Study on the Parables

[jehovahjireh2007]

To all at CF,

I am going to do a study on the Parables of Jesus and their lessons for today.

The First Parable is one we are probably all familiar with: The Prodigal Son.

The Parable is found in Luke 15 v11-32.

What are the lessons for today?

Firstly, we have done exactly what the Prodigal Son did. We have turned away from God as the Prodigal Son turned away from his father. Adam did this first in the Garden of Eden and we have done it consciously ever since. For it says in Isaiah 53 v6 "We all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way..." We have spurned God's love. We have gone, as it were, to foreign parts.
Secondly, for those of us who are Christians, there was a day when we, like the Prodigal Son, "came to ourselves", as it were. We became unhappy with our lives and we became aware that we had wronged God and that we stood guilty and condemned before Him. This may have been through circumstances, from reading the Bible, through somebody preaching or through other ways. Whatever it was we decided to 'go back to our Father' as it were. We decided to repent and turn around. We decided to say sorry to Him for all the wrong we had done, for going away from Him.
Thirdly, this is perhaps the most glorious lesson from this parable, God is ready and willing to receive us. He, as it were, runs to us and embraces us. God still loves us despite what we have done to Him.
Fourhtly, He is as it were looking out for us. He also makes us new. He puts a new robe on us, his righteousness in exchange for our rags.
Fifthly,We were spiritually dead and spiritually lost. But when we repent and come back to our Father we are no longer spiritually dead or lost we are spiritually alive and spiritually found.
Sixthly, there is rejoicing in Heaven when we repent and turn around and come back to out Father just as there was when the Prodigal Son came back to his father, for it says in Luke 15 v7 "I say to you that there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety nine just persons who have no need of repentance".
Sevethly, and finally concerns those to whom the Parable was originally told: The Pharisees. They are portrayed in the older son who didn't rejoice at his brother's homecoming and had no time for him. Just like him, the Pharisees did not like Jesus opening the door of the Gospel to sinners. Pharisees are not an extinct species! There are still those around today who complain when the free offer of the Gospel is made to sinners.

I am sorry there were so many but there is so much in this parable

The next one will be the Parable of the Two Foundations.

Derbystudent

 

[GraceInHim]

good studies..

 

[jehovahjireh2007]

Thank you, GraceInHim.

Derbystudent

 

[nephilimiyr]

To all at CF,

I am going to do a study on the Parables of Jesus and their lessons for today.

The First Parable is one we are probably all familiar with: The Prodigal Son.

The Parable is found in Luke 15 v11-32.

What are the lessons for today?

Firstly, we have done exactly what the Prodigal Son did. We have turned away from God as the Prodigal Son turned away from his father. Adam did this first in the Garden of Eden and we have done it consciously ever since. For it says in Isaiah 53 v6 "We all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way..." We have spurned God's love. We have gone, as it were, to foreign parts.
Secondly, for those of us who are Christians, there was a day when we, like the Prodigal Son, "came to ourselves", as it were. We became unhappy with our lives and we became aware that we had wronged God and that we stood guilty and condemned before Him. This may have been through circumstances, from reading the Bible, through somebody preaching or through other ways. Whatever it was we decided to 'go back to our Father' as it were. We decided to repent and turn around. We decided to say sorry to Him for all the wrong we had done, for going away from Him.
Thirdly, this is perhaps the most glorious lesson from this parable, God is ready and willing to receive us. He, as it were, runs to us and embraces us. God still loves us despite what we have done to Him.
Fourhtly, He is as it were looking out for us. He also makes us new. He puts a new robe on us, his righteousness in exchange for our rags.
Fifthly,We were spiritually dead and spiritually lost. But when we repent and come back to our Father we are no longer spiritually dead or lost we are spiritually alive and spiritually found.
Sixthly, there is rejoicing in Heaven when we repent and turn around and come back to out Father just as there was when the Prodigal Son came back to his father, for it says in Luke 15 v7 "I say to you that there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety nine just persons who have no need of repentance".
Sevethly, and finally concerns those to whom the Parable was originally told: The Pharisees. They are portrayed in the older son who didn't rejoice at his brother's homecoming and had no time for him. Just like him, the Pharisees did not like Jesus opening the door of the Gospel to sinners. Pharisees are not an extinct species! There are still those around today who complain when the free offer of the Gospel is made to sinners.

I am sorry there were so many but there is so much in this parable

The next one will be the Parable of the Two Foundations.

Derbystudent

Not so fast! You forgot about the eighth lesson and it concerns the elder son.

