Luke · chapter 15 of 24
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Luke 15 gathers three parables Jesus tells to Pharisees and scribes who complain that he welcomes sinners: the lost sheep, the lost coin and the prodigal son. In all three the lost is found and there is a celebration, and in the third the older brother refuses to join the party for his brother's return.
Tax collectors and sinners draw near to hear Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes grumble that he welcomes them and eats with them. Luke 15 is Jesus' answer to that complaint: heaven rejoices when one who was lost is found. It is one of the best-known and best-loved chapters in the whole Bible.
While sinners draw near to listen to him, the Pharisees and scribes grumble that Jesus welcomes them and eats with them. Jesus tells them a parable. If a shepherd has a hundred sheep and loses one, he leaves the ninety-nine in the open country and goes after the lost one until he finds it; he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing and calls his friends to celebrate. So there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous who need no repentance. Then he tells of a woman who loses one of ten coins, lights a lamp, sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds it, and rejoices with her neighbors; so there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.
The third parable is about a father with two sons. The younger asks for his share of the estate, goes to a far country and squanders it all in reckless living. A famine comes, and to survive he hires himself out to a man who sends him to feed pigs, where he longs to eat what the pigs eat. Then he comes to himself, decides to return to his father and confess that he has sinned against heaven and against him, and to ask to be treated as one of his hired servants. While he is still far off, the father sees him, feels compassion, runs, embraces him and kisses him. The son begins his confession, but the father orders the best robe, a ring, sandals and the fattened calf, because his son was dead and is alive again.
The older son comes in from the field, hears the music and becomes angry; he refuses to go in and complains that he never got even a young goat to celebrate with his friends. The father goes out to him as well, pleads with him, and says that everything he has is his, but it was fitting to celebrate, because this brother of his was dead and is alive, was lost and is found. The parable is left open, without saying whether the older brother went in.
References follow ESV book names and verse numbers. Read each verse in your Bible before the explanation.
Jesus says there is more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance. God's heart is moved by the lost who return.
While the son is still far off, his father sees him, feels compassion, runs, embraces him and kisses him. God does not wait with arms crossed: he takes the initiative to welcome the one who returns.
The father says his son was dead and has come to life, was lost and has been found. Repentance and forgiveness are described as a resurrection and a reason to celebrate.
The father answers the older son that he is always with him and that all he has is his, but that it was fitting to celebrate. The parable ends with an open invitation to the one who feels righteous and refuses to share the joy.
6 questions with answers and references, ready for Sunday school, small group or a Bible quiz night.
Answer: Because Jesus welcomed sinners and ate with them. — Luke 15:1-2
Answer: He laid it on his shoulders rejoicing and called his friends and neighbors to celebrate. — Luke 15:5-6
Answer: She had ten and lost one. — Luke 15:8
Answer: Feeding pigs in the field of a citizen of that country. — Luke 15:15
Answer: He felt compassion, ran, embraced him and kissed him. — Luke 15:20
Answer: He became angry and refused to go in. — Luke 15:28
Luke 15 reminds us that God seeks us before we seek him. The younger son came back with a prepared speech, but the father did not let him finish: his acceptance did not depend on a good argument. In a class you can talk about how that picture of God changes the way we think about our failures.
The parable also looks at the older son, who did everything right but did not share the father's heart. Ask yourself whether it is hard for you to rejoice when someone who lived far from God comes home. The church is the place where the lost should find a father who runs and a family that celebrates.
Luke 15 ends with the father pleading with the older son, without our knowing his answer. In Luke 16 Jesus keeps teaching, now about the use of money, with the parable of the shrewd manager and the story of the rich man and Lazarus.
The father represents God, the younger son sinners who repent, and the older son those who, like the grumbling Pharisees, consider themselves righteous and resist grace. Jesus does not give an official list, but the context of the chapter points to that reading.
Asking for it before the father's death was an affront, almost wishing him dead. That the father agrees and divides his property shows his generosity, and the outcome shows that the son received not what he sought but what he needed: a home.
Some wonder whether his return was self-interested. The text says he came to himself and decided to confess his sin. Although his motive began with hunger, the father receives him without examining his heart. Forgiveness depends not on the perfection of repentance but on the father's goodness.