note the repeated article: the and the are grouped together as one class by the Pharisees themselves (5:30 ; Mat 9:11); not so here by the Evangelist.

2. . Murmured among themselves, throughout their whole company. In N.T. only here and 19:7, which is very similar. Comp. Exo 16:2, Exo 16:7, Exo 16:8; Num 14:2; Jos 9:18. The scribes are usually placed before the Pharisees (5:21, 6:7, 11:53; Mat 12:38, etc.). Here perhaps the Pharisees took the lead: comp. 30 (true text); Mar 7:1, Mar 7:5.

. Allows them access, gives them a welcome: Rom 16:2; Php 2:29.

. A much more marked breach of Pharisaic decorum than . He accepted invitations from Levi and other tax-collectors, and in His outdoor teaching He took His meals with them.

3. . But (in answer to this cavilling) He said. Cov. and Cran. have But; Tyn. and Gen. Then. Something stronger than And (AV. RV.) is needed. Note , , and as marks of Lk.s style. None of them is found in Mat 18:12.

4-7. The Parable of the Lost Sheep. Comp. Mat 18:12-14, where this parable is given in a totally different connexion, and with some differences of detail. Comp. also Joh 10:1-18. We have no means of knowing how often Jesus used the simile of the Good Shepherd in His teaching. No simile has taken more hold upon the mind of Christendom. See Tert. De Pud. vii. and x. Comp. Eze_34.; Isa 60:11 ; 1Ki 22:17.

4. . Once more He appeals to their personal experience. See on 11:5, and comp. 12:25, 14:5, 28. The inserted here marks one difference between this parable and the next.

. The point is, not that he possesses so much, but that the loss in comparison to what remains is so small.

. This is the point of the first two parables,-the particular love of God for each individual soul. In Mt we have (Exo 23:4; Isa 53:6; Jer 27:17) for . . He is the owner, not the shepherd. His leaving them does not expose them to danger. The wilderness (in Mt. ) is not a specially perilous or desolate place, but their usual pasture, in which they are properly tended. He does not neglect them, but for the moment he is absorbed in the recovery of the lost. Cyril Alex. and Ambrose make the ninety and nine to be the Angels, and the one the human race. Ambrose adds, Dives igitur pastor cujus omnes nos centesima portio sumus Migne, xiv. xv. 1756; lxxii. 798; Payne Smith, p. 497.

. For of the goal comp. Act 8:26, Act 9:11, Mat 22:9; in each case after . Mt has here .

. Peculiar to Lk. There is no cessation of the seeking until the lost is found. See Lange, L. of C. i. p. 497.

5. . This also is peculiar to Lk. The owner does not drive it back, nor lead it back, nor have it carried: he carries it himself. Comp. Isa 40:1l, 49:22, 60:4, 66:12. In LXX is common; in N.T. only here and Mat 23:4.

. There is no upbraiding of the wandering sheep, nor murmuring at the trouble. Comp. the use of , 19:6; Act 8:39.

6. . See on 9:1. In Mt. there is nothing about his calling others to rejoice with him. Only his own joy is mentioned. It is a mark of great joy that it seeks sympathy.

. Not (ver. 9). The sheep went astray through its own ignorance and folly (Psa 119:176): the coin was lost through the womans want of care. This is another mark of difference between the first parable and the second.

7. . Mt. has the characteristic .

. For without a previous comparative see small print on 17:2, and comp. Mat 18:8; Mar 9:43, Mar 9:45, Mar 9:47; Mar_1 Cor, 14:19. Win. xxv. 2. c, p. 302; Simcox p. 92. Perhaps may be said to imply by a usage which was originally colloquial. It is freq. in LXX; Gen 49:12; Num 22:6, etc. In Mat 18:13 the is expressed.

. Righteous who are of such a character as to have no need of repentance. The does not prove that means those who are really righteous. It will fit any explanation of and . If both expressions be taken literally, the ninety-nine represent a hypothetical class, an ideal which since the Fall has not been reached. But as Jesus is answering Pharisaic objections to intercourse with flagrant sinners, both expressions may be ironical and refer to the external propriety of those whose care about legal observances prevents them from feeling any need of repentance. Comp. 5:31.

Mt. here has . In any case the , ver. 5, and the here are anthropomorphic, and must not be pressed. Insperata aut prope desperata magis nos afficiunt (Grotius); but such unlooked for results are impossible to Omniscience. We must hold to the main lesson of the parable, and not insist on interpreting all the details.1

Note the confidence with which Jesus speaks of what takes place in heaven, and compare it with the claims made upon His followers, 14:26, 33.

. Both verb and substantive are much more common in Lk. than in Mt. or Mk. Neither occurs in Mat 18:14 or anywhere in Jn. See on 5:32 and 3:3.

8-10. The Parable of the Lost Coin. The main points of difference between this and the preceding parable are the changes from a man to a woman, and from a sheep, which could stray of its own accord, and feel the evil consequences, to a coin, which could do neither. From this it follows that, while the man might be moved by pity rather than by self-interest to bring back the sheep, the woman must be moved by self-interest alone to recover the coin; also that the woman can blame herself for the loss of the coin ( ), which the man does not do with regard to the sheep ( ). Hence we may infer that the woman represents the Church rather than the Divine Wisdom, if she represents anything at all. The general result of the two parables is that each sinner is so precious that God and His Ministers regard no efforts too great to reclaim such.

8. ; No is added, perhaps because no women were present. Yet there may be something in the remark of Wetst, Cum varios haberet auditores Christus, mares, feminas, juniores, iis parabolas accommodat: de pastore, de muliere frugi, de filio prodigo. Women also may work for the recovery of sinners.

. The word occurs here only in N.T., but often in LXX (Gen 24:22; Exo 39:2; Jos 7:21, etc.). The Greek drachma was a silver coin of nearly the same value as a Roman denarius1 (7:41, 10:35, 20:24), which is not mentioned in LXX. It was the equivalent of a quarter of a Jewish shekel (Mat 17:24). Ten drachmas in weight of silver would be about eight shillings, but in purchasing power above a pound. Wic. has besant, Tyn. and others have groat, Luth. has Groschen. That the ten coins formed an ornament for the head, and that the loss of one marred the whole, is a thought imported into the parable.

. The act. is peculiar to Lk. in N.T., and always in the sense of kindling (8:16, 11:33; Act 28:2, and perhaps Luk 22:55: comp. Exo 30:8; Tob. 8:13; Jud 1:13:13). Oriental houses often have no windows, and a lamp would be necessary for a search even in the day.

.1 Non sine pulvere (Beng.). It may be doubted whether there is any lesson intended in the coins being lost in the house, whereas the heep strays from the fold; as showing that souls may be lost in be Church as well as by going out of it. In any case, the details are graphic, and express great and persevering activity. The charge against the Gospel is still the same, that it turns the world upside down (Trench, Par. p. 386)

9. . Her women friends and neighbours. No meaning is to be sought in the change of gender, which merely preserves the harmony of the picture. It is women who congratulate Naomi and Ruth (Rth 4:14, Rth 4:17).

10. . There comes to be joy, etc. The = in ver. 7. Joy will arise in any case that may occur. In the presence of means in the judgment of. The angelic estimate of the facts is very different from that of the Pharisees: comp. 12:8, 16:22; Eph 1:4-14.

. This is the moral throughout,-the value of a single sinner. The Pharisees condemned Jesus for trying to reclaim multitudes of sinners. They had a saying, There is joy before God when those who provoke Him perish from the world.

11-32. The Parable of the Prodigal Son. It completes the trilogy of these parables of grace, but we cannot be sure that it was uttered on the same occasion as the two other parables. The Evangelist separates it from them by making afresh start: (comp. 24:44). But this may mean no more than that Jesus, having justified Himself against the murmuring of the Pharisees, paused; and then began again with a parable which is a great deal more than a reply to objections. Even if it was delivered on some other occasion unknown to Lk., he could not have given it a more happy position than this. The first two parables give the Divine side of grace; the seeking love of God. The third gives the human side; the rise and growth of repentance in the heart of the sinner. It has been called Evangelium in Evangelio, because of the number of gracious truths which it illustrates.2 It has two parts, both of which appear to have special reference to the circumstances in which Lk. places the parable. The younger son, who was lost and is found (11-24), resembles the publicans and sinners; and the elder son, who murmurs at the welcome given to the lost (25-32), resembles the Pharisees. In the wider application of the parable the younger son may represent the Gentiles, and the elder the Jews. Like the Lost Coin, it is peculiar to Lk., who would take special delight in recording a discourse, which teaches so plainly that Gods all-embracing love is independent of privileges of birth and legal observances. Its literary beauty would be a further attraction to the Evangelist, who would appreciate the delicacy. picturesqueness, and truth of this description of human circumstances and emotions. See Jerome, Ep. xxi., for a commentary.

11. . The appeal to the personal experience of each is no longer made; but the idea of possession still continues (, , ). In each case it is the owner who exhibits the self-sacrificing care.

12. . According to Jewish law this would be half what the eldest received, i.e. one-third (Deu 21:17): but had he any claim to it in his fathers lifetime?

Very possibly he had. We have here perhaps a survival of that condition of society in which testaments took effect immediately on execution, were not secret, and were not revocable (Maine, Ancient Law, ch. vi. p. 174, ed. 1861), and in which it was customary for a father, when his powers were failing, to abdicate and surrender his property to his sons. In such cases the sons were bound to give the father maintenance; but the act of resignation was otherwise complete and irrevocable. Both in Semitic and in Aryan society this seems to have been the primitive method of succession, and the Mosaic Law makes no provision for the privileges of testatorship (ibid. p. 197). The son of Sirach warns his readers against being in a hurry to abdicate (Ecclus. 33:19-23), but he seems to assume that it will be done before death. We may say, then, that the younger son was not making an unheard-of claim. His father would abdicate some day in any case: he asks him to abdicate now. See Expositor, 3rd series, 10. pp. 122-136, 1889; Edersh. Hist. of J. N. p. 367.

This intrans. use of occurs Tobit 3:17, 6:11; 1 Mac. 10:30. Comp, (Hdt. iv. 115, 1). Other examples in Suicer. For comp. Tobit 14:13; 3 Mac. 3:28.

. The verb occurs elsewhere in bibl. Grk. 1Co 12:1; Num 31:27; Num_1 Mal 1:6, etc For see on 8:43. Here it means the same as : comp. ver. 31.

13. . He allows no delay between the granting of his request and the realization of his freedom. On the fondness of Lk. for such expressions as , , and the like, see on 7:6.

. He leaves nothing behind that can minister to his desires; nothing to guarantee his return. The stronger form is well attested ( A etc.).

. There is no reason for making an adv. (ver. 20) rather than an adj. either here or 19:12: in the sense of distant, remote is quite classical.

. Away from his fathers care and restraint, and from the observation of those who knew him.

. The opposite of . It had cost him nothing to collect it together, and he squanders it as easily as he acquired it.

. The expression occurs Jos. Ant. xii. 4, 8; but is not found again either in N.T. or LXX. The is one who does not save, a spendthrift, a prodigal: Pro 7:11; comp. Arist. Eth. Nic. ii. 8, 2, iv. 1, 5. For see Eph 5:18; Tit 1:6; 1Pe 4:4; Pro 28:7; Pro_2 Mac. 6:4. Sometimes is taken in a passive sense, one who cannot be saved, abandoned; perditus rather than prodigus, as if for (Clem. Alex. Pd. ii. 1, p. 168, ii. p. 184, ed. Potter). But the active signification is appropriate here. Trench, Syn. xvi.; Suicer and Suidas . . Syr-Sin. adds with harlots.

14. The working of Providence is manifested in coincidences. Just when he had spent everything, a famine, and a severe one, arose in precisely that land to which he had gone to enjoy himself, and throughout () the land. And he himself ( ), as well as the country, began more and more to be in want.

. See small print on 4:25. For see on 1:17, 5:14, 6:20. For , to feel want (mid.), comp. 2Co 11:9; Php 4:12; Ecclus. 11:11. Syr-Sin. omits the clause.

15. . He has to leave his first luxurious abode and attach himself, in absolute dependence, to one of another nation, presumably a heathen. Evidently his prodigality has not gained him a friend in need. Godet sees in this young Jew, grovelling in the service of a stranger, an allusion to the in the service of Rome. Excepting the quotation from LXX in Heb 8:11, in N.T. is peculiar to Lk. (19:14; Act 21:39): in LXX Pro 11:9, Pro 11:12, Pro 11:24:34, etc. For see on 10:11. For the sudden change of subject in comp. 7:15, 14:5, 17:2, 19:4; Act 6:6.

. A degrading employment for anyone, and an abomination to a Jew. Comp. Hdt. ii. 47, 1. But the lowest degradation has still to be mentioned.

16. . Exactly as in 16:21, of the pangs of hunger. See on 6:21. There is no doubt that ( B D L R) is not a euphemism for (A P Q X ), but the true reading: cupiebat aturari (d f), con cupiscebat saturari (e). Syr-Sin. supports A.

. The pods of the carob tree, or locust tree, or John the Baptists tree, or S. Johns Bread; so called from the erroneous notion that its pods were the locusts which were the Baptists food. The carob tree, ceratonia siliqua, is still common in Palestine and round the Mediterranean. It is sometimes called Siliqua Grca. But it is rash to assume that the siliqu of Hor. Ep. ii. 1-123; Pers. iii. 55; Juv. xi. 58, are carob pods (D. B.2 i. p. 1412).1 For the attraction in see on 3:19.

. No one used to give him even this miserable food, so that the quantity which he got was small. The neighbours cared nothing about this half-starved foreigner, who even in this vile employment could not earn enough to eat.

17. . Implies that hitherto he has been beside himself: comp. (Act 12:11). The expression is classical both in Greek (Diod. Sic. xiii. 95; Epictet. iii. 1, 15) and Latin, redire ad se (Hor. Ep. ii. 2, 138; Lucret. iv. 1020; Ter. Adelph. v. 3, 8). This coming to himself is manifested in the thought of home and the longing for it. Want rekindles what his revelry had extinguished. See Blass on Act 12:11.

. There is no emphasis on in contrast to : the contrast lies in their having plenty to eat. Godet sees the proselytes in these . The word occurs in N.T. only here and ver. 10: in LXX Lev 25:50; Job 7:1; Tobit 5:11; Ecclus. 7:20, 34:27, 37:11.

Only in late Greek is trans. In N.T. both act. (12:15, 21:4) and pass. (Mat 13:12, Mat 25:29) are used in much the same sense.

. Comp. , (Thuc. iii. 59, 4). The is after in B L before in D R U, ego autem hic fame pereo (Vulg.), while A A F etc. omit. The transfer to before caused it to be lost in .

18. . Not mere Oriental fulness of description (1:39; Act 10:20, Act 22:10). The expresses his rousing himself from his lethargy and despair (Act 5:17, Act 5:9:6, Act 5:18).

. Against heaven. This is not a rare use of : comp. 17:4; Mat 18:21; 1Co 6:18, 1Co 8:12. It is common in LXX and is found also in class. Grk. Comp. Pharaohs confession, (Exo 10:16); also Plat. Rep. iv. 396 A; Phdr. 242 C; Hdt. i. 138, 2; Soph. O. C. 968. Filial misconduct is a sin utterly displeasing to God. But the does not mean crying to heaven for punishment, himmelschreiend, which is otherwise expressed (Gen 4:10, Gen 18:21). For comp. 1Sa 7:6, 20:1; Tobit 3:3; Judith 5:17; Sus. 23. The sin is regarded as something to be judged by the person who regards it.

. By the father himself. What other people may call him is not in question.

19. . This will be promotion from his present position. He asks it as a favour.

20. . The repentance is as real and decided as the fall. He prepares full confession, but no excuse; and, having made a good resolution, he acts upon it without delay. Here the narrative respecting the younger son practically ends. What follows (20-24) is mainly his fathers treatment of him; and it is here that this parable comes into closest contact with the two others. Every word in what follows is full of gracious meaning. Note especially , his own father, , , and . In spite of his changed and beggarly appearance, his father recognizes him even from a distance.

. The exact parallel in Act 20:37 should be compared. Excepting Mar 3:10 and the quotations Rom 15:3 and Rev 11:11, is peculiar to Lk. in N.T. (1:12; Act 8:16, Act 10:44, etc.), and he alone uses it in this sense: comp. Gen 33:4, Gen 45:14, Gen 46:29. Latin texts vary much in rendering : cecidit (Vulg.), incubuit (a d Hier. ad Dam.) procidit (r), superjecit se (e). None of them marks the – in , kissed him tenderly, deosculatus est. See on 7:38, and comp. Tobit 7:6; 3 Mac. 5:4. As yet the son has said nothing, and the father does not know in what spirit he has returned; but it is enough that he has returned. The father has long been watching for this.

With the constr. , for , comp. 12:36.

21. He makes his confession exactly as he had planned it: but it is doubtful whether he makes his humiliating request. The words …, are here attested by B D U X; but almost all other MSS. and most Versions omit them. They may be taken from ver. 19, and internal evidence is against them. Augustine says, Non addit quod in illa meditatione dixerat, Fac me sicut unum de mercenariis tuffs (Qust. Evang. ii. 33). He had not counted on his fathers love and forgiveness when he decided to make this request; and now emotion prevents him from meeting his fathers generosity with such a proposal. But the servants are not present. They would not run out with the father. Not till the two had reached the house could the order to them be given.

22. . Bring forth quickly; cito proferte The father says nothing to his son; he continues to let his conduct speak for him.

The must be retained with B L X, Syr-Sin. Vulg. Boh. Aeth. Arm. Goth. D and other MSS. have .

. Not, his best robe, still less his former robe, which without is scarcely possible; but, the best that we have, the finest in the house. Comp. Eze 27:22. The () was any long and stately robe, such as the scribes loved to promenade in (20:46), the talar: Mar 12:38, Mar 12:16:5; Rev 6:11, Rev 6:7:9, Rev 6:13; Est 6:8, Est 6:11; Est_1 Mac. 10:21, 14:9. It is the common word for the liturgical vestments of Aaron; Exo 28:2, Exo 29:21. Trench, Syn. l.; D. B.2 i. p. 808.

The before (D2 R) has been inserted because of the before , for an epithet joined to an anarthrous noun is commonly itself anarthrous. But comp. Rom 2:14, Rom 2:9:30; Gal 3:21.

. Here only in N.T., but freq. in LXX and in classical writers. Comp. (Jam 2:2). We are probably to understand a signet-ring, which would indicate that he was a person of standing and perhaps authority in the house (Est 3:10, Est 3:8:2; Gen 41:42). The were marks of a freeman, for slaves went barefoot. None of the three things ordered are necessaries. The father is not merely supplying the wants of his son, who has returned in miserable and scanty clothing. He is doing him honour. The attempts to make the robe and the ring and the sandals mean distinct spiritual gifts are misapplied labour.

23. . Not sacrifice (Act 14:13, Act 14:18; 1Co 10:20), for the context shows that there is no thought of a thank-offering but slay for a meal (Act 10:13, Act 10:11:7; Joh 10:10): it implies rather more ceremony than the simple kill.

. There is only one, reserved for some special occasion. But there can be no occasion better than this. Comp. 1Sa 28:24; Jdg 6:25, Jdg 6:28 (A); Jer 46:21. With comp. , , , .

. Excepting 2Co 2:2, this verb is always pass. in N.T., but with neut. meaning, be glad, be merry (12:19, 16:19; Act 7:41, etc.).

24. Note the rhythmical cadence of this refrain (24, 32), and comp. Exo 15:1, Exo 15:21; Num. 23., Num 23:24.; 2Sa 1:19-27. Carmine usi veteres in magno effectu (Bang.): There is probably no difference in meaning between the two halves of the refrain; but means dead to me, and lost to me. Would the father speak to the servants of his sons being morally dead? Whereas he might well speak of one who had gone away, apparently for ever, as practically dead. And if we give a moral sense to , why not to (19:10; [Mat 18:11])?

Here the first part of the parable ends. The welcome which Jesus gave to outcasts and sinners is justified. The words should be given to ver. 25 rather than to ver. 24. An interval elapses during which the fathers command is executed; and then the banquet, which is the setting of the second part of the parable, begins.

25-32. In the episode of the elder son the murmuring of the Pharisees is rebuked, and that in the gentlest manner. They are reminded that they are sons, and that to them of right belongs the first place. God and His gifts have always been accessible to them (ver. 31), and if they reject them, it is their own fault. But self-righteousness and exclusiveness are sinful, and may be as fatal as extravagance and licentiousness.

25. . Doing his duty, but in no loving spirit. This explains why he was not present when his brother returned.

. Performed by attendants, not by those at the banquet Comp. Discumbens de die inter choros et symphonias (Suet. Calig. xxxvii.). Neither word occurs again in N.T. In LXX is freq. (Exo 15:20, 32:19; Jdg 11:34, etc.); (Dan 3:5, Dan 3:10) is a musical instrument. D. B.2 art. Dulcimer; Pusey, Daniel, p. 29. There were some who understood symphonia in this passage to mean a musical instrument, for Jerome (Ep. xxi.) protests against the idea. It almost certainly means a band of players or singers, and probably fluteplayers (Polyb. xxvi. 10, 5, xxxi. 4, 8). D. of Ant.2 art Symphonia.

26. . Perhaps not the same as the (ver. 22), who are occupied with the banquet.

Vulg. has servi for both; Cod. Vercell. has pueri for both; Cod. Palat. has pueri for and servi for . No English Version distinguishes the two words, and RV. by a marginal note implies that the same Greek word is used. D. C. G. art. Boy.

. What all this might mean. Comp. Act 10:17, and contrast Luk 18:36, where there is no . Here A D omit . His not going in at once and taking for granted that what his father did was right, is perhaps an indication of a wrong temper. Yet to inquire was reasonable, and there is as yet no complaint or criticism. See second small print on 1:29.

27. . Recitative, and to be omitted in translation: see on 1:45 and 7:16. Not, Because thy brother is come. There is no hint that the servant is ridiculing the fathers conduct.

. Not to be taken in a moral sense, about which the servant would give no opinion, but of bodily health. The house hold knew that the father had been anxious about his sons safety. See on 7:10, and comp. Tob. 5:21. For of receiving back comp. 6:34.

28. . Note the characteristic here and ver. 32 (see on 3:9), and the change of tense: the unwillingness to go in was a state which continued. Hence the fathers entreaties continue also (). He treats both sons with equal tenderness: the here is parallel to in ver. 20.

The reading (A L P Q R X) arose from a wish to harmonize the tenses. The reading (P Q ) instead of ( A B D L R X) is followed in Vulg. (pater ergo illius) and AV. (therefore came his father out): but it is a correction to the sake of smoothness. Lat. Vet either vero or autem.

29. . His view of his relation to his father is a servile one. With comp. Joh 12:37, Joh 21:11.

. The blind self-complacency of the Pharisee, trusting in his scrupulous observance of the letter of the Law, is here clearly expressed. This sentence alone is strong evidence that the elder brother represents the Pharisees rather than the Jewish nation as a whole, which could hardly be supposed to make so demonstrably false a claim. For in the sense of neglect, transgress, see on 11:42.

. The pronoun first with emphasis: Thou never gavest me a kid,-much less a fatted calf. He is jealous, and regards his father as utterly weak in his treatment of the prodigal; but what specially moves him is the injustice of it all. His own unflagging service and propriety have never been recognized in any way, while the spendthrift has only to show himself in order to receive a handsome recognition.

Both here and Mat 25:32, B has for . Here the diminutive has point. In LXX prevails.

. He does not see that he is exhibiting much the same spirit as his brother. He wants to have his fathers property in order that he may enjoy himself apart from him.

30. . Contemptuous: This precious son of yours. He will not say my brother.

. This is mere conjecture, thrown out partly in contrast to (who of course would be respectable), partly to make the worst of his brothers conduct: That it shows how he would have found enjoyment, had he broken loose, is not so clear. But although there is contrast between and , and between and , there is none between and , as if the one implied more exertion and trouble than the other, and therefore more esteem.

. There is no bitterness in this, as if to imply that a stranger had come rather than a member of the family returned. Throughout the parable the prodigal is said to come, not to return (VV. 20, 27; comp. 18). But there may be bitterness in . As the father had freely given the younger son his share, it would more fairly have been called .

31. . More affectionate than , although the son had not said, Father. Comp. 2:48, 16:25; Mat 21:28; Mar 10:24; 2Ti 2:1.

. In emphatic contrast to the one who has been so long absent, and perhaps in answer to his own emphatic (ver. 29). What he is enjoying for this one day, thou hast always been able to command. But, like the Pharisees, this elder son had not understood or appreciated his own privileges. Moreover, like the first labourers in the vineyard, he supposed that he was being wronged because others were treated with generosity.

. If he wanted entertainments he could always have them; the property had been apportioned: (ver. 12).

Thus the first reproach is gently rebutted. So far from the elder sons service never having met with recognition, the recognition has been constant; so constant that he had failed to take note of it. The father now passes to the second reproach,-the unfair recompense given to the prodigal. It is not a question of recompense at all; it is a question of joy. Can a family do otherwise than rejoice, when a lost member is restored to it?

32. . Note the emphatic order. To be merry and be glad was our bounden duty. The of the external celebration, the of the inward feeling. The imperf. perhaps contains a gentle reproof: it was a duty which the elder son had failed to recognize.

. The substitution of for , and the repetition of , clearly involve a rebuke: this thy brother, of whom thou thinkest so severely. If I have gained a son, thou hast gained a brother.

Not the least skilful touch in this exquisite parable is that it ends here. We are not told whether the elder brother at last went in and rejoiced with the rest. And we are not told how the younger one behaved afterwards. Both those events were still in the future, and both agents were left free. One purpose of the parable was to induce the Pharisees to come in and claim their share of the Fathers affection and of the heavenly joy. Another was to prove to the outcasts and sinners with what generous love they had been welcomed. Marcion omitted this parable.

Cov. Coverdale.

Tyn. Tyndale.

Gen. Geneva.

AV. Authorized Version.

RV. Revised Version.

Tert. Tertullian.

Win. Winer, Grammar of N.T. Greek (the page refers to Moultons edition).

1 In the Midrash there is a story that Moses, while tending Jethros flocks, went after a lamb which had gone astray. As he thought that it must be weary, he carried it back on his shoulders, Then God said, that, because he had shown pity to the sheep of a man, He would give him His own sheep, Israel, to feed (Edersh. L. & T. 2. p. 257; Wetst. on Luk 15:5).

Found in Luke alone.

1 Nearly all Latin texts have dragmas, dracmas, or drachmas here; but Cod. Palat. and Ad Novatianum xv. (Hartels Cypr. App. p. 65) have denarios.

Wic. Wiclif.

Luth. Luther.

1 MSS. of the Vulg. nearly all read evertit, which Wordsworth conjectures to be a slip for everrit. Lat. Vet. has scopis mundavit (b f ff2 l), scopis mundabit (iq), scopis commundat (a) scopis mundat (c r), mundat (d), emundat (e).

Beng. Bengel.

Trench, Trench, Parables.

2 Inter omnes Christi parabolas hc sane eximia est, plena affectuum of pulcherrimis picta coloribus (Grotius on ver. 20).

Hist. of J. N. History of the Jewish Nation.

Cod. Sinaiticus, sc. iv. Brought by Tischendorf from the Convent of St. Catherine on Mt. Sinai; now at St. Petersburg. Contains the whole Gospel complete.

A A. Cod. Alexandrinus, sc. v. Once in the Patriarchal Library at Alexandria; sent by Cyril Lucar as a present to Charles 1. in 1628, and now in the British Museum. Complete.

Jos. Josephus.

Clem. Alex. Clement of Alexandria.

Trench, Trench, New Testament Synonyms.

Syr Syriac.

Sin. Sinaitic.

B B. Cod. Vaticanus, sc. 4. In the Vatican Library certainly since 15331 (Batiffol, La Vaticane de Paul 3, etc., p. 86).

D D. Cod. Bezae, sc. vi. Given by Beza to the University Library at Cambridge 1581. Greek and Latin. Contains the whole Gospel.

L L. Cod. Regius Parisiensis, sc. viii. National Library at Paris. Contains the whole Gospel.

