1 - 2 The Lord Receives Sinners
1 Now all the tax collectors and the sinners were coming near Him to listen to Him. 2 Both the Pharisees and the scribes [began] to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”
While the religious leaders have rejected Him, for tax collectors and sinners the Lord is Someone Who attracts them by His words of grace which are “seasoned with salt” (Col 4:6). They are the people who are compelled to come in (Lk 14:23). The attitude of the Pharisees and scribes is completely foreign to grace. They feel far exalted above this kind of low sunken people and look down upon them. Such people don’t deserve to deal with them and do them good. That is what the Lord does, and they grumble about it.
People who have no sense of grace can only criticize others who do prove grace or live by grace in a sour spirit. It is the attitude of the older son in the third part of the parable. The grace of the Lord goes far beyond what they grumble about. The Lord does not just receive them; He seeks them explicitly, as the following parable shows. God finds His good pleasure in proving grace. What an answer to the terrible attitude of the Pharisees who object against it!
The reason for the parable is the grumbling of the Pharisees and the scribes because the Lord Jesus receives sinners and eats with them. By doing so they unintentionally give Him a big compliment. He has indeed come exactly for them .
3 Introduction to the Parable
3 So He told them this parable, saying
The following three parables are essentially one parable. Therefore it says that He spoke to them “this parable” and not “these parables. It is a parable in three parts. Each of the three histories is about love for what is lost. It is a love that seeks (sheep and coin) and receives (son).
The sheep and the coin are passive. The sheep is too weak to do anything, the coin can do nothing at all. With the sheep and the coin we see what is happening for the lost sinner, with the younger son we see what is happening in the lost sinner.
In each of the histories, one Person from the Godhead is highlighted in particular. In the sheep we see the Lord Jesus as the good Shepherd Who bears the whole burden; in the coin we see the Holy Spirit with His light in the effort He makes; in the son we see the waiting and receiving Father.
4 - 7 The Lost Sheep
4 “What man among you, if he has a hundred sheep and has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open pasture and go after the one which is lost until he finds it? 5 When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when 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!’ 7 I tell you that in the same way, there will be [more] joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance.
The ninety-nine represent the class of Pharisees and scribes. They are left in the open pasture, not in a fenced meadow. They are, as it were, left to themselves. For the shepherd it is about that one sheep that is lost, not the ninety-nine, for they are not lost. The Pharisees and scribes do not see themselves as lost. The shepherd is not committed to them, but to that one sheep that is lost. He’s willing to do anything to find it and he continues searching until he finds it. If he hadn’t gone after it, it would have got lost further and further and finally died. The shepherd goes after the sheep because it has an enormous value for him. This aspect is also seen in the coin and the son.
It is about the loss that the owner experiences and his desire to get it back. It is about a God Who, full of grace and mercy, is looking for people who have been estranged from Him by sin in order to make His pleasure known to them and to bring them back to His heart. God finds man at the moment man repents.
When the shepherd has found the sheep, he lays it on his shoulders. It is nice to remember that the power and strength of the Lord Jesus in relation to the creation is expressed in the words “and the government shall be upon his shoulder“ (Isa 9:6, Darby Translation), while here it says that He lays the lost and found sheep on His shoulders. One shoulder is enough to rule the world. To bring a lost sheep back to the herd, He uses both His shoulders. He also lays it on His shoulders “rejoicing”. It is a cause of joy for the Shepherd that He has His sheep back.
And where does the shepherd bring the sheep? He does not bring it back to the open pasture, to the herd he has left behind, but he takes it to his home, he brings it “home”. The lost sheep has ‘come home’. The shepherd also wants others to share in his joy about the found sheep. He calls his friends and neighbors together to rejoice with him about finding “my” sheep. A man who is happy to find something belonging to him can understand to some extent how God finds His joy in the salvation of the lost. In any case, Christ appeals to this human joy to justify God’s joy.
The Lord assures us here that a sinner who repents sets the tone for the joy on high. There is no one who grumbles, everyone rejoices in the shown love. Is that the case with us? Heaven is not rejoicing about all those people who think they are righteous and therefore think they do not need repentance. Real joy is the result of the searching love of the Lord Jesus.
