Interpreting Parables

Today on Renewing Your Mind, the parable of the prodigal son. I think if I would have been the prodigal father and I saw my son coming down the street, maybe I would have been tempted to stand there with a scowl on my face waiting to see what the story was. That's not the way God is.

That's not the way this father was. Jesus is perhaps the best known and most beloved of Jesus' parables, but many times we're guilty of assigning motives to the characters in the story or, worse yet, trying to analogize every element, including the pigs in the slop where the younger son finally came to his senses. Jesus used parables as riddles to trap those who opposed Him or as simple tales to encourage His disciples. But we need to know how to interpret them.

Here's Dr. R. C. Sproul with some tools to accomplish that task. One of my all-time favorite parables in the New Testament is Jesus' parable, usually called the parable of the prodigal son. Sometimes it's simply called the parable of the lost son and its placement where it is found in Luke's gospel raises some interesting questions initially about how the gospel writers put their material together in the first place because if you've noticed when you're reading through the gospels, when you have parallel accounts of teachings that Jesus gives, sometimes that teaching may take a setting in one geographical location in one of the gospels and it'll be somewhere else in the chronology in the other gospel and some critics raise their eyebrows about this and say, oh, obviously we can't trust the Bible because they have Jesus teaching this same principle in two different places. Well, in the first part, when the synoptic gospels were written, they were written by biblical writers who were not following the standard rules of chronology set forth by twentieth century historical societies.

Not that they weren't concerned with the truth of history, they were, but sometimes they arranged the material of Jesus' teaching topically rather than chronologically and different gospel writers had different concerns of why they did it. Another point that needs to be brought out is, does anybody know any preacher or any professor who never repeats himself? I have to confess to you folks that I've given the same sermon on more than one occasion in more than one place and if you are acquainted with the writings of contemporary scholars, people who have written many, many books, you may notice that they will frequently go over the same critical material in several different places. So that shouldn't be a problem that disturbs us, but as I said, my favorite parable is the parable of the prodigal son, I guess because I can identify with the prodigal son. But before we look at it, I want us to understand the context in which Luke gives it to us, which is found in the fifteenth chapter of his gospel. Luke introduces this parable in this manner, that the Pharisees and the scribes complained, saying, This man receives sinners and eats with them. It's a perfect setting for this parable because the sinners, the outcasts, the Amhorets, the people of the earth had gathered and flocked to hear Jesus. They hung on His every word.

They made up this multitude that followed Him from village to village and heard Him gladly. But the professors, the theologians, the established clergy of Jesus' day, all of these people were severely threatened by the excellence and majesty of Christ, and they were constantly venting their spleens of jealousy and contempt for Christ. And so here's one of those encounters, one of those confrontations. I remember I said that one of the occasions for the setting of the parable is one of conflict and tension. And so at the same time, the sinners are hanging on every word that comes from the lips of Jesus. The scribes and the Pharisees are murmuring and complaining, Who is this man who associates with sinners?

And so instead of just saying, Fellas, can we talk? I'd like to explain my mission and my agenda here that I'm trying to reach these people. I'm trying to minister the gospel to them. Jesus doesn't do that. Instead He gives a series of parables. So we read, So He spoke this parable to them saying, What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one which is lost until he finds it?

And when he finds it, he lays it on his shoulders rejoicing. And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors saying to them, Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost. For I say to you that there will be more joy in heaven over the sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. There's been a great hymn written on the basis of this short parable called the Ninety and Nine. You know the hymn, the ninety and nine who safely lay in the shelter of the full.

But there was one lost sheep on that hill far away, far off from the streets of gold. And it tells the story of the pursuit of God to seek out that which is lost. I once heard my friend John Guest involved in Evangelistic Crusade speak about the change in the mentality of the church today from previous times when the church understood its mission to join with Christ to seek and to save the lost.

And that's important. Jesus didn't say, I simply came to save the lost, but I came to seek them. He didn't just hang a sign up in front of his church and say, everybody's welcome to come and hear me preach. But he went out into the highways and byways and sought out the people who were the people in need and ministered to them.

