Author: Doug

In Luke chapter 15 Jesus tells three parables involving the loss and recovery of precious items.  One of those is the story we know as the parable of the prodigal son.  Before we begin it is important to understand something about servants in the Jewish household in the time of Jesus.

There were three types of servants employed by Jewish estates.  The first was a bondservant: which was treated like a family member, they ate with the family, dressed well, and were given responsibility to conduct the affairs of the estate.  Bondservants hired household servants, who also lived in the home, but ate separately and were not treated as family members.  Household servants  were the cooks, maids, personal attendants, gardeners, etc for the family; doing the bulk of the day-to-day work of the estate.   Hired servants or hired men, were per-Diem workers brought in on an as-needed basis and paid their days wages at the end of each day.   Typically a full-day worker would be fed at mid-day.  These workers helped at harvest time or to accomplish some major task.  They were disposable workers.

Although most Bible translations do not use the word “prodigal” (which means “reckless or wild spending”) this title has become common for this parable.  Whether we refer to him as the prodigal son or the lost son, it is unfortunate that we look to the younger son as being the topic of this story; for indeed Jesus intended it to be about the gracious and forgiving father.  He was using the parable to illustrate why He was associating and eating with sinners, a practice that incensed the Pharisees.

A rich man had two sons.  The younger son demanded his share of the family wealth.  This was an audacious demand!  He was, in effect, telling his father “I wish you were dead”, because family fortunes were not normally distributed until the father was dead or close to it.  This one was very much alive.  This had to hurt the father. Continue reading “Points to Ponder On the Prodigal Son”

In Luke 14: 26-33  Jesus is telling the throng of people who were following Him around to count the cost of discipleship.  They were claiming to be devoted to Him but He knew their motivation.

By this time the crowds had seen Him heal many hundreds, perhaps thousands of people who had been diseased, crippled, or demon possessed.  He had raised a child from the dead.  He had fed thousands of people from what amounted to a sack lunch.  And He stood up to, and confounded, the Pharisees and Scribes.  There was talk among the people that this man, Jesus of Nazareth, was their long awaited Messiah: the one who would, according to their tradition, throw off the manacles of Rome and restore Israel as the preeminent nation of the world.  But He would soon dissuade them of that notion.  Continue reading “Counting the Cost of Discipleship”