Luke 15:25-26, Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servents, and asked what these things meant.

The most tragic thing about this story is that when the elder son returns home he hears the sound of music and dancing but he has to ask somebody what this means. He's been in the house and being loyal to the families business his whole life and during all this time he doesn't know what having a party means. It's a tragic thing to be living inside the fathers house and not know how to have a party and be joyous and celebrate, to strike up the band and dance and sing. it would be a tragedy to be raised in Christianity and not know how to have a party.

Many Christians today just don't know what it means to party, to be joyous in the Lord. Some people need to be told that it's ok to have a spirit of joy, to laugh at things and situations and just enjoy life with their families and friends.

 

[jehovahjireh2007]

Very true. Thank you for pointing that out to me. I just wanted to draw out the main points.

I didn't wan it to be too long.

Derbystudent

 

[visionary]

Sometimes we are so wrapped up in our thinking, that it takes the whisper of God's voice in our hearts to help us "come to our senses." It is the wake up call, from our desastorious direction our thinking is taking us. It is contrary to the prevailing influences that were around us to influence these thoughts. It is the Voice of God that opens up our eyes to the truth in its proper setting.

Pig pens can be home for some, until they come to their senses.

 

[KEPLER]

Well, I'll risk being too long, because this post sorely needs some correction:

To all at CF,

I am going to do a study on the Parables of Jesus and their lessons for today.

The First Parable is one we are probably all familiar with: The Prodigal Son.

The Parable is found in Luke 15 v11-32.

What are the lessons for today?

Firstly, we have done exactly what the Prodigal Son did. We have turned away from God as the Prodigal Son turned away from his father. Adam did this first in the Garden of Eden and we have done it consciously ever since. For it says in Isaiah 53 v6 "We all like sheep have gone astray, we have turned everyone to his own way..." We have spurned God's love. We have gone, as it were, to foreign parts.
Secondly, for those of us who are Christians, there was a day when we, like the Prodigal Son, "came to ourselves", as it were. We became unhappy with our lives and we became aware that we had wronged God and that we stood guilty and condemned before Him. This may have been through circumstances, from reading the Bible, through somebody preaching or through other ways. Whatever it was we decided to 'go back to our Father' as it were. We decided to repent and turn around. We decided to say sorry to Him for all the wrong we had done, for going away from Him.
Thirdly, this is perhaps the most glorious lesson from this parable, God is ready and willing to receive us. He, as it were, runs to us and embraces us. God still loves us despite what we have done to Him.
Fourhtly, He is as it were looking out for us. He also makes us new. He puts a new robe on us, his righteousness in exchange for our rags.
Fifthly,We were spiritually dead and spiritually lost. But when we repent and come back to our Father we are no longer spiritually dead or lost we are spiritually alive and spiritually found.
Sixthly, there is rejoicing in Heaven when we repent and turn around and come back to out Father just as there was when the Prodigal Son came back to his father, for it says in Luke 15 v7 "I say to you that there is more joy in Heaven over one sinner who repents than ninety nine just persons who have no need of repentance".
Sevethly, and finally concerns those to whom the Parable was originally told: The Pharisees. They are portrayed in the older son who didn't rejoice at his brother's homecoming and had no time for him. Just like him, the Pharisees did not like Jesus opening the door of the Gospel to sinners. Pharisees are not an extinct species! There are still those around today who complain when the free offer of the Gospel is made to sinners.

I am sorry there were so many but there is so much in this parable

The next one will be the Parable of the Two Foundations.

Derbystudent

Sorry Derbystudent, but there are some misconceptions in your reading of the "Episode of the Two Lost Sons" (as it is properly called.) I hope you don't mind, but I am going to offer an alternative way to read it...

First, you will notice that I called it an "Episode" and not a parable. That is because there is ONE parable in Luke 15, just as Luke states: "So he told them this parable."(Luke15:3) Not "these parables", but "this parable." We ought not take just part of the parable, out of the context established by the others. The ONE parable comprises THREE "episodes". The first episode is the "Lost Sheep". The second episode is the "Lost Coin". The last episode is the "Two Lost Sons".

