BIBLENOTES Prodigal Son LESSON-SERMON: EVERLASTING PUNISHMENT, MAY 3, 2015 The parable of the prodigal son is rightly called the pearl of parables, and our Master's greatest utterance may well be called the diamond sermon (Ret. 91:3-5). Luke 15: 1, 10-24 there (in Sections 2 and 3) 1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. Publican in Greek is telones which means a tax-farmer, i.e. collector of public revenue (Strong 5057, Accordance). Tax collectors were among those who were ostracized because their work was considered dishonest or immoral (EBC, Accordance ) 10... there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth. According to the thought of the time, a court of angels of the presence surrounded the throne of God. One soul coming home to God brings joy in earth and heaven, a better joy than when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy (IB 8.269). 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. The father is God.... The younger son is all penitent sinners, here, in particular, the publicans and sinners. The portion of goods (v. 12) is the whole of a man s faculties and powers, which he ought to exercise and enjoy in his father s house, i.e. in dependence upon God and in His service, but which the prodigal son demands to have under his own control, to use according to his own will and pleasure (Dummelow 758-759). According to Jewish customs in Palestine, a father could dispose of his property either 2015-04-26 1/8 Prodigal Son
by a will to be executed after his death or by a gift to his children during his lifetime ( AYB Luke i-ix.1087). Give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. The part of property that is my share (Barnes 229). He divided unto them his living. The division of property, among the Jews, gave the elder son twice as much as the younger (Barnes 229). Portion is meros in Greek and means part, one of the constituent parts of a whole (Thayer 400). Did the son believe that good could be portioned out? That there are really only parts of good and man doesn t deserve it all? The younger son wants to do as he pleases. With a character comprised mostly of human will, he believes that he can separate himself from the Father and find freedom. While expressing the immaturity of youth, he simply wants to be irresponsible for a time. As so many do, he wants instant gratification, doing what he wants to do when he wants to do it. He is not willing to work hard for anything, to wait and be patient and think ahead. He is frivolous and weak and consequently suffers for his sin. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. gathered together all he had. The verb synagein, bring together, probably carries the connotation of converting everything into cash. It is so used to mean converting the inheritance into money. The young son was apparently within his rights to do this (AYB Luke i-ix.1088). Into a far country. A country far off from his father s house. He went probably to trade, or seek his fortune; and in his wanderings came at last to this dissipated place, where his property was soon expended (Barnes 229).... not many days after, he gathers all together, i.e. deliberately resolves to devote his whole fortune and all his powers to the pursuit of pleasure, and journeys into a far country, i.e. into the world of sin where God is not, or rather where He is forgotten, and wastes his substance in riotous living (Dummelow 759). Literally he converts everything into cash and then squanders all his wealth with wild 2015-04-26 2/8 Prodigal Son
living. He travels to a far country, looking for pleasure, substance and life in matter. The far-off country represents a place where God has been forgotten and where the younger son is far from the Father s rules and laws. He decides to devote his whole fortune to the pursuit of pleasure. The word prodigal means reckless, extravagant, wasteful, ungrateful. This is the version of man according to the second chapter of Genesis, expressing qualities of thought like self-centeredness, willfulness, and selfishness. As his thought wanders and he is attracted to the sensual and worldly the false pleasures of the flesh he is subjected to severe consequences. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. Presently there arises a mighty famine in the land, i.e. his pleasures pall, his friends prove false, his animal indulgences fail to satisfy him (Dummelow 759). The famine made employment and food harder to obtain with no true satisfaction. He finds himself spiritually starving, spiritually malnourished. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. Though from a good Jewish family, he becomes a swineherd. Since pigs, though cloven-footed, do not chew the cud, they are considered unclean animals for a Jew. This detail suggests the degradation to which the young son has been brought (AYB Luke i-ix.1088). To feed swine. This was a very low employment, and particularly so to a Jew. It was forbidden to the Jews to eat them, and of course it was unlawful to keep them. To be compelled, therefore, to engage in such an employment was the deepest conceivable degradation (Barnes 229). Due to his want and poverty he feels as though he has no choice but to compromise his integrity. He allows himself to feel the pull to the glamour of sin and now he is pulled to animality and degradation. Since sin brings its own punishment, his direction has been totally downward. He starts out using the world for his pleasure, but ends up becoming its slave. 2015-04-26 3/8 Prodigal Son
