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Northwest Church of Christ 3904 38th Street NW Canton, Ohio 44718 330-492-5523 Fax: 330-493-7119 |
“Three Parables, One Theme” |
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I. Introduction.
A. The Pharisees’ outrage over Jesus’ reception of sinners, at a
late stage of His ministry on earth, shows, clearly, how far
from the truth of God they really were.1. Jesus spoke three parables in reply to their
grumbling, each of which was designed to indict
these proud and arrogant men for their own
sinfulness, and hypocrisy. What made it worse was
that it was done publicly, for everyone to hear.2. Jesus’ reply to their negative criticisms, despite the
length and details of these stories themselves, was
remarkably simple. Why did He eat, and associate,
with sinners? Because He had come “. . . to seek
and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:10).3. Each of the three parables has, as a common theme,
the idea of loss, and of the joy that finding, or
regaining, what was lost brings.B. The first two parables are brief, and uncomplicated. Both
illustrate the lengths to which people will go to find what is
lost, and the joy we all experience upon finding whatever it
is we were looking for. The point, in the context of the
criticism, was to expose the Pharisees’ resentment of Jesus
as unnatural. Their very public display of indignation
toward Him was evidence that their hearts were corrupt,
and that they had little idea of what pleased God.C. But, it was the third parable, the story of the lost son, that
drove the point home most forcefully. All three parables
depict the joy of heaven over sinners who repent, but the
third puts this against the background of the elder brother’s
obstinate displeasure at his brother’s return and his father’s
delight. Here, Jesus unmasks the ugliness of such resent-
ment and hard-heartedness, in just one five-minute story.II. Culture And Context.
A. We must, first, be reminded that the Bible is an ancient
book of the middle east. The Bible’s narrative, its
characters, its conclusions are set in the Semitic
civilizations of a time and place distant from our western
world. The customs, and thinking, of those cultures is
foreign, in many ways, to our 21st century world.1. It becomes all-too-easy to take biblical stories out of
their original contexts and force them into our
frames of reference, thus really missing their full
impact. Combine this with the “sound-bite” nature
of our current culture, and we get in a hurry to find
practical applications for ourselves, without doing
the necessary “digging” to correctly interpret
scripture.2. We simply cannot ignore the historical context of
what we read in the Bible.B. This parable of the prodigal son deserves very careful
consideration. As the longest of Jesus’ parables, it
contains subtleties and cultural attitudes that bring out its
true meaning.1. Remember, too, that the meaning of scripture is not
something that changes with time, or means
different things in different cultures. Whatever the
text meant when it was originally written, it still
means today.2. Whatever Jesus intended to communicate to his
listeners when He first told the parables is what the
parable means to us. This means we must try to
hear, and understand, the parable the way Jesus’
original audience heard and understood it.C. When Jesus spoke, “. . . the common people heard Him
gladly” (Mark 12:37), because He spoke the language, He
understood their culture, He lived life as they did. Even the
most-educated people of Jesus’ time would be familiar with
the standards and customs of agrarian village life, and the
standards and customs that governed life in general,
anywhere. It was these standards and customs that
determined their emotional response to the story.1. This is why we need to put ourselves (as much as
possible) in the same frame of mind as the common
people of Jesus’ time to grasp the significance of
His message to them, and to us.2. Cultural attitudes, rituals and habits drawn from
religious heritage, social and cultural traditions, and
the nature of a patriarchal society, where people
placed value on stability and stamina in the
extended family, all are a part of giving us this
understanding.D. Putting these three stories in their proper context, in Luke’s
gospel, is also necessary. Luke recorded more parables
than any other of the gospel writers. He also included some
of Jesus’ longest, most-important, most-detailed, and most
instructive, parables, including the good Samaritan
(10:29-37), the friend at midnight (11:5-8), the rich fool
(12:13-21), the rich man and Lazarus (16:19-31), and the
Pharisee and the tax collector (18:9-14). Many of these
unique parables have themes of prayer, repentance,
forgiveness and divine grace.1. The parable of the prodigal son is the centerpiece
of these stories, weaving together survival of these
themes.2. Jesus had been teaching for nearly three years at the
time He told this story. He was now on His way to
Jerusalem during the final months of His earthly
life. Luke portrays Him as single-mindedly devoted
to the purpose of offering Himself as God’s perfect
sacrifice for sin. That becomes the focus of the
second half of Luke’s gospel (Luke 9:51: “. . . He
[Jesus] steadfastly set His face to go to
Jerusalem.”).3. The drama, emotions, and pace of Luke’s narrative
builds from the end of Chapter 9 through the
triumphal entry into Jerusalem (Luke 19:28-40).
