Luke 15 - The Parable of the Lost Son

I apologize for the length of this post. I had thought of doing it in two parts, but I wanted to get it all out before any commenters got ahead of me. ;~)

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 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. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired
servants.”’
20 “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. 21 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.’
22 “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. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 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.’
28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 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. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’
31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 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.’”

I think with this parable, as with any, there is a message to the immediate audience and that it is vital to understand what Jesus was saying to the people that he was said to be speaking to. What was his purpose? If one looks at the beginning of the chapter, one can see that he was speaking to the Pharisees and addressing their objections to his receiving tax collectors and sinners. This is the narrow focus of the immediate communication. However, there is always a greater application to these things that Jesus said. For me, it is easier to get to the application without making a lot of wild assumptions and reading into things, if I focus on the specific message to the immediate audience. I will enter my thoughts on the immediate message to the Pharisees in BLUE and I will enter my thoughts on the application for today in GREEN.

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 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. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. 14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

Obviously, the sinners he was sitting with were represented by those who had discarded the law and the seeking for God through Himself revealed to the nation of Israel. These were just living to please self. They are the lost son. As J. Vernon McGee (and others) points out, eating the food of swine with swine was the lowest thing a law-conscious Jew (Pharisee) could imagine doing.

In the church, we have sons. I am not thinking of nominal Christians, but those who have been born-again – they are true sons, all of them. Sometimes, we sons decide to do things our own way. We take the life we have been given (and are supposed to be stewards over) and we squander our time on ourselves. We can even get down in the pigpen and eat the food that is fit only for the world. Sin can delude us into thinking this is great! Sin is very enticing and lust is not gone from a Christian.

17 “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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’

The sinner came to his senses. He thought of the privilege and the blessing in his father’s house. These sinning Israelites Jesus is sitting with are this son. They were part of a nation that had been given the law and the prophets – God’s chosen people. The were Jews and their nation was given the most complete revelation of the one true God to that point. Yet, they had squandered their chance to look for the Messiah and learn of his coming, etc… They were just wasting their lives with riotous living, indifferent to who they were – sons of Israel.

What a beautiful thing it is when a true son of God who has the life of God through Christ comes to his senses!! I am thinking of several people right now – I believe they are born-again, but they are living like pigs. Oh, how I wish these would turn from their sin, come back before the church and repent. Christians are sons.

20 “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. 21 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.’

The sinners were humbled before Christ, sitting at his feet. One sinful woman, we are told in another place, had fallen at his feet and washed those feet with her tears, drying them with her hair. These sinful outcasts are not "demanding their living," but are openly coming to this teacher sent from God. It is a given that they and everyone else realizes they are sinners - this is very humbling.

God will receive these sinners who had been saved by grace right back into His house. They will be restored to full fellowship. Would they need to become sons again? No – that is absurd – they were already sons, but they were not in fellowship, they were not experiencing the relationship with their father as they should and could. Being restored does not mean that no consequences would be present. (On the next psot, I am going to post some thoughts I received in an email about what the consequences of such a wayward son in the parable would be). You and I may lose a limb or have a scarred memory from times spent in the pigpen. (The lost sheep would often have his legs broken so he wouldn't leave the shpeherd again.) This will not be taken away until glory. BUT – we are sons! Praise the Lord.

22 “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. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.

Jesus is saying that he will receive these sinners and restore them to a place of fellowship such that was meant for their people, regardless of where they had been.

There is much joy in heaven when a wayward Christian repents.

25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 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.’
28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 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. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’

These are the Pharisees. They are sons in this parable. Does this mean they are saved? Again, I don’t think the point of this parable is about salvation. This is about the house of Israel. They are the self-righteous members of the house. They have been working for God. They are not happy that God receives sinners and rebels. They are not happy about what God is happy about. They are rather angry at the Father. The Father is pleading with them. Jesus has told all of this to them. I believe Jesus loved the Pharisees too. I believe Jesus was pleased when some of them turned to him and left their angry, self-righteous attitudes behind. This story was meant to show them that they were not right in their attitude. They were not in tune with the Father.

Are they Pharisee-like people in the church? I know of people in my own church, who would be disgusted and not look joyfully on the aforementioned sinners if they repented and stood before the congregation. They would not be able to get the sin of the person out of their mind and they would hold it against the returned prodigal brother. May we not be like that. We should be joyful over what God is joyful over – this is also an important indication of our own fellowship with the Father.

31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.

Does this mean the Pharisees were “saved?” No. It is not the point. They are leaders of Israel. Romans 9:4 tells us “…Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; 5 of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God.”

As Christians, all that God has is ours, every spiritual blessing. We are rich sons ... and when someone repents and is restored, that doesn’t take away from us who weren't in the pigpen as Christians. We need not fret over what we perceive as the shame of it. God is pleased to receive repentant Christians back into fellowship. We should be happy also!!

32 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.’”

What an awesome verse! He is telling the Pharisees that they should rejoice for these sinners tuning toward God. They were dead to Israel, outcast, now they were coming home, as it were. What could be better?

Dead – separated from God. When we jump in the pigpen, we are separated from God. We can’t hear his voice so well. We can’t feel His presence as readily as when we are in right fellowship. This is not the eternal separation that that is spoken of in Ephesians 2:1-3, (a son is always a son, once born into the family) but sin in our lives is deadly!

Galatians 6:1
Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

NOTES: I discovered that John A. Martin, Th. D. sees this parable the same way as I do in it’s immediate message.

I tried to find John MacArthur’s views in print, but I found a post that seems to describe a recent lecture, Mar 1, 2006, given by JMac on the parable. It seems he equates this with salvation, if these words are a quote from him:

It is God who seeks the sinner and initiates. He finds the sinner before the sinner could ever find Him. It is God’s love for the penitent that is lavish, loving, gracious and apart from any work. God finds His joy in the salvation of one lost sinner. He runs and He embraces and He restores the contrite sinner.

This parable is very beautiful to me. I believe it illustrates the open arms of God and his ever-acceptance of us. It goes along with the first two parables in the chapter, and I would say that the theme is the same: God wants to restore His children who go astray and wander from His guidance. For our application today, unbelievers are not God’s children, so this is not about them. It is just that simple to me.