In the first episode, the Shepherd goes out to find the one lost sheep becasue that sheep is INCAPABLE of findings its way home. If the Shepherd doesn't seek it out, the sheep will remain lost and be eaten by wolves. When the shepherd finds it, he picks it up on his shoulders (a very great burden, since the text says "sheep" and not "lamb"...a full grown sheep is well over 100 pounds). When he returns, he gathers all of his friends, and has a celebration. And then Jesus (speaking to the Pharisees) says, "Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance." The pharisees, listening to this, know that Jesus has set THEM up as the 99 other sheep. But what happens to them? At the end of the episode, Jesus has left them standing in an "open field"....They're lost, and they don't even know it. One thing they've definitely figured out, however, is that the "Shepherd" in this episode is YHWH.

You see, this episode is a midrash (commentary) on the 23rd Psalm: "The Lord is my Shepherd." The Psalm starts out speaking of a shepherd, then the writer (who is the sheep) is suddenly walking in the valley of the shadow of death (he's lost), but then he is comforted, and the SHEPHERD prepares a feast. This Psalm lines up almost perfectly with the first episode... So, the Pharisees KNOW that the "finder", the "Shepherd" is God.

In the next episode, Jesus surely rocks their world, because here the "finder" is a woman! Yep, Jesus calls God a woman. So, this woman is missing one of her coins. Her solution is to light a lamp, and clean the house until she finds it. When she does, she too throws a party for a her friends. "Just so," says Jesus, "I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents." Repent? But neither the sheep nor the coin could DO anything to repent. A sheep is helpless when it's lost, and coin is...well...a COIN. How can an inanimate object repent??? Nevertheless, Jesus compares their "being found" to repentance. This episode is possibly a midrash on Isaiah 60:1-3.

Now we come to the episode of the "Two Lost Sons", which has been set-up by the first two and CANNOT be properly understood without them.

There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.' And he divided his property between them.

"Dad, I wish you were dead!"

That's what the younger son said to his father. By asking for his inheritance, that's what he is implying, since an inheritance is only given out upon the Patriarch's death. The younger son has insulted his father in the most grievous way a son could possibly do. The father has EVERY right to beat the son about the head and shoulders...in fact, no one would blame the father if he KILLED the son, the insult is so terrible. Remember, this a highly patriarchal society, deeply embedded with concepts of Honor vs. Shame. The son has shamed the father. The ONLY way for the father to get his honor back is to SHAME the son in a greater manner than he himself was shamed.

(We often hear, these days, in the news about "honor killings"... When a woman in the family is raped (or assaulted in some or another way), she is then considered the "bearer" of the shame. In order for the family to recover its "honor standing" it needs to get rid of the shame: wipe it out. So they will kill the girl/woman who was assaulted, and voila! -- no more shame. Yes, it's twisted and uncivil, but that's how it works. Ancient Jewish society ran by these exact same rules! In fact, the middle-east still works by these rules. Why is it that whenever a Palestinian blows himself up, the Israelis respond in GREATER force? It's because the Palestinians SHAMED them, and the Israelis are getting their HONOR back. It really is that simple, that uncivilized, and that unChristian.)

But what does the Father do? He turns the other cheek. (AHA! So that's what "turn the other cheek" is all about!) He refuses to match indignity with indignity. He divided his property between them. (IOW, the older son gets his share of the property at this time, too, which is very important to the end of the story!!!) The older son gets 2/3, the younger son 1/3.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.

That part about "gathered all he had" means he "cashed out". Wealth in ancient Israel was measured in property (livestock & land). Since he can't take it with him, he sells it, presumably to someone local (since you can't move land). So now he's added insult to injury, because everyone in the village knows what has transpired between him and his father. He has shamed his father even more! He then high-tails it outta town, and spends his money recklessly (we are given NO clue as to what this means!!) He's in a "far country" living among gentiles, and a famine arises. Now, cultures can generally withstand a one-year famine with stored grain. Two-years gets harder, and by the third year, all is gone. Presumably, this famine has gone on for over a year, meaning it's been going on at least 12-24 months. So, it may be that, given some time living recklessly (1 year?) and then a subsequent famine (1-2 years?) that he's been gone from home for 2-3 years. And he's in need.

So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

He's hungry and he is SHAMED. Having ANYTHING to do with a pig is unclean in his home land. The fact that he's out feeding them, and even wants to eat their food, is pretty much bottom of the barrel. And on top of that, he is considered such a "nothing" by gentiles that they won't even give him some pig-fodder to eat...? Insult on injury.

Remember, the Father had NOT repaid the son's insults. Rather, he gave the son what he asked. He left vengeance to the Lord. This passage perfectly reflects what Paul wrote in Romans 12:

Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

So, what does the son, who is now at the lowest point of life, decide to do?

