Jesus' Parables of Pursuing the Lost

Luke 15:17 forms a chiastic structure (a writing style that uses a unique repetition pattern for clarification and emphasis) focusing upon "rejoicing" at the finding of the lost elect sheep (Matt 25:33). Note that all the parables in Luke 15 focus on rejoicing after finding that which is lost:

• A. tax collectors and sinners . . . sinners (Luke 15:1-2)
  • B. ninety-nine . . . lost (Luke 15:3-4)
    • C. found (Luke 15:5)
      • D. when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, Rejoice with me (Luke 15:5, 9)
    • C'. found (Luke 15:6)
  • B'. lost . . . ninety-nine (Luke 15:6-7)
• A'. righteous persons (Luke 15:7)

Hendriksen states:

Since the country through which Jesus was passing was a region where the shepherd tending his sheep was not an unfamiliar sight, Jesus made use of this fact in order to illustrate what, according to God's will, must be done with a lost sheep. Must it be ignored, neglected, despised, as was the attitude of Pharisees toward the people whom they regarded as wayward and lost? Was that the way a good shepherd dealt with a lost sheep?

God is committed to saving his lost - lost in the Fall (Gen. 3) - lost due to original sin and and through their own literal sins (Rom. 3:23, et. al.). The shepherd goes to look for "a" lost sheep (Luke 15:4). Jesus is the Great Shepherd (John 10:1-18), who came to do the will of his Father (John 6:38), to lay down his life for his sheep (John 10:15), and not lose even one (Luke 15:1-7):

Psalms 23:1 The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.

Isaiah 40:11 He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young.

Ezekiel 34:15-16 I myself will be the shepherd of my sheep, and I myself will make them lie down, declares the Lord God. I will seek the lost, and I will bring back the strayed, and I will bind up the injured, and I will strengthen the weak, and the fat and the strong I will destroy. I will feed them in justice.

The sheep are the elect (the invisible church, Eph. 5:25) for whom the lamb was slain before the foundation of the world (1 Pet. 1:18-20; Rev. 4:11) - see below. Jesus was not looking for just any animal - he was specifically loping for ONLY a lost sheep.

In the parable, we are not told he leaves the 99 with neighbors to go search for the one lost one (Luke 15:5). Jesus does not leave the 99 in any danger. They are guarded by Jesus' close neighbors - "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to his great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to obtain an inheritance which is imperishable and undefiled and will not fade away, reserved in heaven for you, who are protected by the power of God through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time" (1 Pet. 1:5). There are guardian angels (2 Kings 6:8-23; Psa. 34:7; Dan. 3:28; 6:22). God's people are sealed by his Spirit (Eph. 1:13-14), and there is Christ's promise that he will never leave us or forsake us (Deut. 31:6, 8; Josh. 1:9; Heb. 13:5-6) - as God, he may be near and yet seeking the lost - as the Great Shepherd is omnipresent. (there are too many images here to even to begin to exhaust them all, as we have the neighbors and friends of God's Word, his covenant(s), his promises, et. al.)

The shepherd finds the lost sheep. He is not filled with anger, but "joy" and "puts it on his shoulders" and brings his sheep "home" (Luke 15:5-6). The imagery looks to the Old Testament and to the Lord's tender care of his people (Isa. 40:11; 49:22) and in a related way to the New Testament in the Churches care of its members (Gal. 6:1-6; cf. Matt. 18:15-18). The recovery of the lost sheep leads to "shared" joy; friends and neighbors are called to celebrate the recovery of his lost sheep (Luke 15:6, 10). As in the picture in the Gracious Father and his lost sons (Luke 15:11-32), here is a image of God's heart; his joy at the turning of one sinner back to him. Jesus will accomplish his mission. He came to seek and to save his lost (Luke 19:10; cf. Matt. 18:11; John 3:16-18; 1 Tim. 1:15; Heb. 7:25). In this all heaven rejoices at their recovery.

Luke 15:7-10 forms a chiastic structure (a writing style that uses a unique repetition pattern for clarification and emphasis) focusing upon rejoicing after finding a lost coin. This chiasm links to the last last one having the same theme!

• A. there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7)
  • B. loses one coin (Luke 15:8)
    • C. found (Luke 15:9)
      • D. she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, Rejoice with me (Luke 15:9, 5)
    • C'. found (Luke 15:9)
  • B'. the coin that I had lost (Luke 15:9)
• A'. there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:10)

The lost coin - a drachma, which equals a denarius, a day's wage for the average worker (Josephus Antiquities 3.8.2 195) - is of such value to this woman that she "is a whirlwind of organized persistence" (Hughes). In that day, homes were traditionally dark. Since homes only had limited light sources, a lamp was always shining. Straw normally covered dirt floors. Even in these conditions in which this coin was lost - darkness and filthiness - the woman searched everywhere. Nothing was left untouched or unturned. She must find the coin! Like the shepherd (Luke 15:1-7, below), this woman calls her friends and neighbors together to celebrate the discovery of the lost coin (Luke 15:9). All heaven rejoices when a lost sinner is found (Luke 15:10). Huges states:

Now came the divine application . . . God rejoices in the presence of his angels when the lost are found! Sometimes the uninformed think of God as an immense, impassive sea where "The ocean of his being is neither torn by storms nor shimmers of light." But this is not the God of Jesus' description. Here is a laughing, congratulating, hugging God. Observe too that he rejoices more over a newly found sinner than he does for the multitude already in his fold. There is an initial, lively joy that momentarily outshines settled joys - a greater joy over the safety of one who is in jeopardy than for what is secure - just as one rejoices more at the recovery of a sick child than at the health of ones family. Notice, too, that when God rejoices, Heaven (his angels) rejoice as well.