R R. Cod. Nitriensis Rescriptus, sc. 8. Brought from a convent in the Nitrian desert about 1847, and now in the British Museum. Contains 1:1-13, 1:69-2:4, 16-27, 4:38-5:5, 5:25-6:8, 18-36, 39, 6:49-7:22, 44, 46, 47, 8:5-15, 8:25-9:1, 12-43, 10:3-16, 11:5-27, 12:4-15, 40-52, 13:26-14:1, 14:12-15:1, 15:13-16:16, 17:21-18:10, 18:22-20:20, 20:33-47, 21:12-22:15, 42-56, 22:71-23:11, 38-51. By a second hand 15:19-21.

X X. Cod. Monacensis, sc. ix. In the University Library at Munich. Contains 1:1-37, 2:19-3:38, 4:21-10:37, 11:1-18:43, 20:46-24:53.

. Cod. Sangallensis, sc. ix. In the monastery of St. Gall in Switzerland. Greek and Latin. Contains the whole Gospel.

D. Smiths Dictionary of the Bible, 2nd edition.

1 These husks are to be seen on the stalls in all Oriental towns, where they are sold for food, but are chiefly used for the feeding of cattle and horses, and especially for pigs (Tristram, Nat. Hist. of B. p. 361).

U U. Cod. Nanianus, sc. x. In the Library of St. Marks, Venice. Contains the whole Gospel.

Vulg. Vulgate.

F F. Cod. Boreeli, sc. ix. In the Public Library at Utrecht. Contains considerable portions of the Gospel.

Hier. Palestinian (Jerusalem).

Boh. Bohairic.

Aeth. Ethiopic.

Arm. Armenian.

Goth. Gothic.

Fuente: International Critical Commentary New Testament

Seeking and Finding the Lost

Luk 15:1-10

They that have left the fold in which they were nurtured in early life, and have gone over bleak mountains and through tangled brakes, find themselves in this exquisite picture. But the Lord is on their track. He cannot abide happily with the rest, while one sheep is liable to be torn by beasts of prey or caught away by eagles. He goes after it till He finds it. Dont you think, mother, that the Lord loves that child of yours, now far away, as much as you do? Cannot you trust Him to seek until He finds? Then He will ask you to rejoice with Him. Jesus not only receiveth sinners, but seeketh them. Those who have always lived an outwardly correct life and who do not think themselves in need of repentance are the ninety and nine.

Some have the Kings stamp on them, but have rolled away into the dark corner amid dust and shavings. Oh, that we were all more willing to go down on our knees to sweep the floor to find the lost! The nine links of a necklace are useless if the tenth is missing. Christ cannot be satisfied until the lost coin is found.

Fuente: F.B. Meyer’s Through the Bible Commentary

Lost Ones Found — Luk 15:1-32

Then drew near unto Him all the publicans and sinners for to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. And He spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance- Luk 15:1-7.

All through the years of our Lords gracious ministry here on earth there were those of legalistic mind who failed to understand His interest in lost, sinful men and women. They fancied they were not lost; they professed to be among the righteous. They were punctilious about obeying the commandments of the law, not only that which was divinely given, but also many other commandments which had been added. So many had been added that the Lord Jesus Christ Himself said, Ye have made the commandments of God of none effect by your tradition. They were even more particular about keeping the traditions of the elders than they were about obeying the commandments of God. They trusted in their own righteousness, and they did not realize how far short they came.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was always interested in sinners. He came down from the glory of His Fathers house to save sinners. These legalists could not understand it. We are told here that a great company of publicans and sinners drew near to Jesus, but the self-righteous and haughty scribes and Pharisees looked on with contempt, for they could not comprehend why Jesus did not withdraw Himself from these wretched and wicked people, and why He did not rather seek out such respectable individuals as they thought themselves to be. They murmured among themselves, saying, This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. They did not know they were declaring a wonderful truth when they said that. Jesus does receive sinners, and He takes them into fellowship and communion with Himself. Thank God, this has been true all through the centuries since. Is it not wonderful grace that He receives all who will come, and He delivers them from their sins?

Sing it oer and oer again;

Christ receiveth sinful men.

If these words come before any who have been in doubt as to whether or not the Lord Jesus Christ will accept you, oh, let me tell you, This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners! He is interested in you; He is interested in me. I came as a sinner, and He did not turn me away. He received me and saved me, and He will do the same for you if you will come to Him.

In answer to the murmuring of the scribes and Pharisees, the Lord Jesus related the threefold parable which we have in this chapter. We need not think of three separate parables. It is the story of the grace of God pictured in three ways. The first part deals with a lost sheep in which the shepherd was interested. The second deals with a lost coin, and shows the womans interest as she shed the light into the corners and swept the house in order that she might find it. The last part has to do with a lost son whom the father gladly welcomed home when he returned confessing his sin and failure and was ready to accept his fathers forgiveness.

Jesus said, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? You are all familiar with this story as it is portrayed in that beautiful old gospel hymn which Ira D. Sankey made so popular, and which we all love. You remember what it says,

There were ninety and nine that safely lay

In the shelter of the fold.

But this is not what Jesus said. He said, Doth he not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness- not safe in the fold but in the wilderness- and go after that which is lost until he find it? The ninety and nine were like the legalists who imagined they were righteous. They did not consider that they were lost, and so they did not think they needed to be sought and found. The lost sheep is the poor sinner who knew he was lost, who knew he needed a Saviour. The Shepherd leaves the ninety and nine in the wilderness, in their self-complacency, and goes out for that which is lost, and He does not give up until He finds it.

Years ago I was staying with friends who had a great sheep ranch, and one evening we were awaiting supper until the husband came home. We expected him to arrive about six oclock, but he was late. When he came into the house he said to his wife, My dear, I shall have to drink a cup of coffee and eat only a snack tonight, for as I came from the station I heard the bleating of a lost lamb, and I must hurry and find it before the coyotes or rattlesnakes get it. I asked if I might go with him, and he consented. I was amazed to see that mans interest in one lost lamb. He and a friend had more than five thousand sheep, and literally thousands of lambs; and yet that one lost lamb had such a place in his heart that he could not resist going out in the night to find it. I said, as we went along a narrow trail, You have so many sheep and lambs, I wonder why you are so much concerned about one. He said, I would not be able to sleep tonight for thinking about that little lamb out in the wilderness, and perhaps torn into pieces by the coyotes or bitten by a rattler. He called out as we went along the trail, Bah-h-h, bah-h-h, bah-h-h, bah. He listened eagerly for an answer. At last we heard, from far down in the canyon among the thick brush, a little voice crying, Baa baa baa. My friend answered with a loud Bah-h-h, bah-h-h, bah-h-h, bah. He said, There it is. You stay here; Ill go down and get it. And down he went, holding on to his flashlight; and when he got to the bottom he shouted back, I have it; it is all right! We went home rejoicing together. I thought what a perfect picture of our Lord Jesus Christ searching for poor lost sinners! He knew men had wandered from God, and needed finding, and so He came from heaven down into this dark world, and He went about seeking those who were lost. Here we read that When he had found it he laid it on his shoulders rejoicing. He did not find it to leave it and let it make its way home as best it could. Just as in the case of that little lamb of which I spoke, the shepherd did not put it down until it was back in the fold. He put it on his shoulders. So our Lord does not save us, and then tell us to follow and keep up with Him if we can. He carries us home rejoicing. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. Whatever else our friends in heaven may know or may not know in regard to what is going on here on earth, there is one thing they do know: they always know when the Good Shepherd finds a lost sheep, for He gathers them about Him and says: Rejoice with Me; for I have found My sheep which was lost.

In the second part of the parable the Lord presents the matter in a different way, in order to illustrate our utter helplessness and the need of divine enablement.

Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost- Luk 15:8-10.

This is a beautiful picture. One of ten pieces of silver is lost. These pieces of silver were joined together in a chain and given by the husband to seal the marriage ceremony. They were worn across the wifes forehead and valued as a wedding-ring is among us. If one coin should be lost it was thought to indicate the wifes unfaithfulness to the husband. Naturally, when one of the coins had disappeared the woman would say, What will my husband say if he should come home and find I have lost one of these pieces? In her trouble and distress she lighted a candle and swept the floor carefully, and finally she found the coin which perhaps had rolled into a corner. She went to the door and called her neighbors, saying, Oh, you will be glad to hear that I have found my coin which was lost! Then carefully she put it back into the place where it belonged. It was necessary that she be active in order to discover the coin. It could not find its way back to her. In this we see the activity of the Spirit of God working through His people. We have our part in seeking for the lost. It is the light of the Word that reveals their true condition and enables us to find them. The Lord Jesus said, Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. Joy in the presence of the angels. Notice He does not say what some people seem to think He says. He does not say, There is joy among the angels, although I am sure they do rejoice; but that is not what He says; He says, In the presence of the angels. Who then are in the presence of the angels? All the redeemed who are absent from the body and present with the Lord-they are in the presence of the angels. Our Lord Jesus says to them, Rejoice with Me; for I have found that which was lost. In heaven, where they know so well the worth of a soul, all rejoice when one is saved.

And He said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: but as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found- Luk 15:11-32.

In this third part we have perhaps the tenderest story that our Lord Jesus ever related while here on earth. It is a story which we all know well, and yet it never seems to lose its sweetness and preciousness. In the first part one sheep was lost; next, one coin was lost; and now, a son is lost! There were two sons, and one was lost. These two sons are typical of all mankind. Here we think of God as the Father of spirits, the Creator of all men. While the Word of God gives no support of the modern theory of the universal fatherhood of God and universal brotherhood of man; nevertheless in chapter three of this gospel we find that in tracing the genealogy of our Lord Jesus back to Adam, we are told that Adam was the son of God. In this sense God is the Father of all mankind.

And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. Without being content to await the time when the father would die, the younger son asked for his part of the estate at once in order that he might enjoy it beforehand. The father yielded to him and counted out to him that which was to be his. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. There he could live as he liked, in independence of his fathers will. So he had his fling as we say, until all was gone. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. I am sure that every repentant soul can say, I too have wandered away from God, and I too have squandered the good things which He has bestowed upon me. I have lived in the far country, and I know all that is involved in these experiences. It is not a question of the amount of sin one commits that makes him a prodigal. This young man was just as truly a sinner against his fathers love the moment he crossed the threshold of the door as he was in the far country. He did not want to be subject to his father; he desired to get away where he could live as he pleased. The father did not follow him. He did not insist that the son return, but allowed him to go and learn some lessons which he never could learn in any other way.

The day came when he had spent everything and found himself in dire distress. The friends he had made-where were they? They were his friends only as long as he had money. When at last everything was gone, when his fortune was spent, these fair-weather friends were not to be found; they left him in his deep need, and no one gave unto him. In his distress, in order to keep from starvation, he was obliged to do something which to a Jew of ordinary good breeding or conscience would be most revolting. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. It was there among these unclean beasts, himself unclean, that he began to realize his folly and ingratitude. He could not feed upon the swines food; he would have done so if he could. But he was a man created in the image of God who had put in him something which only God could satisfy. It is absolutely impossible for us who were created for eternity, ever to find anything in the things of this world to satisfy our souls. The day came when this young man was in such distress that he did not know where to turn. It was then that he came to himself. That is a significant expression! Sin is a terrible thing; it is an insanity. This young man had been suffering from a mental abberation. Now he regained his right mind. He began to realize for the first time the fool he had been in turning away from the fathers house, in trying to find satisfaction in the far country. Have you ever come to that place? Am I addressing anyone who has tried for years to find satisfaction in the things of this world and has never been able to do it? Oh, that you might come to yourself and face conditions as they really are, and turn to the God from whom you have wandered for so long!

This young man came to himself; he began to think. If you can get people to think then something will happen. The devil is doing his best to keep people from thinking. Some people wonder why we as Christians object to worldly amusements. They think we are very narrow and bigotted because we disapprove of them. Well, we know they are designed of Satan to keep men and women from facing the realities of life and recognizing their true condition before God. He wants to keep people from thinking, to forget they are lost sinners going on to destruction. When men begin to think they are well on the way to salvation. This young man came to that place. He said practically, What a fool I have been, leaving my fathers house and my home. How many hired servants of my father have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. Oh, if any who read these lines are unsaved, would God you might come to the same decision, that you might say with the same purpose of heart, I will arise; I will go to my Father. I will go back to God, and I will tell Him I have sinned! The Scriptures say, He looked upon men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going down to the pit, and his life shall see the light. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. That young man, feeling his unworthiness, had determined in his heart all he was going to say. He was going to tell his father he was unworthy to be called a son, and ask him to make him as one of his hired servants. But you will note when he reached his father he had to leave out a lot .of that. The father did not wait to hear it. He arose and came to his father. I have seen many pictures of the prodigal son being welcomed by the father, but I have not seen one which seems to be fully in accord with the story. I have seen pictures of the father standing in the doorway gorgeously robed and reaching out his arms to the son, but that is not what Jesus tells us. He said, But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. He did not wait for the boy to get to the doorstep; he did not wait for him to reach the house, but he saw him coming down the road, and he said, There is my boy! I have been waiting for him all these months! What an affecting scene as Jesus pictures it. It is the picture of God the Father. When the sinner returns to Him, He is there to meet and welcome him. The poor boy began to speak out, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son That is as far as he got; he did not say any more. He did not ask to become as one of the hired servants. The father had servants enough. It was a son he was welcoming home. He cried out in his joy, Bring forth the best robe and put it on him-for us that robe is Christs perfection. Put a ring on his hand-the ring tells of undying affection. And shoes on his feet- slaves went barefooted, but sons wore shoes. And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. And that merriment has never ended. Oh, in that home, of course, the time came when the feast was finished. But when the Father wins a poor sinner to Himself and says, This My son was lost and is found, and they enter into communion together, the merriment which begins goes on for all eternity.

But now there is an added and a jarring note. His elder brother was in the field. He is just a Pharisee, who would not dare say he was saved but did not imagine he was lost. In his heart there is no more real love for the father than there had been in the heart of the younger boy. Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. Now this brother, instead of rejoicing and saying, Oh, let me meet him; let me have part in that merriment, was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out and intreated him. He was like those scribes and Pharisees who said, This Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. He considered that his father was degrading himself in treating this prodigal boy like that; one who had misbehaved as he had done! He was angry and would not go in. His father came and intreated him, but he said, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. It was just the same spirit that had led the younger son to leave the house and go into the far country. This son remained at home and was more respectful, but he was no better than the younger. He actually upbraided the father for his kindness. He does not say, My brother, for whom I have prayed so long, not my brother, but your son. The father said to him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was for him to appropriate and enjoy it all if he desired. The father reminds the elder brother of that which he had overlooked: It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. The legalist can never understand the grace of God. It is utterly foreign to him.

God grant we may not fail to understand and appreciate the grace of God, as this poor disgruntled elder brother did!

Fuente: Commentaries on the New Testament and Prophets

Luk 15:1-2

It has been observed that intense cold will produce very much the same effect as fervent heat. The ring of iron that surrounds a wheel, being exposed to keen frosts during a long winter’s night, will produce a sensation and an effect on a sensitive skin very much the same as that the same ring will produce, if heated in the fire when the smith takes it from the furnace to hammer it on the anvil. Intense cold and intense heat thus often produce, in a manner that might be easily explained, the same effect. But it is true in the realm of mind and heart, as well as in the region of matter, that opposites do often produce similar effects. Hatred and love have this in common,-that the object of love and the object of hatred are equally in the thoughts of the person loving or hating. He that loves would not forget the object of his love, and he that hates cannot; and so the same result appears from the keenest hatred and the warmest love. The text illustrates this thought. Two classes are here described as following the steps of the Saviour and constantly attending them: those that were attracted to Him because they liked to hear His word; and those who hated Him and His word, and yet, under the spell of an irresistible fascination, could not forsake Him. The Pharisees and scribes were as constant in their attendance as the publicans and sinners who gathered together to hear Him.

I. Why did the publicans and sinners draw near to Christ? (1) First of all-and this is the simplest thought-because He did not frown them away. He did not scorn them, as the Pharisees and scribes did. He was willing to let them come near. (2) The publicans and sinners came near to Christ, not simply because He was willing to allow them to approach Him, but because they heard from Him words which they heard from no one else. They heard Him and marvelled; for He spake as one having authority, and not as the scribes. As it was with Christ, so must it be with the Christian Church, if she would be faithful to her Lord. If we have reached the time when publicans and sinners are afraid to come near us, we have need to look to ourselves and ask the reason.

II. Notice the fascination connected with envy and hatred and opposition that is indicated in this second verse. The Pharisees and scribes, noticing how the publicans came round Christ, murmured. They thought themselves the best people of the day. A very strict sect were they, very observant of all ecclesiastical order, very careful in their observance of the prescribed feasts, very exact in tithing all their property, making their prayers and keeping the feasts very duly. These people thought it a very hard thing, that this man should allow these unlettered, ignorant people to come so close to him. They said, “This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them.” You see there is an intensified charge. It was bad enough to receive them, but it was ten times worse to sit down and eat with them. “That miserable collector of taxes, that apostate Jew, that man who is a badge of submission to Rome-that he should come and be received and allowed to sit down at the same table; and that poor woman-surely if this man were a prophet he would know what manner of woman it is that is touching him-for she is a sinner.” That is the spirit of the Pharisees and the scribes. Let us search ourselves, for that spirit is not yet cast out of the Christian Church.

J. Edmund, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 543.

The crowds which gathered about our Lord in the course of His mission were eminently representative of the various phases of Jewish life and thought. They consisted of men drawn from all ranks and classes of society. Women and children and stained outcasts are at the least equally among His intimates with social magnates and learned men. There is no discriminating Shibboleth to sift the miscellaneous gathering. No eclectic followers are permitted to check free access to the Master. There is no “fencing of the tables” at which He sits; no rebuff for ignorance; no rejection of humility and wretchedness. The net is cast abroad and its sweep is undiscriminating and universal. Of all these types of society, that of the Pharisee is perhaps the most marked, and the characteristics of it have acquired most popular recognition. We may recognise several distinct ideas associated with it.

I. One is that of exclusiveness or spiritual pride. If there is one great practical lesson, before all others running through the teaching of Christ, and imparting a principle of radical change into the scheme of life, it is summed in these words, “The last shall be first and the first last.” This doctrine is the first step in the organisation, so to say, of the kingdom of heaven. This is the first in order of all those paradoxes which constitute the sum of Christianity. It was this which, in the first centuries of its spread, was such an outrage upon society at large, such an enigma to the dispassionate observer, and, as Gibbon has justly observed, was one great element of its triumph. The outcast was no longer an outcast. The despised and rejected of men has become the very pattern of the noblest life. And herein lay the essential antagonism to the spirit which possessed the Pharisee. Exclusion was his ideal. He clung to it as his heaven-conferred heritage. Christ broke down the walls of partition. The kingdom of heaven came not to a favoured few, not to the elect or the predestinate, but to all.

II. Another note or characteristic of the Pharisaic type is formalism. Formalism may be explained as an exaggerated stress laid upon ceremonial, upon formularies, and upon ordinances-as the elevation, in short, of the mechanism of life in comparison with the life itself. It is not to be supposed that all, or indeed the greater part of those in whom this tendency exists, are making an ostentatious display of righteousness, or are assuming a disguise to cloke their hidden propensities, nor yet that they are themselves conscious of the unsubstantial nature of the manifestations of their religious life. There are but few, I suppose, who do not at times succumb, out of sheer weariness, to the temptation to rest content with seeming instead of being, to substitute a mechanical goodness for genuineness of life, a conventional orthodoxy for the unquiet pursuit of reality. There is a petty and stagnant life, the backwater, so to say, of the enlarged activities and sympathies of the world (a kind of village existence), in which, from the absence of all scale, unessential things assume a factitious importance, and the activity, for want of a nobler outlet, finds vent in trifles. That there is a compatibility of genuine piety, and the most narrow formalism, is a fact which meets us at every turn. But in proportion as knowledge becomes complete, as darkness melts into light, in such proportion are the means and outward expression of life lost sight of, swallowed up in the complete freedom of life itself. This was the lesson of St. Paul to the Judaizers of Galatia. It is not the sacrament, he says; it is not circumcision which availeth aught, it is faith; not the form, but the essence; not the letter that killeth, but the spirit that giveth life-life and liberty, unity of life beneath the multiplicity of forms. And in the recognition of this lies the Christian brotherhood, the veritable communion of saints. If we learn to recognise that this communion is not bounded by the limits of a sect, nor by outward forms, nor by articles of belief, nor by modes of government, but that it is a unity underlying the fragments of Christendom, we shall have been purged of the leaven of the Pharisee, we shall have been made meet to sit down with Christ in the company of publicans and sinners.

C. H. V. Daniel, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, Feb. 26th, 1880.

References: Luk 15:1.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xiv., No. 809; Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 108; Ibid., vol. xv., p. 52. Luk 15:1-2, Church of England Pulpit, vol. vi., p. 53. Luk 15:1-7.-H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 18. Luk 15:1-10.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 201; Ibid., vol. xiii., p. 139; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 370; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 346. Luk 15:1-32.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 229. Luk 15:2.-T. T. Carter, Sermons, p. 63; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 356; T. Birkett Dover, A Lent Manual, p. 44; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 219; vol. xi., No. 665; Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 239; G. Bainton, Ibid., vol. xvi., p. 250; J. Baird, The Hallowing of Our Common Life, p. 77. Luk 15:3-7.-A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 259. Luk 15:4.-Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. ii., p. 223. Luk 15:4, Luk 15:5.-Ibid., vol. iv., p. 225. Luk 15:4-6.-Spurgeon, My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 101. Luk 15:4-7.-Ibid., Sermons, vol. xxx., No. 1801; S. A. Brooke, Church of England Pulpit, vol. i., p. 345; Homilist, new series, vol. 1, p. 359. Luk 15:5.-S. Baring-Gould, Village Preaching for a Year, vol. ii., p. 37. Luk 15:7.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 3rd series, p. 8.

Luk 15:8

The Search of Love.

Three parables stand together in this chapter. The occasion of all is one and the same-the murmuring of scribes and Pharisees against the Saviour, who would eat with sinners. And the general drift of all is the same-the feeling of God towards repentant sinners, illustrated by man’s feeling towards a possession lost and found. Thus far there is unity-there is even identity-in the three. But no two parables of our Lord are really identical, however like may be the incidents of one to those of another. And so it is here. There is a climax natural and real in the three losses in this chapter. In the first parable the owner of a hundred sheep loses one of them; in the second the owner of ten pieces of silver loses one of them; in the third the father of two sons loses one of them. Now, the second lost thing, though it is less valuable than the first, is to the owner more so. The third is a loss different in kind, and appealing yet more forcibly to the understanding and heart of mankind. There is a climax also in the thing signified. The sheep has strayed in its ignorance from the flock and the pasture. The son exiles himself of self-will and rebelliousness from the home and from the father. Between these two extremes of mere simplicity and utter wilfulness lies the insensate unconciousness of the lost coin.

I. The woman who has lost one of the ten pieces cannot acquiesce and rest in her loss. Little in itself, to her it is vital. She waits not for the light of day, but discovering her loss at night, by night she sets herself to repair it. She lights the lamp, sweeps the house, and seeks diligently till she finds it. It is a parable of the love of God. God represents Himself as missing one soul. Little is that soul in itself to the great God. But God would show to us that each one is precious. Each one was separately created; each one has a place designed for it in the universal temple; each one not filling that place leaves a blank. The eye of love misses it, and therefore the hand of love seeks it.

II. The parable goes on to speak of a sweeping. I know it is a homely figure-too homely, perhaps, for some tastes-beneath the dignity, some might say, of the pulpit; only that here Christ has gone before, has written it in His Book, and given it to me for a text. And how wonderful, however homely, is this figure! The love of God first lights up in the world this lamp of revelation, telling man what man could not know; for no man hath ascended up to heaven to read there, in the light of that world, the things that were and that are and that shall be. First this,-the remembering that this light will never fall of itself upon the lost coin, the very loss of which lies in its being out of sight of the man himself. Then, secondly, the love of God sweeps-sweeps, I say, the house, which is the man. You suffered the dust of earth to lie thick upon you-perhaps the amiable dust of kindly sentiment, of satisfied affection; or perhaps the ugly dust of eager grasping, of predominant self, of overmastering passion; and so, evading the illumination, you necessitated the sweeping. It was the love of God still.

III. The love of God will seek diligently till it find. Marvellous word! Record at once of difficulty and perseverance. How much is repaired ere the finding be accomplished! To find the lost soul is not easy. The whole work of sanctification is wrapped up in it. Every thought has to be brought into captivity; every motive has to be elevated. Objects indifferent once, or distasteful, are to be made the aim of the life; and that holiness, which to fallen man is repugnant, must be cultivated for a purpose to fallen man repulsive-that he may at last see God. This is the meaning of that diligent search by which love at last shall find; for without success love cannot live. Love cannot sleep till its object be accomplished. No toil is too great, may she but attain.

C. J. Vaughan, Penny Pulpit, new series, No. 832.

References: Luk 15:8.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 352; J. Keble, Sermons for Sundays after Trinity, part i., p. 84; Expository Sermons on the New Testament, p. 86.

Luk 15:8-10

The piece of silver-whatever it was-was great to the owner. And here lies the point in the analogy. A soul, an individual creature, an atom in God’s universe, may be in itself a very insignificant thing, but it is great to God. This is its dignity. How great, how dear to God, no man can adequately judge, because no man is a creator, and no man is a redeemer. It needs absolutely to have created a thing, and absolutely to have redeemed a thing, before you can calculate what its worth would be to one who stood to it in those relations. Let us go with this woman in her quest. It is deliberate, painstaking, protracted, effectual.

I. First she lights a candle-the well-known emblem in the Bible, of three things: first, the Spirit of God in a man’s soul; second, the word of God; third, the consistent lives of ministers and other servants of God. And these three together make the great detective force, and so ultimately the great restorative power, which God uses in this world.

II. With the lighted candle, the woman went to sweep the house. In the parable of the shepherd, the sheep was gone out into the wilderness. Here, the lost one was still in the house. It seems to me more affecting to be a lost soul in the house, than to be a lost soul out in the wilderness. It is a great commotion and disturbance to sweep, but then it leads to cleanliness and order. So God’s sweepings are severe things. But then it is only to brush away what had no right to be there. You will not presently complain, you will not regret the turmoil-when the costly thing, that was almost hidden-sparkles again in the. hand of its great Proprietor.

III. All the parables agree in the one blessed, crowning thought-“till she find it.” It is not a light achievement. Even with the lighted candle, and with the close sweeping, she had to seek diligently-to go up and down, and do her work over and over again. But love-the love she had for her lost treasure, carried her on, and she did not stop, she could not stop, till she found it.

J. Vaughan, Sermon preached Oct. 29th, 1865.

Man’s Fall God’s Loss.

I. The first division of the picture in this parable represents God as contemplating as a loss to Himself the state of sin into which man has fallen. God had a property of the heart in man’s welfare: He had created him holy, like Himself. When sin waylaid man, cast him down, stripped him, and robbed him, and left him for dead, God was as one bereaved.

II. In the second part of the picture God is represented as making an effort for the recovery of man from the sin and misery into which he has fallen. God will not let His human treasure go without an effort to recover it-a persistent effort to recover it. This is the chief and abounding meaning of the second part of the picture. This is the gospel which has been ringing clear above the world’s sin and trouble for ages. There is no one point, as I understand the teaching of Christ, so urgently insisted upon in that teaching, and so much impressed upon the mind and heart of the world, as this idea of God seeking for His children. The more one seeks to look at this, the more one feels how true it is that the inflexible righteousness of God, that the infinite love of God, is full of a determination not to let His human treasure go without an effort to recover it. This is the key of history.

III. The third point is that, God and the good angels rejoice in heaven over the recovery of man. It is often represented that the angels rejoice, and they do; but the Father rejoices first, and with an alert and subtle sympathy the angels catch the influence of the Divine joy as the high mountain tops catch the early rays of the rising sun. God’s heart is the centre of the joy. See who the separate parts of the picture answer to one another. There is the first, the householder weeping for her lost piece of money, then searching for the piece, then rejoicing over the recovery: that is to say, God contemplating man’s sin as a personal loss, God putting forth effort for His creature’s recovery, and God rejoicing over his recovery, and the empty place in His Divine heart filled again.

