Underlying Wisdom Found In The Three Parales

Of Lu Essay, Research Paper

December 10, 1998 Underlying Wisdom Found in the Three Parables of Luke Chapter 15 In the New Testament of the Bible, Jesus was well renowned. One characteristic that led up to His high profile was His great teaching ability. When He taught his disciples He always spoke in parables. A parable is defined as a short narrative making a moral or religious point by comparison with natural or homely things. The parables of Jesus can be taken at face value, as just a simple story. They can also be studied to try to extrapolate the deep meaning that each one contains. In Luke chapter 15, Jesus uses three parables the concept of sin and repentance. The Parables of the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin and the Lost Son, like all parables, possess underlying wisdom that is beneficial to all followers of Christ. The three parts or parables in Luke Chapter 15 are all interlinked sections of a whole that explains the love and mercy and forgiveness of God. These parables seem directly aimed at two classes of people, both the sinners and those who profited by them. A third class was also there as Pharisees and thus there were sinners and the self-righteous. The first parable is that of the lost sheep. The first six verses tie in the audience, namely the publicans and sinners, to the lost sheep and the search for them that is made by the shepherd. The self-righteous Pharisees murmured against this because they did not see that it was necessary to receive or even eat with sinners. Christ addresses these self-righteous people in verse 7 as the you to whom He is speaking. The text in verse 7 lifts the sense out of the physical into the spiritual realm and ties it into the loyal Host and the redemption of the lost sinners. The central issue is identified here as repentance. Luke 15: 1-7 1 Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear him. 2 But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. 3 Then Jesus told them this parable: 4 Suppose one of you has a hundred sheep and loses one of them. Does he not leave the ninety-nine in the open country and go after the lost sheep until he finds it. 5 And when he finds it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders 6 and goes home. Then he calls his friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep. 7 I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine persons who do not need to repent. The problem here is that all men have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, yet they did not see that. This was a central problem with the sect of the Pharisees and the system they espoused. It can be determined that redemption of the entire system is at stake and repentance is extended to all sinners from the heavenly Host. The man in verse 4 is Christ, who is looking for His lost sheep. To do that, he had to leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go in search of the one. The he does until he finds it. This search is the same search as the women undertake in the Parable of the Lost Coin. Luke 15: 8-10 8 Or suppose a woman has ten silver coins and loses one. Does she not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. 9 And when she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together and says, Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin. 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is rejoicing in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. The use of ten pieces of silver is not accidental. The price for Christ was that of a slave at thirty pieces of silver. This was a piece for each of the entities present in the inner council of elohim, as seen in Revelation 4 and 5. The council consisted of twenty-four elders plus the lamb at their head and the four living creatures plus the Most High God. Christ stated that a third of the Host had fallen with Satan in the rebellion. This concept is probably represented here in the ten as a third of the thirty. The purpose here is that the Holy Spirit has to make the house clean in order to restore the lost pieces. The last section in Luke Chapter 15, is the Parable of the Lost Son. Luke 15: 11-32 11 Jesus continued: There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger on said to his father, Father, give me my share of the estate. So he divided his property between them. 13 Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 When he came to his senses, he said, How many of my father s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men. 20 So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 The son said to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and against yo