Why this heavenly rejoicing of God and his angels? It is because a sinner repents! He turns from sin. Her life changes. St. Bernard of Clairvaux wrote that "the tears of the repentant form the wine of angels." What exquisite spiritual poetry! The angels drink the wine of the tears of sinners and rejoice.

I can say, on the authority of Christ's word, that if you are lost and he finds you, and you thus find him and repent, God and his angels will rejoice over you.

We all begin as lost sinners. "We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way" (Isa. 53:6). "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God" (Rom. 3:10-11). Totally undone, totally depraved, and total inability mark us! Sinners do not and cannot love God (Rom. 8:7-8; 1 Cor. 2:14), unless and until God searches them out. As Paul says, "but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Rom. 5:8).

God seeks, finds, and transforms. He carries the sinner home having born the weight of all his sin upon his very shoulders.

• A. give me the share of property (Luke 15:11-12)
  • B. country (Luke 15:13)
    • C. squandered his property (Luke 15:13)
      • D. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose (Luke 15:14)
    • C'. began to be in need (Luke 15:14)
  • B'. country (Luke 15:15)
• A'. no one gave him anything (Luke 15:16)

• A. I perish here with hunger (Luke 15:17)
  • B. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants (Luke 15:18-19)
    • C. And he arose and came to his father (Luke 15:20)

    • C'. But while he was still a long way off, his father (Luke 15:20)

      • i. saw him (Luke 15:20)

      • ii. and felt compassion (Luke 15:20)

      • iii. and ran (Luke 15:20)

      • iv. and embraced him (Luke 15:20)

      • v. and kissed him (Luke 5:20)

  • B'. Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son (Luke 15:21)
• A'. let us eat (Luke 15:23, 5, 9)

• A. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found (Luke 15:24)
  • B. celebrate (Luke 15:24, 5, 9)
    • C. son (Luke 15:25)
      • D. killed the fattened calf (Luke 15:26-27, 5, 9)
        • E. Anger (Luke 15:28)
          • F. refused to go in (Luke 15:28)

          • F. His father came out and entreated him (Luke 15:28, 20)

        • E'. Complaint (Luke 15:29-30)
      • D'. killed the fattened calf (Luke 15:30, 5, 9)
    • C'. Son (Luke 15:31)
  • B'. celebrate and be glad (Luke 15:32, 5, 9)
• A'. for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found (Luke 15:32)

The preceding two parables lead up to this parable that is often called the "Parable of the Prodigal Son." Perhaps it should more aptly referred to as the "Parable of the Waiting Father." While the son's repentance is important to the parable, the father's willingness to forgive, coupled with his unexpected and gracious actions (Luke 15:20, 22-23), provide a striking illustration of the fatherly love of God for his lost creation. It might also be called the "Parable of the Callous Brother," for a major purpose of it, perhaps the major purpose, is to rebuke the Pharisees for failing to welcome repentant sinners (including Gentiles and other violators of the law) into their fellowship.

Like in the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, here is yet another example of the lost being sought, found, and many rejoicing. The symbolism here is as follows:

Father = God the gracious loving and forgiving Father

The Prodigal = a lost man, especially the tax collectors and sinners of Luke 15:1. He is an antinomian.

The Elder Brother = the self-righteous, especially the self-righteous leadership and the Pharisees and scribes of Luke 15:1. He is a legalist.

The parable opens with the younger son's request to have his inheritance (Luke 15:11-12). He desires his portion of what his father's life will leave him. According to Jewish law, as the younger brother he would receive half of what his elder brother received (Deut. 21:17). The portions are divided and not long after the young son leaves (Luke 15:13).

The younger son all by himself loses everything in wild living (Luke 15:13-14). His inhriance gone, famine strikes the land and this younger son is in dire need. He finds a job feeding swine (Luke 15:15). This type of employment for a Jew was of the greatest dishonor (Lev. 11:7; Deut. 14:8; Isa. 65:4; 66:17). For a Jew, working for a Gentile and caring for swine, he is at the end of his ropes; reaping what he sowed (Gal. 6:7). He even longed to eat what pigs ate (Luke 15:16); pods being sweet beans from a carob or locust tree or else bitter berries. However, "no one gave him anything." Even the pigs were better off than he was. He came to realize part and parcel of his total depravity!