A. Hannay, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 113.

References: Luk 15:8-10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 970; C. Stanford, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxv., p. 136; R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 385; H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 32; A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 274; G. Dawson, The Authentic Gospel, p. 27.

Luk 15:10

The Brightness of Penitence.

The ordinary law of sympathy-“to weep with those that weep”-is naturally suspended in this instance. When our weeping is for our sins, the angels are glad over us. For, indeed, then our sorrow is not the chief thing that happens to us, but only an accidental accompaniment of what is happening. Our word Repentance carries with it certainly a sorrowful sound, but the Greek original name for Repentance has not the least touch of sorrow in its associations, but signifies only that grand change of the mind, with its aims and thoughts, its reflections and its activities, which is the real essence of Repentance.

I. The angel, perhaps, could not sorrow in sympathy with a sorrow which was nothing but deserved retribution; but he rejoices with all the joy of his intense nature over the sorrow which works such a miracle. And this joy of the angels is not theirs only. It soon echoes back to earth again, and fills the heart of him who is repenting. He rejoices over his own sorrow.

II. Many kinds of necessary renunciation are accompanied by sorrowfulness, and make themselves felt with bitterness, but not so the renunciation of sin. True to human nature, the great artist draws his Antigone, as she passes to her death for what was no crime, sorrowing most acutely for the life and light she leaves behind her, for the wedded love and the love of children, and her aspirations for a diviner justice all unfulfilled. She would stoop to no baseness, but that did not make her joyous. She would die for her right, but sorrow is king over all and after all. Self-conquest is noble, but you must add something to self-conquest to make you joyful. The world is certainly not a home for immortal souls, but they that renounce it must have something else to look for before they can be happy. And what is this something else which gives life to self-conquest and glory to self-renunciation? It is Faith, the Faith which explains to you what you have found in exchange for that which you have given up; the Faith which assures you that your returning is not your own work, but that you have been loved and sought and found at last by a higher power and a more devoted being than you have known before.

Archbishop Benson, Boy Life: Sundays in Wellington College, p. 130.

The words are Christ’s own; not those of prophet or priest, or excited orator, saying a poetic thing not to be construed literally. We must take the words as soberly true. There are beings somewhere, higher than men, a little higher, creatures of God Almighty, good and kind beings, who feel a real interest in our leaving off to do evil and beginning to do well.

I. The joy spoken of in the text is, broadly speaking, the triumph of right over wrong. A tide of true gladness spreads through the Paradise of God, when it is known there that a human being, who can make his choice, who must make his choice, between life and death, between good and evil, has chosen life and good. We are not surprised at all that the angels rejoice over one repenting sinner. We have witnessed, many times, the same sort of feeling here. Every good man and woman who comes to know of it is appreciably gladdened when old or young, who has been wrong, honestly determines and tries to be right. Not only is this the best reason why any of us should be glad: probably, in a little while, it will seem the only one. After all differences are forgotten, there will abide, as the one vital and eternal difference-just right or wrong-on God’s side or no. And no human soul that is on the wrong side can ever be other than (in the long-run) miserable. We must be brought to God; or it can never be well with us, here or anywhere.

II. Notice several reasons for the rejoicing of the angels. When a sinner turns to God, here is the saving from utter destruction of a thing of inestimable value. (2) In a soul brought to God the angels behold a being capable of being infinitely happy or miserable, and all this for time without end, brought to the right side of the line between happiness and misery. (3) The angels, we may well believe, rejoice at the salvation of a sinner, because in that they see an exemplification of the successful working of the grand machinery of Redemption. As some special friend of some great inventor would watch with joy the triumph of the engine he had thought out, even so (comparing spiritual things with earthly) we can imagine the angels looking on with earnest interest at the grand instrumentality of Redemption at its work in this world, and gladdened whensoever another soul saved shows it is doing the work it was meant for.

A. K. H. B., From a Quiet Place, p. 154.

References: Luk 15:10.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iv., No. 203 W. Cunningham, Sermons, p. 20; Homilist, new series, vol. iv. p. 600, Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i., p. 274; D. Moore, Christian World Pulpit, vol. i., p. 210; Plain Sermons by Contributors to “Tracts for the Times,” vol. i., p. 45; Todd, Lectures to Children, p. 20.

Luk 15:11

The Fatherland.

I. Of all God’s cords the finest, and perhaps the strongest, is the cord of love. The true home of humanity is God-God trusted, communed with, beloved, obeyed.

II. Far from home, humanity is still in the hand of God. Not only is it subject to His righteous and irresistible sovereignty, but it has a place in His deep and desirous compassion.

III. It would be rash to say that where the home is right the inmates never go wrong. Still, the promises to believers include their children, and the instances are anomalous and few where a hopeful outset ends in a worthless old age. In order to make your home the preparation for heaven, the first thing is to strengthen that cord of love by which you ought to hold your child, even as our heavenly Father holds His children.

J. Hamilton, Works, vol. ii., p. 261.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son. Regarding the son here as a type of man, and the father as a type of God, as He is seen in His Son and set forth in the Gospel, let us now study these, the two prominent figures in this beautiful parable, beginning with the prodigal.

I. His conduct. In the condition of the prodigal we have a picture of the misery into which sin, having estranged us from our heavenly Father, has plunged its wretched votaries. Type of the sinner who departs from God, and a beacon to such as feel irksome under the restraints of a pious home, he seeks happiness only to find misery: ambitious of an unhallowed liberty, he sinks into the condition of the basest slave.

II. His change of mind. Sin is here represented as a madness; and who acts so contrary to sound reason, his own interests and the reality of things, as a sinner? Happy such as through the Spirit of God, working by whatever means, have come to themselves, like the prodigal; and are seated, like the maniac who dwelt among the tombs, at the feet of Jesus clothed and in their right mind.

III. His distress. “I perish,” he said, “with hunger.”

IV. His belief. “Behind yonder blue hills, away in the dim distance, lies my father’s house-a house of many mansions, and such full supplies that the servants, even the hired servants, have bread enough and to spare.”

V. His resolution. “I will arise and go to my father.” Remove the prodigal, and setting conscience on the bench, let us take his place. No prodigal ever sinned against an earthly, as we have done against our heavenly Father. Well, therefore, may we go to Him, with the contrition of the prodigal in our hearts and his confession on our lips:-“Father, I have sinned against heaven and in Thy sight.” The Spirit of God helping us thus to go to God, be assured that the father, who, seeing his son afar off, ran to meet him, fell on his neck and kissed him, was but an image of Him who, not sparing His own Son, but giving Him up to death that we might live, invites and now waits your coming.

T. Guthrie, The Parables in the Light of the Present Day, p. 57.

The Father.

I. How the father received his son. As soon as the wanderer is recognised, on flying feet the old man runs to meet him; and ere the son has time to speak a word, the father has him in his arms, presses him to his bosom, and covering his cheek with passionate kisses, lifts up his voice and weeps for joy. And this is God-God as He is drawn by the hand and seen in the face of Him whom He sent to seek and save us, to bring us back, to open a way of reconciliation,-the God who, unwilling that any should perish, invites and waits our coming.

II. How the father treated the prodigal. The ring he gave him signifies here the espousals between Christ and His Church; it may be the token of her marriage, the passport of those who are blessed to go to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (2) The naked foot was a sign of servitude. Therefore the order to put shoes on his feet was tantamount to the declaration from the father’s lips that the prodigal was not to be regarded as a servant, but as a son; that to him belonged all the privileges and possessions of sonship; that he who had never lost his place in the father’s heart was now to resume it at his table and in his house.

III. How the father rejoiced over the prodigal. Grief retires from observation; joy must have vent. In this parable, so true in all its parts to nature, this feature of joy stands beautifully out. To these servants the father had never told his grief; but now the prodigal is come back, and his heart is bursting with joy, he tells them of it. So God rejoices in His ransomed; and let them rejoice in Him. The sun that shines on you shall set, and summer streams shall freeze, and deepest wells go dry-but not His love. His love is a stream that never freezes, a fountain that never fails, a sun that never sets in night, a shield that never breaks in fight: whom He loveth, He loveth to the end.

T. Guthrie, The Parables in the Light of the Present Day, p. 77.

References: Luk 15:11.-J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 420; Homilist, new series, vol. ii., p. 50. Luk 15:11-13.-J. P. Gledstone, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xviii., p. 140; Ibid., vol. xxii., p. 78. Luk 15:11-24.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. xiii., p. 199; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 373; H. Batchelor, The Incarnation of God, p. 25. Luk 15:11-32.-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xii., p. 268; Expositor, 1st series, vol. ix., p. 137; J. Oswald Dykes, Sermons, p. 234; R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 390; H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 48; A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 280. Luk 15:12.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol ii., p. 253.

Luk 15:13

I. When principle is weak the far country is fatal. If any one is obliged to leave home-not from love of idleness, not from love of pleasure, not from love of liberty, but on such business as brings young men to our large towns every day-do not forget that God is here.

II. The portion of goods which fell to the prodigal must have been a handsome patrimony, and it would have been his wisdom to wait for it till the proper time. But with indecent haste he forestalled his reversion, and what he obtained so easily he quickly fooled away. Daily bread costs little, but dainties are dear, and are never so costly as when they are gifts from the devil.

J. Hamilton, Works, vol. ii., p. 287.

Riotous Living.

I. Pleasant as is the lot of our inheritance, it is well to remember that the thickets and steep places are haunted. Frightful ogres frequent them, and they are sure to sally forth on the heedless wanderer. The names of three of the best known are: The Lust of the Eye, the Lust of the Flesh, and the Pride of Life; or, as they are sometimes called-Vanity, or the love of display; Sensuality, or the love of low pleasure; and the Affectation of Fashion, or the keeping-up of appearances.

II. If you would pass innocently through a difficult world keep within the rules. Let your life be open, your eye single, your walk in the broad light of day. To the great temptations the great antidote is not a limited income so much as a large self-denial.

J. Hamilton, Works, vol. ii., p. 300.

References: Luk 15:13.-J. Bainton, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xix., p. 220; Ibid., vol. xxii., p. 220; Church of England Pulpit, vol. iii., p. 143.

Luk 15:14

I. All may be lost by one transgression. The heart of this young man died away from his home. That home ceased to be sacred: the father was no longer paramount. Grace was gone. Prayer was given up. Good feelings faded, and now that temptation and combustible corruption came together, he was soon set on fire of hell.

II. In the figurative language of the parable, there arose in the far country a mighty famine. Extravagance soon brings the “noble to ninepence,” and in the far country it is not far that ninepence will go. But there may be so mighty a famine and so great, that even the noble will not buy the loaf of bread. Of all the paths which at life’s outset invite the inexperienced traveller, the surest to pierce through with many sorrows is the path of sensual indulgence.

J. Hamilton, Works, vol. ii., p. 313.

Reference: Luk 15:14.-J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 419.

Luk 15:15-16

I. Whether it be a natural nobleness, or an acquired refinement,-the one, the direct gift of God; the other, an indirect creation of the Gospel-it is seldom forfeited all at once. Step by step the downward path is trodden, till at last the prodigal’s snatching tit-bits from the swine-trough shows how thorough is the transformation since he fell from his old estate.

II. If self-seeking can never be successful-if separation from God is the death of the soul-if carelessness about other’s welfare, not to say misanthropy is misery, there can be little difficulty in deciding what is life and joy and peace. Love to Christ, harmony with God-these are happiness.

J. Hamilton, Works, vol. ii., p. 325.

Reference: Luk 15:15, Luk 15:16.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 373.

Luk 15:17

There are two tests to which we have a right to submit every new religion. There are two questions which we have a right, and which it is our duty, to put to every one who claims to come to us as a teacher from God. And these two questions are: (1) “What have you to tell us concerning the nature of God?” and, (2) “What have you to tell us concerning the nature of man?” Now, of these tests it is clear which is the simplest and most easy to apply: obviously the second. We do know the nature of man, or think we do. Of the Divine nature we are necessarily and naturally in comparative ignorance. We do know something of human life, and of its circumstances; and, therefore, he who tells us that concerning man’s nature which we know to be untrue has lost his claim upon our attention when he goes on to tell us something concerning God.

I. Consider, in the light of this test, as regards its theory of humanity, the religion of the Bible. There is a theory concerning man’s nature and condition on which the whole of this book, and all it professes to teach us, is based. I bring this religion to the test of one admitted and notorious fact in the nature and condition of man, in order to see how it explains that fact, and how it proposes to deal with it. The fact is the admitted and notorious fact of the exceptional unhappiness of man. Our Lord, in this parable, confronts Himself with this fact, as every teacher of the Gospel, or good news, must do if he is to win the attention of men. The hero of this story, the prodigal son, is, as you see, a sufferer; but he is more than that, he is an exceptional sufferer. All the other creatures described in the parable-the lower servants of the father-have bread and to spare; he alone suffers hunger. And more than that, he is a strangely exceptional sufferer, for he who suffers is infinitely superior to those who are happy. All animals that we know of, save man, seem to be subject to this twofold law. Each animal has its instincts, its desires, its appetites, and in the climate or element in which it exists there are corresponding objects of gratification for those appetites and those desires. Man is pained from two different sources-one is the pain of satiety, and the other the pain of remorse. Give the man all the portion of goods that can fall to him, or that in his wildest dreams of covetousness or ambition he can desire for himself; when he has enjoyed these to the very full, and just because he has enjoyed them, there begins to be felt a famine in his enjoyment, and there does come the weariness of satiety into his heart and soul.

II. The Bible theory of man is this, that he is not his true self, that he is a creature not in his proper and true element. It tells us that it has been the curse and the disorganisation of the nature of man, that in the exercise of the strange and mysterious spiritual power-free will, he has wandered away from the Father’s home, and claimed the selfish and solitary possession of the goods that the Father lavished upon him; it tells us that the origin of all human sin and sorrow has been this, that he has said, “Give me the portion of goods that faileth to me. The Bible tells us that misery is the result of this vain effort of man to do in this world of God without the God who made him; that all his misery, his weariness, is but the sublime discontent of the soul that was made to rest in its God, and cannot rest in anything less than God.

III. Our religion is a historical religion. It bases itself upon one life in the past, it is ever renewing and revealing itself in many lives ever since that life was lived on earth. It bases itself on one life, and that life was a perfect life, the life of one who, all through His existence, as far as we know it, was a life unstained by impurity, a life unvexed and unharassed by sensual or evil impulses, it was a life that was passed in entire and complete obedience to the will of the Father. The life that He lived, that perfect life of obedience-for which all its sorrow only came from without, and only came from the fact that all around Him were not like Him, equally obedient-that life, He tells us, He can supernaturally give to us, “I am come that ye might have life, and that ye might have it more abundantly.”

Archbishop Magee, Oxford and Cambridge Journal, Dec. 2nd, 1880.

We take the text as something to remind us that we have fallen far, but not hopelessly; that, great as is our present depression beneath the condition which our race was created, so great may yet be our rise; and that the very end and purpose of all Christ’s work and suffering in this world, was to bring us back to our better selves; to restore us to the holiness, happiness, and peace, which man lost when man fell. Let us remember that the human race was itself when it was at its best. Man was himself before he fell. We were created in God’s image, and our fall brought us into a state of sin and misery.

I. As for sin, you know there is a double burden there. Two things go to make the burden of our sinfulness: original sin, and the countless actual sins we have done. Our first parents had no inherited burden of guilt. They started fair. We do not. They had not to bear that load which all of us have to bear; that load which crushes down so many of our race, and which many a one has hardly a hope of escaping. Now, what we need as regards all this is to be brought back to our better self; brought back to where human nature was before it fell; and Christ, in His great atoning work, does that. He puts His redeemed ones so effectually in that condition, that they can never leave it again. Not the unstable and speedily lost purity of the days in Eden; but an enduring, an irrefragable holiness, never to be lost more.

II. The Fall brought us also into an estate of misery. And we remember from childhood the sad but too true tale of the items that make up human misery. Looking back, we discern a day when it was different. Once man walked in communion with God, and was free and happy in that communion. In his unfallen state, Adam would not have known what any one meant who had spoken to him of the wrath and curse of God; and least of all would he have been able to understand, till sad experience taught him, what is meant by the pangs of an accusing conscience-what is meant by the burden of remorse. And now let us thankfully mark that the Redeemer takes away, even here, in part, and fully hereafter, each of these things that go to make the sum of the sorrow into which man came when he fell. The manifold ills and trials of life may still remain; but even in this world He lightens them, takes the worst sting from them; do but trust Him as we ought, and God will keep him in perfect peace “whose mind is stayed upon Himself,” and even where these ills and cares are most heavily felt, the Holy Spirit makes them work together for the soul’s true good.

A. K. H. B., Counsel and Comfort from a City Pulpit, p. 55.

The Hunger of the Soul.

The truth here expressed is this: that a life separated from God is a life of bitter hunger, or even of spiritual starvation.

I. Consider the true grounds of the fact stated; for as we discover how and for what reasons the life of sin must be a life of hunger, we shall see the more readily and clearly the force of those illustrations by which the fact is exhibited. The great principle that underlies the whole subject and all the facts pertaining to it is, that the soul is a creature that wants food, in order to its satisfaction, as truly as the body. No principle is more certain, and yet there is none so generally overlooked, or hidden from the sight of men. Our blessed Lord appears to have always the feeling that He has come down into a realm of hungry, famishing souls. You see this in the parable of the prodigal son, and that of the feast or supper. Hence, also, that very remarkable discourse in John vi., where He declares Himself as the living Bread that came down from heaven; that a man may eat thereof and not die. it is the grand endeavour of the Gospel to communicate God to men. They have undertaken to live without Him, and do not see that they are starving in the bitterness of their experiment. When Christ is received, He restores the consciousness of God, fills the soul with the Divine light, and sets it in that connection with God which is life-eternal life.

II. Consider the necessary hunger of a state of sin, and the tokens by which it is indicated. A hungry herd of animals, waiting the time of their feeding, do not show their hunger more convincingly, by their impatient cries and eager looks and motions, than the human race do theirs, in the works, and ways, and tempers of their selfish life. I can only point out a few of these demonstrations. (1) The common endeavour to make the body receive double, so as to satisfy both itself and the soul too, with its pleasures. Hence the drunkenness, and high feasting, and crimes of excess. Men are hungry everywhere, and they compel the body to make a swine’s heaven for the comfort of the godlike soul. (2) Again, we see the hunger of sin by the immense number of drudges there are in the world. It makes little difference generally whether men are poor or rich. Some terrible hunger is upon them, and it drives them madly forward, through burdens, and sacrifices, and toils that would be rank oppression put upon a slave. (3) Notice, again, how many contrive in one way and another, to get, if possible, some food of content for the soul that has a finer and more fit quality than the swine’s food with which they so often overtask the body-honour, power, admiration, flattery, society, literary accomplishments. The Spirit of God will sometimes show us, in an unwonted manner, the secret of these troubles, for He is the Interpreter of the soul’s troubles. He comes to it whispering inwardly the awful secret of its pains-“Without God and without hope in the world.” He bids the swineherd look up from his sensual object and works, and remember his home and his Father; tells him of a great supper prepared, and that all things are now ready, and bids him come. Conscious of that deep poverty he is in; conscious of that immortal being whose deep wants have been so long denied; he hears a gentle voice of love saying, “I am that Bread of life… I am the living Bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this Bread, he shall live.”

H. Bushnell, The New Life, p. 32.

References: Luk 15:17.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xvii., No. 1000; J. Thain Davidson, Forewarned- Forearmed, p. 247; J. Jacob, Church of England Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 63; G. Brooks, Five Hundred Outlines of Sermons, p. 66; J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 436; H. W. Beecher, Sermons, 3rd series, p. 473; W. Hay Aitken, Mission Sermons, vol. ii., p. 139; Ibid., 2nd series, p. 139. Luk 15:17-19.-J. Armstrong, Parochial Sermons, p. 220; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iv., p. 85.

Luk 15:18

I. Note the awaking or arising of the soul out of sheer worldliness into a condition of godliness. A life of worldliness is unmanly, for it falls short of that for which man’s capacities plainly indicate that he was born. It is undutiful, for it withholds from the Father of our spirits the trust and love and gratitude we owe to Him It is perilous, for even if we make no account of the direct retributions of the great day of judgment, the spirit of the worldly man is being trained and moulded into a character which will be lasting as his being, and will render him for ever unfit for the society of God and His Holy One.

II. I will arise out of this condition of estrangement, and seek reconciliation with my Father. God is the Creator, we are His creatures. He is the King, we are His subjects. But above all He is the Father, we are His children. It is no longer a philosophic and wild speculation, but the most certain and of practical truths, that God and man are Father and child. But it is likewise a truth certified by many signs, and above all, by our own consciousness, that the tie between this Father and child has been somehow broken. That we do not trust, that we do not love, that we do not obey, we know too well. We are in a state of estrangement from our Father, and such a state must ever be both criminal and miserable. Its consequences, if not averted by a timely healing of the breach, must be eternally disastrous. Say, with the Son in the parable, “I have sinned.” The Father whom you have wronged so grievously, whose deep displeasure you have incurred, has not ceased to love you. He sees the misery to which you have reduced yourselves; He waits and watches for the first sign of your awaking to a sense of your sin, and He will welcome you back to His home.

J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 289.

Luk 15:18-19

I. These words contain consolation. It is the prodigal who speaks them. None can say, “By some course of thought or action of mine, I have excluded myself from the right to use them.” It is the prodigal son who speaks them. None can say, “I must make myself a son; I must establish my relationship to God before I claim the full sense and virtue of them.”

II. These words contain every satisfaction which those want whose minds have been staggered with doubts as to whether the world is not left to the mercy of the power of evil. In the last century the Lisbon earthquake led Rousseau to write his letters on Optimism. He was nearly mad already. It would have driven him actually mad not to think that all things were somehow tending to good; that even the worst calamities befalling the innocent did not prove that theory to be false. The philosopher of Ferney answered him in the story of Candide. The notion “everything is for the best,” applied to particulars, was exhibited as utterly ridiculous. Madame de Stael may have been right in describing this story as the grinning of an ape at the miseries of humanity. But there was much in it which the understandings, even the consciences, of men felt to be true. A general maxim or theory of the universe does not meet individual cases. It breaks down the moment the particular instance occurs to which we need that it should be applied. Whence comes our horror of such evils, our consciousness of something directly, absolutely, opposed to them? Did civilisation give these ideas? Do they constitute civilisation? Is not civilisation apart from them a name and a fiction, or else a synonym for the habits that weaken and impair manliness, courage, the reverence for women, sincerity, justice? Whence, then, are these? Is there not, must there not be a Father of spirits from whom they issue forth, in whom they dwell perfectly, absolutely? There is no experience so individual as that of moral evil; when we feel that we need such a God as Jesus Christ has revealed to us to be a Deliverer from that, we know that what is most blessed for the world is most blessed also for us.

F. D. Maurice, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 235.

Christian Repentance.

I. Observe that the prodigal son said, “I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” We know that God’s service is perfect freedom, not a servitude; but this is in the case of those who have long served Him; at first it is a kind of servitude, it is a task till our likings and tastes come to be in unison with those which God has sanctioned. We must begin religion with what looks like a form. Our fault will be, not in beginning it as a form, but in continuing it as a form; for it is our duty to be ever striving and praying to enter into the real spirit of our services; and in proportion as we understand them and love them they will cease to be a form and a task, and will be the real expression of our minds. Thus shall we gradually be changed in heart from servants to sons of Almighty God.

II. Consider the motives which actuate the repentant sinner in his endeavours to serve God. One of the most natural, and among the first that arise in the mind, is that of propitiating Him. When we are conscious to ourselves of having offended another, and wish to be forgiven, of course we look about for some means of setting ourselves right with Him. And this holds good when applied to the case of sinners desiring forgiveness from God. The marks of His mercy all around us are strong enough to inspire us with some general hope. Under these circumstances it is natural that the conscience-striken sinner should look round him for some atonement with which to meet his God. But now, turning to the parable of the prodigal son, we find nothing of this kind in it. The truth is, that our Saviour has shown us in all things a more perfect way than was ever before shown to man. The most noble repentance, the most decorous conduct in a conscious sinner, is an unconditional surrender of himself to God; not a bargaining, not a scheming to be received back again, but an instant surrender of himself in the first instance. God indeed meets us on the way with the tokens of His favour, and so He bears up human faith, which else would sink under the apprehension of meeting the Most High God; still, for our repentance to be Christian, there must be in it that generous temper of self-surrender, the acknowledgment that we are unworthy to be called any more His sons, the abstinence from all ambitious hopes of sitting on His right hand or His left, and the willingness to bear the heavy yoke of bond-servants, if He should put it upon us.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. iii., p. 90.

References: Luk 15:18.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. iii., No. 113; Ibid., Evening by Evening, p. 49; J. Kennedy, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ix., p. 288; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iv., p. 86; J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 29; Ibid., 9th series, p. 173. Luk 15:18, Luk 15:19.-G. Moberly, Parochial Sermons, p. 73; R. Winterbotham, Sermons and Expositions, p. 212.

Luk 15:20-24

The Hunger of the Soul.

I. Why did God make it so natural for us all to grieve over the past, and to lament so bitterly for sin? One way of looking at the matter may be suggestive to us all. Does it not seem as if this same penitence and sorrow for misdoings were like to the pains of hunger in the body, which at once tells of weakness and waste and toil, and which at the same time prompts us to seek for refreshment and renewal of our fasting. But for the pangs of hunger urging us to eat, the human race would disappear infallibly; the pain that is so terrible is the very cause of our continuing to live. And such a pain is it which the remembrance of sin arouses; it, too, tells of a waste that has been going on within; the waste of blessings on the right hand and on the left; the waste of spiritual purity and faith and earnestness; the loss of spiritual strength and devotion; the want of strenuous zeal for truth; the wear and tear which the frivolities and vices of the world around us must infallibly produce upon us all; but it is a pain which God gives us, not it may be painful and no more, but that its painfulness may tell us of an evil state of things, and not suffer us to be content therewith.

II. Therefore, if on you there comes at times, as God grant there may:-

“A sense of emptiness, without the sense

Of an abiding fulness anywhere;”

a sense of weariness and self-reproach as you see to how little purpose you have lived; a sense of pain and grief as you reflect how you have been mastered in the evil language and bad passions that tempt us all to wrong;-then thank God for the pain and shame and penitence, and do not strive to check it, or forget it, or drive it off. Arise, and go to your Father, “and say unto Him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before Thee, and am no more worthy to be called Thy son.”

A. Jessopp, Norwich School Sermons, p. 201.

A happy Meeting.

I. God is infinitely holy, and sin is His abhorrence. But the great sin is departure from the living God, and this never ceases till you return. And if you yourself long to be holy, it is in forgiveness that the fresh start, the new obedience, begins; if you would escape from the bondage of corruption, you must retreat into the home of God and gain the glorious liberty of His children.

II. The relation which the Most High sustains to His intelligent and accountable creatures is too comprehensive and too intimate to be perfectly imaged by any earthly tie; but in the relation which runs through this parable it finds its nearest equivalent. And what among ourselves is fatherhood? It is the relation which identifies greatness with littleness; it is the relation which lives in the loved one’s joy or honour, and which is wounded in his grief or disgrace; which feels no pride like a son’s promotion; which delights in being trusted, and which desires to be loved in return. Wonderful is parental affection, and wonderful the love of God. “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.”

J. Hamilton, Works, vol. ii., p. 351.

References: Luk 15:20.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1189; vol. x., No. 588; vol. iv., No. 176; J. Keble, Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 442. Luk 15:21.-J. Vaughan, Sermons, 13th series, p. 29. Luk 15:22.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iii., p. 129; Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 99. Luk 15:22, Luk 15:23.-Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xx., No. 1204.

Luk 15:23-24

The Festival.

I. The feast which here took place denotes “the joy of a forgiving God over a forgiven man, and the joy of a forgiven man in a forgiving God.” The one is a gracious revelation, the other a blessed experience, and each reacts upon the other. To a forthgoing affectionate nature it is a joy to be trusted; to a holy nature it is a joy to create righteousness and arrest evil, and in the case of every soul that is saved such is the joy of God.

