Bible Studies for Life Sunday School Commentary - Week of February 3, 2008
The Motive Luke 15:1-2,11-24
The three familiar parables in Luke 15 were told in response to accusations made by Jesus’ enemies. Jesus was found welcoming and fellowshipping with social outcasts. Sinners in every sense of the word. Despite the Pharisees’ complaints, these people felt free to associate with Jesus. His compassionate attitude is colorfully illustrated in the three parables he told. The Prodigal Son shows us what it really means to be lost in sin, and how Jesus loves sinners.
The story begins with a headstrong son wanting to make his own way in the world. How many of us can identify with him? How often have our high plans crashed when we are faced with the seductiveness of sin? The boy lost everything and found himself in destitute straits. How destitute? He was so needy that he envied the pigs their swill! If you think you are repulsed, imagine a Jewish boy wallowing with pigs and eyeing their supper with envy! This is the depths of depravity. He was in a pure survival mode. This is the depravity of sin. The young man’s desire for independence, control of his life, and pleasure had brought him only suffering and want.
Can you relate to the boy in the story? Does someone you know currently fit this scenario? It matters not the details of their downfall. However far we have fallen, the jolt at the bottom can be like a death-knell to our wandering souls.
Fortunately for this boy, when he hit rock-bottom, he was so shaken that he began thinking of home. “When he came to his senses” seems to denote that he was temporarily bereft of them. Sin is pictured as a type of insanity. We are not thinking clearly or making wise decisions. Certainly when we choose to ignore God and His truth, we are choosing a dark path that leads to destruction. I believe this is an illustration of the conviction and revealing of the Holy Spirit. His desperate condition was revealed to him in all is shame and ugliness. In fact, he was compelled to go and confess all this to his father. He was drawn back to the father!
This young man showed signs of repentance. He did not go back seeking a handout or expecting anything but the worst. He was merely seeking survival. He was throwing himself on the mercy of the court. Fortunately for him, the court was not judged by modern-day church members!
- I knew you’d come back begging! Take that you filthy ingrate!
- Don’t expect to come back here and get any help!
- Why, the nerve of you! Coming back here after what you did!
Jesus’ attitude toward repentant sinners is beautifully represented by the father in this story. He was looking for the son to return. He rushed to show compassion and forgiveness. He was quick to restore the son to the family. Oh the love of God to receive us with such grace! The father’s words bring a thrill to my soul: “He was lost and is found!” (vs. 24).
Why should we bother trying to witness? Because lostness is a terrible plight filled with despair and hopelessness. People who are lost need to be loved. They need to know the love of God through us. We cannot be more loving than when we share the love of God through Christ with them.