That was characteristic of Jesus' method of operation. Well, John Guest when he was speaking about this said that we have replaced the hymn, the ninety and nine with a different hymn because we don't really even believe in evangelism anymore because we don't believe that anybody's lost. And even if we do believe that they're lost we think that it's politically incorrect to go after them and search for them. And he said the theme song today comes not so much from the pages of Scripture as it does from Mother Goose because now the anthem of the church is, leave them alone and they'll come home wagging their tails behind them. And I don't think I'll ever forget the significance of what John said there, that we forget that our Lord was profoundly concerned to go out and find the lost. Now he continues with this short string of parables all with the same motif of what we do to find that which is valuable to us when it's lost, when the shepherd loses one of his sheep. That's not just a problem for the sheep, it's a problem for the shepherd.

The sheep is valuable to the shepherd and so he goes and pursues it. And then he tells the story of what woman having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house and search carefully until she finds it. And when she is found, she calls her friends and neighbors together saying, rejoice with me for I have found the peace which I lost.

Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents. Now I don't think Jesus is picking on women here, but He does set the context of this parable by saying, what woman is there if she has ten coins and loses one of them, wouldn't light the lamp and search diligently to find it? Well, maybe there are women who wouldn't do that, but I'm not married to one like that. I'm married to one who is the most organized woman in all the world.

In fact, our affectionate nickname for Vesta is Miss Tidypole. Some people are organized, some people are neat and fussy, some people are fastidious, but my wife is punctilious. There is a place for everything and everything in its place.

Just one problem. She secures things so carefully that it's a never-ending thing in my house where she forgets where she put it. And so the lights come on and the search begins, and every time this happens, I think of this parable that my wife proves the truth of the teaching of Jesus over and over again in her life. But you see the motif here is the quest for the lost, and it finds its zenith in the longest of these three parables here in the parable of the lost son. Then he said, a certain man had two sons, and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me. And so he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living. What a powerful description and so succinct.

Jesus could say so much with so few words. The simple little story of two sons, one of them is impatient. He wants his inheritance right now. And so he comes and he pursues his father. He said, let me have my inheritance.

Let me use it as a grub steak to get started, to go out into the world. And so the father acquiesces and grants the wish of the son and gives him his inheritance in advance. And the first thing we're told about this young man is that he goes to a far country. How typical is that? How do young people behave on spring break when they get their first opportunity to get away from the watching eyes of authorities, of family, of teachers, and can be free for a week or a few days apart from somebody's careful observation?

How do we behave when we are free from the restraints and constraints that our community puts upon us when we know that we have a reputation to maintain? And when people want to go and do bad things, they like to go where they're anonymous. And this fellow goes, and he goes to a far country, and we are told that he wastes his fortune in riotous living, a style of debauchery. For that which his father had labored so long to accumulate, he goes through like quicksilver.

But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. And so he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country who sent him into his fields to feed swine. Do you see how poignant this is that Jesus, when he tells this story, doesn't have him going to tend flocks of sheep, but he is now forced to go take care of pigs?

That has special significance to the Jew because the Jew understood the pig to be unclean. And this man now has gone from the life of a prince who had this luxurious amount of wonderful life that was made available because of his inheritance. He goes through his inheritance.

He had everything that he wanted. He sated his own desires and his appetites until he ran out of resources. And when he ran out of his resources, it just so happened that a famine came to the land, and he began to be in want.

Why is it that it seems that the only time we want to hear a word from God is when we reach the bottom, when we reach the depths of despair? And in order to survive, this young man goes and hires himself out basically as an indentured servant working in a pig pen. And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.

His father had given him everything, and he despised the gifts of his father. And now he is coveting the slop that is being fed to the pigs, and no one will give him anything. Verse 17 is a powerful statement that Jesus makes here. But when he came to himself, he said, How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and despair, and I perish with hunger? It's interesting to me that in the history of the church, when God has visited His people with His Spirit and has brought revival, that so often the language of a genuine revival is a language that uses words like awakening.

We talk about the great awakening in America and the second great awakening in this country. It says people have become torpid and they have fallen asleep to the things of God, and they have so repressed the truth of God and pushed God out of their thinking and out of their minds that even though they are biologically awake and conscious, they are unconscious to the things of God. But here we're told of the young man who comes to. Before he came home, he had to first come to. He had to come to himself, as Jesus says. I also want to add parenthetically, I don't for a moment think that he came to himself by himself. This is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to wake us up and to quicken us and to bring us from this deadly form of spiritual sleep in which we are held captive.