Does he repent? Many, many, many readers and hearers of this episode BLOW IT at this very point. Because they THINK the son is repenting.

BUT HE IS NOT.

The son hatches a plan to DECIEVE his father back into taking him in. The son is a deceitful little conniver who thinks he can TRICK his way back into his father's home.

"But when he came to himself, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."'

We need to remember who is telling the story here: Jesus. And Jesus knows his Scripture: after all, of course, He wrote it. He IS it. So it is blasphemy to suggest that the words Jesus chooses to put into the son's mouth at this precise moment are either accidental or incidental. The words that Jesus has the son speaking are VERY IMPORTANT. In fact, they are probably the MOST important words in the entire three episodes.

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

This is NO confession. This is a trick. Jesus QUITE INTENTIONALLY has the son quoting the Old Testament. But WHO is the son mimicking?

Then Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in haste; and he said, "I have sinned against the LORD your God, and against you."

Pharaoh was just trying to get some relief...he wasn't repenting. He was using his plea as a "bargaining chip" to get Moses to alleviate the Plague. And just so, the younger son is using this "feigned" confession to get something out his father.

Repentance?

No way. Not. Even. Close. As Jesus makes perfectly clear.

So the deceitful young son picks his deceitful bony butt up off the ground and goes on his way to deceive his father...

 

[KEPLER]

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.

Whoa! NO ONE was expecting THAT! The Pharisees who were listening must have been thinking that this father was the ABSOLUTE WORST father that ever lived! He couldn't keep his sons in line, and now he runs (RUNS!) to him and kisses him....he should AT LEAST make the boy grovel for a while.

We should point out the "fashion" for men of the day was long robes, that touched the ground. In order for a man to run, he would have to lift up the ends of the robe, thereby exposing his legs. Exposed legs, in Ancient Israel, were just as much a "no-no" for a man as they were for a woman. Exposing your own legs was absolute self-humiliation. It's be like dropping your shorts and having a bowel movement in public today... And yet that father HUMILIATES HIMSELF in order to get to his son. With no regard for himself, he runs to give the son what he does not deserve: hugs and kisses.

In Christian theology, we have a word for that. It is called GRACE. (Technically, the ct of NOT giving the son what he deserves is MERCY; giving him what he does NOT deserve is GRACE.)

The son is not ready to give up his deceitful ways yet, however...He goes on and tries to start bargaining...

And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.'

Notice that he doesn't even get to finish his prepared speech: His deceit is drowned out by his Father's grace:

But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.

The son doesn't get to finish. He is now overwhelmed by the father's grace. NOW there is repentance...metanoia...a change of mind. NOW he understands that he was never in a position to bargain. NOW he understands that bargaining would have been useless anyways, because his father gave him more than he had any right to expect. Now he is FOUND. The father's kindness has brought the son to repentance (Rom 2:4)

To say anything was repentance up to this point is unchristian. Jesus makes it crystal clear in the first two episodes that repentance lies in having been found (past perfect). Here, he makes it clear that ANY AMOUNT of "coming to ourselves" is nothing more than deception on our parts. We are slaves to sin. There is no one righteous. We. Are. Lost. Until we are found, we are spiritually dead. Dead people do not...CANNOT..."come to themselves" in any meaningful way, as Jesus makes clear.

And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate.

Whoa there, okay, he's happy and wants to celebrate (just like the first two episodes)...but now he is stepping in where he has no rights....

Remember, "He divided it between them." The older son got his share of the inheritance, too. The father is out of place in dispensing gifts, because he gave the rights of ownership over to the older son, did he not? So, if it's the older son's job to dispense with gifts, where is he?

Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. And he said to him, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.

So, now older bro' knows that younger bro' is home....

The Pharisees, by this time, know that they themselves are the "older brother"...the implication of the first episode established that clearly. They will also recall that the 99 sheep were left standing in a field, which is precisely where the older brother is standing now. It's crystal clear to them. The "sinners' that they were grumbling about are "in the house" and they are out in the field. How outraged and red-faced must they have been? Well, Jesus knows their thoughts and puts them into words:

But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, but he answered his father, 'Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.

Oh, boy, now the father gets humiliated AGAIN. He is forced (by the older brother's obstinacy) to leave the party (where he is the host, and the host NEVER leaves the party!) and has to go out and beg for his son to come inside.

But the son brushes him off, saying, "Hey pal, what did you ever do for me?" Huh??!!