8 - 10 The Lost Coin
8 “Or what woman, if she has ten silver coins and loses one coin, does not light a lamp and sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it? 9 When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost!’ 10 In the same way, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
In the second part of the parable the Lord presents a woman who loses a silver coin. The silver coin – literally drachma – was a Greek currency and therefore not legal tender in Israel. Therefore it seems that the ‘silver coins’ were used for personal decoration of head, neck or arm. This decoration is very much appreciated by the women and that is why she would like to keep it intact, possibly more out of emotional value than because of its monetary value. The silver coin is worth a lot to the woman. Maybe it belonged to a piece of jewelry with ten silver coins that lost all its shine because of the loss of that one coin. Hence the loss of one of the ten coins gives rise to a diligent search by the owner. That is why finding it leads her to call her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her.
The woman represents more the personal work of the Holy Spirit in people’s hearts than the work of Christ that is seen in previous history. In accordance with the position of the woman according to God’s thoughts, the Spirit has taken a position of submission, of activity in the background or in the hidden.
A lost coin is a lifeless thing. That is a suitable example to express what a lost sinner is according to the thoughts of the Spirit of God. It represents a human being who is spiritually a dead thing with just as little strength to go back as the lost coin. Therefore the silver coin gives us a fitting picture of the sinner, who does not have the least power to return to God (Eph 2:1). The sinner is utterly hopeless. Only the Holy Spirit can do something here. He lights a lamp in the dark heart of the sinner. In the work of the woman we see the work of the Spirit.
The woman does not simply accept that she lost her coin. She lights a lamp and sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds the coin. The lamp represents the testimony of the Word of God. The Spirit is especially characterized by activity and in His work He uses the Word. Therefore it says here that the lamp is lit.
But that’s not all. The woman sweeps the house and searches carefully until she finds the coin. There is love that goes to great lengths, that takes away obstacles and works carefully and searches thoroughly. If she had not searched so thoroughly and persistently, the coin would never have been found. Thus, the Spirit of God is tirelessly busy to find and bring to life a lost and dead sinner. By finding the lost coin the collection of coins is complete again.
In addition to the possibility, already mentioned, that it is about a decoration, it can also be an heirloom or a wedding gift. In any case, the purpose is to make it clear that the lost silver coin has a special value in the eyes of the woman. We also see this in the joy that the finding of the coin causes in the woman. She wants to share that joy with her friends and neighbors.
It depicts the joy of the Holy Spirit when a sinner repents. This joy that arises when a sinner repents is the joy of God. It is joy “in the presence of” the angels, not “with” the angels. What is their presence, what do they see? They see the joy of God over a converted sinner.
11 Two Sons
11 And He said, “A man had two sons.
After a hundred sheep, of which one goes astray, and ten silver coins, of which a woman loses one, now we see two sons, of whom one leaves his father. In this history we see in the younger son the depths in which the sinner has ended up and the height to which he is brought when he repents. The older son represents the spirit of the Pharisees and the scribes. In these two sons we have the two extreme cases of being lost which therefore include all other cases. In the younger son we see the tax collectors and sinners, in the older son the Pharisees and the scribes.
Although this parable is applicable to all people, the Lord speaks primarily of Israelites. They are in a special relationship with God. They are called “the sons of the LORD your God” (Deu 14:1). In the application, this especially concerns all those who occupy a position of privilege, such as children of believing parents. In the two sons we see the two ways that children who have been raised in a privileged position can go.
12 - 16 The Younger Son Leaves His Father
12 The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me.’ So he divided his wealth between them. 13 And not many days later, the younger son gathered everything together and went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living. 14 Now when he had spent everything, a severe famine occurred in that country, and he began to be impoverished. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would have gladly filled his stomach with the pods that the swine were eating, and no one was giving [anything] to him.
The younger son is the picture of the sinner who claims his share of life to live it the way he wants. By asking his share of the estate from his father while the father is still living, the younger son essentially declares his father dead. The father does not try to change his son’s mind, but gives each of his two sons their share.
Thus God has given every human being the responsibility to do with his life what he wants. Then it will become clear how someone wants to live his life. There is no clearer way to deny God than to give preference to one’s own will over that of God. This own will makes it clear that someone wants to live apart from God. It reveals the desire to follow one’s own way at a great distance from God. This is without doubt the root of all sins. Sin against men will surely follow, but sin against God is the primary cause.
Man is put to the test. He is responsible, but in fact he is not prevented from doing his own will. God maintains control only to carry out His own gracious plans. Yet it seems as if God allows man to do what he wants. Only then will it become clear what sin means, what the heart seeks, what man with all his pretentions is.
