Luke 15
- Who wrote it
- Traditionally Luke, a doctor and companion of Paul
- Who it was for
- Theophilus and other followers of Jesus
- What was happening
- Three stories about the lost, told to people who grumble
What’s happening
Tax collectors and sinners are all drawing near to listen to Jesus, and the Pharisees and scribes grumble, "This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them." He tells them three stories. A man with a hundred sheep loses one, leaves the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and goes after the lost one until he finds it; he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing, and calls friends and neighbors to rejoice with him. "There will be joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, more than over ninety-nine righteous people who have no need for repentance." A woman with ten silver coins loses one, lights a lamp, sweeps the house, and searches carefully until she finds it, and calls her friends and neighbors: "Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost." "There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting." Then he tells of a man with two sons. The younger says, "Father, give me my share of your property," and the father divides his living. A few days later the younger son gathers everything and travels to a far country, where he wastes it in reckless living. When he has spent it all, a severe famine comes and he is in need. He hires himself out to a citizen who sends him to feed pigs, and he longs to fill his stomach with the pods the pigs eat, and no one gives him anything. "But when he came to himself" he says, "How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough to spare, and I'm dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.'" While he is still far off, his father sees him and is moved with compassion, runs, falls on his neck, and kisses him. The son starts his speech, but the father says to his servants, "Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let's eat and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found." The elder son comes in from the field, hears music and dancing, and is angry and won't go in. His father comes out to plead with him, and he answers, "Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this, your son, came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him." The father says, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found." The story ends there.
Why the setting matters
The three stories answer the complaint in verse 2, that Jesus eats with sinners, and the third story leaves the older son, who stands for the grumbling Pharisees, outside the party. In the Old Testament God is described as the shepherd who seeks the lost sheep (Ezekiel 34:11-16), so the first story casts Jesus' own work in God's role. A drachma was a silver coin worth about a day's wage, so the woman's search is for something real but small. In the third story, asking for an inheritance while the father is alive was a way of saying you wish him dead, and a father giving it up shows great patience. Feeding pigs was the lowest job a Jewish man could do, since pigs are unclean, and wanting the pods is a picture of complete need. The father running was undignified for an elderly man in a culture that valued composure, and shows his joy and his willingness to shield his son from the village's scorn. The robe, ring, and shoes mark him as a restored son, not a servant. The older brother calls him "this son of yours," and the father answers, "this brother of yours." Whether the older son goes in is left open, and Luke is telling the Pharisees that the choice is theirs.
Who’s in this chapter
Jesus
Tells the three stories.
Tax collectors
Drawing near to listen.
Pharisees and scribes
The Pharisees and scribes who grumble.
The father
Runs to meet the son and pleads with the other.
The younger son
Wastes his inheritance and returns.
The older son
Angry at the welcome, standing outside.
Talk it through
- Jesus tells three stories in a row about something lost and found. What does the repetition do?
- What is it that makes the younger son turn back, and what does he expect to find?
- The father runs. Why does Jesus include that detail?
- The story ends before we know whether the older brother goes in. Why would Jesus leave it open?
Read Luke 15
World English Bible
1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him. 2The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
3He told them this parable. 4“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep, and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one that was lost, until he found it? 5When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’ 7I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance. 8Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it? 9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost.’ 10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
11He said, “A certain man had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them. 13Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. 14When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. 15He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. 17But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! 18I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. 19I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.” ’
20“He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I 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. Put a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat, and celebrate; 24for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.
25“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. 27He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ 28But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. 29But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
31“He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ ”
Text: World English Bible, Public domain. About our sources