Then the son really blows it: "I have served you", implying the father is a task-master, rather than a father. "I never disobeyed your command". Ah! They have kept the law perfectly…it's becoming clearer to the Pharisees now where Jesus is going with this. "Yet you never gave me a young goat". And with this, the complete outrageousness of the older son's complaint is revealed. The Father had ALREADY given him EVERYTHING: the land, the livestock, EVERYTHING. HE. HAD. HIS.INHERITANCE. He could have taken his goat and slaughtered it any time he wanted. But he accuses the father of withholding it. And who would he have celebrated with??? "...that I might celebrate with my friends." Oh, so he wouldn't have celebrated with his own family? He'd celebrate with his friends instead? Some son.

But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!'

Not "my brother", but "this son of yours". The older son wants nothing to do with the younger son (Pharisees are seething mad by now!) He has already borne false witness against his father, and now he bears it against his brother: "who has devoured your property with prostitutes". Well, the earlier part of the episode said NOTHING about prostitutes, and the older brother has not yet spoken with the younger, so there is NO WAY he can know how the younger brother spent his money. He is lying; falsely accusing. Falsely accusing someone is another one of those situations where the father would be perfectly justified (in Ancient Israel) in executing judgment on the older son.

Does he do this? No. Once again, he returns Grace and Mercy for insult.

And he said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.'"

Jesus ends the parable there. The Pharisees are left in their seething rage. The same kindness that was shown the younger son when his father ran out to greet him is standing right there in front of them (for they now realize that Jesus is casting himself in the role of the father in the third episode) has been shown to them, by means of the older son. But the parable is over. What happens to the older son? What happens to the 99 sheep?

 

[KEPLER]

For the record, I have drawn this material form the scholarship of a Presbyterian pastor named Kenneth Bailey. His books can be found on Amazon.com, the titles are below:

The Cross & the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants
Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes (Combined edition)
Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15
Jacob & the Prodigal: How Jesus Retold Israel's Story

 

[KEPLER]

And FWIW, people who misinterpret the Parable of the Lost Items also misinterpret the Parable of the Pearl of Great Price.

These two parables are the same: it is God who seeks and God who finds: Jesus is the Merchant. We are the Pearl.

Kepler

 

[Citizen of the Kingdom]

Wow Great stuff

 

[visionary]

That part about "gathered all he had" means he "cashed out". Wealth in ancient Israel was measured in property (livestock & land).

Cashing it in, has a lot more implication than even you presented. The inheritence of the Israelites to the land was the promised land. It extremely important to keep it in the family even if it meant giving it to the daughters.

Numbers 27:8
And thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel, saying, If a man die, and have no son, then ye shall cause his inheritance to pass unto his daughter.

Which was another reason the widow married the brother. So for the son to sell his inheritence was like Esau selling his birthright for lentil soul.

 

[Mayflower1]

This is a good lesson derbystudent! The parable of the prodigal son does have many points some just don't see but you see them! Good for you and keep it up! Lily00

 

[dcyates]

For the record, I have drawn this material form the scholarship of a Presbyterian pastor named Kenneth Bailey. His books can be found on Amazon.com, the titles are below:

The Cross & the Prodigal: Luke 15 Through the Eyes of Middle Eastern Peasants
Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes (Combined edition)
Finding the Lost: Cultural Keys to Luke 15
Jacob & the Prodigal: How Jesus Retold Israel's Story

Excellent stuff, KEPLER. I'm also a big fan of Kenneth Bailey's extensive studies of Luke 15. You've got to know this is a pretty profound parable when somebody can base virtually their entire academic career on just it. It should perhaps also be noted that Bailey spent over forty years teaching NT throughout such Near Eastern nations as Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, and Cyprus, and thus spent much of his life within a cultural milieu in many ways quite similar to that of the Bible. Not only has he studied this stuff, he's come as close as any Westerner can expect to actually living it. He knows whereof he speaks.
Another work of his that is a virtual must-read (but one not directly related to the contents of Luke 15) is an article titled "Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels" in the Asia Journal of Theology, 5:1/91; pp. 34-53. (In case you have trouble finding it there, I know a revised version of this article can also be found in Themelios 20:2/1995; pp. 4-11.) After reading this, you readily realize why when some critic declares that the contents of the Gospels cannot be possibly be considered accurate because they were written a few decades or so after the actual events, they simply don't know what they're talking about.

