Parables of the Lost (Luke 15, 17)

The Lost Sheep

READ Luke 15:1-2

What is the context for these “parables of the lost”?

Christ is “receiving” (inviting over to socialize with) and eating with publicans and “sinners”.

He will teach what is means to be a “sinner”.

And He will teach why He is on earth: to find those who are lost and bring them home.

And He is laying out the example of what we should all do for each other, once we ourselves have been “found” – we should go back out and search for the rest of the lost.

 

READ Luke 15:3-7

How did the one sheep get lost?

Not out of rebellion.

S/He was heads down, grazing for deeper grass and sweeter water.

Finally, looks up and is lost in the wilderness.

How did the shepherd know the one was lost?

When calling the sheep in at night to the fold, he discovered one was gone.

He knows the names of all his sheep, so he would know if even one was missing and which sheep it was.

What did the shepherd do when he discovered one was missing?

Left the 99 sheep in the safety of the fold.

Went searching for the one that was lost.

He would have been calling the name of the sheep.

He would have braved the wilderness at night to find the sheep.

What did the shepherd do when he found the sheep?

Rejoices! 

There is no scolding for being careless or resentment for the unnecessary work and possible danger the sheep had put the shepherd in for having to come rescue the sheep.

After all, the sheep did not intend to become lost… the sheep wanted to be home.

The shepherd lifts the sheep onto his shoulders and carries it back.

Could the sheep have found its way back without the shepherd?

Probably not.

It did not know the way back.

It had been focusing on its own desires and was lost in those before it “looked up” and came to itself.

What does Christ mean when He uses the terms “sinner” and “just person”?

A “sinner” is one who sins and is in need of the Atonement and repentance.

A “just person” is one who is perfect and does not need the Atonement.

Are Christ’s ratios right?  99 just to 1 sinner?

No, He is being sarcastic with the Pharisees, who see themselves as much better than the publicans.

There was only one “just” person born into this world – Christ Himself.

And even then, He commented to the rich young ruler that there was only one “good” person and that was not Him but God; He did not refer to Himself as “perfect” until after His resurrection, even though He had ascended to the position of Son of God before He was born in mortality.

 

 

The Lost Coin

READ Luke 15:8-10

How did the coin get lost?

The woman or owner/steward lost it – through carelessness or neglect.

How does that relate to a person being lost?

Lack of friendship, attention, service.

Lack of being cherished and loved.

The person slipped through the cracks and no one noticed.

Was the coin valuable to the woman?

When she discovered the coin was missing, she went to a lot of effort to find it.

Called her neighbors together to tell them when she’d found it.

But she did not care for it the way she should have, given the value of the coin to her.

The Lost Sons (The Prodigal Son)

READ Luke 15:11-16

How did the son get lost?

He rebelled willingly.

Why did he leave?

He wanted to do things not allowed in his father’s home.

He wanted to be on his own – not doing his father’s will but controlling his own destiny with his “own money” (well, actually his part of the inheritance from his father).

Why did the father not go after the younger son, as the shepherd and the woman went after the sheep and the coin?

Leaving was the son’s deliberate choice.

He could not be convinced to come home – he had to choose to come home himself.

How did the younger son use his inheritance?

He wasted it with riotous living.

He lived in a way that he chose to live.

What did the mighty famine do?

It forced his hand.

It created a situation where if he were not prepared for it, he could die – and he was not prepared.

To the Jewish audience, what did feeding the swine mean?

The younger son had dropped below the lowest in Jewish society; pigs were never raised by Israelites; they were wild and driven away.

Pigs were unclean and the word “swine” symbolized all that was polluted and impure.

What state is the young son in, wanting to eat the swine’s food?

He is literally starving.

He is considering eating indigestible food meant for an animal that he would have driven from his presence when he used to live at home.

Who does the father symbolize in this parable?

Heavenly Father.

The Gods of Light.

What is the inheritance?

The glory of God (light and knowledge) – which are grace or gifts from God, given in part, due to our adherence to His will in a “first place”.

The blessings of mortality, in which the Gods enable their children to gain more light depending upon how they use their gift or “inheritance” of agency.

What does leaving his father and going into a far country represent?

Spiritual death – separation from God.

Worshipping false gods.

Leaving the presence of God and going into a mortal realm – this could be on a hunt for more light, it could be for a “search and rescue mission” or it could be to follow one’s own way.

What is the mighty famine?

The adversary and his minions increasing the “heat” such that if you are not prepared, you will suffer and/or die.

The natural effects of being outside the presence of the Gods of Light.

 

READ Luke 15:17-19

What caused the younger son to come to himself?

The realization of what he had become – lower than he could have ever imagined, more needy than the unclean swine, and unable to stop his decline or save himself… he is dying an ignominious death.