II. There is a Divine delicacy in the ways of God. He does not clog His Gospel with conditions, nor is the joy of forgiveness dashed by formal stipulations as to future conduct. He would have you be, not a hired servant, but a son. He will not vex you by repeating, too often, “Son, go!” Nevertheless, knowing as you do the will of your Father, and merely saying “I go, Sir,” without stirring a step, can you wonder that He is grieved at His heart? Can you wonder if your consolations are small?

J. Hamilton, Works, vol. ii., p. 378.

References: Luk 15:24.-H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 161; J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, 2nd series, vol. i., p. 1; Thursday Penny Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 13.

Luk 15:25

We may see from this passage:-

I. That the position of the elder son is preferable to that of the younger, because of the risk he escaped.

II. Because a life of continuous godliness is far easier than a life of godliness succeeding a life of sin.

III. Viewed as a whole, the life of the son who remained at home must yield far more pleasure to God than the life of the son who wanders and then returns.

E. Mellor, In the Footsteps of Heroes, p. 195.

References: Luk 15:25.-J. Burton, Christian Life and Truth, p. 398. Luk 15:25, Luk 15:29.-D. Thomas, Christian World Pulpit, vol. ii., p. 184 Luk 15:25-32.-G. Cross, Ibid., vol. xviii., p. 350; Homilist, vol. i., p. 342.

Luk 15:29

Contracted Views in Religion.

I. In the conduct of the father, there seemed, at first sight, an utter departure from the rules of fairness and justice. Here was a reprobate son received into his favour on the first stirrings of repentance. What was the use of serving him dutifully, if there were no difference in the end between the righteous and the wicked? The elder brother’s case seemed a hard one; and that, even without supposing him to feel jealous, or to have unsuitable notions of his own importance and usefulness. Apply this to the case of religion, and it still holds good. At first sight, the reception of the penitent sinner seems to interfere with the reward of the faithful servant of God. The words of the text are the expression of an agitated mind, that fears lest it be cast back upon the wide world, to grope in the dark without a God to guide and encourage it in its course.

II. The condescending answer of the Father in the parable is most instructive. It sanctions the great truth which seemed in jeopardy, that it is not the same thing in the end to obey or to disobey, expressly telling us that the Christian penitent is not placed on the same footing with those who have consistently served God from the first. “Son, thou art ever with me; and all that I have is thine;”-that is, “Why this sudden fear and distrust? Surely thou hast known me too long to suppose that thou canst lose by thy brother’s gain. Thou art in my confidence. I do not make any outward display of kindness towards thee, for it is a thing to be taken for granted.”

III. The elder brother had always lived at home; he had seen things go on one way, and, as was natural and right, got attached to them in that one way. But then, he could not conceive that they could possibly go on in any other way; when an occurrence took place for which he had hitherto met no precedent he lost himself, as being thrust suddenly out of the contracted circle in which he had hitherto walked. He was disconcerted and angry with his father. And so, in religion, we have need to watch against that narrowness of mind, to which we are tempted by the uniformity and tranquillity of God’s providence towards us. Let us guard against discontent in any shape, and as we cannot help hearing what goes on in the world, let us guard, on hearing it, against all intemperate, uncharitable feelings towards those who differ from us, or oppose us.

J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. 111., p. 182.

Reference: Luk 15:29.-Homiletic Magazine, vol. xiv., p. 291.

Luk 15:31

What is the moral significance of the incident of the Elder Son?

I. It is, some writers tell us, to mark the contrast between the narrow, merciless heart of the self-righteous man, as compared with the comprehensive, all-forgiving love of our heavenly Father. He who had been most sinned against-he whose the property had been which a profligate son had wasted-was ready to forgive; the other, far less injured, had only words of discontent and anger for his father’s large-hearted mercy. It is possible that this contrast was intended, but I am sure it is not the principal purpose of the incident.

II. To determine what that significance really is, let us consider in the first place what the series of parables would be without it. Let us suppose that this series ended with the loving-even enthusiastic-reception of the younger son a this father’s house. Might not the thought then be suggested. “If it be true that a profligate who repents is more pleasing in the sight of God than one who has led a consistently virtuous life, is it not better that I should do as this young man did? “This was the thought which passed through the mind of the elder son. The father’s reply seems to have been intended to correct an erroneous inference which might, not unnaturally, be drawn, and which the elder son did actually draw. It is in its tone rather soothing than reproachful, meant to correct a mistake, and so to remove the anger which this mistake had caused; but not, as far as I can see, condemning the anger as at all unreasonable under the mistake. The Author of these parables foresaw that men might draw from them the false but not unnatural inference, that God prefers deep sinfulness, followed by true repentance, to a continuance in welldoing. To prevent such a mistake, this very objection is put into the mouth of the elder son. And in the reply of the father is fixed the true position of the repentant sinner. He is received with forgiveness, with welcome, with joy; but he does not take, in the estimation of his heavenly Father, the place of him “who by patient continuance in welldoing seeks for glory and honour and immortality.”

J. H. Jellett, The Elder Son and Other Sermons, p. 1.

References: Luk 15:31.-Preacher’s Monthly, vol. i., p. 375; Sermons from Lent to Passiontide, p. 451; J. Ferrier, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxxii., p. 211; G. Matheson, Moments on the Mount, p. 115. Luk 15:32.-J. Vaughan, Fifty Sermons, 10th series, p. 86. E. Cooper, Practical Sermons, vol. iii., p. 178. Luke 15-A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 27; F. D. Maurice, The Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven, p. 233. Luk 16:1.-J. E. Vaux, Sermon Notes, 2nd series, p. 18. Luk 16:1-8.-H. W. Beecher, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 346; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. vii., p. 377; C. Kingsley, Town and Country Sermons, p. 356. Luk 16:1-9.-Homiletic Quarterly, vol. i, p. 345. Luk 16:1-10.-H. Calderwood, The Parables, p. 266; A. B. Bruce, The Parabolic Teaching of Christ, p. 355. Luk 16:1-12.-Homiletic Quarterly, p. 503; Ibid., vol. vi., p. 34; Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 19; R. C. Trench, Notes on the Parables, p. 427.

Fuente: The Sermon Bible

CHAPTER 15

1. The Murmuring Pharisees. (Luk 15:1-2)

2. The Parable of the Lost Sheep. (Luk 15:3-7)

3. The Parable of the Lost Coin. (Luk 15:8-10)

4. The Parable of the Prodigal Son and the Elder Brother. (Luk 15:11-32.)

Luk 15:1-10

A blessed climax of the teaching of our Lord as the Saviour and the friend of sinners is reached with this chapter, a chapter which the Saints of God have always loved and will always love. Here we find the completest illustration of the key text of Luke For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which is lost. The tax-gatherers and sinners, after hearing His words and knowing the welcome which awaited them, drew near to Him in large numbers. The murmuring of the Pharisees and scribes and their words This man receiveth sinners and eateth with them is answered by the Lord with three parables. The parables of the lost sheep, of the lost coin and of the prodigal son belong together. The lost Coin parable and the parable of the prodigal are peculiar to Luke. The Trinity is revealed in these parables seeking that which is lost. The Son is seen in the Shepherd; the Holy Spirit in the parable of the lost coin and the Father in the parable of the prodigal.

In the study of these parables it must not be overlooked that the Lord answers in the first place the murmuring Pharisees. This however does not exclude the wider application on Gospel lines. Bengel states that in the first parable the sinner is seen as stupid; in the second as totally ignorant of himself and in the third as the daring, wilful sinner. In the parable of the Shepherd the ninety and nine do not, represent the unfallen angels, nor, as it has been suggested, inhabitants of other worlds, but the self-righteous Pharisees, who think they need no repentance. The one sheep, lost and helpless, pictures the tax-gatherers and sinners, who owned their lost condition. All must first be applied on this ground. The Son of Man had come to seek and to save. He looked for the lost; He followed them and sought them out at their tables; He ate and drank with them, so that He was called a wine-bibber. The found sheep He puts on His own shoulders; He would not leave this to a servant. The care of the saved sheep is all His own. And there is joy in heaven over one repenting sinner. It was a severe rebuke to the Pharisees, who did not rejoice when the tax-gatherers and sinners came but murmured. The second parable is of much interest and has been interpreted in various ways. We quote here the exposition as given in the Numerical Bible as the most satisfactory one.

The second parable is that of the woman, in the Scripture the figure of the Church, the instrument of the Spirit. The lamp of the Word is in her hand, and she needs it in the darkness of the night, while Christ is absent. The house is the circle of natural ties and relationships; for it is not just a question of public preaching, but of that testimony upon which the success of the preacher after all so much depends, and for which the whole Church, and not any class or section of it, is responsible. Good it is to realize that every soul of man, covered with the dust of sin as he may be, and hidden in the darkness of the world, belongs of right to the Kings treasury, and has the Kings image stamped on him, though with sore disfigurement. Claim him we may, wherever we may find him, for God to whom he belongs. This general evangelism, we may learn from the parable here, is what is the mind of the Spirit for the Church indwelt of Him. Here too there must be friends and neighbors summoned to rejoice,–angelic onlookers who are in sympathy with Him who is always the glorious Seeker, and who sets in motion all the springs of love and pity that flow anywhere in unison with His own.

In the Parable of the prodigal son is brought out again the two classes of men before whom the Lord spoke these parables. The prodigal represents the publicans, the elder son the ritualistic Pharisees. The application in the Gospel, which this parable so blessedly reveals, the condition of man as a sinner, the true repentance, the Fathers joy, the welcome the returning one receives, etc., all is so well known that we need to make no further annotations. The elder sons character clearly shows that the Pharisee, self-righteous and self-sufficient, is completely in view. He has never transgressed a commandment and therefore considers himself above the poor, lost wanderer, who has returned home; he was angry. Thus the Pharisees were angry, when the Lord received the outcasts. It is strange that this parable should have been explained to mean that our Lord endorses worldly amusements and that a Christian may dance and make merry. There is no reason whatever that He has done so. The parable has, no doubt, a national meaning as well. The elder son represents the Jews and their unwillingness to see the Gentiles converted. The prodigal then is a picture of the degradation of the Gentiles.

Fuente: Gaebelein’s Annotated Bible (Commentary)

Chapter 12

Lost And Found

This chapter and the message it contains needs no introduction. The chapter opens with publicans and sinners gathering around the Son of God to hear his words of mercy and grace, and with Pharisees and Scribes griping about it (Luk 15:1-2). These two groups of men always brought out our Saviours deepest emotions. Publicans and sinners evoked his tenderness, compassion, mercy, love, and grace. Whenever and wherever we see publicans and sinners coming to him, we see the Friend of sinners joyously engaged in ministering to them. Pharisees and scribes evoked open displays of contempt, anger, and wrath. Our Master simply could not stomach self-righteous, religious legalists. He never stayed in their company very long. They didnt like Him; and he didnt like them. He scorned them, rebuked them, derided them, and condemned them at every opportunity. Then he departed from them.

I suppose we should be grateful to the Pharisees for having led our Lord to utter the trilogy of parables we are about to read. Luke tells us plainly that these three parables, as we commonly speak of them, are really one parable. He spake this parable unto them. In this trilogy of parables, we see the whole work of grace, the whole work of the Triune God in saving lost sinners. The lost sheep shows us the work of Christ, the Son of God, our Good Shepherd, in bringing his elect home to God. The lost coin shows us the work of God the Holy Spirit seeking and finding that which was lost. The prodigal son, the lost son, shows us the wondrous grace and goodness of God the Father in receiving sinners for Christs sake.

The Lost Sheep

And he spake this parable unto them, saying, What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance (Luk 15:3-7).

What piercing words these must have been to the Pharisees and scribes, who thought they needed no repentance! How sweet they sound in the ears of poor publicans and sinners, who know both that they must have repentance and that they cannot produce it!

Here is a blessed, instructive description of the work of our Lord Jesus Christ in redemption. All Gods elect are sheep, chosen of God and given to Christ as the Good Shepherd, but ever straying from him, lost in the wilderness of fallen humanity. Christ came into this world after his sheep. He seeks each of his sheep until he finds it. When he finds his sheep, he lays it upon his broad, omnipotent shoulders and carries it all the way home. And when he gets home with his sheep there is joy in heaven over every sinner that repenteth. Be sure you do not miss this: The repentance here is not something the sheep does, but something the Shepherd does for the sheep, in the sheep, and with the sheep. He turns the sheep homeward; and he carries the sheep home, all the way home!

The Lost Coin

Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth (Luk 15:8-10).

Here we see another part of Gods great work of grace. This woman shows us the work of God the Holy Spirit in omnipotent mercy and effectual grace. Unlike the sheep, the coin is an inanimate thing, a thing altogether without life, feeling, or ability, but very precious to the one who has lost it. As such, this lost coin shows a picture of Gods elect in this world, dead in trespasses and sins, until God steps in to save (Eph 2:1-5).

When God the Holy Spirit comes in grace, he lights the candle of the gospel, causing the light of the glorious gospel of Christ to shine in our hearts (2Co 4:4-6). When you sweep a house that has been in darkness for a long time, you stir up a lot of dust. And when God the Holy Spirit performs his mighty operation of grace, he stirs our souls with the broom of conviction. And there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over every repenting sinner. Again, the repentance here is not a work performed by the coin, but the work of God the Holy Spirit finding the coin.

The Lost Son

In Luk 15:11-24 we see the very familiar story of the prodigal son. Usually, the emphasis is placed upon the sons rebellion. But our Lords purpose in this third part of his parable is to show us the marvellous lovingkindness, infinite mercy, and wondrous grace of God in receiving sinners for Christs sake. Here is another picture of Gods elect in their fallen, lost condition by nature. We are all by nature straying sheep, as dead and lifeless as a coin, and utterly profligate rebels. Let us read Luk 15:11-24.

And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my fathers have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry (Luk 15:11-24).

Here is a needy sinner coming to the throne of grace. Here is God waiting to be gracious. Here is the blessed reception of grace. When poor sinners come home to God, when we believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, not only does the Lord God run to greet us, fall on our necks and kiss us, he freely gives every repenting sinner all the fulness of his bounteous free grace in Christ Jesus: kisses of love; a robe of righteousness; shoes of stability; a ring (or seal) of sonship; a slain sacrifice to feast upon; and an unceasing celebration of mercy!

The Elder Brother

But the parable does not end here. The lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost son were all designed to give hope to those poor publicans and sinners who come to the Saviour. The rest of the parable seems specifically intended to condemn the Pharisees and scribes of all ages. They are depicted by the prodigals elder brother in Luk 15:25-32.

Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found (Luk 15:25-32).

This elder brother is not in the house, but in the field. He refuses to come into the house. He is a slave wearing the name of a son. He is self-righteous. He despises the sacrifice, the robe, and the father. He is full of envy. He has all the ordinances of the fathers house, but none of the blessedness.

Perhaps the most wondrous and most mysterious aspect of this great parable is the way it closes. Only in eternity will we see the fulness of this closing verse manifest. In Luk 15:32 we read It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. Here God the Father speaks of himself, all the angels of heaven, and every saved sinner, represented in this prodigal, making merry and being glad, because though we were dead he has given us life, and though we were lost he has found us!

Did he not promise I will make you a name and a praise among all people of the earth? He did indeed (Zep 3:18-20). So it shall be in that great day that is yet to come (Zep 3:14-17; Eph 2:1-7).

Fuente: Discovering Christ In Selected Books of the Bible

Luk 5:29-32, Luk 7:29, Luk 13:30, Eze 18:27, Mat 9:10-13, Mat 21:28-31, Rom 5:20, 1Ti 1:15

Reciprocal: Exo 33:21 – place by Mat 5:46 – publicans Mat 9:9 – named Mat 9:11 – Why Mat 11:19 – a friend Mat 18:17 – a publican Mat 21:31 – the publicans Mar 2:15 – General Luk 3:12 – General Luk 5:30 – General Act 2:38 – Repent Jam 1:19 – let 1Pe 4:18 – the sinner

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

FROM THE TWO verses that open this chapter, it would seem that these words about grace and discipleship drew the publicans and sinners toward Him, while repelling the Pharisees and scribes. He did indeed receive sinners and eat with them: such action is according to the very nature of grace. The Pharisees flung out the remark as a taunt. The Lord accepted it as a compliment, and proceeded by parables to show that He not only received sinners but positively sought them, and also to demonstrate what kind of reception sinners get when they are received.

First the parable of the lost sheep. Here we see in the shepherd a picture of the Lord Himself. The ninety and nine, who represent the Pharisee and scribe class, were left not in the fold but in the wilderness-a place of barrenness and death. The one sheep that was lost represents the publican and sinner class; those who are lost, and know it-the sinner that repenteth. The Shepherd finds the sheep; the labour and toil is His.

Having found it, He secures it and brings it home. His shoulders become its security. He brings it home, and then His joy begins. Never does He have to say, Sorrow with Me, for I have lost My sheep which was found.

It is impossible to find on earth the ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance, though sadly easy to find ninety and nine who imagine themselves to be such. Yet if they could be found there is more joy in heaven over one repentant sinner than there could be over them. All the myriads of holy angels in heaven have never caused such joy as one repentant sinner. What astounding grace this is!

The parable of the lost piece of silver pursues the same general theme, but with a few special details. The woman with her operations in the house represents the subjective work of the Spirit in the souls of men, rather than the objective work of Christ. The Spirit lights a candle within the dark heart and creates the disturbance which ends in the finding of the silver. The joy is here said to be in the presence of the angels; that is, it is not the joy of the angels but of the Godhead, before whom they stand.

Then follows the parable of the prodigal son. The opening words are very significant. The Lord had been saying, What man of you… doth not… go after? What woman… doth not… seek diligently? He could not now say, What man of you, if he have a prodigal son and he returns, will not run and fall on his neck and kiss him? We doubt if any man would go to the lengths of the father of this parable: the great majority of men certainly would not. This parable sets forth the grace of God the Father. Once more it is a picture of the sinner who repents, and we are now permitted to see in parabolic form the depths from which the sinner is raised, and the heights to which he is lifted according to the Fathers heart, by the Gospel.

In the best robe we see the symbol of our acceptance in the Beloved: in the ring the symbol of an eternal relationship established: in the shoes the sign of sonship, for servants entered the houses of their masters with bare feet. The fatted calf and the merriment set forth the gladness of heaven and the Fathers joy in particular. The son had been dead morally and spiritually but now he was as one risen into a new life.

If the younger son pictures the repentant sinner, the elder son accurately represents the spirit of the Pharisee. The one was hungry and went in: the other was angry and stayed out. The arrival of grace always divides men into these two classes-those who know they are worthy of nothing, and those who imagine themselves to be worthy of more than they have got. Said the elder son, Thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends. So he too found his society and pleasure in a circle of friends outside his fathers circle. The only difference was in the character of the friends-the younger sons were disreputable, while his presumably, were respectable. The self-righteous religionist is no more in real communion with the heart of the Father than is the prodigal; and he ends up still outside while the prodigal is brought within.

Fuente: F. B. Hole’s Old and New Testaments Commentary

Christ Seeking To Save

Luk 15:1-24

INTRODUCTORY WORDS

The story of the prodigal son is one part of a threefold parable.

1. We have the shepherd suffering as he seeks his sheep. The parable describes the ninety and nine safely corralled at home, while the one was wandering far from the fold. Out into the wilderness the faithful shepherd went, seeking the sheep that was lost.

He sought until he found that which was lost, and then, laying it upon his shoulders he brought it home with rejoicing.

2. We have the woman, lightened by the candle as she seeks the lost coin. The coin describes the sinner lost, and emphasizes the fact that the sinner is of great value.

The woman who is in the search, is the Church of Christ which bears the commission to “go into all the world,” out into the “highways and hedges,” on unto “the uttermost part of the earth” and to “constrain them to come in” (A. S. V.).

The “lighted candle” is the Holy Spirit, who is the One who guides the Church and aids her in her quest for the lost.

3. We have the father singing as he welcomes home the lost son. The lost son had wandered far away, and had wasted his substance with riotous living. Having spent all, and remembering the plenty at home, and the love in his father’s heart, he said: “I will arise and go to my father.”

The father who watches for the return of the wanderer, and who runs to welcome him, falling on his neck and kissing him, is the Lord God who is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

In the parable, as a whole, we have placed before us the attitude of Father, Son and Holy Ghost, toward that which is lost. In connection with the Holy Spirit is the Church, a co-laborer together with Him, in the quest for that which is lost.

The Father is not disinterested in the return of the prodigal, for He awaits with eagerness the homecoming, and with joy welcomes back His son.

The parable in its deeper meaning has special and primary application to the outcasts of Israel. The elder son types the rulers of the people, the proud and self-righteous Pharisees; the younger son, commonly spoken of as the prodigal, types the publicans and the sinners.

I. CHRIST SAVES ZACCHAEUS (Luk 19:1-10)

Let us notice four happenings in connection with this passage.

1. Zacchaeus was a chief of the publicans. This man was like the Apostle Paul in this respect: he could say, “Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief.”

If Zacchaeus was saved, surely any poor publican may find mercy.

2. Zacchaeus was a seeking sinner. He sought to see Jesus. He was energetic, he ran before and climbed into a sycamore tree; there he waited the coming of the Lord who was to pass by that way. The Lord saw him, and bade him to come down saying, “To day I must abide at thy house.”

Our Lord never fails to see any sinner who is seeking the Saviour; there is never a sob of anguish or a sigh for help that escapes His ears; there is never the lifting of a hand that escapes His eyes.

When Christ sees one who really desires to know Him, and who is seeking His face, He always responds graciously. It does not take a seeking sinner and a seeking Saviour long to meet.

3. Zacchaeus became a saved sinner. We cannot say just when he was saved; we know, however, that he immediately responded to the Master’s invitation and came down, receiving Him joyfully. We know, moreover, that Zacchaeus said unto the Lord: “Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor; and if I have taken any thing from any man by false accusation, I restore him fourfold.” We know that Jesus said unto him: “This day is salvation come to this house.”

Bless God, the chief of sinners was saved!

4. The carping critics. In Luk 15:1-32, we read how the scribes and the Pharisees murmured, saying, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” In Luk 19:7, the Pharisees show the same spirit, for they all murmured, saying “That He was gone to be guest with a man that is a sinner.”

How many there are who feel nothing of the compassion of Christ!

Zacchaeus was a publican and a sinner, yet Jesus Christ ate with him, having but one purpose, the redemption of a son of Abraham,

5. Our gracious conclusion. In Luk 19:10 we read: “For the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” The inference is that He who saved the chief among publicans, a man that was a sinner, is quite as willing to save any poor lost sinner. Therefore let the lost turn to Him for mercy.

II. CHRIST SEEKS THE LAMBS (Joh 21:15)

The second opening statement is, “Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou Me?-Feed My lambs.”

If we are going forth in the service of Christ, we must not only be fed ourselves, but we must be filled with love. Those of us who do not love the Lord, will never care to feed His lambs or His sheep. It is only when the heart is bursting with love, that the spirit is ready to serve the Beloved, and to seek out and to feed the sheep of His pastures.

Christ seemed to be saying to Peter, “I love My lambs, and I love My sheep. If thou lovest Me, feed them.” First of all:

“O Heavenly love, my heart subdue,

I would be led by Jesus, too.

Allured to live for Christ alone,

And dwell for ever near His throne.”

Let us examine for a few moments the distinctions between the little lambs, and the stalwart sheep, which alike must be fed. The sheep are mentioned twice, but the lambs are mentioned first. We may have more to do in the feeding of the sheep, but the preference must be given to the lambs. The lambs He carries in His bosom. A lamb is the sheep in embryo. It is the sheep before it is full grown. Our boys and girls must not be neglected. Jesus loved the little children and He took them in His arms and blessed them. He said that in Heaven their angels do always behold the face of His Father. Let us feed the lambs.

But what about the sheep? Can they not feed themselves? No, they need the shepherd, and the shepherd’s care. Sheep are, too, quick to wander astray, they know not whither they go.

Our Lord is the Good Shepherd who died for His sheep; He is the Great Shepherd, who, day by day, directs His sheep; He is the Chief Shepherd who shall one day come back to dwell with His sheep.

Let the sheep remember the endearing words of their great Shepherd, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.”

III. CHRIST SEEKING THE SHEEP THAT WAS LOST (Luk 15:4 with Joh 10:11)

What a beautiful picture, the Shepherd seeking the sheep that was lost!

Surely our Lord Jesus was not an idle shepherd, He was not a shepherd who forgot His sheep.

“There were ninety and nine that safely lay

In the shelter of the fold.

But one was out on the hills away

Far off from the gates of gold.

Away on the mountains wild and bare,

Away from the tender Shepherd’s care.

“Lord, Thou hast here Thy ninety and nine,

Are they not enough for Thee?

But the Shepherd made answer, This of Mine

Has wandered away from Me.

And although the path be rough and steep,

I go to the desert to find My sheep.

“Lord, whence are the blood marks all the way,

That mark out the mountain track?

They were shed for one who had gone astray,

E’er the Shepherd could bring him back;

Lord, whence is Thy brow so rent and torn?

It is pierced tonight with many a thorn.”

We not only have a shepherd who seeks the sheep, but we also have a shepherd with strong shoulders, who bears the sheep back to shelter, and to home.

The Lord does not save us and leave us stranded in the world, He takes us to the Church (of Christ), where we can find refuge.

We have also in this verse a shepherd who can sing as well as seek. He shouts with joy over the returning of the sheep which was lost.

Bless God, that He who suffers as He seeks the sheep, will sing over the finding of the sheep. He shall see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.

These words bring joy to the heart. After the wandering sheep has been returned to the sheepfold, the shepherd calleth his friends and neighbors, saying unto them, “Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost.”

How the heavens must reverberate with glory and with joy when one lost sinner repents and returns to God.

“Nor Heaven can its joy contain,

But kindle with new fire,

A soul on earth is born, they sing,

And touch their golden lyre.”

We cannot refrain from adding the glory verse of “The Ninety and Nine”:

“But all through the mountains, thunder riven,

And up through the rocky steep;

There arose the glad cry to the gates of Heaven,

‘Rejoice, I have found My sheep.’

And the angels echoed around the throne,

‘Rejoice for the Lord brings back His own.'”

IV. WHAT CHRIST IS TO THE SINNER (Isa 32:2; 1Jn 2:1-2)

1. He is a covert from the storms. Isa 32:2.

“A man shall be * * a covert from the tempest; * * as the shadow of a great rock in a weary land.”

The sinner is outside the shelter; the winds and the rain of temptation and of travail are falling fast upon him. How blessed it is that such a man can find a covert where he can hide!

“Rock of Ages, cleft for me,

Let me hide myself in Thee,

Let the water and the Blood

From Thy riven side which flowed

Be of sin the double cure,

Save me from its guilt and power.”

2. He is a mercy-seat to approach. 1Jn 2:1, 1Jn 2:2.

The word “propitiation” has to do with our word “mercy-seat.” It was from the cherubim, where God dwelt, that He looked down on the broken Law that lay within the Ark; but He looked through the blood-sprinkled mercy-seat. This mercy-seat is the only place where God and the sinner can meet.

“There is a spot where spirits blend,

Where friend shows fellowship with friend,

No spot in Heaven or earth more sweet;

It is the Blood-bought mercy-seat.”

This mercy-seat is open to every poor lost sinner. We can come to God through the sacrifice of the Crucified.

V. CHRIST THE FRIEND OF FRIENDS (Pro 17:17)

“A friend loveth at all times.”

Christ is not only a friend at all times, but under all circumstances. No matter what may happen, He is faithful, the same yesterday, today and for ever. There are friends who love us as long as fortune smiles upon us; there are friends who favor us as long as we live in the limelight; but they forsake us in the time of our calamity. The Lord Jesus Christ will never forsake; will never forget us. Yea, they may cast out our name as evil, but He will hold us for ever in His heart. He “loveth at all times.”

“A man that hath friends, must shew himself friendly; and there is a Friend that sticketh closer than a brother.”

Thank God, for such a Friend. He will never leave us nor forsake us. His faithfulness is renewed every morning; it is fresh every evening. The mother may forget her sucking child, but He will never forget us. The wife or husband may prove false to their vows, but He will never be false to us. The citizen may commit treason against his country, but He will never leave nor forsake us. He is a friend that shows Himself friendly, a friend that sticketh closer than a brother.

