Luke 15

Three Parables about God’s Mercy for The Rebellious And The Religious

In this section, Luke recorded three parables Jesus told after being questioned by religious leaders about His pattern of welcoming sinners. 

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.             - William Barclay

Religious Leaders Complained

Vs. 1-2 - All the tax collectors and sinners were approaching to listen to him. And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”

The setting for all of the “lost” parables in chapter 15 is the Pharisaic complaint that Jesus associates and eats with tax collectors and sinners. By eating with defiled people, Jesus himself would contract uncleanness. Thus these parables all emerge from a controversial setting and need to be interpreted as parables in which Jesus defends his ministry to the lost.               - Thomas Schreiner

The Parable of The Lost Sheep (Matthew 18:10-14)

Vs. 3-4 - So he told them this parable: “What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field and go after the lost one until he finds it?”

Matthew also recorded this parable as part of Jesus’ discipleship training. Jesus’ point was that God does not want any of His "sheep" to wander away from their Shepherd. He seeks them out and brings them home. It was a call to the disciples to exercise responsible pastoral leadership. 

Luke showed that Jesus used the parable to stress God’s joy when one of His lost "sheep" gets saved.  Jesus revealed that even though sinners coming to Jesus made the Pharisees grumble, this rejoiced God’s heart. The parable showed how out of harmony they were with God. It also vindicated Jesus’ contacts with sinners.                - Thomas Constable

What is revealed about the character of God is the value he places on even the least deserving and the care he extends to such people.  God is not passive, waiting for people to approach him after they get their lives in order.  He is the seeking God who takes the initiative to bring people back, regardless of how “lost” they are.               

If our God is a seeking, caring God, then his grace should characterize our self-perception and our treatment of other people.             - Klyne R. Snodgrass

The Parable of The Lost Coin

Vs. 8 - Or what woman who has ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it?

If a woman searches carefully for one lost coin and exults over finding it, then it stands to reason that God will search diligently for those who are lost, rejoicing greatly over their repentance.           - Thomas Schreiner

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.      - William Barclay   

The Parable of The Two Sons

Jesus’ immediate audience would have clearly perceived the symbolism in this parable.  The loving father represented God.  The younger son symbolized the tax collectors and sinners with whom Jesus frequently dined.  And the begrudging older brother pictured the Pharisees’ disdain for “sinners” and disapproval of Jesus.

The Loving Father

Vs. 11 - He also said, “A man had two sons.

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 (Deuteronomy 21:17).                   - William Barclay

Vs. 22 - But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.

This is the point at which the parable ties to the two previous stories about God’s joy in saving the lost.  The father’s celebratory attitude depicts the way in which God receives repentant sinners.       - A. Boyd Luter

The Younger Son

Vs. 12 - The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets to them.

Much of the compassionate character of God can be seen in the way the father responds to his wayward son in this story.  And this character was also clearly seen in the way that Jesus consistently welcomed the sinners around Him to receive the good news of His kingdom. 

The Older Son

Vs. 25 - “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing.

Vs. 28 - Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him.

Unlike the father’s positive attitude, the older brother (1) was surprised at the return of his sinner brother, (2) was offended and jealous at the father’s celebration, (3) became angry at the father’s forgiving love, (4) declared his own self-righteousness, and (5) focused on his brother’s sinfulness rather than his new-found repentance.  Jesus’ representation of the religious leaders in the character of the older brother was a scathing rebuke of their self-righteousness.               - A. Boyd Luter

The older son’s anger at the father’s forgiveness and acceptance of his brother contrasts with the father’s loving compassion demonstrated by his coming out and entreating him. Similarly the Pharisees grumbled because God received sinners and welcomed them into his kingdom. Nevertheless God reached out to them through Jesus as the father reached out to his older son. The same tenderness marked the father’s dealings with the elder brother as marked his dealings with the younger brother.           - Thomas Constable

The greatest peril described in the parable was not the recklessness of the prodigal but rather the calloused religiosity of the older brother. The story, then, was an invitation to the self-righteous religious leaders to join the party in celebration of the mercy and grace the Father offers to all His children, whether rebellious or religious.  

Vs. 32 - But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.

Thus the parable teaches that God loves sinners, that God searches for sinners, that God restores sinners, and that God confers the privileges and blessings of sonship on those who return to Him.                - Pentecost

On one level, these parables deal with Israel’s religious leaders, but on another level they deal with all the Jews. The unbelief that characterized the Pharisees and lawyers also marked the nation as a whole. Therefore it seems that these parables teach that God reaches out to the Gentiles in view of Israel’s unbelief as well as extending salvation to Jewish sinners in Jesus’ day.            - Thomas Constable