Comments on Luke 15 In response to criticism by the Pharisees, Jesus presents three parables. The first two are short and address the thesis of their criticisms. The third parable is long and addresses not only the thesis of their criticism, but also the human psychology motivating the criticism. The main point of these three parables is to emphasize God's happiness and acceptance of repentant persons (v. 7, 10, 20). Where the Pharisees sniff in disdain at the publicans and sinners, God and heaven searches after them and rejoices when they do repent. This chapter is unparalleled in the other Gospels. v1-2 Among the crowds who resort to Jesus mentioned in 14:25 there are tax-gatherers and sinners (v. 1). When the Pharisees and scribes see this sort of people among Jesus' followers, they criticize him for keeping company with them (v. 2). Compare 5:29-32 for a similar situation. v2 "sinners", we have to wonder how accurate this label is. Do the Pharisees brand anyone who follows Jesus a "sinner", or is there something more objective standing behind it? They have shown their subjectivity in judgement before, thus we have to call it into question here as well. "and eateth with them", the Pharisaic criticism is based upon ritual purity rules. The people, particularly the "sinners", would be unclean. The Pharisees would scrupulously avoid them and exclude such persons from meals as they would render anything they touched unclean. This suggests the "sinners" weren't all that sinful or unclean after all. Note Jesus eats with the sinners, he doesn't sin with them. His fellowship invites discipleship, it is not built on conformity for acceptance. Hence his general lack of popularity. v3-7 In response to Pharisaic criticism Jesus delivers the parable of the lost sheep (v. 3). Jesus asks "Who among you who loses one sheep would not leave all the rest to go and find that one?" (v. 4) When he finds the lost sheep he rejoices and carries it home on his shoulders (v. 5). He rejoices with all his family and neighbors when he returns home with the lost sheep (v. 6). In the same manner will all of heaven rejoice over the one repentant sinner, moreso than the multitudes who do not need to repent (v. 7). v4 The IV/JST differs from the KJV, as follows: KJV IV --- -- What man of you, What man of you having an hundred sheep, having a hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, if he lose one of them, doth not leave doth not leave the ninety and nine the ninety and nine, in the wilderness, and go into the wilderness and go after after that which is lost, that which is lost, until he find it? until he find it? The IV/JST shifts the wilderness to where the shepherd is going to find the lost sheep as opposed to the KJV which has the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine in the wilderness, which seems rather irresponsible. "what man of you", Jesus is drawing the image of an ideal shepherd, the same imagery employed in John 10 and built upon Ps. 23:1-3 and Ezek. 34:11-16. "go after that which is lost", cp. 19:10. v7 The rejoicing over the lost one being greater than the rejoicing over those that were never lost is simply a function of the relief and happiness of one being spared the suffering of spiritual death. The righteous were never in jeopardy of such, and needed no additional shepherding, so there is no emotional release as is the case with the accomplishment of a sinner repenting. However, the "ninety and nine just persons" may be an ironic insinuation aimed at the Pharisees who are self-righteous. Thus, Jesus would be saying "Heaven rejoices more over one truly repentant person than over ninety-nine unrepentant self-righteous people". While this reading doesn't necessarily fit the straightforward reading of the parable, because the ninety-nine sheep left in the field are characterized as not needing repentance, the insinuation could be drawn from the subsequent Prodigal Son parable. v8-10 To compliment the relatively wealthy man in the preceding parable, we have here a relatively poor woman. A woman who has only ten coins in her possession considers the loss of one great, and so she searches to find it (v. 8). When she finally turns it up she rejoices and tells her friends and neighbors (v. 9). SO too will the angels of God rejoice over one sinner who repents (v. 10). The insinuation here is the Pharisees are too busy condemning to recognize repentance, and so while the heavens rejoice of repentant sinners the Pharisees smugly stew in their self-righteousness. v11-32 The Anchor Bible (AB) says: This parable presents the loving father as a symbol pf God himself. His ready, unconditioned, and unstinted love and mercy are manifested not only toward the repentant sinner (the younger son) but towards the uncomprehending critic of such a human being [the older son]. The parable portrays the message of Jesus, the kingdom-preacher, especially with the Lucan stress on the divine willingness to accept the repentant sinner into that kingdom. This parable probes the human psyche and touches it deeply in the cry of the young son, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I no longer deserve to be called your son." In