VI. WILLING TO LOVE AND HELP HIS ENEMIES (Rom 5:8)

Our Lord was not only kind and generous to His friends, but He was tender and forgiving to His enemies. We know very well that the Word of God describes the Lord as sitting at the Father’s right hand until His enemies are made His footstool. We know how the Lord will judge His enemies who would not have Him to reign over them. He says: “Bring hither, and slay them before Me.” All such passages, however, show the final judgment which a just God must bring against those who reject His mercy.

The Lord Jesus Christ admonishes us as to how we should treat our enemies. We are to pray for them, to do good unto them, to forgive them, and to heap coals of fire upon their heads through our kindness in their behalf. He, who taught us to love our enemies, loved His enemies.

One of the tenderest passages in the Bible is where David said, “Is there not yet any of the house of Saul, that I may shew the kindness of God unto him”? The house of Saul were the sworn enemies of the shepherd king; yet David sought to do them good. In all of this David was a type of the Lord Jesus, who is seeking to bring His enemies back from the far country that they may be sheltered in the folds of His loving care.

On Calvary’s Cross the Lord Jesus Christ prayed for His enemies, saying, “Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do.” Those who sought to torture Him the most; those who wagged their heads and cried out against Him, were the objects of His tender pleas and prayer.

We could not close this application until we demonstrate the fact that Christ’s true friendliness reached its highest altitude in His attitude toward a false friend. A false friend is far worse than an enemy. Judas was his own familiar friend. He was a man to whom Christ revealed His secrets and in whom He placed His trust. This Judas sold Christ for thirty pieces of silver; he betrayed Him with a kiss. When the Lord met him in the garden, however, He said, “Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?” Even in such an hour the genuineness of the Lord’s love never flickered. He proved Himself a friend to the most despicable of deserters.

AN ILLUSTRATION

In the book entitled “The Dry-Dock of a Thousand Wrecks,” which gives an account of the “Jerry McAuley Mission” in New York City, a man gives his experience. “When I was a student in college,” he says, “I was prevailed upon to take a drink of whisky. I disliked it; it was nauseous to me; but the other fellows said I was a weakling, and I could not have a good time in the college socially unless I drank to some extent; and in order not to appear a baby, I drank with them. I learned by and by to enjoy the effect of it, and would go on a spree with the boys. But when I left college, knowing that business men would not employ those addicted to drink, just on that account I decided to quit my drinking habits and become a sober man. I took the pledge. I married. But the pledge did not amount to much. Under the stress of social life I took another drink, and then another. My wife pleaded with me, for she saw where I was drifting. My dear old father came and said, ‘My boy, you had better be careful. You are going in the wrong direction!’ But I did not believe either. I thought I could drink, and be a ‘hail-fellow-well-met’ in business circles-cultured, educated, college graduate as I was-and not go to the dogs. One day my employer told me that he would not need me after a certain time. I could hardly take it in. But the time came, and I was out of employment. I went to New York City, where my old friends and college chums that drank with me in business were, but I found that they did not like me lounging about their offices, and one of them almost ordered me out. My wife went home to her father. Things went from bad to worse, until I pawned my watch and my overcoat, for drink. I found myself a vagabond on the streets. It was in the town of Trenton, New Jersey. I was without money enough to put up at a cheap lodging-house, and I spent two nights sleeping on the benches in front of the courthouse. A man came along one morning and paid my expenses to New York City. There I fell in with a man who told me to go to the McAuley Mission. Hardly knowing what it meant, I went to 316 Water Street, and I heard men get up and say, ‘Jesus Christ can save a poor drunkard; He saved me!’ and that was the first time anybody ever told me that Jesus could save me. Wife did not tell me; father did not tell me. They gave me good advice and good philosophy, and a great many good things, but they did not give me Jesus. And there, kneeling in the old McAuley Mission, I accepted Jesus Christ as my Saviour.” That man is now at the head of a movement among the students of colleges in America.

Fuente: Neighbour’s Wells of Living Water

1

Publicans and sinners. See the notes on Mat 9:10; Mat 21:28.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

THE chapter which begins with these verses is well known to Bible readers if any is in the Scriptures. Few chapters perhaps have done more good to the souls of men. Let us take heed that it does good to us.

We should first observe in these verses, the striking testimony which was borne to our Lord by His enemies. We read that when “all the publicans and sinners drew near to hear Him, the Scribes and Pharisees murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.”

These words were evidently spoken with surprise and scorn, and not with pleasure and admiration. These ignorant guides of the Jews could not understand a preacher of religion having anything to do with wicked people! Yet their words worked for good. The very saying which was meant for a reproach was adopted by the Lord Jesus as a true description of His office. It led to His speaking three of the most instructive parables which ever fell from His lips.

The testimony of the Scribes and Pharisees was strictly and literally true. The Lord Jesus is indeed one that “receiveth sinners.” He receives them to pardon them, to sanctify them, and to make them meet for heaven. It is His special office to do so. For this end He came into the world. He came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance. He came into the world to save sinners. What He was upon earth He is now at the right hand of God, and will be to all eternity. He is emphatically the sinner’s Friend.

Have we any sense of sin? Do we feel bad, and wicked, and guilty, and deserving of God’s anger? Is the remembrance of our past lives bitter to us? Does the recollection of our past conduct make us ashamed? Then we are the very people who ought to apply to Christ, just as we are, pleading nothing of our own, making no useless delay. Christ will receive us graciously, pardon us freely, and give us eternal life. He is One that “receiveth sinners.” Let us not be lost for want of applying to Him that we may be saved.

We should observe, secondly, in these verses, the remarkable figures under which our Lord describes His own love towards sinners. We read that in reply to the taunting remark of His enemies He spoke three parables,-the parables of the lost sheep, the lost piece of silver, and the prodigal son. The first two of these parables are now before us. All three are meant to illustrate one and the same truth. They all throw strong light on Christ’s willingness to save sinners.

Christ’s love is an active, working love. Just as the shepherd did not sit still bewailing his lost sheep, and the woman did not sit still bewailing her lost money, so our blessed Lord did not sit still in heaven pitying sinners. He left the glory which He had with the Father, and humbled Himself to be made in the likeness of man. He came down into the world to seek and save that which was lost. He never rested till He had made atonement for our transgressions, brought in everlasting righteousness, provided eternal redemption, and opened a door of life to all who are willing to be saved.

Christ’s love is a self-denying love. The shepherd brought his lost sheep home on his own shoulders rather than leave it in the wilderness. The woman lighted a candle, and swept the house, and searched diligently, and spared no pains, till she found her lost money. And just so did Christ not spare Himself, when he undertook to save sinners. “He endured the cross, despising the shame.” He “laid down His life for His friends.” Greater love than this cannot be shown. (Joh 15:13. Heb 12:2.)

Christ’s love is a deep and mighty love. Just as the shepherd rejoiced to find his sheep, and the woman to find her money, so does the Lord Jesus rejoice to save sinners. It is a real pleasure to Him to pluck them as brands from the burning. It was His “meat and drink,” when upon earth, to finish the work which He came to do. He felt straitened in spirit till it was accomplished. It is still His delight to show mercy. He is far more willing to save sinners than sinners are to be saved.

Let us strive to know something of this love of Christ. It is a love that truly passeth knowledge. It is unspeakable and unsearchable. It is that on which we must wholly rest our souls, if we would have peace in time and glory in eternity. If we take comfort in our own love to Christ, we are building on a sandy foundation. But if we lean on Christ’s love to us, we are on a rock.

We should observe, lastly, in these verses, the wide encouragement which our Lord holds out to repentance. We read these striking words, “Joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.” We read the same thought again after a few verses: “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.” The thing is doubled, to make doubt impossible. The idea is repeated, in order to meet man’s unbelief.

There are deep things in these sayings, beyond doubt. Our poor weak minds are little able to understand how the perfect joy of heaven can admit of increase. But one thing, at any rate, stands out clearly on the face of these expressions. There is an infinite willingness on God’s part to receive sinners. However wicked a man may have been, in the day that he really turns from his wickedness and comes to God by Christ, God is well-pleased. God has no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, and God has pleasure in true repentance.

Let the man who is afraid to repent, consider well the verses we are now looking at, and be afraid no more. There is nothing on God’s part to justify his fears. An open door is set before him. A free pardon awaits him. “If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just to forgive our sins, and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1Jn 1:9.)

Let the man who is ashamed to repent, consider these verses, and cast shame aside. What though the world mocks and jests at his repentance? While man is mocking, angels are rejoicing. The very change which sinners call foolishness, is a change which fills heaven with joy.

Have we repented ourselves? This, after all, is the principal question which concerns us. What shall it profit us to know Christ’s love, if we do not use it? “If ye know these things, happy are ye if you do them.” (Joh 13:17.)

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Notes-

v1.-[Then drew near.] The Greek words so translated do not literally mean a particular act at a particular time. They would be more closely rendered, “And there were drawing near.” Alford renders them, “were busied in drawing near,”-“were continually about Him.” The beginning of this chapter, be it observed, is an unbroken continuation of the last.

Let us mark the accessibleness and affability of our Lord’s demeanour in this expression. He was one of whom people were not afraid. Such a demeanour is a great gift.

[All the publicans and sinners.] By the expression “all” we are evidently meant to understand “all” in that particular neighbourhood where our Lord at present was.

Let it be noted that no Gospel writer gives so many instances of our Lord’s mercy to sinners as Luke. It is supposed, with much reason, that this was intended for the encouragement of Gentile converts, for whom his Gospel was specially written. Observe, beside this chapter, Luk 18:10; Luk 23:34, Luk 23:43. These passages are all peculiar to Luke.

v2.-[Murmured.] The Greek word here is only used in one other place,-Luk 19:7. It means literally “murmured greatly,” or “were constantly murmuring” throughout the journey.

[This man receiveth sinners.] These words should be carefully noted. They are the key note to the whole chapter. A constant recollection of them throws light on the interpretation of all the three parables which follow. The Pharisees found fault with our Lord for “inviting sinners.” Our Lord replies, in effect, that the thing which they found fault with was the very thing He came on earth to do, and a thing of which He was not ashamed. He came to do for sinners what the shepherd did for his lost sheep, the woman did for her lost money, and the father did for the prodigal son. As for His murmuring enemies, they were like the elder brother of the prodigal son.

I am persuaded that remembrance of this expression is of great importance in the chapter, and that many strange explanations of things in the chapter have been given by commentators, for want of observing the expression.-The great object of all the three parables is one and the same. They all three exhibit the love and mercy of Christ towards sinners, but under three different aspects. I hold with Bengel, that the lost sheep represents the stupid, foolish sinner,-the lost piece of money the sinner altogether ignorant of himself,-and the younger son the daring and wilful sinner. But I also hold that the love which goes after the sheep, seeks the money, and runs to meet the prodigal, is all through intended to represent the love of Christ.-I cannot assent to the view that the three parables were meant to point to the work of the Three Persons of the Trinity. I cannot hold the view of Bengel, Alford, and Stier, that “the woman” represents the Holy Ghost,-and the view of Ambrose and Wordsworth, that she represents the Church. All these ideas I believe to be foreign to our Lord’s intention when He spoke the three parables. I consider that the right way to view the three parables before us is to suppose that our Lord’s meaning was as follows:-“You blame me for receiving sinners. I am not ashamed of it. I do receive them. I came on earth for that very purpose. If you would know my feeling towards sinners, mark the conduct of a shepherd seeking a lost sheep, a woman seeking a lost piece of money, and a kind father receiving a prodigal son. In the love exhibited in each of these three cases you have an emblem of my love to sinners.”

v4.-[What man of you, &c.] Both in this and the two following verses, I must decline assigning the allegorical meanings to every part of the parable, which many commentators have discovered. The two numbers, hundred, and ninety-nine,-the wilderness,-the shepherd’s laying the lost sheep on his shoulders,-the home,-the friends and neighbors,-all appear to me to be subordinate circumstances of the parable, which were simply intended to illustrate one great leading truth, the deep self-sacrificing love of Christ towards sinners, and the pleasure with which He saves them.

The beautiful fitness of the images chosen in the parable, is very striking. Our Lord speaks of Himself in the 10th chapter of John, as the good Shepherd.-Isaiah says, in the 53rd chapter of his prophecy, “All we, like sheep, have gone astray.”

v7.-[I say unto you.] In this verse the Lord drops the language of parables and declares to us a great truth.

[Likewise.] The Greek word thus rendered here, and at the 10th verse, is more commonly translated “so,” or “even so.”

[Joy shall be in heaven.] The use of the future tense in this expression, has led some to think that our Lord is speaking of the day of judgment, when the saved souls shall be presented before the Father with exceeding joy. I cannot see this. I believe that our Lord simply means that when any sinner shall repent, at any time in the history of the Church, his repentance will be regarded with gladness in heaven, whatever murmuring there may be among Pharisees on earth.

[One sinner.] The exceeding value of one soul, in God’s sight, appears in this expression. It also appears to overthrow the idea entertained by some, that the lost sheep represents the whole church of the elect, or the redeemed world.

Those who are cast down and dispirited in preaching and teaching, by apparently small success, should often think of this expression, and the parallel one in the 10th verse. The value of one soul is not enough considered.

[Ninety and nine just…no repentance.] This expression is remarkable, and has caused much difference of opinion among commentators. Five different explanations are given.

1. Some think that it means the angels who have never sinned.

2. Some think that it means the glorified saints who can sin no more.

3. Some think that it means living saints who have not lost baptismal purity.

4. Some think that it means the inhabitants of other worlds, who have not fallen like man.

5. Some think that it means people who think themselves righteous and just, like the Pharisees, and fancy they need no repentance.

I believe the last to be the true view, and the others to be untenable. It is confirmed by Luk 5:32; Luk 16:15; Luk 18:9. Mat 9:13. Mar 2:17.

v8.-[Either what woman.] Let us note both here and in the last parable, how simple and familiar our Lord’s illustrations of truth were. A shepherd, and a woman, are his chosen vehicles to convey to our minds some idea of His care for sinners.

Both in this verse, and the following verse, I adhere to the view expressed in the comments on the preceding parable. I decline to assign allegorical meanings to the expressions used. The woman,-the number ten,-the candle lighting,-the house, -the sweeping,-the friends and neighbours, all appear to me nothing more than subordinate circumstances in a story which is intended to teach one great truth, Christ’s care for sinners, and pleasure in saving them.

Many commentators see much meaning in a “piece of silver” being the type of the sinner. They dwell upon the image stamped on the coin, as significant of the image of God, in which man was originally created. Those who wish to see how far this idea may be worked out, will find it fully given in Ness’s History and Mystery of the New Testament.

v10.-[Joy…angels of God.] This expression seems to show that the salvation of sinners is a matter of deep interest to the angels, and the recovery of each one carefully observed. This, be it remembered, is a very different thing from saying that angels can help our souls.

Fuente: Ryle’s Expository Thoughts on the Gospels

Luk 15:1. To the disciples. To the body of the disciples, including the publicans for whom the parable had a special adaptation. That the Pharisees also heard what He said appears from Luk 15:14.

A certain rich man. This represents God, the Possessor of all things. To none other do men really stand in the relation of stewards. The only objection to this interpretation, arising in Luk 15:8, is answered by that verse itself, which indicates that the whole parable is borrowed from the actions of the sons of this world, and only partially applicable to the sons of the light The view that mammon is meant involves great difficulties. A reference to Satan is far fetched. Existing political circumstances may have suggested some points in the parable, but a direct application to these things is out of the question. (For example: some think the Romans are represented by the rich man, the publicans by his steward; others that the former represents the Emperor, the latter a governor like Pilate, etc.) Other views seem to imply that our Lord spoke the parable to puzzle His hearers.

A steward. Such stewards were often slaves, but this one was evidently free. He represents Christs disciples, but especially then the publicans, who, being in many cases rich, needed such instruction. (Zacchaeus may have heard of the lesson, see chap. Luk 19:8).

Was accused. The accusation was true (Luk 15:3), but probably malicious also.

As wasting his goods. He led a life of luxury on his lords means. In how many ways is this accusation true of Christs disciples!The plain statement, that the property of the master was wasted, opposes the explanation that he had added a profit for himself to the rents, etc., of the tenants and debtors. According to this, the transaction in Luk 15:5-7 was simply an alteration to the fair rent. But this would be no real restitution. The view that mammon is the lord, involves, here the strange idea that this waste is equivalent to entering the service of Christ, since they could not serve God and mammon. And so throughout the whole, this interpretation compels us to take the worst acts in the parable as representing the best in the application.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

The publicans and sinners, as they had done several times before, came to hear our Saviour’s instructions; he treated them very kindly, and conversed familiarly with them; at this the Pharisees were displeased and murmured, censured our Saviour for too much familiarity with those men, whom they looked upon as scandalous to converse with; not considering that he conversed with them as their physician, not as their companion; and therefore his proper work and employment lay among his patients: and that he might give all possible encouragement to the repentance of the greatest sinners, he sets forth at once the tender care of God in recovering such lost sinners, and the inexpressible joy that is found in heaven at the welcome news of their recovery; for thus it follows in the parables.

Fuente: Expository Notes with Practical Observations on the New Testament

Luk 15:1. Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners That is, some of all the different classes of publicans, or all those of that place, and some other notorious sinners; for to hear him Being influenced to do so through the condescension and kindness which he manifested toward all descriptions of persons, the most abandoned not excepted. Some suppose they came by a particular appointment from all the neighbouring parts. But as Luke goes on in the story, without any intimation of a change, either in the time or the scene of it, it is most probable that these discourses were delivered the same day that Christ dined with the Pharisee, which, being the sabbath day, would give the publicans, who on other days were employed in their office, a more convenient opportunity of attending. And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, &c. Thinking this behaviour of our Lord inconsistent with the sanctity of a prophet, they were much displeased with him for it, and murmured at that charitable condescension, which ought rather to have given them joy.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

5. The Parables of Grace: chap. 15.

This piece contains: 1 st. A historical introduction (Luk 15:1-2); 2 d. A pair of parables, like that of the previous chapter (Luk 15:3-10); and 3 d. A great parable, which forms the summing up and climax of the two preceding (Luk 15:11-32). The relation is like that between the three allegories, Joh 10:1-18.

1 st. Luk 15:1-2. The Introduction.

If Weizscker had sufficiently weighed the bearing of the analytical form , they were drawing near, which denotes a state of things more or less permanent, he would not have accused Luke (p. 139) of transforming into the event of a particular time a very common situation in the life of Jesus. It is on the basis of this habitual state of things that the point of time (aor. , Luk 15:3) is marked off when Jesus related the following parables. Holtzmann finds nothing in this introduction but an invention of Luke himself. In any case, Luke places us once more, by this short historical introduction, at the point of view for understanding the whole of the following discourse.

What drew those sinners to Jesus was their finding in Him not that righteousness, full of pride and contempt, with which the Pharisees assailed them, but a holiness which was associated with the tenderest love. The publicans and sinners had broken with Levitical purity and Israelitish respectability; the former by their business, the others by their life. They were outlaws in Israel. But were they finally lost on that account? Undoubtedly, the normal way of entering into union with God would have been through fidelity to the theocracy; but the coming of the Saviour opened another to those who, by their guilt, had shut the first against them. And that was exactly the thing which had exasperated the zealots of Levitical observances. Rather than recognise in Jesus one who had understood the merciful purpose of God, they preferred to explain the compassionate welcome which He gave to sinners by His secret sympathy with sin. , to receive with welcome, refers to kindly relations in general; , to eat with, to the decisive act in the manners of that time by which He did not fear to seal this connection.

Fuente: Godet Commentary (Luke, John, Romans and 1 Corinthians)

XCII.

SECOND GREAT GROUP OF PARABLES.

(Probably in Pera.)

Subdivision A.

INTRODUCTION.

cLUKE XV. 1, 2.

c1 Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing hear unto him to hear. 2 And both the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. [For publicans see Gal 2:12, Gal 2:13. In answer to their [499] murmuring, Jesus spoke three parables, in which he set forth the yearnings of redemptive love. Having thus replied to the Pharisees, Jesus continued his discourse, adding two other parables, concerning the right employment of worldly goods, and ending with some teaching concerning offenses, etc. We defer comparing the parables until we have discussed them.]

[FFG 499-500]

Fuente: McGarvey and Pendleton Commentaries (New Testament)

Luke Chapter 15

Having thus unfolded the difference in character between the two dispensations, and the circumstances of the transition from the one to the other, the Lord turns (chap. 15) to higher principles-the sources of the one that was brought in by grace.

It is indeed a contrast between the two, as well as the chapters we have been going through. But this contrast rises to its glorious source in Gods own grace, contrasted with the miserable self-righteousness of man.

The publicans and sinners draw near to hear Jesus. Grace had its true dignity to those who needed it. Self-righteousness repulsed that which was not as contemptible as itself, and God Himself at the same time in His nature of love. The Pharisees and the scribes murmured against Him who was a witness of this grace in fulfilling it.

I cannot meditate on this chapter, which has been the joy of so many souls, and the subject of so many testimonies to grace, from the time that the Lord pronounced it, without enlarging upon grace, perfect in its application to the heart. Nevertheless I must confine myself here to great principles, leaving their application to those who preach the word. This is a difficulty that constantly presents itself in this portion of the word.

First, the great principle which the Lord exhibits, and on which He founds the justification of Gods dealings (sad state of heart that requires it! marvellous grace and patience that gives it!)-the great principle, I repeat, is that God finds His own joy in shewing grace. What an answer to the horrid spirit of the Pharisees who made it an objection!

It is the Shepherd who rejoices when the sheep is found, the woman when the piece of money is in her hand, the Father when His child is in His arms. What an expression of that which God is! How truly is Jesus the one to make it known! It is on this that all the blessing of man can alone be founded. It is in this that God is glorified in His grace.

But there are two distinct parts in this grace-the love that seeks, and the love with which one is received. The first two parables describe the former character of this grace. The shepherd seeks his sheep, the woman her piece of money: the sheep and the piece of silver are passive. The shepherd seeks (and the woman also) until he finds, because he has an interest in the matter. The sheep, wearied with its wanderings, has not to take one step in returning. The shepherd lays it on his shoulders and carries it home. He takes the whole charge, happy to recover his sheep. This is the mind of heaven, whatever the heart of man on earth may be. It is the work of Christ, the Good Shepherd. The woman sets before us the pains which God takes in His love; so that it is more the work of the Spirit, which is represented by that of the woman. The light is brought-she sweeps the house until she finds the piece she had lost. Thus God acts in the world, seeking sinners. The hateful and hating jealousy of self-righteousness finds no place in the mind of heaven, where God dwells, and produces, in the happiness that surrounds Him, the reflex of His own perfections.

But although neither the sheep nor the piece of silver does anything towards its own recovery, there is a real work wrought in the heart of one who is brought back; but this work, necessary as it is for the finding or even the seeking of peace, is not that on which the peace is grounded. The return and the reception of the sinner are therefore described in the third parable. The work of grace, accomplished solely by the power of God, and complete in its effects, is presented to us in the first two. Here the sinner returns, with sentiments which we will now examine-sentiments produced by grace, but which never rise to the height of the grace manifested in his reception until he has returned.

First his estrangement from God is depicted. While as guilty at the moment that he crosses the paternal threshold, in turning his back upon his father, as when he eats husks with the swine, man, deceived by sin, is here presented in the last state of degradation to which sin conducts him. Having expended all that fell to him according to nature, the destitution in which he finds himself (and many a soul feels the famine which it has brought itself into, the emptiness of all around without a desire after God or holiness, and often into what is degrading in sin) does not incline him towards God, but leads him to seek a resource in that which Satans country (where nothing is given) can supply; and he finds himself among the swine. But grace operates; and the thought of the happiness of his fathers house, and of the goodness that blessed all around it, awakes in his heart. Where the Spirit of God works, there are always two things found, conviction in the conscience and the attraction of the heart. It is really the revelation of God to the soul, and God is light and He is love; as light, conviction is produced in the soul, but as love there is the attraction of goodness, and truthful confession is produced. It is not merely that we have sinned, but that we have to do with God and desire to have, but fear because of what He is, yet are led to go. So the woman in chapter 7. (See page 240.) So Peter in the boat. This produces the conviction that we are perishing, and a sense, feeble it may be, yet true, of the goodness of God and the happiness to be found in His presence, although we may not feel sure of being received; and we do not remain in the place where we are perishing. There is the sense of sin, there is humiliation; the sense that there is goodness in God; but not the sense of what the grace of God really is. Grace attracts-one goes towards God, but one would be satisfied to be received as a servant-a proof that, though the heart be wrought in by grace, it has not yet met God. Progress, moreover, although real, never gives peace. There is a certain rest of heart in going; but one does not know what reception to expect, after having been guilty of forsaking God. The nearer the prodigal son drew to the house, the more would his heart beat at the thought of meeting his father. But the father anticipates his coming, and acts towards him, not according to his sons deserts, but according to his own heart as a father-the only measure of the ways of God towards us. He is on his sons neck while the latter is still in rags, before he has had time to say, Make me as one of thy hired servants. It was no longer time to say it. It belonged to a heart anticipating how it would be received, not to one who had met God. Such an one knows how it has been received. The prodigal arranges to say it (as people speak of an humble hope, and a low place); but though the confession is complete when he arrives, he does not then say, Make me a hired servant. How could he? The fathers heart had decided his position by its own sentiments, by its love towards him, by the place his heart had given him towards himself. The fathers position decided that of the son. This was between himself and his son; but this was not all. He loved his son, even as he was, but he did not introduce him into the house in that condition. The same love that received him as a son will have him enter the house as a son, and as the son of such a father should be. The servants are ordered to bring the best robe and put it on him. Thus loved, and received by love, in our wretchedness, we are clothed with Christ to enter the house. We do not bring the robe: God supplies us with it. It is an entirely new thing; and we become the righteousness of God in Him. This is heavens best robe. All the rest have part in the joy, except the self righteous man, the true Jew. The joy is the joy of the father, but all the house shares it. The elder son is not in the house. He is near it, but he will not come in. He will have nothing to do with the grace that makes the poor prodigal the subject of the joy of love. Nevertheless, grace acts; the fathergoes out and entreats him to come in. It is thus that God acted, in the Gospel, towards the Jew. Yet mans righteousness, which is but selfishness and sin, rejects grace. But God will not give up His grace. It becomes Him. God will be God; and God is love.

It is this which takes the place of the pretensions of the Jews, who rejected the Lord, and the accomplishment of the promises in Him.

That which gives peace, and characterises our position, is not the sentiments wrought in our hearts, although they indeed exist, but those of God Himself.

Fuente: John Darby’s Synopsis of the New Testament

CHAPTER 12

THE HUNDRED SHEEP

Luk 15:1-7. Our Lord is still in Perea, east of the Jordan, with His face toward Jerusalem, traveling slowly, accompanied by vast multitudes, to whom, daily halting, He preaches the living Word. And all the publicans and sinners were drawing nigh to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes were murmuring, saying, He receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. Jesus associated freely with sinners, showing Himself kind and loving, and eating at their tables. He did this for the sole purpose of doing them good. We should do likewise, associating with them only to save them, diligently utilizing every opportunity, by prayer, appeal, exhortation, and brotherly kindness, to bring them to repentance and draw them to the Savior.