The younger son is as guilty when he asks the share of his father’s estate as when he sits with the swine. He has already said good-bye to his father in his heart before he actually leaves. Then we see in him, that at the moment man leaves God, he sells himself to satan. Not only do we get a description of a sinful way of life, but we also see the bitter end. Giving in to sin brings misery and distress. A void is created that nothing and nobody can fill. The selfish waste of all his wealth only makes him feel this emptiness all the more.
When in extreme despair he goes to one of the citizens of that country to ask for help, we see the degeneration of the sinner. There is no love, but selfishness. The citizen does not treat him as a fellow citizen, but as a slave. There is no slavery as deep and humiliating as being a slave to our own lusts. He is treated accordingly. How must it have sounded in the ears of a Jew that this younger son was sent to the field to feed the swine? He sinks to the low point of want and misery. Yet nobody gives him anything.
The lack does not yet drive him back, but leads him to seek resources in the country of satan, in what that country can give. How many souls feel the famine in which they have brought themselves, the emptiness of all that surrounds them, without any desire for God or holiness. There is a desire in them to degrading things in sin. Satan, however, gives nothing, but takes everything. Only God is the Giver. He has proven this in the greatest Gift, which is the gift of His own Son.
17 - 19 The Younger Son Comes to His Senses
17 But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger! 18 I will get up and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me as one of your hired men.”‘
At the bottom of his misery he comes to himself. This is the beginning of the return. Around him everything is gone. He only has himself. Now that he no longer has any distractions, he starts thinking about home. He remembers what he has turned his back on. He left his father’s house as a son and now is with the swine in the greatest misery, while his father’s hired men have no shortage of anything.
Where the Spirit of God works, we always find two things: the conscience is convinced of sin and the heart is attracted by God’s love. This is the revelation of God to the heart. God is light and God is love. As light He works in the heart the conviction of his lost condition. As love there is the attraction of His goodness. The result is true confession.
The prodigal son makes a decision: he will go back to his father. He does more than just decide to go back. He sees that he has sinned, both against heaven and Him Who dwells therein and against his father. The life of a sinner is contrary to the life lived in heaven by angels who only do what God says. In his inner being the son is convinced of his sins and is prepared to confess them openly. By his willingness to stand up, he has already acknowledged before God that he has sinned.
He also realizes that he has lost all rights to be still accepted as son. This is the work of God’s Spirit. He is truly broken and contrite of spirit. He wants to take the place of a hired man. If he could take it, he would be satisfied with it. The desire was good, but legalistic because of unfamiliarity with grace. That is how many Christians live. They are only concerned with themselves and still have so little awareness of what lives in the Father’s heart. It is not about what we want, but about what the Father wants. That is so impressive in this part of the parable. It is not about what the son wants, but about what the father does.
The Father proceeds according to the fullness of grace that is in His heart for lost sons. God’s desire is not satisfied by giving lost sons the place of a hired man at the doorstep of His house. He wants sons in the area and atmosphere of His house. Many Christians have no awareness of what sonship to the pleasure of the Father’s will is (Eph 1:5). There is no peace by return alone. True peace comes when we get to know the Father’s thoughts about us.
20 - 24 Return and Acceptance
20 So he got up and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion [for him], and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the 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 slaves, ‘Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet; 23 and bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; 24 for this son of mine was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’ And they began to celebrate.
The younger son adds his deed to his word. He gets up and comes to his father. Many Christians say they have sinned. They also sincerely see that they are not worthy of being accepted by God. However, there is no getting up, but a lingering in the misery. That is a dishonor for the Father. Then there is no confidence that the Father is ready to receive. There may still be so much doubt, but thinking of the Father’s goodness will make someone get up to come to the Father.
The father does not act with his son according to what he deserved, but according to his father heart. The father has never let go of him in his heart. His heart has gone with his son. He stood on the lookout. The word “a long way off” in verse 20 is the same word as “distant country” in verse 13. The father saw his son there and waited until he returned.
When the father sees his son approaching in the distance, he is moved with compassion. Then he runs to go to his son. In the picture we see here that God is in a hurry in a positive sense, which is the only time in the Bible. Without any reproach the father embraces him and kisses him, he covers him with kisses. The father never did that with one of his hired men. This is a welcome that suits a son! Thus is God for every sinner who repents and comes to Him.
