Luke 15:1-10

CONNECTION. We have a single discourse, consisting mainly of parables, from chap. Luke 15:1 to chap. Luke 17:10. It was delivered during the journey from Perea to Jericho, and occasioned by the fact that the publicans and sinners now attached themselves in large numbers to our Lord. The severe remarks mentioned in the last chapter (Luke 15:25-32) probably led to this concourse. Against our Lord's reception of this class murmurs were uttered by the Pharisees, and the first division of this discourse (chap. 15) was addressed to them; the second (chap. Luke 16:1-13) was addressed to His disciples ; the third (chap. Luke 16:14-31), on occasion being given, to the Pharisees again ; and the closing part (chap. Luke 17:1-10) to the disciples.

Chap. 15. consists of three parables, all enforcing the same general truth: God's mercy to sinners, and all making a contrast between the penitent sinner and the self-righteous. Thus the murmurs of the Pharisees were answered. The parables, however, present different types of lost sinners. Bengel and Alford regard the first (lost sheep) as a representation of a stupid and bewildered sinner; the second (the lost piece of money) of a sinner unconscious of himself and his own real worth; the third (the prodigal son) of the conscious and voluntary sinner, the most aggravated case. Hence there is a climax in the representation of God's mercy. The third is treated, for convenience, in a separate section.