And He spoke this parable to them, saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after the lost one until he may find it? Having found it, he places it on his shoulders, rejoicing, and coming to his house, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me, because I found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you that there is joy in heaven over one sinner repenting, rather than ninety and nine just persons who have no need of repentance. This is a beautiful symbolism of the faithful pastor Jesus frequently called the Jews sheep without a shepherd, not that they were aliens and heathens, for they were all bona fide members of the visible Church; but He simply means that they were destitute of the much-needed spiritual guides, i.e., they had plenty of preachers, but no one to care for their souls. The sanctified pastor, filled with the Holy Ghost and endued with His gifts (1Co 12:8-11), has very acute spiritual discernment, so as to readily detect a backslider in his congregation. John Wesley pronounced every one back-slidden who did not pray orally and testify. O how the Church needs faithful shepherds this day, endued with spiritual discernment, competent to detect the wandering sheep, courageous enough to pursue it into every hell-den, and at the peril of his life rescue it from Satans prowling wolves; and then grateful enough to the Great Deliverer to hold a jubilee meeting over every reclaimed backslider! Let not holiness people make the mistake of resting with the flock safe in the fold, while some poor wanderer is already bewildered amid the crags and precipices and on the brink of destruction. Scripture is unlike uninspired literature, in the fact of its multifarious significations, light radiating out from every segment of the gospel globe, reflected from the glorious Sun of righteousness. The Bible corroborates astronomy and geology in the hypothesis of multitudinous celestial worlds. One hundred is a round number, and here used representatively. The blessed Second Person of the Trinity is the revealed Creator of all material worlds. (Colossians 1.) Now conceive our Great Shepherd having created a hundred worlds, and one of them wanders away from the house of God i.e., the Celestial Kingdom lassoed by Satan in view of adding it to hell, to augment the unsatisfactory limits of the pandemonium. The Good Shepherd leaves the ninety and nine bright, unfallen, celestial worlds, comes down to earth, battles with the powers of darkness, defeats the hosts of hell, and rescues the wanderer. This is a stupendous work, and even now in progress. Wonderful victories lie out before us, when the Millennial Theocracy shall inundate this fallen world with celestial glory, sweeping on a thousand years, with no devil on the earth, finally to be followed by the sanctifying baptism of celestial fire, utterly expurgating out of this world all the debris of sin, having accumulated during the reign of Satan six thousand years, thus making earth and firmament all new. (Revelation 21.) O what a shout will roar and reverberate through the one hundred celestial worlds, when our lost planet, in the glorious and triumphant finale shall be brought back within the immediate illumination of the city of God, the New Jerusalem, there, in glorious harmony with all celestial spheres, to wheel in beauty, and splendor around the throne of God, pursuing undeviatingly the very orbit in which the Omnipotent Hand located her when first from shapeless chaos, responsive to the Divine bidding, she wheeled into line, and took her place in the heavenly ecliptic.

Fuente: William Godbey’s Commentary on the New Testament

Luk 15:1. Then drew near all the publicans and sinners to hear him. The pharisees were so intoxicated with ideas of their own righteousness, as to regard all such characters as excluded from the covenant of Sinai, which provided no atonement on the altar for their sins, though atonements were made for the foulest offenders by the beasts slain without the camp. When it was objected, that there was an atonement for Davids sin, they replied, that men in war leave their wives. This argument is very immoral; for who deserves protection more than the man who stakes his life for the protection of his country? Certainly, not the pharisees grown fat with fasting and feasting.

Luk 15:2. This man receiveth sinners. Matthew and Zaccheus, as publicans were unclean; yet Jesus ate at their houses. The penitent harlot, and the leper were also unclean; yet Jesus touched the latter, and suffered the former to kiss his feet. These were breaches of jewish tradition, and the Lord set himself to rescue the glory of the law from the deformities of vain traditions. Jesus still receives sinners, provided they be penitent, and bring forth the required fruits. However great, however old, however complicated, and however provoking they may have been in their sins, he pardons, he feasts, and rejoices over them on their return.

Luk 15:7. Likewise joy shall be in heaven, before God, as the phrase imports, over one sinner that repenteth. The holy angels, our guardians, ascend the ladder, and tell their joys in celestial society, of a sinner, all but lost and hopeless, now converted to the Lord, and saved from eternal pain and misery. The holy angels know how to appreciate the value of immortal spirits better than men, beclouded with error, and covered with sin.

This is the only text which the papists can cite in defence of the invocation of saints, and of image-worship. And certainly, it is quite irrelevant. The shepherd and his flock make a local case, the association of angels in religious assemblies is also a local case, so is the assembly of angels in heaven; but the worship of a saint, and at one hour in all the congregations of the earth, gives onmipresence to that saint; or rather, the honour due to God alone, who will not give his glory to graven images. The enlightened christian must abhor such titular worship, as the highest insult we can offer to Him who fills the heavens and the earth. The Saviours intercession needs no auxiliaries. Ninety and nine just persons which need no repentance. This is a certain number put for an uncertain, a common form of speaking. Ambrose, Hilary, and Chrysostom expound the ninety nine sheep of angels, and the one lost sheep of Adam and his children. But the jews divide just persons into two classes, those whose lives were never spotted with gross immorality, and those who have repented of their sins. Now, it is assuredly better to be preserved by a religious education, than to be carried away with all the sins of the age, and then to repent. In this view, some men may glory before sinners, but not before God. There is however peculiar joy attendant on the conversion of a great sinner, because, had the self- righteous been exposed to his temptations, and captivated by his sins, it is to be doubted whether they would nobly have risen above the gloom and fetters of their crimes. His conversion is therefore one of the highest trophies of grace, and the sweetest theme of angelic song.

Luk 15:8. Either, what woman having ten (drachmas) pieces of silver. Our grammarians require us to say, or what woman, either being now obsolete. Our version both here and in Mat 5:33, follows the Gothic, which reads,

Unte ni magt ain tagi hueit aiththau suart gataujan. Thou not canst one hair white either black make.

Luk 15:9. I have found the piece which I had lost. If a woman will use her utmost efforts to find a lost coin, how much more diligent should we be to find the eternal riches; or if we have lost but one grace of the christian temper, whether our comfort, our confidence, or our patience, we should never rest till we find it again.

Luk 15:16. He would fain have filled his belly with the husks. Dr. Campbell here improves the reading. He was fain to fill his belly with husks which the swine did eat, for no man had given him ought.

Luk 15:29. Lo, these many years do I serve thee. The elder brother, being here his own eulogist, the more strikingly represents the pharisees, against whose uncharitable maxims this parable has a direct and powerful bearing. They rejected the joy of angels in the conversion of sinners to God.

REFLECTIONS.

The parable of the prodigal son is allowed to be one of the most beautiful pieces of composition which the walks of literature can boast. The subject is well chosen, the characters and incidents are all interesting, and the narration, unfolding with simplicity, is everywhere clothed with appropriate beauties of diction. The fathers concur in saying that the elder brother represented the self-righteous jews; and the prodigal, the gentiles and the publicans and sinners converted to Christ.

This parable furnishes a series of profitable remarks. This young mans misery began, we see, by disobedience to his father. Being of age, and impatient of restraint, he demanded his patrimony, which custom authorized him to ask on the ground of establishment in life. In this he consulted his own pleasure, and not his fathers choice.

He embarked in wild and ill-advised schemes of life. He boasted of the fortune he could realize by going with the caravans to India, or elsewhere. He never once distrusted his own weakness, or weighed the disasters of his enterprize.

The next most fatal step to ruin was bad company. He rioted in taverns, and wantoned with harlots. High in sentiment, and scorning controul, he felt the reins for once in his own hand, and ran the full career of vice. This was liberty, and liberty unrestrained!

When his money was done, his friends were gone. His fellow-drunkards were not disposed to return the treat, his harlots must seek other lovers, and his landlady ordered him out of her house. There is no real love among the wicked, all their friendship is founded on pleasure and interest. When these exist no more, as vermin forsake an empty barn, so the profligate forsake their dearest friends. The charity that never faileth is the offspring of heaven; it flourishes in the church, and is nowhere to be found but in the breast of virtuous men.

Though the prodigal had wasted his fortune, he still retained his pride. Every one advised him to return to his country, but a sullen hauteur said in his heart, shall I go home in poverty who boasted of returning with wealth? Shall I become the pun and scorn of all my equals, who thought to raise myself above them all? No, never. I will sooner die as a dog, unknown and unlamented, in a foreign land. So he hired himself to a citizen of that country, who finding him ignorant of husbandry and labour, sent him to feed his swine.

Poverty and want are, in the order of providence, happily calculated to reduce the profligate to recollection and repentance. While this young man drank water instead of wine, and while he was surrounded with company more harmless, and in reality more honourable than those he had lost, reason returned; and drawing the just parallel between humiliation at home and misery abroad, he formed the laudable design to cast himself at his fathers feet.

We may farther remark that we have here also the portrait of a youth who first despises a religious education, and then forsakes his fathers God. The prodigal, in asking his patrimony, has demanded of providence the free use of life, of time, and talents, to run the downward road to ruin.

Wicked men never stop in their career, till God frown upon them by the terrors of his word, or the corrections of his rod. He punishes voluptuousness with famine, waste with want, and vice with disease. Hence the chastisements of heaven are among the greatest favours bestowed on the world; their true design is to bring us to the place where we ought to be.

Genuine conversion is the effect of divine light and conviction. When the prodigal came to himself, he began to reflect on the privileges he had forfeited, and the mercies he had abused. It is the grand secret of preaching, and of visiting the sick, to help the wicked to think for themselves. When a man is self-convicted, he has no appeal but to the mercyseat.

True conversion elevates a soul above the trammels and charms of sin. I will arise and go unto my father. His servants are infinitely happy: they have heaven in their heart, they have support in their affliction, and a glorious liberty in his service. I will arise and go unto my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight. Many groan in their misery, but have not the resolution to rise. Grace, on the contrary, clothes itself with the glory of true repentance, and utters a full confession of guilt in the ears of heaven. Conscience pours all its anguish into the bosom of God, and suppuration heals the wound.

The reception of the penitent prodigal affords the highest encouragement for the worst of sinners to follow his example. The circumstances are painted in a beauty too consummate for comment. The father saw him afar off he ran to meet and embrace him he clothed him in the best apparel, and feasted him with the utmost joy on his return. What sinner can read this and remain in taverns, or herd among the swine in rags and shame. Who would stay among demons, while angels await to sing of his conversion. Rise, sinner, rise; yes, once for all arise, and cast thy guilty soul on the clemency of the best of fathers.

Fuente: Sutcliffe’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Luke 25. Three Parables Showing Gods Love for the Lost, and His Joy at their Restoration.The three parables in this chapter have no definite note of time or place. An introduction is supplied from Luk 5:29 f. (Mar 2:15 f.). Both the introduction (sinners crowding to hear Jesus) and the parables strike the new noto that Jesus came to soundthe direct interest in and appeal to the outcast (cf. p. 622). This parable (Luk 15:3) must mean the parabolic discourse, embracing the three illustrations. The Parable of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin form a pair, and represent the bewildered sinner and the unconscious sinner, while the story of the Prodigal Son forms an exquisite picture of the sinner who deliberately chooses his own path, and deliberately turns back to ask his Fathers forgive ness. In the first parable one out of a hundred is lost and restored, in the second one out of ten, in the third one out of two (Burnside).

Luk 15:4-7 (Mat 18:12-14*). There are some changes; in particular Lk. makes the neighbours rejoice with the shepherd, and inserts the moral which Mt. omits. We are not to suppose that Jesus is scorning the good Law-keeping Jew in the reference to the ninety-nine.

Luk 15:4. wilderness: not desert, but the usual moorland or mountain pasture.

Luk 15:8-10 (Lk. only). A domestic parable follows an out-of-doors one as with the Leaven and Mustard Seed (Luk 13:19-21). The piece of silver (a Greek drachma) probably formed part of a circlet worn on the forehead.

Luk 15:11-32. Parable of the Prodigal Son.No passage in the Gospels needs less comment than this matchless illustration of Gods forgiving love towards the repentant sinner (Luk 15:11-20). Nor is there any real difficulty in Luk 15:25-32, which deals with the elder brother. The lesson is that those who have not fallen are wrong if they blame this forgiving love. The Fathers goodness towards the penitent does not injure them; they should rejoice at the restoration of the lost brother and the mending of the broken circle. The parable had special point for the hard Pharisaic pietists who were offended because Jesus associated and even ate with the outcast but repentant publicans and sinners. The injured air of the complacent hide-bound moralist is drawn to the fife. The cold and unsympathetic attitude of the elder brother sets off the enthusiasm and warmth of the Father. The parable is a unity, its theme being the reception given to the lost and found son.

Luk 15:16. husks: pods of the carob tree, hard and un palatable.

Luk 15:17. he came to himself: mentally and morally.

Luk 15:21. Note how he fails to complete his rehearsed statement; probably the father breaks into the middle of it.

Luk 15:22. ring: as necessary as the shoes (slaves alone went bare-footed) to show his recovered sonship.

Fuente: Peake’s Commentary on the Bible

SEEKING THE LOST SHEEP

(vs.3-7)

Though discipleship to Christ is a wonderful privilege, yet man would never choose a path of true discipleship if God did not seek him first. In this chapter we see that all the blessing for man originates in the heart of God, and therefore God’s great joy predominates in the repentance and restoration of sinful people.

In the person of Christ there is drawing power to bring tax gatherers and sinners to hear Him. The Pharisees and scribes resented this, and in proud self-righteousness denounced Him for receiving and eating with sinners. Sad indeed that they can discern the sin of others while blind to the sin of their own hearts.

How appropriate therefore is the parable He speaks to them. It is one parable, though in three sections, the first showing the heart of the Shepherd, the Spirit of God; the second, the heart of the Spirit of God using a woman, type of the church; and the third, the heart of the Father.

The value of one soul is great in the eyes of the Shepherd. The ninety nine were left in the wilderness while the Shepherd sought the one lost sheep until He found it. He laid it on His shoulders, bearing it home with rejoicing, and expecting his friends to rejoice with him. The simplicity of this is both attractive and easy to be interpreted, particularly when the Lord spoke of the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents. The home is heaven; the recovered sheep is carried safely all the way there, dependent entirely on; the strength of the Shepherd. So the believer is perfectly secure.on the shoulders of His strength.

This is clearly the case of one who has gone far from God, lost in his sins. The ninety-nine however, do not picture believers: they were left in the wilderness, and they are said. to be those “who need no repentance.” For the Lord spoke this to the Pharisees who considered themselves in no need of repentance: there was therefore no occasion of joy in heaven on their account. Only one who realizes his lost, ruined condition will appreciate the grace of God. The emphasis is on repentance. How many there are who have no concern about this whatever, so that it seems that only one out of a hundred will be brought to this self-despairing place of repentance and therefore find salvation through the seeking Shepherd. Does it not teach us that there is more real value in one repentant sinner than in nine-nine self-righteous Pharisees?

THE SILVER COIN SOUGHT AND FOUND

(vs.8-10)

The woman losing and seeking the silver coin illustrates the energy and grace of the Spirit of God in seeking the lost sinner. The woman is not a picture of the Spirit, but of the Church of God in which the power of the Spirit works in seeking the lost. The lamp being lit speaks of testimony. The sweeping of the house reminds us of the broadcasting of the gospel of grace; while the diligent search is the special care of personal concern for individual souls. Wonderful it is that the Church is given the great privilege of sharing with the living God in His care for souls, and in His rejoicing in the repentance of the lost, for the lost piece of silver is clearly a picture of a lost sinner who, when found, is said to be a sinner who repents. Of course the silver itself, being inanimate, has no such feelings, but it pictures the dormant state of the unbeliever — valuable, yet lost, and worth the labor of seeking. The woman too expected others to rejoice with her in her finding the silver. So in the presence of the angels of God there is joy in the contemplation of one sinner repenting.

THE FATHER’S LOVE

(vs.11-32)

In verse 11 the two sons of a certain man do not picture true believers as sons of God, but rather those who by creation are God’s offspring (Act 17:28). In the younger son we see the publicans and sinners of verse 1, and in the elder son the self-righteous Pharisees. The younger son demanded what he could get, and went far from the father to enjoy it. Yet we must observe that the living of the father was divided between the two sons (v.12). The elder received his full share, but remained in close proximity to his father, where his living would not be squandered. But he had no real heart for his father, let alone for his brother (vs.2-30). His nearness to his father was only outward, just as was that of the Pharisees in relation to God. The elder son therefore represents Israel in all her outward blessings as the people of God, and the younger son, the Gentiles in their being without God and without hope in the world.

The Lord did not make the slightest excuse for the younger son, who indulged in riotous living. Doubtless he had many friends until he spent all his money and was reduced to poverty. His case is a striking picture of how sin brings one down. We may characterize this experience in eight words: (1) demanding — v.12, (2) departing — v.13, (3) dissipating — v.13, (4) destitute — v.14, (5) dependent — v.15, (6) degraded — v.15, (7) desiring — v.16, and (8) denied — (v.16). The independent young man had become dependent on one whom before he would have scorned, and to feed swine would be to the Pharisees a most repulsive occupation. In common with many like him, the young man came down to this, even to where he craved the husks that were good only for swine. Former friends were gone and no-one cared for him.

It is in such a case that divine grace begins its wonderful work. The young man “came to himself.” He was stirred to remember his father’s house with its plenty, even for servants. A change took place, and the pride of the young man was finally broken. He decided to go to his father with an honest confession, “I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” He hoped to be taken in merely as a hired servant.

But his father saw him coming from a great distance and ran to meet him, embracing him and covering him with kisses before a word was spoken. This is the only indication in Scripture of God running. How gladly He welcomes a returning sinner! Then the son spoke the words that had been formed in his heart by the exercise of being brought so low. But the father did not even allow the last of those words to be spoken — “make me like one of your hired servants.”

Instead the father called immediately for the best robe with which to clothe him, a ring for his hand and shoes for his feet. This was no treatment for a hired servant. The best robe is Christ our righteousness, for every believer is “in Christ.” The ring (being endless) speak of eternal life, but being applied to his hand indicates that eternal life has a present effect on the works of our hands. The shoes speak of protection as to our walk in the world. What wonderful provision the grace of God makes for every believer!

The fatted calf was killed that his hunger might be satisfied and that others too might eat in communion with him. The calf pictures Christ, the perfect sacrifice on whom we are privileged to feed, the solid food that gives sustenance and strength. The whole house rejoiced in the restoration of the son, but the food of that rejoicing is typically Christ and Him crucified, for this is the basis of all blessing to mankind.

Verse 24 proves that this case is one of a lost and ruined soul being brought to God and saved. He was dead, having no spiritual life, but now alive. He was lost, totally away from God, but now found. These things could not be said of a believer who simply needed restoration. “And they began to be merry.” Such joy begins with conversion and goes on for eternity. But there are eight points that describe the conversion of the young man: (1) revived — v.17, (2) remembering — v.17, (3) resolved — v.18, (4) repentant — vs.18-19, (5) returning — v.20, (6) received — v.20, (7) restored — (v.22), and (8) regaled — (v.23).

However, the elder son spoiled everything for himself by his self-importance. Returning from the field (typical of the world, for the world can have a religious side too, outwardly in near proximity to God), he heard music and dancing in the house. He had not been near enough to know the father’s joy, so he inquired of a servant (v.26). But the glad reception of his brother only angered him and he refused to enter the house (v.28)

The father’s attitude toward the elder son was just as fully in contrast to the elder son’s haughtiness as it had been in contrast to the folly of the younger son. As he had shown kindness to the returning prodigal, so he showed kindness to his critical brother, entreating him to share his own joy (v.28). How sadly self-righteous, independent and intolerant was his answer to his father! He claimed to have served him for many years, never transgressing his commandment, just as Pharisees liked to think they were rigid law-keepers. He complained that his father had never given him a kid so that he could make merry with his friends (not with his father). Yet the father had before divided his living between both sons! Again, if the son had faithfully served him, it was certainly not without renumeration! He had far more than enough to buy a young goat if he wanted it. Moreover, he would have been welcome to eat just as much of the fatted calf as did his brother. But his intolerance toward his brother was bitterly expressed. In fact there was no need of comparing himself with his brother at all, but this illustrates the pride of the Pharisees in despising Gentiles.

Let us suggest eight words also to summarize what is said of the elder son: (1) inclining — v.25, (2) inquiring — v.26, (3) informed — v.27, (4) indignant — v.28, intreated — v.28, (6) inflated — v.29, (7) independent — v.29, and (8) intolerant — v.30.

The brother did not say, “my brother,” but “your son.” Yet the father still addressed him as “son” and spoke to him of the younger son as “your brother.” He reminded him that he was ever near to the father, sharing all the father’s goods. This was true of Israel in an outward way (Rom 9:4-5), though their hearts were far from God (Mat 15:8). But the father had the last word, firmly insisting that it was appropriate that his brother’s return should be an occasion of great joy, for it was virtually life from the dead, one lost being found. How penetrating a parable for the Pharisees, if they would but listen, and how encouraging a parable for a repentant sinner!

Fuente: Grant’s Commentary on the Bible

CHAPTER 15

Ver. 1.-Then drew near under Him all the publicans and sinners. , all, that is, many came together to hear Christ, attracted by His sanctity and by the loving-kindness with which He called sinners to Himself, and promised pardon and salvation to the penitent. For His preaching was, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” S. Mat 4:17.

Ver. 2.-And the Pharisees and Scribes murmured. For as they avoided the touch of unclean bodies, so did they avoid that of sinful souls. Hence they did not deign to speak to sinners, much less to eat with them. This constituted the proud spirit of the Pharisees, who thought themselves pure and holy in all things pertaining to the law, and therefore kept apart from the impure that they might not be defiled. To them the spirit of Christ was clearly opposed; for He came into the world to save sinners, and therefore sought opportunity to converse with them, and when invited was present at their feasts; for nothing is more pleasing to God than the conversion of the sinner. “From which we may gather,” says S. Gregory (Hom. 34), “that true justice, i.e. the justice of Christ, is full of compassion, but that the false justice of the Pharisees is scornful.” “Indeed, it is,” says S. Chrysostom, “the mark of the apostolic life, to think for the salvation of souls.”

Ver. 4.-What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he 1ose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? For a sheep is a simple and foolish animal, which, in search of pasture, easily loses its way and wanders from the fold, and when once astray is unable to return. So that there is need of a shepherd to go forth and seek it.

So we, by reason of our sinful lusts, were as wandering sheep, treading the path which led to perdition, without a thought of God or of heaven, or of the salvation of our souls. Wherefore Christ came down from heaven to seek us, and to lead us back from the way of destruction to that which leadeth to eternal life. So we read, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on Him the iniquity of us all,” Isa 53:6; and again, “Ye were as sheep going astray; but are now returned unto the Shepherd and Bishop of your souls.” 1Pe 2:25.

Ver. 5.-And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. Or as the Arabic renders it, “He carries it on his shoulders joyfully,” that he may the more quickly return it to the flock.

In like manner on Christ “was laid,” as saith the prophet Isaiah, the iniquity of us all.” Hence Gregory of Nyssa, writes in the Catena, “When the shepherd had found the sheep, he did not punish it, he did not drive it to the fold, but placing it on his shoulder, and carrying it gently, he reunited it with the flock.” Oh how wondrous is the meekness, clemency, and love of Christ our Lord! It was to represent this love to the faithful that Christ is depicted in our temples with the lost sheep on His shoulders, carrying it back to the flock, and it is related of the son of Charlemagne, that laying aside his royal state, he became a monk, and when employed in keeping sheep, followed to the letter the example set by the Good Shepherd: for humility and the imitation of Christ is in truth the glory of Christian kings.

Ver. 6.-Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. , Let My joy be one with yours-partake of My joy. His joy is so great that he cannot confine it to Himself, His friends must rejoice also. He further indicates that the event is such a happy one, that it ought to afford matter for rejoicing to all. He says not, “Rejoice with the sheep that is found,” but, “with Me.” Because truly our life is His joy. S. Gregory.

Ver. 7.I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven, &c., i.e. greater joy, for such is implied by the comparative particle , “than.”

The angels then, and the saints in heaven rejoice with exceeding great joy when it is made known to them, by the revelation of God, that a sinner is converted; for when such an one by repentance passes from condemnation to life, it is a gain to the sinner-to the angels-and above all to God Himself.

The sinner passes from sin unto righteousness, from hell to heaven. The angels therefore rejoice at the blessedness of such an one, because, says Euthymius, they are kindly disposed towards men and because by repentance men become like them in purity and in holiness. They rejoice also on their own account because the ruin which was effected by Lucifer and his angels is remedied by the justification and sanctification of men, and because the places from which these angels fell are restored and filled up. It is a joy to God because He is , a lover of souls, and thirsts for the salvation of men.

Again the angels rejoice that the desire of God, whom they love above all things, is fulfilled, and that He is a partaker of this joy, as well as honoured by the penitence of the, sinner. Apposite to this matter is the vision of Carpus, to whom Christ made known that He so longed for the conversion of sinners, as to be ready again to suffer death upon the Cross, if thereby this object could be effected. And Palladius relates that a certain Anchorite, who had fallen into sin, repented in sackcloth and ashes with many tears; whereupon an angel appeared to him and said, “The Lord hath accepted thy penitence, and hath had compassion on thee. Take heed that thou art not again led astray.”

By this argument, Christ rebukes the Pharisees for murmuring against Him because He companied with sinners in order to convert them. For the conversion of sinners is a work most pleasing to God and His angels. The Pharisees ought therefore to take part in this work, and to share in the rejoicing. For “all the fruit” of the Incarnation, and of the death of Christ upon the Cross is “to take away sin,” Isa 27:9,-“to bring in everlasting righteousness,” and to extend the kingdom of God. S. Mat 6:10. The knowledge of this ought to excite in every follower of Christ a zealous love for the souls of men.

Hence S. Gregory, when he heard that the English had been converted by the preaching of Augustine, rejoiced in spirit, and wrote; “If there is great joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, what joy, think you, has there been over the conversion of so great a people; for by their repentance and faith they have condemned the sins which they aforetime had committed. Whilst heaven is thus rejoicing, let us repeat the angelic strain, and let us all with one accord exclaim, ‘Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill towards men.'”

More than over ninety and nine just persons. God and His holy angels, then, rejoice over one penitent more than over one righteous man, nay, more than over ninety and nine just persons; because from the conversion of the sinner there arises a new joy, which seems more perceptible, and is in reality felt more than that continuous and long-standing joy which attaches itself to the ninety and nine; a joy which, although actually the greater, seems to men to lose its freshness by reason of its long duration. For the novelty of a thing which we long for awakens in us a vast and a new joy, which is felt all the more on account of its novelty, as we find when we receive tidings of victories or conversions; and Christ often speaks after the manner of men, especially in His parables. The saying of S. Bernard, that “The tears of penitents are the wine of the angels,” applies here:-The joy over the conversion of a sinner, writes Emmanuel S, is sensibly greater. Although in other respects, a man undoubtedly rejoices more over ninety-nine sheep than over one, and God joys more over ninety and nine just persons than over one sinner that repenteth.

S. Gregory adds that God and His angels rejoice the more, because penitents are wont to be more fervent in their love than those who have not fallen away. And elsewhere he says, “The life of fervent devotion which follows after sins committed is often more pleasing to God than that innocence which grows sluggish in its security.” “Just as the leader in battle loves that soldier more who, having turned from flight, bravely pursues the enemy, than he who never turned his back and never did a brave act.” “And as again the husbandman loves that land more which, after bearing thorns, yields abundant fruit, than that which never had thorns, and never gave him a plentiful crop.” Finally (Hom. 34), he cites the example of Victorinus who, having fallen into carnal sin, entered a monastery, and there subjected himself to the severest penance, and so merited to be transfused with the light of heaven, and to hear the voice of God, “Thy sin is forgiven thee!”

If therefore penance be of such avail in a sinner, how great, infers S. Gregory, must be its power in a just man! For many, he says, are conscious of no evil, yet subject themselves to austerities as extreme as if they were beset by every kind of sin. They eschew all things, even such as are lawful, they gird themselves about with a lofty disdain of earth and earthly things, they consider every pleasure forbidden, they deprive themselves of such good things as are allowed them, things that are seen they despise, they yearn for the things which are invisible, they rejoice in mourning, in all things they humble themselves, and deplore sins of thought, as many mourn over sins actually committed.

Ver. 8.-Either that woman having ten pieces of silver, &c. “Sweep,” or as the Arabic renders it, “cleanse;” not “overturn,” as some read with S. Gregory.

The “piece of silver,” or drachma, was a coin weighing the eighth part of an ounce. Hence S. Cyril explains, that by the parable of the lost sheep we are to understand, mystically, that we are the creatures of God who made us, and the sheep of His pasture, but that by this second parable we are taught that we were created in the image and likeness of God, just as the coin bears the image of the king.

