Lost: The Three Parables In The Gospel Of Luke

As some background information, the chapter starts with the Pharisees and scribes condemning Jesus for hanging around sinners. Jesus responds to their scorn with three parables, all of which deal with the themes of being lost and found. Jesus begins this parable with how there was once a father who had two sons. The father is clearly a representation of God while the elder son is meant to represent the Pharisees or hypocritical Christians and the younger son signifies sinners.

In today’s world people make a common mistake by making comparisons with the Bible and Aesop’s Fables. In the Bible it is important to which is emphasized more, law or grace. It is just as important to do the same in Aesop’s Fables. Very often a mistake is easily made in reading Jesus’s Parables. Understanding the emphasis of law and grace in both the Bible and Aesop’s Fables and realizing mistakes we make with reading Jesus’s parables can help with reading the parables

This complete forgiving by the father may be hard to accept, unless one considers that the prodigal son, according to the parable, has already been redeemed. "And when he came to himself..." (Luke 15:17) suggest that the

Parables are told to reveal the truths about the kingdom of God. To be revealed in a manner in which only those who truly care will come to know. By doing so Jesus was able to separate the audience into two groups, the

The Gospel of Luke is one of the four gospels as part of the new testament. Luke’s Gospel is dependent on other earlier writings, especially the Gospel according to Mark. The purpose of the Gospel is to communicate the life of God and promote the universal significance of Jesus Christ's’ story. Luke makes an effort to make his readings relatable to readers from different religious, ethnic, and social backgrounds. The reason Luke makes an effort to create an easily relatable story is to create a point of identity and entry into the story of Jesus Christ.

Parables are stories written in the Bible for truth and life guidance. We have to understand that parables are implied by God to encourage his written word and carry his truths. God’s words can touch a heart of faith despite their external circumstance. The history of parables started with Jesus writing “the sower and the seed” in the book of Matthew. The sower and the seed was the seed is “the word.” The hard ground represents the person who is hardened by sin. Parables date back as far as

Jesus’ use of parables was to fulfill Old Testament prophecy; Psalm 78:2, “I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old-” (NIV). Additionally, Jesus used parables to teach the truth, basic moral, and spiritual principles using simple down to earth stories to reveal the message of the kingdom of heaven. The kingdom of heaven was the heartbeat of Jesus teachings; often his parables began with: the kingdom of God is like…. Jesus used parables to teach not of an earthly kingdom of God but of a spiritual kingdom, and those who chose to accept God’s kingdom would inherit eternal life. It is important to remember, that Jesus used parables not to replace to doctrine but to illustrate and confirm doctrine teachings.

In all his teaching to the crowds Jesus spoke in parables; in fact he never spoke to them without a parable. This was to fulfill the prophecy of Isaiah: I will open my mouth in parables;

I am displeased with myself when I say the categories of Jesus’ parable teachings were difficult to understand during lecture. However, by the end of lecture I felt I understood the definitions of each category. A parable was fairly straight forward, a narrative

This parable is found in 3 places in the bible; Matthew

All of the Bible is Holy Ground; nonetheless, Luke fifteen is Holy Ground in a special way as we are brought face to face with the integrity of God. Here is the forgiveness of Deity; the heart of the Bible. And every decent person should learn the lessons taught in this parable.

Another reason that appears conflicting with the first reason of Jesus using parables is “to reveal and illustrate his message to both his followers and those outside.” A Parable in this sense becomes an effective means of Jesus’ illustrative message. On moral and ethical teachings, Jesus uses the parable of the good Samaritan for example to illustrate who a neighbour is (Luke 10:25-37) and also on the gracious love of God in the parable of the prodigal of the loving father (Luke 15:11-32).

Luke carries on to the second part of his account with Jesus’ statements about salvation and reception or non-reception into the kingdom (Luke 13:22-30) these statements give an outlook for the whole second part which are closely linked with the two final parables which ended the first part. Both deal with

The Gospel of Luke thoroughly illustrates the themes of mercy and compassion in his use of literary devices such as symbols, stories and parables. Luke urges how significant it is to feel and deliver the ready willingness to help anyone in need in our society. The Gospel offers a model to live out these virtues through Jesus’ actions and his parables.

The Gospels of the New Testament contain 39 different parables told by Jesus (Phillips 2004, 18-19) and no doubt he spoke many more during his ministry. Jesus’ choice to use parables to teach his people is one that has intrigued many people throughout history. The aim of this essay is to get to discover why he chose to use those parables, and also what we can learn from this teaching method when evangelising today.