 

[KEPLER]

Excellent stuff, KEPLER. I'm also a big fan of Kenneth Bailey's extensive studies of Luke 15. You've got to know this is a pretty profound parable when somebody can base virtually their entire academic career on just it. It should perhaps also be noted that Bailey spent over forty years teaching NT throughout such Near Eastern nations as Egypt, Lebanon, Israel, and Cyprus, and thus spent much of his life within a cultural milieu in many ways quite similar to that of the Bible. Not only has he studied this stuff, he's come as close as any Westerner can expect to actually living it. He knows whereof he speaks.
Another work of his that is a virtual must-read (but one not directly related to the contents of Luke 15) is an article titled "Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels" in the Asia Journal of Theology, 5:1/91; pp. 34-53. (In case you have trouble finding it there, I know a revised version of this article can also be found in Themelios 20:2/1995; pp. 4-11.) After reading this, you readily realize why when some critic declares that the contents of the Gospels cannot be possibly be considered accurate because they were written a few decades or so after the actual events, they simply don't know what they're talking about.

Yep. I have that article, in fact for everyone's benefit, here is a direct link to it:
Informal Controlled Oral Tradition and the Synoptic Gospels, by Kenneth E. Bailey.

Puts the silly Jesus Seminar stuff to rest.

Glad you brought it up!!!

Kepler

 

[icxn]

Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.

This is NO confession. This is a trick. Jesus QUITE INTENTIONALLY has the son quoting the Old Testament. But WHO is the son mimicking?

Let's assume for a second that the son was really sorry for what he did. What else do you expect him to say? How many Christians throughout the centuries said those words in contrition and repentance? Are you (or Mr. Bailey) saying that they were all tricksters?

 

[KEPLER]

Let's assume for a second that the son was really sorry for what he did. What else do you expect him to say? How many Christians throughout the centuries said those words in contrition and repentance? Are you (or Mr. Bailey) saying that they were all tricksters?

Nothing I said suggested that. (But, to a degree, yes: we are all tricksters). But that is not the point.

Jesus, who was well-versed in the Scriptures, put THOSE words in the mouth of the younger son.

The pharisees, to whom Jesus was speaking, would have recalled INSTANTLY, that those were Pharoah's words. (Since you are EO, I suspect that you are well aware of how much "oral cultures" remember.)

Furthermore, the deceitful intent is exposed by the way the son is reasoning. "I'm hungry. The solution to my hunger is to hire myself out to my father. He won't hire me unless I apologize. So, I'll apologize, and I will get to eat."

He has no intention of restoring his relationship with his father. His intention is to eat.

But his Father's grace reveals the true nature of his problem.

A person can say the right words and still have them void of intent. That's what the book of James is about, after all.

Kepler

 

[tall73]

Yes, it does have all the aspects of a prepared speech....and he had rehearsed it so much that he was halfway through it before he realized what his Father had done.

1JN 4:19 We love because he first loved us.

Good stuff on the explanation Kepler. Certainly it was directed to the Pharisees who had made a culture out of avoiding sinners, and rejected the One who loved them.

I am not sure about the long robes thing. We have examples of people girding up the loins for running, for battle , etc. and it seems to have been an understood practical necessity. But certainly the Father's overall reaction was out of the norm.

 

[icxn]

...Furthermore, the deceitful intent is exposed by the way the son is reasoning. "I'm hungry. The solution to my hunger is to hire myself out to my father. He won't hire me unless I apologize. So, I'll apologize, and I will get to eat."

Forgive me but IMHO the words "...I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants," are words of humility not of trickery. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to eat, it is part of our nature, plus the son is asking for food - if you insists in seeing it that way - in exchange of labor, which is just.

You say that attempting to restore his relationship with his father would have been the good intention. Perhaps, but not wanting to restore it, can equally be a good intention* if - as he had - considered himself unworthy of the dignity of sonship.

* though it seems to me to be a better intention as the story of the Canaanite woman testifies (cf. Mt. 15:27-28)

 

[KEPLER]

Forgive me but IMHO the words "...I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants," are words of humility not of trickery. And there's nothing wrong with wanting to eat, it is part of our nature, plus the son is asking for food - if you insists in seeing it that way - in exchange of labor, which is just.

You say that attempting to restore his relationship with his father would have been the good intention. Perhaps, but not wanting to restore it, can equally be a good intention if - as he had - considered himself unworthy of the dignity of sonship.

icxn...

You are taking the actions of the son out of the context of parable: he's not a real person..We cannot judge his actions as if he might have behaved another way.

The only valid way to interpret this passage is to understand that Jesus is the one telling the story. If the son could have done something another way, then Jesus would have told the story that way.

Jesus is making a distinction between false repentence and genuine repentance.

K