He awakes to his true condition - his desperate need.

This awakening or realization in the face of his true situation is a spiritual gift; his mind has been muddle due to the darkness associated with the choices he has been making up to this point – but God continues to call out to him and finally the young man hears him and awakens to this realization of his true condition.

As a result of this realization, his heart breaks and his spirit becomes contrite.

What does he do when he finally “comes to himself”?

He “arises”.

And will go back to his father.

He will confess his sins.

He will renounce his sonship due to unworthiness.

He will beg to become a hired servant, so that he can have “bread” to live.

What would a bystander in a city of that “far country” have seen, watching the younger son arrive vs. watching him leave?

Arriving: a flamboyant young man adorned in obvious signs of wealth; wide-eyed but game for anything; a swagger but without direction; head up with a confident smile on his face but no light in his eyes.

Leaving: a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief; a humble beggar dressed in rags; humiliated and penitent but with a determination in his step; head bent, a furrowed, worried look but with a light in his eyes.

 

READ Luke 15:20-24

How did the father see the son coming “a great way off”?

He was watching for him, hoping he’d return.

What did the father do when he saw his prodigal son returning?

He had compassion on him.

Ran to him (a “great way”).

Fell on his neck – embraced him.

Kissed him.

What does the son do when he sees his father coming?

Confesses his sins.

Confesses that he is not worthy to be called his son.

What does his father do at this confession?

Dresses him in the BEST ROBE (see Matthew 22:11).

Puts a ring on his hand.

Puts shoes on his feet.

Invites him to a great homecoming feast.

What does the robe represent?

It is the “wedding garment” needed to be able to enter into the house and attend the great feast and celebration as a legitimate guest of the Lord of the House.

The atonement – it covers our sins like a glorious white robe cleansed from the blood and sins of our generation.

What do the shoes represent?

Leaving behind the old road to Babylon and destruction and taking a new way or path to heaven and light (you remove your shoes and put on new ones as a symbol that you accept the new path).

What does the ring represent?

Lordship – like the Signet Ring of a King – it was his authorized seal and representative of his power and dominion.

What does the feast represent?

The joyful homecoming = entering the House of the Father.

Reconciliation with the Father = he has become a Son again.

Eating the same food = becoming/being one = having the same life sustaining substance within you.

Consummation of the family “sealing” or “adoption” rite.

What does it mean that the son was “dead” but is “alive again”?

Spiritually dead (away from the Father) vs. Spiritually alive (with the Father – connected to the Father).

In a far country (mortality) vs. safely back within the Father’s house (exaltation in the Father’s presence).

In essence, the prodigal is being welcomed back into the family as a royal son of the father, with all blessings and inheritance restored.

 

READ Luke 15:25-32

Why was the elder son angry?

He was jealous of the celebration in honor of the younger son.

He was jealous of the Father’s love for the younger son.

He felt the younger son deserved a thrashing not a party (justice not mercy).

He felt he deserved the party as the “dutiful” son (as he saw it).

Was the elder son invited into the house?

Yes, but he would not come in.

Why did the Father come out to entreat the elder son?

He loved him.

He did the same thing for the older son (go to him) as he did for the younger son (go to him).

The elder son does not realize what a “feast” means/symbolizes.

The elder son does not realize what commandments the Father wants him to keep (love, forgiveness, meekness, etc.) – or he doesn’t realize that the commandments he’s been keeping out of duty haven’t done what they were intended to do, to soften his heart that he might go to his Father with a broken heart and contrite spirit saying “I, also, am no more worthy to be called thy son”.

How do we know that the elder son has broken the father’s commandments?

He is angry at his brother’s return instead of full of love and compassion, like his Father.

Like the Pharisees, the elder son is keeping “outward” commandments while breaking the weightier matters of the “inward” commandments taught in the Sermon on the Mount (see Matthew 23:23).

He is not inside the Father’s House.

Why did the younger son merit a feast while the older son did not?

He came to himself and returned to the Father of his own volition.

He offered the required sacrifice – a broken heart and contrite spirit.

He put on the wedding garment when it was offered – which covered his sins and reconciled him to the Father.

Is the elder son “ever with” the Father if he remains outside the House?

No, but he has the opportunity to be.

He doesn’t have nearly as far to come.

But he is “in the field” communicating with servants (angels) instead of with the Father, and wanting to be with his friends rather than in the house with the Father.

Who is the younger son?

The “sinner”.

One who repents of riotous living.

The publicans and sinners (i.e. the lost).

The penitent who realizes his/her true standing before the Father and comes back offering their whole soul just to allowed to reside in the House in any capacity (broken heart and contrite spirit).

The “good and bad” who are covered with Christ’s atonement and who are all invited to the wedding feast, if they will but attend and wear the offered wedding garment.