S. Gregory (Hom. 34), very fully explains the parable, and applies it in the following manner: “He who is signified by the shepherd, is signified also by the woman. For it is God Himself-God and the wisdom of God. And because there is an image impressed on the piece, the woman lost the piece of silver when man, who was created after the image of God, by sinning fell away from the likeness of his Creator. The woman lighted a candle, because the wisdom of God appeared in man. For the candle is a light in an earthen vessel, but the light in an earthen vessel is the Godhead in the flesh, and when the candle was lit she overturned (evertit) the house. Because as soon as His divinity shone forth through the flesh, all our consciences were appalled. But the word ‘overturn’ differs not from the ‘cleanse’ or ‘sweep’ of the other MSS. Because the corrupt mind, if it be not first overthrown through fear is not cleansed from its habitual faults. But when the house is overturned the piece of silver is found, for when the conscience of man is disturbed, the likeness of the Creator is restored in him.” And again, “Who are the friends and neighbours but those heavenly powers afore mentioned, who are near to the Divine Wisdom, inasmuch as they approach Him through the grace of continual vision?” Hence in conclusion he says, “The woman had ten pieces of silver, because there are nine orders of angels, but, that the number of the elect might be filled up, man, the tenth, was created, who even after his sin did not fall utterly away from his Maker, because the eternal Wisdom, shining through the flesh by His miracles, restored him by the light of the earthen vessel.”

Or, as Theophylact interprets it, “The friends are all the heavenly powers; but the neighbours, the thrones-cherubims and seraphims-which are most nigh unto God.”

Lastly, S. Gregory Nyssen, says, “The ten pieces of silver are so many virtues, of which we ought to lack none, for like the commandments they are complete in themselves (decem). The candle is the divine word or perhaps the torch of repentance; the neighbours, reason, desire, anger, and such like affections.”

Ver. 11.-And He said, A Certain man had two sons. This parable is the third of the series, and like the two preceding ones, is designed to show the joy which is in heaven over the conversion of a sinner. And so there are three principal persons in the parable, the father and his two sons, the elder careful of his possessions, the younger a spendthrift. The father is God, who created all men, or Christ, who redeemed and regenerated all men with His blood, and who daily regenerates them by baptism. The two sons are understood by universal consent to represent the Jews and the Gentiles. By the elder, who was ever with his father, we may understand the Jews; by the younger the Gentiles, who having worshipped God in the days of Adam and Noah, turned aside to idols and the sins of the flesh: an interpretation which is borne out by the 25th verse, for it was the Jews who murmured because the Gentiles were received into grace and favour by Christ.

But still more in accordance with the purpose of the parable, we may take the two sons to represent the just and the unjust, whether Jews or Gentiles. For the sinners with whom Christ companied, thereby causing the Pharisees to murmur against Him, were clearly Jews and not Gentiles.

The elder son represents the just, i.e. those who were really just, as well as those who, like the Scribes and Pharisees, claimed to be such.

The younger son, the prodigal, is put for open and notorious sinners, such as the publicans and harlots, with whom Christ was wont to associate in order that He might win them from the error of their way. So S. Jerome and most other interpreters explain the parable.

Ver. 12.-And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. The younger, i.e. sinners and harlots. For youth is less restrained, more foolish, more inconstant, and more prone to indulgences of every kind. According to the Fathers, the “goods,” “substantia,” must be taken to mean man’s free will, called in Greek . “Because by it,” says S. Jerome, “man lives freely and as it pleases him.” “For,” observes Theophylact, “the substance of man is the capacity of reason which is accompanied by free will.” S. Ambrose and others, by substance, understand more fitly the grace of God, virtues and good habits. For it is these which are really wasted and destroyed by the sinner, whilst his free will cannot be lost, as is clear from the parable. You may therefore take the word to mean all the gifts of God, of body and soul, of nature and grace; for these the younger son demands to be entirely given up to him, because he was unwilling any longer to submit to the authority of his father, but desirous of being his own master, and of being free to use or abuse the gifts of God as might seem to him good.

So S. Augustine (Evang. lib. ii. q. 35) writes, “To live, to understand, to remember, to excel in quickness of intellect, these things are gifts of God, which men receive into their own power by freewill.” So also S. Jerome, Titus, and Euthymius.

And he divided unto them his living. Placing the gifts just mentioned at the free disposal of each, for “He left man in the hand of his counsel.” Ecclus. 15:14.

Ver. 13.-And not many days after the younger son, gathered all together, or, according to the Syriac version, “collected together all that had come to him,” and took his journey, into a far country-“far off,” says Euthymius, “not by local separation, but by separation in point of virtue.” Such is a state of concupiscence and sin, for the sinner by sinning goes far from God and from heaven, and subjects himself to the dominion of Satan. “But,” says Euthymius, “the elder son being wise, remained with his father.”

Hence S. Augustine goes on to say, “The far country is forgetfulness of God, a forgetfulness which is mutual, for inasmuch as the sinner forgets God, God in His turn is in a manner forgetful of the sinner, i.e. God ceases to bestow on him light, grace, or guidance.” For S. Jerome says, “We must bear in mind that we are with God, or depart from Him, according to our disposition, not according to ‘distances of place.'”

Therefore, adds Theophylact, “when a man departs from God, and from the fear of God, he wastes and consumes all God’s gifts.”

And there wasted his substance, i.e., all the gifts of nature and grace. For the sinner, giving himself up to pleasure and licentiousness, incurs the loss of all God’s gifts of grace.

He becomes dull of understanding and is unable to recognise God, or the beauty of holiness. He grows forgetful of God’s law and God’s goodness towards him. He so corrupts his will as to prefer vice to virtue, pleasure to reason, earth to heaven, the evil one to God; and forsaking the paths of virtue, gives himself up to every kind of evil. Hence he becomes destitute of counsel, reason, sense, and everything that is good; and at last, with all the powers of his soul and body, he worships the creature rather than the Creator, and falls into that sin to which the Psalmist refers, “So they that forsake Thee shall perish; Thou hast destroyed all them that commit fornication against Thee.” Ps. lxxiii. 26.

The prodigal son “wasted all the graces of nature,” says Euthymius, because, adds S. Augustine, “he made a wrong use of his natural gifts.” “He then,” says Titus, “expended his goods” (substantiam), i.e., the light which was in him, temperance, the knowledge of the truth, the remembrance of God. And lastly, says Euthymius again, “he corrupted the gift which he had received at his baptism, i.e. nobility of soul, and the capability of living a godly life, for such things as these made up the riches of the prodigal.

With riotous living. By living an abandoned life (), only sinful but also luxurious and intemperate.

“A prodigal life,” says the Gloss, “loves to occupy itself in outward show, forgetful of God, who has His dwelling within.”

Ver. 14.-And when he had spent all . . . he began to be in want. Or, according to the Arabic, “he became destitute,” as those who lose by one year’s debauchery all that their parents have left them; and after that are reduced to misery and to begging their bread. Nor do they lose their property only, but their health and good name as well, and by reason of the foulness of their habits and the diseases which they contract, become a burden to themselves, and a disgust to their fellowmen. For it is acknowledged by all that luxury and extravagance make the richest poor, and reduce men to the very verge of starvation.

Mystically. The sinner suffers from the want of all things, whether of nature or of grace, because he turns the gifts which he possesses to his own destruction, and therefore is in a far worse condition than if he had never received them.

And again, the sinner being without God, lacks everything; for all things depend upon Him, and in Him live and have their being. Hence the Interlinear, “Every place whence the Father is absent, is a place of penury and want.” For he who has not God possesses nothing, although he be king of the whole world. Again he who has God possesses all things, although he may not have a farthing to call his own. Or, as S. Francis expresses it, “God is mine and all things.” For God alone can be said to be; and all things else compared to Him, not to be. See Exod. iii

Moreover, the Gloss says, “Pleasure always hungers for itself-the more we indulge in it, the more insatiably we thirst after it;” and S. Jerome, “Our health and strength depart from us by reason of our sinful indulgences, yet we do not lose the desire of indulging.

“While yet in sport, for other sports we burn,

In gardens fair, for other gardens yearn.”

Ver. 15.-And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, i.e., to an evil spirit, for the devils are the citizens of the country far off from God. So S. Augustine (Qust. Evang. lib. ii. q. 33.) says, “He joined himself to a certain prince of the air belonging to the army of the devil, whose fields signify the manner of his power. The swine are the unclean spirits which are under him, and to feed them is to work those things in which they delight.”

So also S. Ambrose, “The citizen is the prince of this world,” and in like manner the Gloss.

S. Peter Chrysologus (Serm. 2.) says, “Behold the effect of unbridled desires. It turned a citizen into an alien, a son into a hireling, a rich man into a beggar, a free man into a slave. It associated him whom it separated from a kind father with swine; that he who had despised a holy affection might be the slave of the greedy herd.”

S. Ambrose judges rightly that by the expression “he joined himself to” we are to understand a dangerous as well as a laborious service. For as a bird is snared when seeking food, so the unhappy sinner, hoping for the delights of freedom, falls into a perilous slavery.

And he sent him into his field. That is, says Bede, “he became a slave of earthly desires.”

To feed swine. “To feed swine,” says S. Chrysostom in the Catena, “is to nourish in the soul sordid and unclean thoughts. See here how marvellously the condition of the sinner is changed, as a just punishment for the foolish use he made of his freedom. He who was unwilling to be held in honour as a son, is obliged to become the bond slave of an alien. He who would not obey the laws of God, is compelled to serve Satan. He who would not abide in his father’s palace, is sent to dwell amongst clowns. He who would not associate with his brethren and with princes, becomes the attendant and companion of swine. He who refused the bread of angels, would fain satisfy his hunger with husks from the hog-trough.”

Ver. 16.-And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. So those who foolishly squander their possessions on others, find none to give them even husks in their misery and want. S. Chrysostom (Serm. 1) says, “Hunger, to luxury a torment, is now his lot, that where his guilt had been flagrant there an avenging punishment might rage.” And again, “How cruel a service! He lives with unclean animals, yet does not share in their feast. Wretched man that he is; half famished, he hungers for the swine’s coarse food, yet does not obtain it.

S. Jerome (Epist. 146) here remarks, “that the Devil, when he has brought a man into subjection, fires his soul with desires of all kinds, but cheats him of their gratification, that by longing after them he may increase his guilt, and by failing to gratify them may add to his punishment and misery.” Such is the deceitfulness and the tyranny of Satan. “Husks” are the empty pods of beans, peas, and the like, which fill but do not nourish the body. Yet country folk mix these husks with flour or meal, and make thereof a common kind of black bread on which they live. Hence Horace (Epist. 1, lib. ii.) writes, “He lives on husks and coarse bread.” Jansenius understands by “husks,” the fruit of the Carob tree, which is like a bean, of a blackish colour, curved, as long as a man’s finger, and as broad as his thumb. Each pod contains four berries called ceratia from their likeness to a horn (;). These afford excellent food for swine, and are also eaten by men.

But by “husks” the Fathers understand “that worldly and vain knowledge which begets vanity, such as the writings of the poets, or the harangues of the orators.” “Wherein,” says S. Augustine, “this man sought to find something belonging to the higher life, but could not.” The word, however, may be taken to mean more fully “carnal gratifications which puff out and afflict the soul but do not satisfy its yearnings.” So S. Chrysostom in the Catena writes, “If thou lovest good wine, thou lovest husks; if thou longest for gold, thou dost seek for husks; if thou followest after sensual pleasures, thou askest for the food of swine.”

Ver. 17.-And when he came to himself, or, as the Arabic renders it, “when he was considering within himself.” Euthymius says, becoming master of himself, and as it were waking up from the deep sleep of the drunken.” “Returning from his wanderings abroad.” Theophylact. “For,” says the Interlinear, “he who has gone away from himself does well to return;” and the prodigal had been in a manner beside himself, and a raving madman, but his misery gave him understanding, and hunger taught him to be wise. So S. Gregory Nyssen. (Trad de Oratione) writes, “He did not return to his former state of happiness until, coming to himself, he felt the full weight of his cares.” And S. Augustine (Qust. Evang. lib. xxi.): “He turned his thoughts (intentionem) from these things, which act externally as snares and temptations, to his inner conscience” “For,” says S. Ambrose, “he who returns to it returns to himself, but he who departs from Christ forfeits his rights in Christ.”

How many hired servants of my father’s, &c. They have bread enough and to spare, but I, his son, am perishing with hunger. So God is wont to take away from those who live for pleasure all their delights, and send them hunger, sickness, and pain, that they may return to a better mind, and see what happiness they have forfeited, and into what misery they have fallen; which is the first stage of repentance. Hence Titus writes, “Coming to himself, i.e. comparing his former happiness with his after misery, he thought of what he was whilst he abode with his father, and meditated over and over again on the vile and wretched state to which he had reduced himself by his rejection of God, and subjection to Satan.” Learn then from the example of the prodigal, that “repentance follows on hasty counsel, and that a bad beginning makes a bad ending;” and again, “that thou be not conquered by a shameful adversary, regard pleasure only when it is departing from thee, for pleasure is the food of the wicked.”

Mystically. If we serve God and follow virtue in hope of worldly gain, we are hirelings; if from fear, slaves; if from love, sons. As the Interlinear says, “How many Jews are there who keep the law only for the sake of present prosperity, and obtain of God that which they desire; but I, who neglect God’s law, prosper neither in my temporal nor my spiritual concerns.”

S. Augustine, on the other hand, says, “These are the reflections of a man who is coming to a better mind again, and finds himself amongst those who preach the truth, not from love of the truth, but from the desire of earthly gain.” But the Gloss takes higher ground: “The hirelings are they who busy themselves in walking worthily, looking for the reward which is to be. These have bread enough and to spare, i.e. they are sustained by the daily nourishment of Divine grace.”

He then who is restrained from vice by fear of punishment is the slave; by hope and longing for the kingdom of heaven, the hireling; by love of that which is good, the son. And Theophylact, in like manner, makes this threefold distinction amongst those who are saved.

The Interlinear again, and others who understand by the two sons the Jews and Gentiles, explain thus: “The Jews, who like hirelings serve God in hope of obtaining the good things of this world, possess them plentifully; but the people of the Gentiles, together with the idolaters, are wholly cut off from the truth.”

Ver. 18.-I will arise and go to my father. “I will arise,” says the Interlinear, “because I perceive that I have fallen prone before idolatry and vice. I will go to my father, for I have wandered far from him, and am wearing away my life in misery and want. I will rise from this wretched life. I will break away from my vices, cease from sin, amend my life. I will repent, and humbly beg of God the pardon of my sin.”

“Well does he say, ‘I will arise,'” writes S. Jerome (Epist. 146), “for away from his father he could not stand upright. It is the part of sinners to lie prone, of the just to stand upright.” For as Chrysologus (Serm. 1) says, “As long as a man is with his father, his state is happy, his service free, and his safety assured. He reverences his father with gladness. If corrected it is with gentleness. Though poor he is rich, and his possessions are secure.” And again, “he determines to return, because he perceived that with a stranger his liberty was slavery, and because he believed that with his father his slavery would be liberty.”

And will say unto him. These words, says Titus, are few, but enough for my salvation; for I know my father’s loving-kindness, and that he will have compassion on the penitent, whom he did not abandon, even when wallowing in the foulness of sin.

Father, I have sinned. “This,” says S. Ambrose, “is his first confession to the author of nature, the dispenser of mercy, the judge of his sin. For although God knows all things, He waits to hear the acknowledgment of our sins, because he who takes the burden of his sin upon himself lessens its weight, and he who by confession anticipates the accuser, deprives the accusation of its sting. In vain wilt thou endeavour to hide from Him, whom nothing escapes, and you may safely discover what you know to be already known.”

God, therefore, justly and fitly demands of the sinner the confession of his sin.

1. Because a criminal ought to humble himself, and confess his crime, if he would be forgiven.

2. Because, according to Origen (Hom. ii on Ps. xxxviii.), as a disordered stomach must be purged by emetics, so must the soul which is full of corruption be purified by confession.

3. Because the sinner has cast contempt on the majesty of God, and can only make amends for his fault by repentance. For repentance gives glory to God, and restores to Him the honour which sin takes away. In a word, the penitent acknowledges that he himself is a sinner, but that God is most holy.

4. The confession of the sinner therefore is for the praise and glory of God the Creator, as well as of Jesus Christ our Saviour. “For,” says S. Cyprian, or the author of the Treatise on the Passion, whoever he way be, “when the sinner takes upon himself the office of judge and tormentor, becoming his own prosecutor, and showing by the shame he exhibits that his confession is genuine, his entire self-sacrifice obtains pardon for him in the sight of God. For God does not pass judgment twice on the same offence.”

Against heaven That is, (1.) I have sinned so grievously that my sins, as it were, cry to heaven for vengeance, or by a Hebraism, we may understand “against heaven” to mean, against God who dwelleth therein. (See S. Mat 21:25.)

2. “Against heaven,” because in preferring earth to heaven, I have committed a great wrong and have lightly esteemed heavenly things; so that if heaven were endowed with voice and reason, it would cry out and make accusation against me.

3. “Against heaven” because heaven is my home, and I am only a sojourner here on earth. I have therefore betrayed my native land. So S. Gregory Nyssen, (De Oratione), says, “He would not have confessed that he had sinned against heaven, unless he had been persuaded that heaven was his country and that he had sinned in leaving it.” And S. Jerome, “He sins against heaven who leaves the heavenly Jerusalem.”

4. “Against heaven,” i.e. “against the angels and those that dwell therein,” says the Interlinear, and also S. Augustine

5. Or “against heaven” because according to S. Ambrose, “he had wasted the gifts of heaven.” By which we may understand “the endowments of the soul and the spiritual gifts which are impaired by sin and by our departure from the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all.”

Symbolically, S. Chrysostom, in the Catena, says, “He sins against heaven who sins against the humanity of Christ, which although above us as heaven, is yet visible.” For the sinner makes of none effect the blood of Christ, and in a manner “crucifies the Son of God afresh.” Heb 6:6.

And before Thee. “Who alone,” says S. Chrysostom, “seest all things, and to whom the thoughts of all hearts are revealed. Great then is the shamelessness of the sinner in daring to sin before the living God, who will punish him for his offences in the day of judgment, and who not unfrequently inflicts punishment in this life as a warning to others not to offend.”

S. Jerome here explains that “he had sinned against his father in that, forsaking his Creator, he had bowed down in worship to idols of wood and of stone.”

Symbolically, S Augustine (Qust. Evang. lib. ii. q. 33) interprets the words “before thee” to mean “in the inmost conscience.” For the sinner ought to blush even for the sins which he commits in secret, and for the conscience which he defiles, renders dumb, and hands over to Satan.

Ver. 19.-And am no more worthy to be called thy son. Because, says S. Jerome, I preferred to serve idols, and to be the slave of vices. “He does not presume,” says Bede, “to ask to be treated as a son,” because, adds Euthymius, “his life had been unworthy of such a father.”

Make me as one of thy hired servants. I have forfeited my position as son, but cast me not out of thy presence, suffer me to take the lowest place in thy household, says Euthymius, that I may make open confession of my sin. For formerly those who had been put to public penance were not allowed to enter the church, but knelt without, humbly asking the prayers and the pardon of all, as S. Jerome tells us that Fabiola did.

These, says S. Augustine (lib. ii. Qust. Evang. q. 33), are the words of one who is turning his thoughts to repentance, not of one actually repentant. For he is not addressing his father, but only determining what to say when he meets him. “But,” says Primasius, commenting on Rev. iv., “as the smoke precedes the flame, so must there be confession of sin before the fires of faith and love are kindled in the sinner’s heart. Hence the smoke bursts into flame as the fire gains power and intensity; so in like manner confession of sin through force of contrition burns up and becomes aflame with love.”

Ver. 20.-But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him. Before he had given any expression to his penitence, his father prevented him.

See here God’s wonderful loving-kindness towards penitent sinners. “He is wont,” says Titus, “in His mercy and pity to anticipate the repentance of men;” and, adds S. Gregory of Nyssa, “when he resolved to repent, his father was reconciled to him.”

And had compassion, , was moved with pity at the sight of his misery.

And ran. In excess of joy, says Euthymius, he waited not for him to draw nigh, but went to meet him, running and thereby showing the greatness of his love.

And fell on his neck, and kissed him. “To fall on his neck,” says S. Augustine, “is to lower to his embrace the arm of God, which is Christ; to give the kiss is to comfort by the word of God’s grace unto the hope of pardon of sin.” But S. Chrysostom says, “The mouth is kissed as that from which the heartfelt confession of the penitent proceeded.”

The embrace and the kiss are here set forth as the tokens of pardon and reconciliation, and of especial love and goodwill, as well as of the exultation and joy with which God and His angels regard a sinner that repenteth.

Ver. 21.-And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned, &c. He desires, says the Interlinear, that to be done by grace, which he acknowledges himself to be unworthy of by any merit of his own. (See above on ver. 18.) He omits to say, “make me as one of thy hired servants,” either because his father, out of love and joy, had cut short his confession, by bidding the attendants “bring forth the best robe,” or because his father’s embrace and kiss had encouraged him to hope that again he might be acknowledged as a son. “He does not add,” says S. Augustine (Lib. ii. Qust. Evang. q. 33), “what he had before determined to say, for after the kiss of his father he most nobly disdained to become a hireling.” Titus, however, is of opinion that the words were actually uttered, although S. Luke, has not recorded them.

Ver. 22.-But the father said to his servant, &c. “The servants,” says Theophylact, “are the angels or the priests,” or, according to S. Augustine, the preachers, for by their ministry God reconciles sinners to Himself.

The best robe. The “first” robe, that which he was wont to wear before he left his father’s house, for from the repetition of the article , it is clear that some particular garment is indicated.

Hence, in the lives of the Fathers, it is related that a certain Bishop saw in a vision two women who were sinners, clothed, after having made sacramental confession, in white garments and radiant with light. He inquired the cause of this from an angel that appeared unto him, and was told that the women, by their confession and tears, had rendered themselves worthy to be numbered with the elect.

And put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. A ring of gold, i.e. the mark of a free and rich or noble man, as also are shoes, for slaves go barefoot, but citizens are shod.

Ver. 23.-And bring hither the fatted calf. , that particular calf which I ordered to be fattened for such a solemn occasion as this. All these things, the robe, the ring, the shoes, and the fatted calf, show the delight of the father, i.e. the joy of God and His angels at the conversion of a sinner, and teach us that by the great mercy of God, a penitent is restored to the same, or even a better position than that, which he held before he fell into sin.

But with S. Augustine, S. Jerome, and Bede, we may attach a separate meaning to each.

So we may take the best robe to mean not innocence, for this once lost cannot be regained, but first grace and love. Thus the Interlinear interprets it as, “the robe of the Holy Spirit, which is an earnest of immortal life.” According to S. Ambrose, it is “the cloke of wisdom;” but S. Augustine considers it “the dignity which Adam lost.”

By the ring we may understand the express image of God, which some see in one virtue, some in another.

“The ring,” says Bede, “is the seal of our unfeigned faith,” or, according to S. Chrysostom in the Catena, the symbol of the seal of salvation, or rather, the badge of betrothment, the pledge of nuptials with Christ. It is “the signet of faith with which the promises are sealed in the hearts of the faithful.” Gloss. “The seal of Christ’s image, and impress of the truth.” Interlinear. “The pledge of the Holy Spirit, because of the participation of grace, which is well signified by the finger.” S. Augustine. See Gen 41:42; Jer 22:24; Hag 2:23.

“On his hand,” i.e. by his working, that his faith may be made manifest by his works, and that his works may be established by his faith. Interlinear.

By “the shoes on his feet” is typified promptitude in the exercise of acts of virtue, particularly as regards the preaching of the gospel; for those who are converted greatly desire the conversion of others. Or, as S. Augustine explains, “The shoes are the preparation for preaching the gospel, in order not to touch earthly things,” that, says S. Chrysostom, “a man may walk firmly along the slippery path of the world;” the course of our life is called in Scripture a foot (pes).

Again, “the shoes” are the examples of good men, which, as it were, leave footprints, to enable us to follow in their steps.

“The fatted calf” is a figure of Christ, who in the Eucharist feeds the just, and those sinners who are penitent, with His body and His blood, comforting and soothing in a wonderful manner those who have been newly converted as well as those who have long since repented.

Hence the Interlinear says, “Christ is the fatted calf abounding in every spiritual virtue, so that He suffices for the salvation of the whole world.” And S. Chrysostom: “Christ is called the calf because of the sacrifice of His body, and fatted, because He made satisfaction for all.” And Augustine: “The fatted calf is our Lord Himself in the flesh, 1oaded with insults. The father commands it to be brought, i.e. commands Christ to be preached. He also bids them kill it, in allusion to the death of Christ. For He is then killed to each man who believes him slain.”

Let us eat and be merry. God, says Euthymius, is said to eat in proof of His joy. “For,” adds S. Jerome (Ep. 146), “there can be no rejoicing if our Father be absent from the feast,” because, says Bede and S. Ambrose, “the food of the Father is our salvation; the joy of the Father the redemption of our sins.” And according to the Gloss, “The salvation of sinners is the refreshment of God and the saints. Observe also that the calf is slain after that the robe, the ring, and the shoes are provided, to teach us that we must put on the hope of the immortality for which we were created, that we must seal our works with the signet of faith, and preach by the confession of Christ, if we would partake of the heavenly mysteries.”

Ver. 24.-For this my son was dead, and is alive again. He was dead by reason of his sins; he is alive again because of his repentance.

Ver. 28.-And he was angry, and would not go in. The anger and the murmuring of the elder son is the application of the parable, and is intended to show how justly God rejoices over the conversion of a sinner, and what answer can be given to those who murmur at the consideration shown to those that repent.

“Hence we learn,” says Euthymius, “that God rejoices so greatly over the return of the prodigal, in order that He may provoke others to jealousy.”

So also Theophylact, Titus, and S. Chrysostom in the Catena; for it is certain that the righteous do not envy penitent sinners the blessings they enjoy, but rejoice greatly and exalt in their happiness. See S. Mat 20:2.

Hence we are to understand rather by the murmuring of the elder son, the envy of the Pharisees who murmured against Christ because He received sinners. For this was the occasion as well as scope of the parable, as is clear from the opening verses of the chapter. Similarly also the parable applies to the Jews, who hated the Apostles and murmured against them, because they preached the Gospel to the Gentiles. So S. Ambrose says, “The Jews envied the Gentiles the paternal blessing,” and S. Augustine (Qust. Evang. ii. 33), “He is angry now, and will not go in. But when the fulness of the nations shall have entered in, then the father will go forth that all Israel may be saved.” Again S. Ambrose, “He is called the elder because he envied his brother, and envy causes a man very quickly to grow old.”

He heard music and dancing. That is, as S. Augustine explains, “He heard the Apostles full of the Holy Spirit preaching the Gospel with harmonious voices. He takes one of the prophets to read, and as he searches in it, asks in a manner, why are these feasts celebrated in the Church at which he finds himself not present.” But S. Ambrose says, “He heard the harmony of the Christian people singing with united voice, and raising sweet sounding strains of joy over the salvation of the sinner. But he stands without, for his evil disposition hinders him from entering in;” and the Gloss, “The Church’s symphony is the accord of different ages and varying virtues, whence the chorus and spiritual dance of holy and exultant joy.”

Tropologically, S. Jerome (Epist. 146) says, “Daily is this feast kept, daily does the Father receive His Son, for Christ is ever being crucified for them that believe.” See also Salmeron (Tom. vii. Tract. 27 and 28).

Therefore came his father out and intreated him.-Symbolically, this signifies that God through the preaching of Christ and His Apostles invited the Pharisees and the unbelieving Jews to enter His Church, and therein to partake of the gospel feast, and share in the joy of the faithful. But they refused the invitation from hatred of Christ crucified, and because they were offended that the Gentiles should believe on Him, and they will remain obstinate in their refusal until the coming of Elias at the end of the world. So S. Augustine bids us “admire God’s goodness towards His people;” and S. Jerome, “How kind and how merciful a father! He asks his son to share in the joy of the household.”

Ver. 29.-And he answering said, Lo, these many years do I serve thee. The Syriac has “servio tibi servitutem,” so the Jews were in bondage to the observance of the law.

Neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment. This answer shows the lying arrogance and the ingratitude of the Jews, who boasted of their work done under the law, and forgot the many benefits which God had conferred upon them. They lie when they say they have never transgressed the commandment of God. They transgress often! For, says St. Jerome (Ep. 146), “Is it not a transgression to envy our brother his salvation?” With like arrogancy, the Pharisee justifies himself, and despises the Publican. St. Luke xviii. II. But as St. Augustine and the Interlinear point out, the Jews did not bow down to idols, as the Gentiles did, and therefore, inasmuch as they worshipped the one true God, and Him alone, in this particular they did not transgress the commandment.

