The parables of the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the prodigal son
15
📚Then all the tax collectors and sinners were coming near to hear him. 15:1 Note on tax collectors at Matt 5:46. “Sinners” were those who did not, like the Pharisees, pretend to be righteous and holy.⚜
2 📚And the Pharisees 📖 and scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners, and eats with them”.
15:2 See Matt 9:11-13. They complained when Christ did the very thing they should have done – Ezek 34:2-4; Zech 11:16.⚜
3 And he spoke this parable to them, saying,
4 📚“What man among you who has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the pasture and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5 📚And when he finds it, he puts it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 📚And when he comes home, he calls his friends and neighbours together and says to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost.’
7 📚“I tell you that in the same way there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who have no need of repentance. 📖
15:4-7 Notes at Matt 18:12-14.⚜
8 📚“Or what woman who has ten pieces of silver and loses one piece, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 📚And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbours together, and says, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece that I lost.’
10 📚“I tell you, in the same way there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents”.
15:8-10 The sheep was lost in the wilderness away from the fold (v 4). This coin was lost in the house of the woman. The sheep was lost because its foolish nature is to wander. The coin was lost due to the carelessness of the woman. The woman can hardly signify Christ (who is never careless), but she may well signify Christ’s church. Both the lost sheep and lost coin represent the lost sinner, or possibly the backsliding Christian. And the result of the finding is the same – joy.⚜
11 And he said, “A certain man had two sons. 12 📚And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share in the estate coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them.
15:12 This son represents those who have no thoughts for eternity, who want whatever they think is coming to them in this world, and want it now.⚜
13 📚“And not many days later the younger son gathered everything together, and went off to a far country. There he wasted his resources in wild living.
15:13 He did not want his father around to restrain him in anything he wished to do. He is like those who want to act as they please without any restraining influence from God. His wild living speaks of what every person who forsakes God does in spiritual matters (though such may actually pile up material wealth) – their strength, time, power of thought, talents, etc, are all thrown away on vain and empty pursuits instead of used for God (Isa 55:1-2; Eccl 2:4-11).⚜
14 📚And when he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in need. 15 📚And he went and attached himself to a citizen of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
15:15 To Jews pigs were useless and unclean animals (Lev 11:7). This man fell to a very low place indeed. So has the sinner – he occupies himself with useless, unclean things (compare Isa 64:6; Matt 15:18-20; 23:27; Rom 1:24; 6:19; Eph 4:17-19; 1 Pet 1:18).⚜
16 📚And he longed to fill his stomach with the husks that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
15:16 What sinners get in this world is really nothing better than pig’s food. See what Paul thought – Phil 3:8. And in the way that is most important, there is no one in the world who will help them or who can help them. Sin brings spiritual poverty and utter destitution, beyond the help of any except God – Rom 5:6; 7:18.⚜
17 📚“And when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread and I am dying from hunger!
15:17 People who forsake God and do their own thing are spiritually insane (Eccl 9:3), and need to come to their senses. Remembering his father’s house helped this man to make some good decisions.⚜
18 📚I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and against you, 19 📚and am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired men.’
15:18-19 This is the language of repentance – Matt 3:6; 1 John 1:9. And this is what Jesus has been teaching from the beginning of this chapter – vs 1,2,7.⚜
20 📚“And he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him, was moved with compassion and ran and fell on his neck, and kissed 📖 him.
15:20 See what God is like and how He treats sinners who come to Him. He gives no rebuke, no complaint, no punishment, but only a loving welcome.⚜
21 📚“And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and against you, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
15:21 This is true of every one of us in our behavior toward God. We have all proved ourselves unworthy to be God’s children (Ps 51:4-5; Isa 64:6; Rom 3:9-19). We need to recognize and humbly confess this.⚜
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.
15:22 God gives the repenting sinner the best robe that even He has – Isa 61:10; Zech 3:4; Rom 3:21-24. The ring signifies acceptance and exaltation to a high place (see Gen 41:42; Esther 3:10, 12. Compare Eph 1:13-14; 2:4-7). God gives the repenting sinner signs that he has been accepted. The sandals may speak of the truth of Eph 6:15.⚜
23 📚And bring the fattened calf and kill it. And let us eat and celebrate,
15:23 The Jews were non vegetarians and to them the calf was a symbol of the best thing available for a feast. Jesus used a phrase that would best convey to them a special occasion for rejoicing. If we were telling the parable now, perhaps some of us in India would use different terminology to teach the same truth.⚜
24 📚for this son of mine was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
15:24 The father says the boy was “dead”. Compare Gen 2:17; Eph 2:1, 5; Col 2:13; 1 Tim 5:6. Our spiritual death in sin is the reason why the new birth is absolutely necessary (John 3:3, 5, 7). This whole chapter teaches the joy and celebration in heaven over repenting sinners – vs 7,10; see Zeph 3:17. Every time a sinner turns to God is a special occasion to Him.⚜
25 📚“Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 📚And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.’
28 📚“And he was angry and would not go in. So his father came out, and begged him.
15:28 This brother signifies the religious leaders of Israel who grumbled when Jesus brought sinners to God (v 2). And Jesus spoke all the parables in this chapter to them (vs 3,8,11). Such people have not disappeared from earth. In vs 28-30 we see some of the sins of this kind of people – anger when mercy was shown, self esteem, envy when another was blessed, and what looks very much like hatred (he didn’t even call the younger son “brother” – v 30) and he refused to go in to the feast. Compare Luke 14:18; Matt 23:13. In God’s eyes these sins are as bad as (or even worse than) the sins of the younger brother.⚜
29 📚And in answer he said to his father: ‘Look, all these years I have slaved for you, and never disobeyed an order of yours. And yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 📚But as soon as this son of yours comes, who has consumed your possessions with prostitutes, for him you killed the fattened calf!’
31 📚“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.
15:31 Israel was God’s special nation (Deut 7:6). The kingdom of God was in the hands of the Jews – Matt 21:43. See also Rom 3:1-2; 9:3, 5. This elder son represents their leaders in Jesus’s day. See what is said of believers now in 1 Cor 3:21-23. All that God has is theirs.⚜
32 📚It was right for us to celebrate and be glad, for this brother of yours was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found.’ ”
15:11-32 The sheep was lost because of its foolish wandering, and the coin because of carelessness. The son made a deliberate choice to forsake his father’s house and do his own thing. Compare Isa 53:6.⚜
15:32 Verse 24.⚜