Those who are saved in the Celestial Kingdom.

Who is the elder son?

The “good” son.

One who thinks he has no need of repentance.

The Pharisees.

The self-righteous who are in danger of losing their inheritance within the Father’s House; in fact, they have lost it or rather, have not been offered the inheritance they think they have already earned.

The invited guest who refuses to attend the feast.

Those “honorable” people who are not saved in the Celestial Kingdom but reside somewhere else.

What must the elder do to actually inherit “all that I (the Father) has”?

He must do what the younger son did (i.e. come unto himself, come to the Father, offer a broken heart and contrite spirit).

Why should the older son not worry about the younger son also receiving “all that the Father has”?

“All that He has” is not a dividing of physical inheritance or goods.

“All that the Father has” is received by becoming precisely as the Father is, in the same way that He became it – both sons can receive it without the other losing anything – it is exactly what Christ was doing on this earth, which is why He is our great example.

How do we know that this reading of the parable has merit?

It was addressed to Pharisees and Scribes who accused Jesus of associating and eating with Publicans and sinners (see Matthew 15:1-3).

 

 

The Ten Lepers

READ Luke 17:11-19

Why did the lepers stand “a far off”?

They had to by law – due to the contagiousness of their disease (see Numbers 5:1-4).

How did lepers provide for themselves?

Through begging – they were completely dependent on the charity of others for their day-to-day survival.

Any other commerce was illegal due to contagiousness.

Why did Christ heal the lepers?

Because they asked: “have mercy on us”.

What would have happened if that group had not collected together, knowing Christ was coming that direction and having faith in His power to heal, such that they called out for mercy?

They would not have been healed.

He would have done nothing if they had not asked.

He may not have even seen them.

Only those who seek Him will find Him.  These ten lepers felt deeply their need to be freed from the uncleanliness of their disease and cried out to Him to notice them and have mercy. 

It is the same with us today.  All are equal before Him but some recognize their true state – what they lack – cry out and come to Him seeking to be healed.  We must start the process as He is no respecter of persons.

Why did Christ not need to lay hands on the lepers to heal them?

His word is Law.

His word is power (see D&C 1:38).

He had the power to “transfer” His “virtue” or light/energy/holy spirit without the need to touch the person – in fact, He didn’t even need to be proximate to do this.

The reason is not that He was worried about catching leprosy. 

Why did Christ tell them to go show themselves unto the Priests – was it to be cleansed by them?

There was a ceremony in the Law of Moses for those who had been healed of leprosy.

It was not to ask the Priests for healing – they had no power to do so.

And they were already healed before they arrived at the place the priests were. 

What kind of faith did it take the ten to go to the Priests?

Great faith – the ceremony was for those who had been healed.

When they left Christ for the Priests, they were still very leprous.

They were only cured “as they went” – they had to exercise faith in Christ by going to the Priests for the ceremony, unhealed.

The ceremony to commemorate the cleansing of a leper is found in Leviticus 14:1-32.  How would you summarize it and what did the symbolism mean?

Two doves were brought – one to sacrifice and one to set free (pointing to the Day of Atonement ceremony with the goats).

The one bird was wet with the blood of the sacrificed bird, symbolizing Christ’s gift of freedom to all of us who receive His sacrifice. 

The healed leper is then washed in similitude of renewal, rebirth, baptism – symbolic of Christ’s cleansing of our sins.

The right ear, thumb, and big toe are anointed with blood then oil – the right side is symbolic of blessedness; the blood and oil on the thumb symbolizes putting the cleansing power of Christ’s sacrifice and the Holy Spirit into the works of the man’s hands; the ear symbolizes listening to the words of the Lord and keeping the mind focused on the words of God; the toe symbolizes walking the right path or the right way.

The ceremony takes 7 days to complete, symbolizing a new creation, perfection or completion – it means “the whole” or all; with the ceremony, all the past burdens of leprosy are gone and the man becomes a new creation.

With the completion of this rite, the healed leper would be welcomed back into the society of Israel, family and friends – as well as the profound symbolic meaning of the Atonement found in this rite.

So where did the ten lepers set off to?

To experience and seek comfort in the symbols of Christ, by ceremony.

Although healed from leprosy, they also went to be ceremonially cleansed, as it was their religious tradition.

Why did the one Samaritan return to Christ?

He recognized the True Priest – he went to “show himself” unto Him.

It was not just to “give thanks” but to worship and give glory to God.

He was not just ceremonially clean but “clean indeed” when Christ told him “go thy way, thy faith hath made thee whole”.

Christ’s personal declaration TO a man is more important than any ceremony or rite performed BY men.  Men may endlessly repeat the ceremonial return to Christ’s presence but it means nothing unless the person actually returns to Him.  If Christ declares a man or woman “whole”, they are whole indeed.