And yet thou never gavest me a kid. The fathers explain this symbolically in many ways.

“No blood of prophet or priest has delivered us from the Roman yoke, but for the prodigal, i.e., for the Gentiles, for sinners, throughout the whole world, Thy precious blood was shed.” St. Jerome (Ep. 146), “Thou hast never, for my sake, ordered a kid, i.e. a sinner who persecuted me, to be slain.” Theophylact.

“Thou, 0 Christ, hast never given me Thyself for my food, because I accounted Thee as a kid, i.e., as a sinner, and a perverter of the Law.” St. Augustine.

“The Jews demand a kid: the Christians a lamb. For them Barabbas is set free; for us the lamb is slain.” St. Ambrose.

Ver. 30.-This thy son . . . which hath devoured thy living with harlots. The Pharisees accuse God of sin, in preferring the unworthy to the worthy, i.e., Gentiles to the Jews, sinners to themselves, as if He had regard to the persons of men; but their accusation is false. For the Gentiles, though sinners, by their repentance and faith made themselves worthy of the gospel and the grace of Christ; but the Pharisees, by their pride, envy, and unbelief, showed themselves unworthy of these benefits. Hence they became reprobate, and the Gentiles were chosen in their stead. See S. Mat 20:16.

Ver. 31.-And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. “The law, the prophets, the oracles of God,” says St. Jerome. To this we must add, the worship of the one true God, and faith in Him, in the teachings of the Church, and the benefits arising therefrom. For all these blessings, which were lacking to the Gentiles before the coming of Christ, were the possession of God’s people Israel.

The sense is, “Thou, as my son, art at liberty to enjoy all my possessions, as seems to thee good. Thou oughtest not then to envy thy brother, or to take it amiss that out of our common property, I have ordered a calf to be slain, in honour of his return, especially as thou also art invited to the banquet.” St. Ambrose. And the Interlinear adds, “All mine is thine, if so be, thou ceasest to envy thy brother,” for, says St. Augustine, “desire obtains nothing without want, charity nothing with want, and when we shall have obtained that blessedness, the higher things will be ours to live upon, equal things ours to have fellowship with, the lower things ours to rule;” and he assigns the reason, “for it is thus that all things are looked upon by perfect and immortal children, that each is the possession of all, and all of each.” Hence there will arise for the blessed hereafter the perfection of mutual charity and love, and the fulness of glory and of bliss.

Ver. 32.-It was meet that we should make merry and be glad. For the most convincing of reasons, because this my son, thy brother, who was dead in trespasses and sins, is now restored to grace and favour, wherefore it behovest thee to take part in our rejoicing, and not to be envious and to murmur against him.

Christ now leaves the Pharisees to apply the parable to themselves. For, says Theophylact, “It is intended to teach that although we may be just, we must not cast off sinners nor murmur because God receives them;” and again, “The Lord speaks as it were after this manner; I beseech you who are righteous and free from reproach, that ye murmur not at the salvation of sons, for this prodigal is still a son.”

Fuente: Cornelius Lapide Commentary

15:1 Then drew near unto {1} him {a} all the publicans and sinners for to hear him.

(1) We must not give up on those who have gone out of the way, but according to the example of Christ we must take great pains for them.

(a) Some publicans and sinners came to Christ from all areas.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes

1. The setting for Jesus’ teaching 15:1-2

Luke just recorded that Jesus called a would-be disciple to pay attention to what He said (Luk 14:35). Now he noted that many tax collectors and "sinners" were doing precisely that. Thus he presented that group of needy spiritual outcasts as responding to Jesus’ ministry. However, he also noted, in contrast, that the Pharisees and scribes were critical of Jesus (cf. Luk 5:29-30). They were not really listening to Him. Probably he balanced two positive groups (tax gatherers and sinners) with two negative groups (Pharisees and lawyers) to heighten the contrast further. Receiving and eating with sinners demonstrated openness to them and fellowship with them.

"The sinners were the immoral or those who followed occupations that the religious regarded as incompatible with the Law." [Note: Morris, p. 237.]

The following parables taught the religious leaders that sinners’ return to God should be a cause for rejoicing rather than grumbling (cf. Luk 19:7). One writer titled these parables "The Searching Shepherd," "The Searching Woman," and "The Seeking Father." [Note: J. Dwight Pentecost, The Parables of Jesus, p. 99.] Shepherds, unmarried maidens, and rebellious sons were all examples of disenfranchised people who were usually excluded by the religious establishment of Jesus’ day. [Note: M. Bailey, p. 135.] The first parable emphasized the lost condition, the second the search, and the third the restoration. [Note: Edersheim, 2:255.]

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)

Chapter 21

LOST AND FOUND.

IN this chapter we see how the waves of influence, moving outward from their Divine center, touch the outermost fringe of humanity, sending the pulsations of new excitements and new hopes through classes Religion and Society both had banned. “Now all the publicans and sinners were drawing near unto Him, for to hear Him.”

It was evidently a movement widespread and deep. The hostility of Pharisees and scribes would naturally give to these outcasts a certain bias in His favor, causing their hearts to lean towards Him, while His words of hope fell upon their lives like the breaking of a new dawn. Nor did Jesus forbid their approach. Instead of looking upon it as an intrusion, an impertinence, the attraction was mutual. Instead of receiving them with a cold and scant courtesy, He welcomed them, receiving them gladly, as the verb of the Pharisees murmur implies. He even mingled with them in social intercourse, with an acceptance, if not an interchange, of hospitality. To the Pharasaic mind, however, this was a flagrant lapse, a breach of the proprieties which was unpardonable and half criminal, and they gave vent to their disapprobation and disgust in the loud and scornful murmur, “This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.” It is from this hard sentence of withering contempt, as from a prickly and bitter calyx, we have the trifoliate parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Man, the last of which is perhaps the crown and flower of all the parables. With minor differences, the three parables are really one, emphasizing, as they reiterate, the one truth how Heaven seeks after the lost of earth, and how it rejoices when the lost is found.

The first parable is pastoral: “What man of you,” asks Jesus, using the Tu quoque retort, “having a hundred sheep, and having lost one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?” It is one of those questions which only need to be asked to be answered, an interrogative which is axiomatic and self-evident. Jesus tries to set his detractors in His place, that they may think His thoughts, feel His feelings, as they look out on the world from His standpoint; but since they cannot follow Him to these redemptive heights, He comes down to the lower level of their vision. “Suppose you have a hundred sheep, and one of them, getting separated from the rest, goes astray, what do you do? Dismissing it from your thought, do you leave it to its fate, the certain slaughter that awaits it from the wild beasts? or do you seek to minimize your loss, working it out by the rule of proportion as you ask, What is one to ninety-nine? then writing off the lost one, not as a unit, but as a common fraction? No; such a supposition is incredible and impossible. You would go in search of the lost directly. Turning your back upon the ninety and nine, and turning your thoughts from them too, you would leave them in their mountain pasture, as you sought the lost one. Calling it by its name, you would climb the terraced hills, and awake the echoes of the wadies, until the flinty heart of the mountain had felt the sympathy of your sorrow, repeating with you the lost wanderers name. And when at last you found it you would not chide or punish it; you would not even force it to retrace its steps across the weary distance, but taking compassion on its weakness, you would lift it upon your shoulders and bear it rejoicing home. Then forgetful of your own weariness, fatigue and anxiety swallowed up in the new-found joy, you would go round to your neighbors, to break the good news to them, and so all would rejoice together.”

Such is the picture, warm in color and instinct with life, Jesus sketches in a few well-chosen words. He delicately conceals all reference to Himself; but even the chromatic vision of the Pharisees would plainly perceive how complete was its justification of His own conduct, in mingling thus with the erring and the lost; while to us the parable is but a veil of words, through which we discern the form and features of the “Good Shepherd,” who gave even His life for the sheep, seeking that He might save that which was lost.

The second, which is a twin parable, is from domestic life. As in the parables of the kingdom, Jesus sets beside the man with the mustard seed the woman with her leaven, so here He makes the same distinction, clothing the Truth both in a masculine and a feminine dress. He asks again, “Or what woman” (He does not say “of you,” for if women were present amongst His hearers they would be in the background) “having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a lamp, and sweep the house, and seek diligently until she find it? And when she hath found it, she calleth together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I had lost.” Much objection has been taken to this parable for its supposed want of naturalness and reality. “Is it likely,” our objectors say, “that the loss of a small coin like a drachma, whose value was about sevenpence-halfpenny, could be the occasion of so much concern, and that its recovery should be enough to call forth the congratulations of all the village matrons? Surely that is not parable, but hyperbole.” But things have a real as well as an intrinsic value, and what to others would be common and cheap, to its possessor might be a treasure beyond reckoning, with all the added values of association and sentiment. So the ten drachmas of the woman might have a history; they might have been a family heirloom, moving quietly down the generations, with whole poems, aye, and even tragedies hidden within them. Or we can conceive of a poverty so dire and strait that even one small coin in the emergent circumstance might grow into a value far beyond its intrinsic worth. But the parable does not need all these suppositions to steady it and keep it from falling to the ground. When rightly understood it becomes singularly natural, the truth of truth, if such an essence can be distilled in human speech. The probable interpretation is that the ten drachmas were the ten coins worn as a frontlet by the women of the East. This frontlet was given by the bridegroom to the bride at the time of marriage, and like the ring of Western life, it was invested with a kind of sanctity. It must be worn on all public occasions, and guarded with a jealous, sacred care; for should one of its pieces be lost, it would be regarded as an indication that the possessor had not only been careless, but also that she had been unfaithful to her marriage vow. Throwing, then, this light of Eastern custom upon the parable, how vivid and lifelike it becomes! With what intense eagerness would she seek for the missing coin! Lighting her lamp-for the house would be but dimly lighted with its open door and its small unglazed window-how carefully and almost tremblingly she would peer along its shelves, and sweep out the corners of her few rooms! And how great would be her joy as she saw it glistening in the dust! Her whole soul would go out after it, as if it were a living, sentient thing. She would clasp it in her hand, and even press it to her lips; for has it not taken a heavy care and sorrow from her heart? That one coin rising from the dust has been to her like the rising of another sun, filling her home with light and her life with melody; and what wonder that she hastens to communicate her joy, as, standing by her door, after the eastern wont, she holds up the missing treasure, and calls on her neighbors and friends (the substantives are feminine now) to rejoice with her.

The third parable carries the thought still higher, forming the crown of the ascending series. Not only is there a mathematical progression, as the lost fraction increases from one-hundreth to one-tenth, and then to one-half of the whole, but the intrinsic value of the loss rises in a corresponding series. In the first it was a lost sheep, a loss which might soon be replaced, and which would soon be forgotten; in the second it was a lost coin, which, as we have seen, meant the loss of what was more valuable than gold, even honor and character; while in the third it is a lost child. We call it the parable of the Prodigal Son; it might with equal propriety be called the Parable of the Bereaved Father, for the whole story crystallizes about that name, repeating it, in one form or another, no less than twelve times.

“A certain man,” so begins this parabolic “Paternoster,” “had two sons.” Tired of the restraints of home and the surveillance of the fathers eye, the younger of them determined to see the world for himself, in order, as the sequel shows, that he might have a free hand, and give loose reins to his passions. With a cold, impertinent bluntness, he says to the father, whose death he thus anticipates, “Father, give me the portion of thy substance that falleth to me,” a command whose sharp, imperative tone shows but too plainly the proud, masterful spirit of the youth. He respects neither age nor law; for though the paternal estate could be divided during the fathers life, no son, much less the younger, had any right to demand it. The father grants the request, dividing “unto them,” as it reads, “his living”; for the same line which marks off the portion of the younger marks out too that of the elder son, though he holds his portion as yet only in promise. Not many days after-for having found its wings, the foolish bird is in haste to fly-the youth gathers all together, and then takes his journey into a far country. The down grades of life are generally steep and short, and so one sentence is enough to describe this decensus Averni, down which the youth plunges so insanely: “He wasted his substance with riotous living,” scattering it, as the verb means, throwing it away after low, illicit pleasures. “And when he had spent all”-the “all” he had scrambled for and gathered a short while before-“there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want”; and so great were his straits, so remorseless the pangs of hunger, that he was glad to attach himself to a citizen of that country as swineherd, living out in the fields with his drove, like the swineherds of Gadara. But such was the pressure of the famine that his mere pittance could not cope with famine prices, and again and again he hungered to have his fill of the carob-pods, which were dealt out statedly and sparingly to the swine. But no man gave even these to him he was forgotten as one already dead.

Such is the picture Jesus draws of the lost man, a picture of abject misery and degradation. When the sheep wandered it strayed unwittingly, blindly, getting farther from its fellows and its fold even when bleating vainly for them. When the drachma was lost it did not lose itself, nor had it any consciousness that it had dropped out of its proper environment. But in the case of the lost man it was altogether different. Here it is a willful perversity, which breaks through the restraints of home, tramples upon its endearments, and throws up a blighted life, scarred and pealed amid the husks and swine of a far country. And it is this element of perversity, self-will, which explains, as indeed it necessitates, another marked difference in the parables. When the sheep and the drachma were lost there was an eager search, as the shepherd followed the wanderer over the mountain gullies, and the woman with broom and lamp went after the lost coin. But when the youth is lost, flinging himself away, the father does not follow him, except in thought, and love, and prayer. He sits “still in the house,” nursing a bitter grief, and the work on the farm goes on just as usual, for the service of the younger brother would probably be not much missed. And why does not the father summon his servants, bidding them go after the lost child, bringing him home, if necessary, by force? Simply because such a finding would be no finding. They might indeed carry the wanderer home, setting down his feet by the familiar door; but of what use is that if his heart is still wayward and his will rebellious? Home would not be home to him and with his heart in the far country, he would walk even in his fathers fields and in his fathers house as an alien, a foreigner. And so all embassies, all messages would be in vain; and even a fathers love can do no more than wait, patiently and prayerfully, in hopes that a better spirit may yet come over him, and that some rebound of feeling may bring him home, a humbled penitent. The change comes at length, and the slow morning dawns.

When the photographer wishes to develop the picture that is hidden in the film of the sensitive plate he carries it to a darkened room, and bathed in the developing solution the latent image gradually appears, even to the minutest details. It was so here; for when in his extremest need, with the pinch of a fearful hunger upon him, and the felt darkness of a painful isolation surrounding him, there came into the prodigals soul a sweet picture of the far-away home, the home which might still have been his but for his wantonness, but which is his now only in memory. It is true his first thoughts of that home were not very lofty; they only crouched with the dogs under the fathers table, or hovered around the plentiful board of the servants, attracted by the “bread enough and to spare.” But such is the natural association of ideas; the carob-pods of the swine naturally suggest the bread of the servants, while this in turn opens up all the chambers of the fathers house, reviving its half-faded images of happiness and love, and awaking all the sweet memories that sin had stifled and silenced. That it was so here, the lower leading up to the higher thought, is evident from the young mans soliloquy: “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight; I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.” The hunger for the servants bread is all forgotten now, swallowed up in the hunger of the soul, as it pines for the fathers presence and for the fathers smile, longing for the lost Eden. The very name “father” strikes with a strange music upon his awakened and penitent soul, making him for the time half-oblivious to his present wretchedness; and as Memory recalls a bright but vanished past, Hope peoples the dark sky with a heavenly host, who sing a new Advent, the dawn of a heavenly day. An Advent? Perhaps it was an Easter rather, with a “resurrection from earth to things above,” an Easter whose anthem, in songs without end, was, “I will arise and go to my father,” that Resurgam of a new and holier life.

No sooner is the “I will” spoken than there is a reversing of all the wheels. The hands follow whither the heart has gone; the feet shake off the dust of the far country, retracing the steps they measured so foolishly and lightly before; while the eyes, washed by their bitter tears-

“Not backward are their glances bent But onward to the Fathers house.”

“And he arose and came to his father.” He came to himself first; and having found that better self, he became conscious of the void he had not felt before. For the first time he realizes how much the father is to him, and how terrible the bereavement and loss he inflicted upon himself when be put between that father and himself the desert of an awful distance. And as the bright memories of other days flash up within his soul, like the converging rays of a borealis, they all turn towards and center in the father. Servants, home, and loaves of bread alike speak of him whose very shadow is brightness to the self-orphaned child. He yearns for the fathers presence with a strange and intense yearning; and could that presence be his again; even if he were nothing more than a servant, with but casual interviews, hearing his voice but in its commanding tones, he would be content and happy.

And so he comes and seeks the father; will the father-relent and receive him? Can he overlook and forgive the waywardness and wantonness which have embittered his old age? Can he receive him back even as a servant, a child who has scorned his authority, slighted his love, and squandered his substance in riotous living? Does the father say, “He has made his own bed, and he must lie upon it; he has had his portion, even to the swept-up crumbs, and there is nothing left for him now?” No, for there is something left, a treasure which he might scorn, indeed, but which he could not throw away, even a heritage of love. And what a picture the parable draws of the love that “hopeth and endureth all things! But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.” As the moon in her revolutions lifts up the tides, drawing the deep oceans to herself, so do the unsounded depths of the fathers heart turn towards the prodigal whose life has set, dropping out of sight behind wildernesses of darkness. Thought, prayer, pity, compassion, love flow out towards the attraction they can no longer see. Nay, it seems as if the fathers vision were transfixed, riveted to the spot where the form of his erring lad vanished out of sight; for no sooner has the youth come within sight of the home than the fathers eyes, made telescopic with love, discern him, and as if by intuition, recognize him, even though his attire be mean and tattered, and his step has no longer the lightness of innocence nor the firmness of integrity. It is, it is his child, the erring but now repenting child, and the pent-up emotions of the fathers soul rush out as in a tumultuous freshet to meet him. He even “ran” to meet him, all forgetful of the dignity of years, and throwing himself upon his neck, he kissed him, not either with the cold kiss of courtesy, but with the warm, fervent kiss of love, as the intensive prefix of the verb implies. So far this scene of reconciliation has been as a dumb show. The storm of emotion so interrupted the electric flow of quiet thought and speech that no word was spoken in the mutual embrace. When, however, the power of speech returns the youth is the first to break the silence. “Father,” he said, repeating the words of his mental resolve when in the far country, “I have sinned against Heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son.” It is no longer the sense of physical need, but the deeper sense of guilt, that now presses upon his soul. The moral nature, which by the anodynes of sin had been thrown into a state of coma, awakes to a vivid consciousness, and in the new awakening, in the broadening light of the new dawn, he sees one thing only, and that is his sin, a sin which has thrown its blackness over the wasted years, which has embittered a fathers heart, and which cast its shadow even into heaven itself. Nor is it the conviction of sin only; there is a full and frank confession of it, with no attempt at palliation or excuse. He does not seek to gloss it over, but smiting his breast with bitter reproaches, he confesses his sin with “a humble, lowly, penitent, and obedient heart,” hoping for the mercy and forgiveness he is conscious he does not deserve. Nor does he hope in vain.

Even before the confession is completed, the absolution is spoken, virtually at least; for without allowing the youth to finish his sentence, in which he offers to renounce his sonship and to accept a menial position, the father calls to the servants, “Bring forth quickly, the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat and make merry.” In this peal of imperatives we detect the rapid beating of the fathers heart, the loving, eager haste to wipe out all the sad marks that sin has left. In the luminous atmosphere of the fathers love the youth is no more the prodigal; he is as one transfigured; and now that the chrysalis has left the mire, and crept up into the sunlight, it must have a dress befitting its new summer life, wings of gauze, and robes of rainbow hues. The best, or “the first robe” as it is in the Greek, must be brought out for him; a signet-ring, the pledge of authority, must be put upon his hand; shoes, the badge of freedom, must be found for the tired and bared feet; while for the merry-making which is extemporized, the domestic festa which is the crown of these rejoicings, the fatted calf, which was in reserve for some high festival, must be killed. And all this is spoken in a breath, in a sort of bewilderment, the ecstasy of an excessive joy; and forgetting that the simple command is enough for servants, the master must needs tell out his joy to them: “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

If the three parables were all through coincident, the Parable of the Prodigal Son should close at this point, the curtain dropping over the festive scene, where songs, and music, and the rhythm of the dance are the outward and weak expressions of the fathers joy over the son who comes back from the far country, as one alive from the dead. But Jesus has another purpose; He must not only plead the cause of the outcast and the low, setting open for them the door of mercy and of hope; He must also rebuke and silence the unreasoning murmur of the Pharisees and scribes-which He does in the picture of the Elder Brother. Coming from the field, the heir is surprised to find the whole house given up to an impromptu feast. He hears the sounds of merriment and music, but its strains fall strange and harsh upon his ear. What can it mean? Why was he not consulted? Why should his father thus take occasion of his absence in the fields to invite his friends and neighbors? The proud spirit chafes under the slight, and calling one of the servants, he asks what it all means. The answer is not reassuring, for it only perplexes and pains him the more: “thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound”-an answer which does but deepen his displeasure, turning his sullenness to anger. “And would not go in.” They may end the feast, as they began it, without him. The festive joy is something foreign to his nature; it awakes but feelings of repulsion, and all its music is to him a grating discord, a “Miserere.”

But let us not be too severe upon the elder brother. He was not perfect, by any means, but in any appraisement of his character there are certain veinings of worth and nobleness that must not be omitted. We have already seen how, in the division of the fathers goods, when he divided unto them his living, while the younger took away his portion, and swiftly scattered it in riotous living, the elder brother took no advantage of the deed of gift. He did not dispossess the father, securing for himself the paternal estate. He put it back into his fathers hands, content with the filial relation of dependence and obedience. The fathers word was still his law. He was the dutiful son; and when he said, “These many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine,” the boast was no exaggeration, but the statement of a simple truth. Compared with the life of the prodigal, the life of the elder brother had been consistent, conscientious, and moral. Where, then, was his failure, his lack? It was just here, in the lack of heart, the absence of affection. He bore the name of a son, but he carried the heart of a servant. His nature was servile, rather than filial; and while his hands offered a service unremitting and precise, it was the cold service of an impassive mechanism. Instead of love passing out in living heart-throbs, suffusing all the life with its warmth, and clothing it in its own iridescent coloring, it was only a metallic mainspring called “duty.” The fathers presence is not the delight to him; he does not once mention that tender name in which the repenting one finds such a heaven; and when he draws the picture of his highest happiness, the feast of his earthly Walhalla, “my friends” are there, though the father is excluded. And so between the father and the elder brother, with all this seeming nearness, there was a distance of reserve, and where the voices of affection and of constant communion should have been heard there was too often a vacancy of silence. It takes a heart to read a heart; and since this was wanting in the elder brother, he could not know the heart of the father; he could not understand his wild joy. He had no patience with his younger brother; and had he received him back at all, it would have been with a haughty stiffness, and with a lowering in his looks, which should have been at once a rebuke for the past and a warning for the future. The father looked on his sons repentance; the elder brother did not regard the repentance at all; perhaps he had not heard of it, or perhaps he could not understand it; it was something that lay out of the plane of his consciousness. He saw the sin only, how the younger son had devoured his living with harlots; and so he was severe, exacting, bitter. He would have brought out the sackcloth, but nothing more; while as to the music and the fatted calf, they would appear to his loveless soul as an absurd anachronism.

But far removed as he is from the fathers spirit, he is still his son; and though the father rejoices more over the younger than over the elder, as was but natural, he loves them both with an equal love. He cannot bear that there should be any estrangement now; and he even leaves the festive throng, and the son he has welcomed and robed, and going out, he begs, he entreats the elder brother to pass in, and to throw himself into the general joy. And when the elder son complains that, with all his years of obedient, dutiful service, he has never had even a kid, much less a fatted calf, on which to feast his friends, the father says, lovingly, but chidingly, “Son” or “Child,” rather, for it is a term of greater endearment than the “son” he had just used before-“thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine. But it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.” He plays upon the “child” as upon a harp, that he may drive away the evil spirits of jealousy and anger, and that even within the servant-heart he may awake some chords, if only the far-off echoes of a lost childhood. He reminds him how vastly different their two positions are. For him there has been no break in their intercourse; the fathers house has been his home; he has had the free range of all: to the younger that home has been nothing but a distant memory, with a waste of dreary years between. He has been heir and lord of all; and so completely have father and son been identified, their separate personalities merged the one in the other, that the possessive pronouns, the “mine” and the “thine,” are used interchangeably. The younger returns penniless, disinherited by his own misdeed. Nay, he has been as one dead; for what was the far country but a vault of slimy things, the sepulcher of a dead soul? “And should we not make merry and be glad, when thy brother” (it is the antithesis to “thy son” of ver. 30 {Luk 15:30}, a mutual “thy”) “comes back to us as one raised from the dead?”

Whether the fathers pleading prevailed, or not, we are not told. We can but hope it did, and that the elder brother, with his asperities all dissolved, and his jealousies removed, did pass within to share the general joy, and to embrace a lost brother. Then he too would know the sweetness of forgiveness, and taught by the erring but now forgiven one, he too would learn to spell out more correctly that deep word “father,” the word he had stammered at, and perhaps misspelt before, as the fatherhood and the brotherhood became to him not ideas merely, but bright realities.

Gathering up now the lessons of the parables, they show us

(1) the Divine grief over sin. In the first two this is the prominent thought, the sorrow of the loser. God is represented as losing that which is of worth to Him, something serviceable, and therefore valuable. In the third parable the same idea is suggested rather than stated; but the thought is carried farther, for now it is more than a loss, it is a bereavement the father suffers. The retreating form of the wanderer throws back its shadow across the fathers home and heart, a shadow that congeals and stays, and that is darker than the shadow of Death itself. It is the Divine Grief, whose depths we cannot sound, and from whose mystery we must stand back, not one stones cast, but many.

The parables show

(2) the sad state of the sinner. In the case of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin we see his perfect helplessness to recover himself, and that he must remain lost, unless One higher than himself undertakes his cause, and “help is laid upon One that is mighty.” It is the third parable, however, which especially emphasizes the downward course of sin and the deepening wretchedness of the sinner. The flowery path leads on to a valley of desolation. The way of transgressors is ever a downward path; and let an evil spirit possess a soul, it hurries him directly down the steep place, where, unless the flight be checked, a certain destruction awaits him. Sin degrades and isolates. Want, sorrow, penury, and pain are but a part of its viperous brood, and he who plays with sin, calling it freedom, will find his rod blossom with bitter fruit, or he will see it grow into a serpent with poison in its fangs.

The parables show

(3) Gods willingness and eagerness to save. The long and eager search after the lost sheep and the lost corn show, though but imperfectly, the supreme efforts God makes for mans salvation. He is not left to wander unrebuked and unsought. There is no forbidden path along which men insanely rush, but some bright angel stands beside it, warning back the sinner, it may be with a drawn sword, some “terror of the Lord,” or it may be with a cross, the sacrifice of an infinite love. Though He could send His armies to destroy, He sends His messengers to win us back to obedience and to love-Conscience, Memory, Reason, the Word, the Spirit, and even the well-beloved Son. Nor is the great search discontinued, until it has proved to be in vain.

The parables show

(4) the eager interest Heaven takes in mans salvation, and the deep joy there is among the angels over his repentance and recovery. And so the three parables close with a “Jubilate.” The shepherd rejoices over his recovered sheep more than over the ninety and nine which went not astray; the woman rejoices over the one coin found more than over the nine which were not lost. And this is perfectly natural. The joy of acquisition is more than the joy of possession; and as the crest of the waves is thrown up above the mean sea-level by the alternate depths of depression. so the very sorrow and grief over the loss and bereavement, now that the lost is found and the dead is alive, throw up the emotions beyond their mean level, up to the summits of an exuberant joy. And whether Jesus meant, by the ninety and nine just persons who needed no repentance, the unfallen intelligences of heaven, or whether, as Godet thinks, He referred to those who under the Old Covenant were sincere doers of the Law, and who found their righteousness therein, {Deu 6:25} it is still true, and a truth stamped with a Divine “Verily,” that more than the joy of Heaven over these is its joy over the sinner that repented, the dead who now was alive, and the lost who now was found!

Fuente: Expositors Bible Commentary