17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! This realization and the remorse are the beginning of his repentance. His remorse must include a realization of what he has done to his father and a regret for his misconduct ( AYB Luke i-ix.1088). He came to himself. This is a very expressive phrase. It is commonly applied to one who has been deranged; and when he recovers, we say he has come to himself. In this place, it denotes that the folly of the young man was a kind of derangement that he was insane. So it is true of every sinner (Barnes 229). All his dreams are shattered and his cup of misery is now full. He has fallen so low and become so insignificant that no one gives him anything. Totally neglected, he tries to feed his hunger with the husks, but they cannot appease his gnawing pain. This is what happens when we turn our backs on God: from our perspective, it appears He has turned His back on us. Then he [comes] to himself; he wakes up and is filled with great remorse and regret. He longs to return to the Father s household where he was loved, cared for, and fed. 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, REPENTANCE Sin is hamartano in Greek and means to miss the mark; to err, be mistaken; to miss or wander from the path of uprightness and honour; to do wrong; to wander from the law of God; to violate God s law; to sin (Thayer 30). To my Father. He has nowhere else to go but to God (Barnes 229). I have sinned. I have been wicked, have been dissipated, ungrateful, and rebellious (Barnes 229). With true repentance, humility, and a willingness to confess his sins and take responsibility for them, he longs to return to his Father. The word convert (or turn ) is epistrepho in Greek and means to turn to, to the worship of the true God, to bring back, to turn one s self about, turn back, return (Thayer 243). 2015-04-26 4/8 Prodigal Son
Repent is metanoeo in Greek and means to change one s mind, i.e. to repent, to change one s mind for the better, to heartily amend with abhorrence of one s past sin (Thayer 405). In a way, the prodigal son repents and turns away FROM the far country and turns back TO his Father. The lack of seeing one's deformed mentality, and of repentance therefor, deep, never to be repented of, is retarding, and in certain morbid instances stopping, the growth of Christian Scientists. Without a knowledge of his sins, and repentance so severe that it destroys them, no person is or can be a Christian Scientist (Mis. 107:25). 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. REFORMATION No more worthy, etc. Such has been my conduct that I have been a disgrace to my father. I am not fit to be honored by being called the son of a father so kind and virtuous. Treat me as a servant. Let me come again into your family, but I do not ask to be treated as a son. This evinced 1) deep humility such as a sinner should have; 2) love for his father s house such as all penitents should have towards God s dwelling-place in heaven; and 3) confidence in his father, that he would treat him kindly, even if he treated him as a servant (Barnes 229). place me lowest in thy kingdom (Dummelow 759). 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. RESTORATION A great way off. This is a beautiful description the image of his father s happening to see him clad in rags, poor, and emaciated, and yet he recognized his son, and all the feelings of a father excited him to go and embrace him. He saw his condition his poverty, and wretched appearance and was moved with compassion and love. And ran. This is opposed to the manner in which the son came. The beauty of the picture is greatly heightened by these circumstances. The son came slowly the father ran (Barnes 230). and kissed him. Not just in the sense of greeting or welcome, but as a manifestation of forgiveness (AYB Luke i-ix. 1080). 2015-04-26 5/8 Prodigal Son
