Friday, September 25, 2009
Luke 15
IDEA: Jesus tells three stories that make up one parable that tells us about God and about ourselves.
PURPOSE: To remind listeners of the importance of context to understand the Scriptures.
What is your favorite story in literature? What makes a good story?
Jesus was a magnificent story-teller.
C.F.W. Smith says, “While Jesus was not a philosopher or a theologian (in the accepted sense), his parables alone provide material that neither the philosopher nor the theologian can exhaust. This is the mark of Jesus’ supreme genius. We have a curious tendency even in dealing with Jesus’ humanity, to overlook His sheer intellectual stature.”
Do you agree with Smith? Why do we overlook the fact that Jesus was a genius?
Probably the best-known of all of Jesus’ parables is the Prodigal Son:
It is the work of a master story-teller.
It is told with relatively few words. It has deep psychological insight. Jesus didn’t craft this little tale at His desk, after He made scores of revisions; He made it fresh out of conflict. He was being criticized by the good religious people of His time for inviting tax collectors and sinners to sit down and eat with Him.
While it is called a “parable,” it is made up of three stories: the first two stories set up the third. Listen for the themes that run through these three stories in Luke 15.
Perhaps the best thing to do with this “parable” is simply to read it and leave it at that. This is a long passage, but listen to it again for the first time:
"Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, 'This Man receives sinners and eats with them.' So He spoke this parable to them, saying: 'What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, "Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!" I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, "Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!" Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Then 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 falls to me." So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!" I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants." And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still 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 to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son." But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here 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 older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf." But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. So he answered and said to his father, "Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him." And he said to him, "Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found." ' "
Is the parable about the prodigal son?
What does the old word “prodigal” mean?
It meant “lavish” originally. Then it began to carry a note of moral disapproval, and it came to mean too lavish or extravagant. Eventually, it became sharper still, and meant wasteful. That’s how we use it when we refer to the parable of the Prodigal Son.
What are common themes that run through the three stories?
Lost and Found / Joy / A feast / Repentance
How do the first stories set up the third?
The ratios decrease in the three stories.
The sheep and coin are lost in different places.
What is repentance for the sheep and coin? What is repentance for the son?
While you can understand a celebration for the finding of the sheep and the coin, it is not so easy when it comes to the delinquent boy.