the Lucan Gospel as a whole the story exemplifies the proclamation of the Lord's year of favor, which Jesus is sent to announce to the downtrodden (4:18-19). As the Son of man who has come to seek out and to save what was lost (19:10), he will not be deterred from such a proclamation by the attitude of those who might prefer their own sense of uprightness to joining in joy and love for those who react with repentance to such a proclamation. This parable is traditionally titled "The prodigal son", but it would be better titled "The loving father" as that is what the parable is really about. As the parable is very well known, I will not summarize it. v13 "into a far country", the younger son, whom we would assume was of Jewish extraction, leaves his people and goes to live among the heathen where debauchery was common. "wasted his substance with riotous living", cp. v. 30. v15-16 The younger son is forced into abject humiliation and degradation, working for a Gentile feeding the swine. v16 As nobody took pity upon him he was left to starve, so mush so that he longed to feed himself upon the carob pods (which contain an edible sweet pulp along with the seeds) which he was feeding the swine. v17 "when he came to himself", in other words "when he came to his senses". The repentance process begins when he starts being honest with himself over his situation. v19 The younger son realizes his father's legal obligations towards him have been met in granting his portion of the inheritance. He no longer has any legal claim on his father for support. Naturally, he is also ashamed of himself for behaving in such a way and thereby dishonoring his family name. Thus, he debases himself and makes no attempt to appeal to him for something he doesn't deserve. v20 The father's compassion and joy is overwhelming, so much that he goes out to meet him. Note the father never criticizes the son for his behavior. He is so pleased to see he is still alive and that he has returned he ignores the son's condition, cp. v. 7, 10. v22-23 The father, in principle, ignores the son's confession of unworthiness and treats him as an honored guest. The slaying of the fatted calf is a great honor among these people, as it represents a considerable sacrifice by the reduction of one's own flock. v24 The physical and spiritual implications of the parable are intermingled. v25 "in the field", the older son was working the field that he would ultimately inherit. As the younger son had sold out his portion, all of the inheritance left went to the older son. v28-30 reveals the subjectivity of the human condition. The older son feels perfectly justified in getting angry and pointing out what he thinks is unfair treatment. He sees himself as the good son who has never been honored with a party, while the bad son is honored with a party. Never mind the bad son has changed his ways, and that he will inherit everything. Thus, the older son selectively ignores certain details in order to justify his jealousy and anger. v29 "these many years do I serve thee", the Anchor Bible (AB) points out the Greek term for "serve" is "douleuein", which implies that he puts himself not in the category of a hired hand (Greek: mishthios), but of a slave (Greek: doulos). The older son is exaggerating his position as a slave will inherit nothing while he stands to inherit everything. The older son is also perfectly willing to point out how hard he works and how faithful he is, suggesting self-righteousness. v30 "devoured thy living with harlots", the older son is trying to turn the father against the younger son by personalizing it with "thy living", he says "He has wasted your hard earned money". But, how did the older son know he spent the money on prostitutes? If the younger son was in a far away country among Gentiles, then he was off some considerable distance. It seems more likely this is an accusation by a brother who is more angry than knowledgeable. Verse 13 informs the reader this is probably true, but the older son is making assumptions when he doesn't know the facts. v30-32 "this thy son...this thy brother", the older son pejoratively refers to the younger brother not as his brother but as his father's son. The father reminds him in v. 32 that he is in fact his brother. v31-32 The father points out to the oldest son that his petty jealousy over a fatted calf is unfounded as he will ultimately inherit all. He then tells the him that more important than this matter of physical labor and physical reward is the fact that the younger son, who was formerly lost, has returned. The older son is focused on physical sorts of things, while the father is focused on spiritual sorts of things. The father doesn't care much about the fact that his wealth was squandered, all he cares about is the contrition of the younger son. He then turns to his older son and teaches him that spirituality is more important than the physical things of the world. Copyright © 2002 by S. Kurt Neumiller . All rights reserved. No part of this text may be reproduced in any form or by any means for commercial gain without the express written consent of the author. 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