His father had been daily waiting for his return and expecting him moment by moment. The father shows total forgiveness and unconditional love, with no reproach or condemnation. A father in these times would not have normally run as he did and would not have given him a warm embrace in public. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. The son had to learn that the only real gravitational pull is Godward. He was redeemed by his Father and discovered the source of true joy. He was able to let go of past mistakes and was restored to his Father. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: Spiritual teaching must always be by symbols (S&H 575:13-14). All of these symbols signify the idea of true sonship. The Father is saying to his son, I know who you are, you are my image, my beloved son. The son is thus restored, whole and complete.... put a ring on his hand (a symbol of rank and honour), and shoes on his feet (symbolizing spiritual freedom, for slaves went barefoot), and bring the fatted calf and kill it (signifying the joy there is in earth and heaven over a repentant sinner, perhaps also the spiritual nourishment which the hungry soul will find in the ordinances of religion which have been so long neglected); for this my son was dead (in sin) and is alive again (by repentance) (Dummelow 759). The best robe. The son was probably in rags. The joy of the father is expressed by clothing him in the best raiment, that he might appear well. The robe here mentioned is probably the outer garment; and the father told them to put on him the best one that was in the house one reserved for festival occasions (Barnes 239). A ring on his hand. To wear a ring on the hand was one mark of wealth and dignity. The rich and those in office commonly wore them. To give a ring was a mark of favour or of affection or of conferring office (Barnes 239). Shoes on his feet. Servants probably did not usually wear shoes. The son returned, doubtless, without shoes a condition very unlike that in which he was when he left home. Then, therefore, the father commanded them to put shoes on him, it expressed his 2015-04-26 6/8 Prodigal Son
wish that he should not be treated as a servant, but as a son (Barnes 2). 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: the fatted calf. In a culture in which meat was not often eaten, this slaughtering of an animal fattened up for a special occasion also marks the esteem of the father on the return of his young son (AB Luke i-ix. 1090). 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. was dead and has come back to life. A figurative sense of the adjective nekros. Here is it used in still a different figurative sense; either as thought to be dead (because he was no longer part of the father s household) or morally dead (because of his dissolute life). Life would then mean either life in the family or spiritual life (that of a reformed penitent (AYB Luke i-ix. 1087). There isn t anything that we could ever do that God could not forgive. Pleasure in matter brings pain. Sin has its consequences, and we attach ourselves to those consequences until we cease sinning. Upon our return home, we find ourselves restored, cared for and beloved. Mary Baker Eddy writes about sin in this way: Without punishment, sin would multiply (S&H 11:1 [only]). We acknowledge God's forgiveness of sin in the destruction of sin and the spiritual understanding that casts out evil as unreal. But the belief in sin is punished so long as the belief lasts (S&H 497: 9-12). Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Error excludes itself from harmony. Sin is its own punishment (S&H 537:13-15). Sin punishes itself, because it cannot go unpunished either here or hereafter. Nothing is more fatal than to indulge a sinning sense or consciousness for even one moment (Mis. 93: 27-30). Sources: The Anchor Yale Bible: The Gospel According to Luke (x-xxiv). Introduction, translation and notes 2015-04-26 7/8 Prodigal Son
by Joseph A. Fitzmyer. New York: Doubleday, 1985. Barnes, Albert. Barnes Notes on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Kregel, 1962. Dummelow, J. R., ed. A Commentary on the Holy Bible. Harrington Park: Sommer. Eddy, Mary Baker. Miscellaneous Writings, 1883-1896. Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1896. Via Concord Online www.concordworks.com. Eddy, Mary Baker. Retrospection and Introspection. Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1891. Via Concord Online www.concordworks.com. Eddy, Mary Baker. Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures. Boston: Christian Science Publishing Society, 1875. Via Concord Online www.concordworks.com. The Expositor s Bible Commentary (all editions). Cited by Accordance Bible Study Collection (software). The Interpreter s Bible. Ed. George Arthur Buttrick et al. 12 vols. New York: Abingdon, 1953. Strong, James. Strong s Exhaustive Concordance. Grand Rapids: Baker, 1987. Cited by Accordance Bible Study Collection (software). Thayer, Joseph Henry, trans. The New Thayer s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament. Peabody: Hendrickson, 1981. Abbreviation key: AYB = Anchor Yale Bible EBC = The Expositor s Bible Commentary IB = The Interpreter s Bible Mis. = Miscellaneous Writings Ret. = Retrospection and Introspection S&H = Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures 2015-04-26 8/8 Prodigal Son