Luke 15 - Introduction
Luke 15. Parables for Publicans and Sinners. The Love And Free Forgiveness Of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 15. Parables for Publicans and Sinners. The Love And Free Forgiveness Of God.... [ Continue Reading ]
1-10. The Lost Sheep. 1. _Then drew near unto him_ Rather, AND THERE WERE DRAWING NEAR TO HIM AU THE TAX-GATHERERS AND THE SINNERS TO LISTEN TO HIM. St Chrysostom says that their very life was legalised sin and specious greed. On the publicans, see Luke 3:12; Luke 5:27. -The sinners" mean in gener... [ Continue Reading ]
Luke 9:51 to Luke 18:31_. Rejected by the Samaritans. A lesson of Tolerance._ This section forms a great episode in St Luke, which may be called the departure for the final conflict, and is identical with the journey (probably to the Feast of the Dedication, John 10:22) which is partially Luke 9:51... [ Continue Reading ]
_the Pharisees and scribes_ See Excursus VI. _murmured_ Rather, were loudly murmuring (Luke 19:7; Joshua 9:18). "With arid heart they blame the very Fount of Mercy," Gregory the Great. In all ages it had been their sin that they -sought not the lost." Ezekiel 34:4. _and eateth with them_ Even their... [ Continue Reading ]
_he spake this parable_ Matthew 18:12-14. In these three parables we have pictures of the _bewildered_sinner (Luke 15:3-7); the _unconscious_sinner (Luke 15:8-10); the _voluntary_sinner (Luke 15:11-32).... [ Continue Reading ]
_an hundred sheep_ And yet out of this large flock the good shepherd grieves for _one_which strays. There is an Arab saying that God has divided pity into a hundred parts, and kept ninety-nine for Himself. _in the wilderness_ i.e. the _Midbar_, or pastures; see Luke 2:8. The sheep are left of cours... [ Continue Reading ]
_he layeth it on his shoulders_, _rejoicing_ Literally, _"his own shoulders."_All anger against the folly of the wanderer is swallowed up in love, and joy at its recovery. "He bare our sins in His own body," 1 Peter 2:24. We have the same metaphor in the Psalm of the shepherd king (Psalms 119:176; c... [ Continue Reading ]
_calleth together his friends and neighbours_ See on Luke 14:12. _Rejoice with me_ "For the _joy_set before Him, He endured the cross," Hebrews 12:2; comp. Isaiah 53:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
_I say unto you I_who know (John 1:51). _in heaven_ See Luke 15:10; Matthew 18:13. _just persons_, _which need no repentance_ See Luke 5:32. The -Pharisees and scribes" in an external sense were -just persons," for _as a class_their lives were regular, though we learn from Josephus and the Talmud t... [ Continue Reading ]
_having ten pieces of silver_ Ten drachmas. This parable is peculiar to St Luke. The Greek drachma (about] _od.)_corresponds to the Latin denarius. Each represented a day's wages, and may be roughly rendered shilling. Tob 5:14; Thuc. Til. 17; Tac. _Ann._I. 17. These small silver coins were worn by w... [ Continue Reading ]
_I have found the piece which I had lost_ She does not say -my piece." If the woman be intended to represent the Church, the loss of the -piece" entrusted to her may be in part, at least, her own fault.... [ Continue Reading ]
_joy in the presence of the angels of God_ The same as the -joy in heaven" of Luke 15:7; the Te Deums of heaven over the victories of grace. _over one sinner that repenteth_ "I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live." Ezekiel 33:11.... [ Continue Reading ]
11-32. The Son lost and found. 11. _had tzuo sons_ The primary applications of this divine parable, which is peculiar to St Luke, and would alone have added inestimable value to his Gospel are (1) to the Pharisees and the -sinners" i.e. to the professedly religious, and the openly irreligious class... [ Continue Reading ]
_the portion of goods that falleth to me_ This would be one third (Deuteronomy 21:17). The granting of this portion corresponds to the natural gifts and blessings which God bestows on all alike, together with the light of conscience, and the rich elements of natural religion. Here we have the histor... [ Continue Reading ]
_not many days after_ This shadows forth the _rapidi_ty (1) of national, and (2) of individual degeneracy. "In some children, says Sir Thomas Elyot in _The Governour_, "nature is more prone to vice than to vertue, and in the tender wittes be sparkes of voluptuositie, whiche norished by any occasion... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when he had spent all Historically_, "On that hard Roman world, disgust And secret loathing fell; Deep weariness and sated lust Made human life a hell." M. Arnold. _Individually_, "The limits are narrow within which, by wasting his capital, a man obtains a supply of pocket-money." G. Macdon... [ Continue Reading ]
