Luke 15
15
The Story of the Lost Sheep
1-3By this time a lot of men and women of questionable reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Their grumbling triggered this story.
4-7“Suppose one of you had a hundred sheep and lost one. Wouldn’t you leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the lost one until you found it? When found, you can be sure you would put it across your shoulders, rejoicing, and when you got home call in your friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Celebrate with me! I’ve found my lost sheep!’ Count on it—there’s more joy in heaven over one sinner’s rescued life than over ninety-nine good people in no need of rescue.
The Story of the Lost Coin
8-10“Or imagine a woman who has ten coins and loses one. Won’t she light a lamp and scour the house, looking in every nook and cranny until she finds it? And when she finds it you can be sure she’ll call her friends and neighbors: ‘Celebrate with me! I found my lost coin!’ Count on it—that’s the kind of party God’s angels throw every time one lost soul turns to God.”
The Story of the Lost Son
11-12a Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
12b-16 “So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to feel it. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corn-cobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
17-20a “That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
20b-21 “When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
22-24“But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a prize-winning heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
25-27“All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
28-30“The older brother stomped off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
31-32“His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”
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Luke 15: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Luke 15
15
The Parable of the Lost Sheep
1All#Mt 18:12–14 the tax collectors#Mt 11:19; Lk 5:29 and sinners were approaching to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and scribes were complaining, “This man welcomes sinners#Lk 5:30; 7:39; Ac 11:3; Gl 2:12 and eats with them.”
3So he told them this parable:#Mk 12:1 4“What man among you, who has a hundred sheep and loses one of them,#Ps 119:176; Jr 50:6; Zch 11:16; Mt 10:6; 15:24 does not leave the ninety-nine in the open field#15:4 Or the wilderness and go after the lost one until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he joyfully puts it on his shoulders, 6and coming home, he calls his friends and neighbors together, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found my lost sheep!’ 7I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven#Jr 51:48; Rv 18:20 over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.
The Parable of the Lost Coin
8 “Or what woman who has ten silver coins, # 15:8 Gk ten drachmas # 15:8 A Gk drachma was equivalent to a Roman denarius = one day’s wage if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and search carefully until she finds it? 9When she finds it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, because I have found the silver coin I lost!’ 10I tell you, in the same way, there is joy in the presence of God’s angels#Lk 2:10 over one sinner who repents.”
The Parable of the Lost Son
11He also said, “A man had two sons. 12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the estate I have coming to me.’ So he distributed the assets#15:12 Or life, or livelihood, also in v. 30 to them. 13Not many days later, the younger son gathered together all he had and traveled to a distant country, where he squandered#Lk 16:1 his estate in foolish living.#Rm 6:2; 8:12; Gl 2:14; Col 3:7 14After he had spent everything, a severe famine struck that country, and he had nothing.#15:14 Lit and he began to be in need 15Then he went to work for one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs.#Lv 11:7; Dt 14:8 16He longed to eat his fill from#15:16 Other mss read to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one would give him anything. 17When he came to his senses,#15:17 Lit to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger!#15:17 Or dying in the famine; v. 14 18I’ll get up, go to my father, and say to him, “Father, I have sinned#Ex 10:16 against heaven#Mt 21:25; Jn 3:27 and in your sight. 19I’m no longer worthy#Lk 7:6–7 to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired workers.”’ 20So he got up and went to his father. But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion.#Mt 9:36; Mk 1:41; Lk 7:13; 10:33 He ran, threw his arms around his neck, and kissed#Gn 29:13; 33:4; 45:15; 2Sm 14:33 him. 21The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I’m no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father told his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe #
Zch 3:3–5
and put it on him; put a ring#Gn 41:42; Est 3:10; 8:2 on his finger and sandals#Ezk 16:10 on his feet. 23Then bring the fattened calf#1Sm 28:24 and slaughter it, and let’s celebrate with a feast, 24because this son of mine was dead and is alive again;#Lk 15:32; Rm 11:15; 2Co 4:10; Col 2:13 he was lost and is found! ’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field; as he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he summoned one of the servants, questioning what these things meant. 27‘Your brother is here,’ he told him, ‘and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’#15:27 Lit him back healthy
28 “Then he became angry and didn’t want to go in. So his father came out and pleaded with him. 29But he replied to his father, ‘Look, I have been slaving many years for you, and I have never disobeyed your orders, yet you never gave me a goat so that I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your assets#15:30 Or life, or livelihood with prostitutes,#Pr 29:3 you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’
31 “‘Son,’ # 15:31 Lit Child he said to him, ‘you are always with me,#Jn 8:35 and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
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