The Unique Parables of Luke – Part 1
“Listen, O
my people, to my instruction; incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I
will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark
sayings of old.” Psalm 78:1, 2 ~ (NAS, Updated)
It
was prophesied that Messiah would teach using parables, or illustrations, and
this was fulfilled in the ministry of Jesus Christ (Matt.
Parables
also served another purpose. Jesus
explained that, “To you it has been
granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of God, but to the rest it is in
parables, so that seeing they may not see, and hearing they may not understand”
(Luke 8:9,10). The parables acted as a spiritual filter. Those to whom the
good news was directed would understand; others would not. How privileged we
are then to be counted worthy by our Lord to understand the divine teaching hidden
in His parables.
In the book of
Luke there are eleven parables not found in the other gospels:
· Two Debtors (Luke
· Good Samaritan (Luke
· Importunate Friend (Luke 11:5-8)
· Rich Fool (Luke
· Barren Fig tree (Luke 13:6-9)
· Lost Piece of Silver (Luke 15:8-10)
· Lost Son (Luke
· Unrighteous Manager (Luke 16:1-9)
· Rich Man and Lazarus (Luke
· Unjust Judge (Luke 18:1-8)
· Pharisee and the Tax Collector (Luke
18:9-14)
These
parables were spoken within a common historical context and share a common
theme. The end of the Jewish age was rapidly approaching, to be supplanted by
the Gospel age. The self-righteous religious leaders had abused their trust from
God, and Jesus was warning them of impending judgment. He contrasted their
hypocrisy and hard-heartedness with the merciful love of God and predicted that repentant, lowly cast-offs
from Jewish society
would receive God’s blessings ahead of them. The
Gospel age would be inaugurated with a complete reversal of spiritual conditions:
These
parables teach a series of important lessons, not just for those that heard
them, but for all Christians.
Happy are Those
who Know their Spiritual Need
Knowing
our spiritual need, followed by true, heartfelt repentance is the beginning of
the Christian walk. In Luke chapter 7, Jesus was having dinner with the
Pharisee Simon when a woman, a known sinner, entered the house. She washed
Jesus’ feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with
perfumed oil. Simon’s reaction was disgust. How could Jesus allow such a sinful
person to touch him? He reasoned to himself that if Jesus were really a
prophet, he would discern who this woman was. Jesus tries to correct Simon’s
thinking first by exposing his inner reasoning as wrong, and then by an
illustration we know as the parable of the Two Debtors:
"’A moneylender had two debtors: one
owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they were unable to repay,
he graciously forgave them both. So which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered
and said, ‘I suppose the one to whom he forgave more.’ And he said to him, ‘You
have judged correctly.’"— Luke 7:41-43
Jesus
then points out that Simon had neglected to offer Him the common courtesies
shown to guests in that culture: "You
gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped
them with her hair. You gave me no kiss; but she, since the time I came in, has
not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she
anointed my feet with perfume.” Jesus exposes Simon’s self-righteous arrogance,
and demonstrates that the woman’s self-awareness of her sin, turning away from
it and toward God, has saved her. "For this reason I say to you, her
sins, which are many, have been forgiven, for she loved much; but he who is forgiven
little, loves little."
Simon,
the Pharisee, had little awareness of his own spiritual need. Consequently, he
showed little love, especially towards those he considered beneath him. The
woman had a deep, cutting consciousness of her sins. She was truly repentant
from the heart. The evidence of her being forgiven, Jesus asserts, is shown by
her deep love. To confirm this he says, "Your sins have
been forgiven" and “Your faith has saved you; go in
peace.” Unfortunately, this lesson is lost on the dinner guests. They are
outraged that Jesus would presume to forgive sins.
The
truth is that no one is without sin. Whether we perceive ourselves in debt
“fifty denarii” or “five hundred,” we are all sinners and fall short of God’s
righteous requirements. It is not possible to pay back any of this debt through
our own works. It is only through heartfelt repentance, and the sin-atoning
sacrifice of Jesus Christ, that we can have a righteous standing imputed to us
by God. The parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector teaches a similar lesson.
Store up Treasures in Heaven, not on
Earth
In
the parable of the Unrighteous Manager (Luke 16:1-9), Jesus demonstrates the
importance of using our resources wisely to
“store up treasures in heaven”: "There was a rich man who had a manager,
and this manager was reported to him as squandering his possessions. And he
called him and said to him, 'What is this I hear about you? Give an accounting
of your management, for you can no longer be manager.’”
The
manager is not strong enough to work with his hands and is ashamed to beg, so
he devises a plan. Knowing his employment will soon end, he works quickly to
reduce the amount owed to his master by two of the debtors. The manager hopes
to get favors from them when he is unemployed. His master, a businessman, appreciates
his clever strategy and commends him for it, but does not change his mind about
terminating his position. Jesus then explains the meaning: "And I say to you, make friends for yourselves by means of the
wealth of unrighteousness, so that when it fails, they will receive you into
eternal dwellings. He who is faithful in a very little thing is faithful also
in much; and he who is unrighteous in a very little thing is unrighteous in
much. Therefore, if
you have not been faithful in the use of
unrighteous wealth, who will entrust the true riches to you?”
Jesus
teaches that we should use our resources wisely, in God’s
service. In effect, he is saying that if
the sons of this age demonstrate
shrewdness in the use of money for their own
gain, how much more should those who consider themselves sons of
light—specifically the scribes and Pharisees in His audience—use their
resources wisely in God’s service? Conversely, if you squander your resources
and opportunities in this age, how can you be trusted with greater responsibilities
in the next?”
The Jewish age was about to end, and the Gospel age was just beginning.
The unrighteous manager represents the Jewish religious leaders who had
squandered God’s trust and were about to be dismissed. They had treated the
people who were under their care harshly (Matthew 23:4). If they had possessed
true wisdom, they would have worked quickly to lighten the load of the people
in anticipation of the new dispensation. This would have benefited both the
people and them, for this would have met the Lord’s approval. Instead, they
continued to put their trust in worldly shrewdness and the “wealth of unrighteousness.” For this foolishness they were to forfeit
all. This occurred in 70 A.D. when
In
contrast to the Pharisees, we prove ourselves true disciples of our Master,
Jesus Christ, by giving everything we have to help others in their Christian
walk, or to bring relief to those in need (John 21:15-17). Jesus gave up all things,
even His very life, to serve others, and so should we if we are following His
footsteps. If we do this, we will be “making
friends” for ourselves with the “wealth
of unrighteousness.” When it fails, that is, when this current age ends,
the resources of this world will have no value. Only then can the “friends” we have made receive us into
the eternal dwellings, the kingdom of heaven, where we will be rewarded with
greater responsibilities (Luke
The
parables of the Rich Fool and the Rich Man and Lazarus teach similar lessons.
(To be continued).
G. Coulson
William Barclay writes of Luke
9:1: “The lesson is that material
possessions should be used to cement the friendships wherein the real and permanent
value of life lies. That could be done
in two ways: (a) as it affects
eternity. The Rabbis had a saying, “The rich help the poor in this world, but
the poor help the rich in the world to come.” Ambrose, commenting on the
rich fool who built bigger barns to store his goods, said, “The bosoms of the
poor, the houses of widows, the mouths of children are the barns which last forever.”
It was a Jewish belief that charity given to poor people would stand to
a man’s credit in the world to come…and (b)
it could be done as it affects this world.
A man can use his wealth selfishly or he can use it to make life easier for
his fellow-men. Possessions are not in themselves a sin, but they are a great
responsibility.