Everything Jesus does, and says, in the second half
of Luke’s gospel drives the narrative toward the
cross.E. The parable of the prodigal son should be viewed in that
context. The themes of forgiveness and divine grace reflect
the preoccupation of Jesus’ own mind. But, also, the lesson
the parable provided represented one more in a series of
public embarrassments that provoked the Jewish leaders to
determine to get rid of Jesus (read Luke 11:53-54).
III. The Complaint And The Response.
A. Jesus drew the clearest, most distinct, line in the sand
between His teaching and the Pharisees’ self-righteousness.
Then, He invited people to believe in Him and have
redemption before God.B. The almost-constant complaints of the Pharisees really
could be distilled down to these charges:1. “He violates the Sabbath law.”
2. “He claims too much for Himself.”
3. “He associates with lowlifes.”
4. It was this third charge that prompted the three
parables of Luke 15. (Luke 15:1-2; re-read). The
Greek verb for “complained” meant that they
murmured, passionately and persistently. No doubt
they took their bitter complaints to people, like
gossip.C. Of course, Jesus saw clearly what was happening, and He
responded with three parables, all with one common theme.1. First, Jesus told a story of lost sheep (Luke 15:4-7).
a. Sheep were so common in that culture, that
Jesus’ hearers would have understood the
imagery at once. Here was a shepherd
missing one sheep out of a flock of one
hundred. What should he do?b. His hearers knew the answer. The natural
inclination of sheep is to stay together in
flocks. If one got lost, it was usually owing
to the animal’s clumsiness, or stupidity. If
one sheep got lost, it was in real danger. It
would only be a matter of time before a lost
sheep fell victim to the stress of separation
from the flock, the threat of predators, or
exposure to the elements.c. The shepherd’s duty was to leave the flock
together in a safe place, and to go in search
of the lost sheep. There’s an image of
compassion in the way the shepherd
“. . . lays it on his shoulders” and brings it
home. He doesn’t beat, or berate, the
wandering sheep. He carries it home with
joy and delight, and calls his “. . .friends and
neighbors . . .” to celebrate with him.d. Jesus tells of the joy in heaven over one
“lost sheep” home again.2. The second parable makes the very same point.
(Luke 15:8-10).a. Without pausing, Jesus begins another story,
this time about a lost coin.b. The plot, and the lesson, are identical to the
first parable. Only the setting and the main
character have changed. Now, it’s a woman
possessing ten valuable coins, one of which
she loses. In her eagerness to find that
missing coin, she lights a lamp (to be able to
see into every dark corner), and sweeps out
the whole house (not to miss anything,
including what’s under the furniture).
c. The emphasis here is on the thoroughness of
her search, “. . . carefully until she finds it”
(v. 8).d. The woman, like the shepherd, is so excited
about recovering the lost coin that she shares
her good news with friends and neighbors.D. In the first two parables, Jesus used imagery that is was
easy to relate to. Who doesn’t know the joy of finding a
prized possession that had been lost? The only feature of
the two stories that seems exaggerated are the celebrations.
But, that made Jesus’ point: heaven’s joy over the
redemption of sinners, euphoric and exultant. That’s God’s
response whenever a soul is saved, or redeemed. (Read
verse 10). It’s the joy of the Savior Himself. The Good
Shepherd wishes to share His joy over the salvation of
sinners with anyone, and everyone, who will rejoice with
Him.IV. Conclusion.
A. The Pharisees’ resentment and criticism was an insult to
God. That’s where the parable of the prodigal son, story
number two, comes in.B. Jesus had told of the recovery of a lost sheep and a lost
coin. Now we have the recovery of a lost son. Each
parable illustrates the joy of God over the gaining of a lost
sinner. Each parable has a figure representing Christ, the
One who came to seek and save the lost. (the Shepherd;
the woman).C. As we turn to a more detailed story of the third parable and
its characters, we really ought to do some serious self-
examination. The attitude of the elder brother (the
Pharisees) tells us it’s possible to spend a lifetime in and
around the household of faith, giving every appearance of
diligent and faithful service, and, yet, be totally out
of harmony with heaven’s joy.