Most likely, your Bible has entitled the section something like, "The Parable of the Lost Son" or "The Parable of the Prodigal Son." I don't like this title. It doesn't fit. Don't get me wrong - there is a prodigal son in this parable. He is a main character. However, I don't think that the son is THE main character.
If you take a look at the context surrounding this parable, you will see that Jesus was telling this story in response to the Pharisees and teachers of the Law, who were muttering, "This man [Jesus] welcomes sinners and eats with them."
Jesus’ first parable in response to this was the parable of The Lost Sheep (or, as I would have entitled it, “The Searching Shepherd”). The whole point of the parable is to highlight God’s love and devotion to His “sheep.” He loves His “sheep” so much, that he leaves the “righteous” ninety-nine and goes off searching for the one lost sheep. When He finds His sheep, He “joyfully puts it on His shoulders” and calls to His friends saying, “Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.”
The next parable that Jesus tells is that of the Lost Coin (or, as I would have entitled it, “The Searching Woman”). In this parable, a woman has lost one of ten silver coins. She scours her house for that one lost coin, and when she finds it, she calls her friends and rejoices, just as the Searching Shepherd did.
I believe that there are two purposes for these parables. The first, and possibly major purpose, is to rebuke the Pharisees pride and elitism by declaring that salvation is now open to Gentiles. This is especially clear in verse 7, where Christ says that there will be more rejoicing when one sinner repents than over the ninety-nine “righteous” people who do not need to repent (i.e. the Pharisees). This fits nicely with Jesus’ comments in Matthew 9, where, in response to the Pharisees questioning of His disciples as to why He was eating with “sinners,” He said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick…For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners.” This is also clearly displayed at the end of the Parable of the Forgiving Father, where the older brother (who represents the Pharisees) is angry that his father has so easily forgiven his younger brother (repentant “sinners”).
The second purpose for these parables is to demonstrate the great love and devotion of God to His “sheep.” I really love the first parable that Jesus tells because I think that the characters are so fitting. First, we are all like sheep. Dumb and ignorant. Helpless. “We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way.” But God is our loving shepherd, who does not forget His sheep.
God, in His great mercy and grace, seeks out His lost sheep, and when He finds them [us], He puts us on His shoulders – He carries us! – and takes us to His home. Then He gathers His angles around Him, exclaiming, “Rejoice with me (He is rejoicing over us!); I have found my lost sheep.”
This extravagant grace is even clearer in Jesus’ parable of the Forgiving Father. It would have been infinitely gracious of God to forgive our sins and make us His servants or slaves (which is exactly the thinking of the prodigal son in verse 19 where he says, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men”). His salvation of us rightly demands our whole life. Offering our bodies to Him as “living sacrifices” is merely our “reasonable act of worship.”
However, God doesn’t merely make us His servants or slaves when He saves us. His love and grace is so vast that He calls us His sons. He clothes us with His best robes. He puts rings on our fingers and sandals on our feet. He prepares a feast for us, to celebrate the homecoming of His child! Paul tells us in Galatians that because we have the Holy Spirit within us, we can approach God as our loving Father, calling Him our “daddy.” And because we are His children, Christ says that we are His “brothers” (See Mark 3:31 and Luke 8:21).
These parables are not about the lost sheep, the lost coin, or the lost son. No, Jesus was telling us about something much more important. He was telling us about God. He was telling us about the love of God! He was telling us about the love of God for His children!
God loves His children more than we will ever grasp. And because he loves us, we love Him and sing:
My heart is steadfast, O God! I will sing and make melody with all my being! Awake, O harp and lyre! I will awake the dawn! I will give thanks to you, O LORD, among the peoples; I will sing praises to you among the nations. For your steadfast love is great above the heavens; your faithfulness reaches to the clouds. Be exalted, O God, above the heavens! Let your glory be over all the earth! That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer me! (Psalm 108:1-6)
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