_joined himself to a citizen of that country_ Rather, one of the citizens. Even in its worst and most willing exile the soul cannot cease to be by right a citizen of God's kingdom a fellow-citizen with the saints, Ephesians 2:19. Its true citizenship (πολίτευμα _)_is still in heaven (Philippians 3:2... [ Continue Reading ]
_he would fain_ Literally, _"he was longing."_ filled his belly with The plain expression purposely adopted to add the last touch to the youth's degradation gave offence to some copyists, who substituted for it the verb -to be fed." The reading adopted in our text is, however, certainly the true on... [ Continue Reading ]
_And when he came to himself_ His previous state was that of his false self a brief delusion and madness -the old man with his affections and lusts." Now he was once more beginning to be "in his right mind." "The heart of the sons of men is full of evil, and madness is in their heart while they live... [ Continue Reading ]
_I will arise and go to my father_ The youth in the parable had loved his father, and would not doubt about his father's love; and in the region which the parable shadows forth, the mercy of God to the returning penitent has always been abundantly promised. Is. 4:7; Jeremiah 3:12; Hosea 14:1-2 _,_&c... [ Continue Reading ]
_And he arose and came to his father_ A mere flash of remorse is not enough; a journey must be taken: the back must be at once and finally turned on the far land; and all the shame of abandoned duties and forsaken friends be faced. "The course to the unific rectitude of a manly life" always appears... [ Continue Reading ]
_And the son said unto him_, _Father, I have sinned_ Rather, I SINNED. Like a true penitent he grieves not for what he has _lost_, but for what he has _done._Here again the language of David furnishes the truest and most touching comment, "I acknowledged my sin unto Thee, and mine iniquity have I no... [ Continue Reading ]
_But the father said to his servants_ It is as though he had purposely cut short the humble self-reproaching words of shame which would have entreated him to make his lost son like one of his hired servants. "While they are yet speaking, I will hear," Isaiah 65:24. _Bring forth_ The true reading is... [ Continue Reading ]
_was dead_, _and is alive again_ The metaphor of -death" to express the condition of impenitent sin is universal in the Bible. "Thou hast a name that thou livest and art dead," Revelation 3:1. "Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead," Ephesians 5:14. "You hath He quickened who were dead i... [ Continue Reading ]
_Now his elder son was in the field_ Many have felt a wish that the parable had ended with the moving and exquisite scene called up by the last words; or have regarded the remaining verses as practically a _separate_parable. Such a judgment not to speak of its presumption shews a narrow spirit. We m... [ Continue Reading ]
_he was angry_ The feelings of the Jews towards the Gentiles (1 Thessalonians 2:14-16) when they were embracing the offers of the Gospel ("The Jews...were filled with envy and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming," Acts 13:45) and the feelings of the Ph... [ Continue Reading ]
_do I serve thee_ Rather, I am thy slave. He does not say -Father:" and evidently regards the yoke not as perfect freedom but as distasteful bondage. The slave is ever dissatisfied; and this son worked in the spirit of a -hired-servant." _neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment_ This is t... [ Continue Reading ]
_this thy son...which hath devoured thy living with harlots_ Every syllable breathes rancour. He disowns all brotherhood; and says -came" not - _returned,_" and tries to wake his father's anger by saying - _thy_living," and malignantly represents the conduct of his erring brother in the blackest lig... [ Continue Reading ]
_Son_ Rather, Child. _thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine_ Literally, "_all mine are thine"_"Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the Shechinah, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the f... [ Continue Reading ]
_It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad_ "They glorified God...saying, Then hath God also to the Gentiles granted repentance unto life," Acts 11:18. It would be impossible to mark more emphatically God's displeasure at the narrow, exclusive, denunciatory spirit which would claim for ours... [ Continue Reading ]