But the boy comes to himself and he says, wait a minute, there's something wrong here. When I was back home, my father had servants, and now my father's servants have far more than I have. And he said, I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son, make me like one of your hired servants. This almost sounds like a biographical sketch of David, because it is such a poignant, vivid, graphic description of what genuine repentance is, because first of all, he acknowledges his sin, and he acknowledges against whom he has sinned. I have sinned against heaven, and I have sinned against my father, and I'm going to go home not to demand my birthright as a son to be a full member of the family, but I am going home to confess my sin and to acknowledge that I am not worthy to even live under the roof of my father and beg to just be nearby as a servant.

Beloved, nobody enters the kingdom of God until they understand this. This is what real repentance is, not when you're just simply sorry for having been caught or having suffered the negative consequences of our guilt, but true repentance comes when we acknowledge we are not worthy to be included in our father's house. And he said, I will arise and go to my father. Now, notice that the first two little parables are all about the quest for that which was lost, and so far in this story, nobody's searching for this fellow. The father is still at home. For all we can tell, the father has no idea where his son is or what his son is doing, but he hasn't been searching for him.

So where's the tie-in? And so he arose and came to his father, but when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. I remember once getting in trouble with my mother, and she called me into the house. She didn't come out to greet me. She didn't grab me by the ear, but I walked into the room and she was standing there with her arms folded and she was tapping her foot. Did you ever see somebody like that?

They were waiting, and as soon as I saw that stance and that foot tapping, I knew I was in deep weeds and that I was about to get a king-size lecture. Now, I think if I would have been the prodigal father and I saw my son coming down the street, maybe I would have been tempted to stand there with a scowl on my face, waiting to see what the story was. That's not the way God is. That's not the way this father was. At the first sight of his son, how he recognized him would probably be through the idiosyncrasies of his walk. It certainly wouldn't have been by his clothes or by his facial appearance as this kid had been living with pigs. He would have hardly been recognizable, but even at a distance there was recognition, and as soon as the father saw him, he could tell that his son was in trouble because the father, we are told, had compassion. And what does the Bible say? So he carefully, deliberately took a step in the direction of his son.

Now, that's not the point at all, is it? He ran down the road. His legs are flying. He falls upon his son. He embraces him. He hugs him.

He kisses his neck. And he brings him into the house and gives the order, kill the fatted calf. He puts a ring on his hand, a turban on his head, and gives him all of the honors that could be bestowed upon an honorable son. He gives the son everything that the son doesn't deserve. Who were the Pharisees in this story? The brother sees that and says, hey, wait a minute.

I never wasted my inheritance in profligate living. I didn't go out and embarrass you, violate you, sin against heaven, and you never had a celebration for me. He didn't get it, just like the Pharisees didn't get it. He said, this is your brother.

This is my son. He once was lost, and now he's found. All of that to tell the Pharisees, yes, I associate with sinners because that's my mission. And if you love the Father, that would be your mission as well. The parable of the prodigal son.

That's Dr. R.C. Sproul teaching us how to interpret Jesus' parables. This week on Renewing Your Mind, we're featuring portions of Dr. Sproul's classic series Dust to Glory. In 57 Lessons, this series provides an overview of the entire Bible, explaining the major themes, events, and people we read about in the pages of Scripture. There has never been a greater need for us as Christians to know the Bible, to articulate what we believe and why we believe it.

And Dust to Glory is an excellent place to begin. We're making the entire series available to you on eight DVDs for your gift of any amount to Ligetier Ministries. To make your request, you can reach us by phone at 800-435-4343 or online at renewingyourmind.org. As Dr. Sproul explains, each book of the Bible helps us see where they fit in with the whole of Scripture. The DVD set we're offering this week includes a bonus disc containing the study guide for the series.

That will provide you with an outline of each message plus study questions and suggestions for further reading. Again, our number is 800-435-4343. You can also make your request and give your gift online at renewingyourmind.org. The reach of Ligetier Ministries is literally around the world, and because of your generous donations, thousands of Christians are able to take advantage of the trustworthy biblical teaching that we produce. We're stewarding that trust in many ways, including through our website, this daily Renewing Your Mind program, the Reformation Study Bible, our national and regional conferences, and livestream question-and-answer events. You can discover more tools to help you grow in your understanding of God's Word when you go to renewingyourmind.org. During Jesus' earthly ministry, He went from town to town healing the sick and the lame. What did those miracles communicate to the people in Israel? I hope you'll join us Thursday for Renewing Your Mind as we continue Dr. Sproul's series, Dust to Glory.