In the midst of his misery, he came to his senses (Luke 15:17). A light turned on for him. Lange says, "An admirable expression for the inward change in the heart of the man who had been hitherto beside himself, but now awakes from the dream." He heard the specific call of the Gospel: ""How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men'" (Luke 15:17-19). He remembered (1) his father, (2) his father's servants, (3) the provisions that were theirs, and (4) his sin against both his father and all heaven. Note, that Father is mention three times in these two verses (John 6:44, 65). This is genuine repentance (2 Cor. 7:10). This younger sinner discovers his desperate situation because of his own personal sin. To be outside of God's family is to be utterly alone.

He returns home. A long --------> LONG --------> way off his father saw him (an elect sinner cannot wonder so far off that the Father will not go out and greet him where he is at). His father was: (1) filled with compassion for him, (2) he ran - not walked - to his son, (3) he threw his arms around him, and (4) kissed him (Luke 15:20). The father covered his son in love (Rom. 5:8; cf. Gen. 3:21).

While the son would be satisfied being a mere slave, his father stops him mid-sentence (Luke 15:18-19) and instructs his servants to bring: (1) the best robe, (2) a ring, (3) sandals for his feet, and (4) to kill a fatted calf and to eat and celebrate. The father had expressed his love formerly when he ran out to meet him and now the son is covered from head to toe - and inwardly and outwardly - with yet more expressions of the his love. God's grace affects the whole person! Hendriksen states:

So boundless is the father's joy and so all - out his forgiveness that he wishes to have his son treated as [the] important person [that he is]. Therefore his servants must bring the best robe, a status symbol, and they must put it on him. On his hand they must put a ring, probably a signet ring (Gen. 41:42), an indication of authority. Sandals must be tied on his feet, for he is not a slave but a freeman. There was also a fattened calf, intended to be slaughtered for some special occasion when important guests were expected. Well, could there be a more appropriate occasion for the use of this calf than right now? Of course not. So the father orders it killed that there may be a jubilant celebration.

Fatted calves were saved for extremely special occasions, like the Day of Atonement. This is not just any party; it is a rare, joyful, loving, and complete (robe, ring, sandals, calf) celebration for the father's "son." There will be rejoicing for the lost son, now found (Luke 15:7, 10).

Grace - from the depths of the pig pit, the son was drawn and was greeted with grace by his loving father. Amazing, amazing, amazing grace, how sweet the sound and its very presence in ones's life!

The parable is not over. The elder son was retuning from working in the field. He heard music (symphōnia, where we get out word "symphony" from) and dancing. How does one hear dancing? Perhaps this is just a manner of speech, or perhaps it was just one really exciting and very loud party! "For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate" (Luke 15:24).

The older brother asks a servant what was going on (Luke 15:26). The servant gave a very condensed version of the events saying, "'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound'" (Luke 15:27). The brother is enraged (Luke 15:28).

This older brother does not join the celebration (Luke 15:28). So, "his father went out and pleaded with him" (Luke 15:28). This is the same loving father that just moments before greeted this very man's own brother. He is loving, merciful, and forgiving. This elder brother should have been rejoicing, but instead he became defensive. As a son, and somewhat like an attorney (Luke 15:2), the son pleads his case to his father:

But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' (Luke 15:29-30).

This elder son is self-righteous. He has a self-directed focus, he is not even joyful that his brother whom he has not seen in some time has returned. He is self-absorbed. He is consumed in what he considered matters of justice and equity, that he can have no joy. There is no joy that his brother has come home. The elder son is so consumed such issues as justice and equity that he cannot to be caught up in the joy. This brings to mind the Pharisees' reaction to the healings on the Sabbath (cf. Luke 4:31-41; 6:6-11; 13:10-17; 14:1-6).

This elder sons stoops even lower. He does not call his younger brother - a brother - but "this son of yours" (Luke 15:30). There is no: (1) being filled with compassion for his brother, (2) running to him (3) or even throwing his arms around his brother, and (4) kissing him (Luke 15:20). The father covered his younger son in love (Rom. 5:8; cf. Gen. 3:21), but the elder son covered him with contempt. This elder son is acting nothing like his father.

The father replied, ""My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found'" (Luke 15:31-32). The elder son had said to the father "Look!" (Luke 15:29) and the father says, "My son" (Luke 15:29). The father reveals his love even when being treated with such disrespect. The father reminds his elder son that he has a younger brother - he literally uses the word "brother" to remind him of this fact. He says that there is no reason for jealousy; "you are always with me, and everything I have is yours." The father says that we "had" to celebrate. Not only does God the Father give the gift of repentance (2 TIm. 2:24-26), but when one comes to this type of repentance there is such an overwhelming joy that there "has" to be a celebration.

The lost son had returned. The father's acceptance of the repenting son was total. God's grace is total - it effectually draws, it converts, it greets, it celebrates.

Did this elder son ever repent? The parable does not tell us. However, there is an application here. Have you repented? See "Repentance: How Sorry Do I Have To Be?" below.