The son starts to say what he had intended, but does not go beyond the first words. Further speaking is made impossible by the father because he does not let him speak further. Before the son can say “make me one of your hired men”, the father acts with him according to his father heart. The position of the father determines that of the son. The love that has received him as son, also wants him to enter the house as son and in a way as the son of such a father must be. The father has slaves. The son is not one of them. The father makes his slaves his son’s servants.
The son stands there in his dirty, torn clothes. It is not clothing befitting a son and it is not clothing befitting the father’s house. The father has a robe hanging ready that fits his house. The slaves are ready to put this robe on the prodigal son. The father only has to instruct his slaves to get the best robe and put it on him. The slaves do not have to ask where it hangs. It’s hanging ready for the son.
When we came to God, we also came in our clothes tainted by sin, but God has provided new clothes. For us it was already hanging ready before the foundation of the world. He has clothed us with Christ. He has made us acceptable in the Beloved (Eph 1:6). Clothed with Christ we enter the Father’s house as righteousness of God in Him (2Cor 5:21). That is the best robe, the robe of heaven.
The son also receives a ring on his hand as a sign of a special honor and dignity, as we see with Joseph (Gen 41:42). He also gets sandals on his feet. His feet are shod with the gospel of peace (Eph 6:15). He is in the Father’s house with the perfect peace in his heart that has been brought to him in the gospel to remain there forever as son (Jn 8:35). Sandals characterize our walk as sons of God.
The son receives much more than he had before he left. Thus the New Testament slaves of God tell the converted sinner what he has received in Christ. We see that with Paul who wants to present every man complete in Christ (Col 1:28). He not only preached repentance, but also taught the Word of God to all who repented.
Finally, the father orders to bring the fattened calf to kill it and then eat it and celebrate. He does not say: Let him eat, but: “Let us eat.” A meal is prepared to eat together, to share in all the blessings that the son is now allowed to share with the father. That happens in joy.
The fattened calf is a picture of the Lord Jesus Who was slain for our sins. In this Gospel we see Him as the peace offering. He is the slain Lamb and around Him all believers, all the sons of the Father, may rejoice together with the Father about the blessings of the Father. The Lamb has given the Father the opportunity to show all His benefits, all His pleasures in man, to man. The joy consists of having a common part in the sacrifice of Christ. That gives the bond of fellowship with the Father and the Son and with each other.
The father speaks of his son as “this son of mine”. He does have another son, but “this” son was “dead and has come to live again”. That is presented in the history of the lost and found silver coin. It shows that something has happened in him. “This son” was also “lost and has been found”. That is presented in the history of the lost and found sheep. That shows that something has happened to him. Both aspects are always present at a conversion.
The result is a celebration without end. What gives peace and characterizes our position according to grace are not the feelings that have worked in our hearts, although they are truly present, but the feelings of God Himself. Nor is it written now, as in the other two cases, that there is joy in heaven, but we see what the effect is on earth, both in that one person and in the hearts of others.
25 - 30 The Older Son
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he summoned one of the servants and [began] inquiring what these things could be. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he became angry and was not willing to go in; and his father came out and [began] pleading with him. 29 But he answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and [yet] you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; 30 but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
The father also has another son. While his brother comes home and is warmly welcomed by his father, that son is busy in the field. When his work is done, he goes home. When he is close to the house, he hears music and dance. The house is a place of joy.
When we come together as an assembly, we experience what it is like to be in the ‘house of God’. There the Word of God is ministered by slaves of God. What we hear in the house when we hear God’s Word sounds like the melodious music of grace. The reaction to this will be the joyous dance of the members of the household. The Lord has reproached His contemporaries for not having responded to the tones of the music of His grace with expressions of joy in a dance (Lk 7:31-32). He brought heavenly music to earth in the melodious words of grace, but there was no answer. The house of God is a place where servants play the flute and where those present react with joy. How often, however, is there only criticism.
That resembles the remarks of the older son. The older son needs to know what is going on. Instead of going inside, to his father, he asks one of the servants outside what that music and dance can mean. He understands nothing of the manifestations of grace. He is a tightened man who knows no joy in the Lord. He abhors cheerfulness. That is the mind of the Pharisees and the scribes who see how the Lord Jesus eats with sinners. The servant knows exactly what the reason of the joy is. His brother has come back safe and sound. His father is so happy about this that he has killed the fattened calf. The servant draws attention to the fattened calf as the center of the feast.
