Exegetical Discussion
Review the Exegetical Paper Thesis, Outline, and to ask questions about this particular passage, give bibliographical help, suggest ideas to others. Post a 200 word reply.
This assignment does not require citations, but the student must cite sources if any are used or quoted. Any sources cited must have been published within the last five years. Acceptable sources include the Bible, textbooks, scholarly articles,
Discussion thread: Luke 15:11-32
Every time period and culture has its own collection of outcasts or marginalized persons. These persons do not enjoy full integration into the general society and may be considered “lost.” Whether it was in Jesus’ day, or the current day, their lot in life may be due to poverty, disease, ethnicity, or even genetics. The poverty-stricken usually do not have a voice. Those with diseases such as leprosy in Jesus’ day, were forcefully separated from the general public. And even in Jesus’ day, ethnicity and genetics determined social status. This is demonstrated in the discrimination Jews directed towards Samaritans.
This dynamic does not only exist in the natural world, but also in the religious world. Even in Church, there exists a type of “class-ism” in which believers have a way of according a less than type of treatment to the lost, non-affluent people. In Jesus’ day, a Jewish sect of religious teachers called the Pharisees, specialized in such sanctimonious, self-righteous behavior. The spirit of the Pharisees remains alive and well today. We see it in the attitudes of self-confessed believers who often have a tendency to feel entitled to look down on the lost ones.
The Pharisees routinely agitated Jesus in attempts to discredit him. One way they attempted to discredit Jesus was to assign some sort of fault to him for closely associating with marginalized persons whom they proudly looked down on. On the occasion of Luke 15, there were Pharisees who expressed their displeasure at Jesus’ friendliness with marginalized persons. To illuminate their minds and convict their hearts, Jesus taught three parables to illustrate true love.
The Bible is the record of God’s deep abiding love and concern for His creation. That love is implied and expressed as God invites man to relate to him as a father. That love is best demonstrated through God’s gift of his only begotten son who lived a life of sacrificial love and suffered a vicarious death on behalf of all sinners. More specifically, Jesus illustrates God’s love and concern for the lost in Luke 15 by teaching three parables of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son. In each parable, the lost was found and there was rejoicing.
Luke 15:11-32 centers around a father and his two sons. One son, in a fit of rebellion, left home. The second son remained at home. Yet, because of his attitude, the son who stayed home was as “lost” as the son who left. The salvation of both sons rested in their father who loved them deeply, not because of their goodness or righteousness, but because he loved for love’s sake. This father’s love symbolically depicts God’s love for lost souls. Thus, Luke 15:11-32 demonstrates God’s love for the lost is independent of the righteousness of the lost.
OUTLINE
Introduction
Summary
Key Words
Setting
Cultural Concerns
The Connection Between a Lost Sheep, Lost Coin, and Lost Son
The Cast Identified
Contemporary Application
Conclusion
Bibliography
Adam, Martin. “On Some Special FSP Aspects Within the New Testament Parable (With Regard
to Luke 15:8-10).” Linguistica Pragensia, Prague (2010): 94-103. DOI:10.2478/v10017-010-0007-1.
Barker, Kenneth L. and John R. Kohlenberger, III. The Expositor’s Bible Commentary –Abridged Edition: New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1994.
Brawley, Robert L. Luke: A Social Identity Commentary. New York: T. & T. Clark, 2020.
Gadenz, Pablo T. Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture; The Gospel of Luke. Grand
Rapids, Mi: Baker Academics, 2018.
Henry, Matthew. The Gospel of Luke – Complete Bible Commentary Verse by Verse.
Horbury, Ezra. “Aristotelian Ethics and Luke 15:11–32 in Early Modern England.” Journal of Religious History, Vol. 41, no. 2, (2017): 181-196. doi: 10.1111/1467-9809.12369.
Lea, Thomas D., and David A. Black. The New Testament Its Background and Message. Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2003.
Pfeiffer, Carles F. and Everett F. Harrison. The Wycliff Bible Commentary. Chicago: Moody Press, 1990.
Strauss, Mark L. Zondervan Illustrated Bible Backgrounds Commentary; Matthew, Mark, Luke, Vol. 1. Grand Rapids, Mi: Zondervan, 2002.