The younger son is inside, the older son is outside. There he stays because he doesn’t want to go inside. He is outside and stays outside because his heart is outside his father’s house. The older son is a type of religious man who does not grant the grace to others. The older son becomes angry, while the father celebrates. There was and is no fellowship between the father and this son. He does not breathe the spirit of love shown to the returned prodigal son. Grace is something strange to him and so he does not share in its joy. He pursued his own interests.
He was undoubtedly zealous and intelligent ‘in the field’, in the world, far away from the scene of Divine mercy and spiritual joy. Yet the father, in his love for him, goes outside to encourage him to also come inside. The father’s love also goes out to him. But the older son repulses his father and his love for him with heavy accusations. He is brutal enough to condemn his father, just as the self-righteous man does not hesitate to judge God.
In the thoughts of the unbelieving, but very religious, legal man, God is hard and demanding. He is completely blind to all the favors of God; his heart and conscience are totally insensitive. With all was joy, except for man in his own righteousness, the Jew, of whom the older son is a picture. People who live in their own righteousness, legal people, can’t tolerate the fact that God is good to sinners, because if God is good to sinners, what then benefits their righteousness?
The older son accuses his father of never giving him a young goat to celebrate with his friends, even though he has served his father for so long and flawlessly. With these statements, the older son shows that he has no affection for his father. He has only acted out of duty, as a servant. He has lived according to the rules, leading him to judge of himself that he has done so blamelessly. His self-righteousness is obvious.
The fact that he has no affection for his father is also evident from his accusation that he would have liked to celebrate with his friends at times, but that his father never provided him with a young goat for that. He wanted to celebrate with his friends, but without his father. He has no eye for the fact that a young goat can only be enjoyed in the father’s house and together with the father.
It is clear what an aversion he has to grace and the way grace works. He does not call the prodigal son his brother, as the servant he had addressed did, but speaks scornful of “this son of yours”. He also makes it seem as if his brother has consumed all his father’s wealth, while it was the part that the father had given him. He also knows how that wealth was consumed, namely with prostitutes. The father’s conduct in grace for his younger brother brings out the worst side in the older brother in every respect.
31 - 32 An Urgent Appeal
31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and [has begun] to live, and [was] lost and has been found.’”
The father does not defend himself against the reproaches of his older son. He also does not defend his younger son against the charges of his older son. He also has patience with his older son and acts in grace. The Lord Jesus addresses the Pharisees and the scribes. He also wants to have them inside, in the house of the Father. That is why He tells how the father reacts.
The father shows to his older son what he has. What the father says also applies to the whole people of Israel toward God. The father calls him ‘son’ to emphasize the intimate relationship. He also points out to him the place of blessing close to him, a place that has always been his share. Finally, the father reminds him that everything he owns, also belongs to him. This is the place that the Jew took under the law.
It is also the same position taken by every unconverted person in professing Christianity who tries to live a religious life and walks according to the flesh. That is exactly how the natural men in our continent think and speak. The Jews undoubtedly had the most important place, the only place God claimed on earth. All other lands God had given to the children of men, but He had reserved His land for Israel. He had brought them to Himself by an external redemption and put them under the law.
The same is true in principle of every human being who is full of his own righteousness. He tries in his own way to do good and serve God, while he is insensitive to the truth that he needs mercy and redemptive grace.
The father tells his older son that there is reason for joy and celebration, namely the return of his brother. He wishes his older son to share in it. But only those who have become the object of God’s searching and receiving love share in that joy. Such a person sees that God Himself rejoices in the joy of grace and shares it with others. “And indeed our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ” (1Jn 1:3). The father, like the servant before him, speaks about his younger son as “brother” of his older son. He emphasizes it by saying “this brother of yours”.
The older son has neither an eye nor a heart for the fact that it’s about someone who is in the same relationship with his father as he is. God does not tolerate that the real relationships between them are denied. Therefore, the final judgment on Jews comes not only because of their gross ingratitude to God, but also because of their aversion to the grace He has shown to poor Gentiles in their misery and sin. This is powerfully expressed by the apostle Paul (1Thes 2:16). They could not bear that others, those dogs from the nations, would hear the gospel of grace. They were so proud of the law that they despised grace for themselves.