Parables #2: Will the one you reject precede you into eternity?

Sequence of 4 parables

Because when reading the first two parables of Luke 15 for the last time , we can notice that there are two more after that!

And if the Holy Spirit inspired Luke to write them consecutively, it is because they are linked to each other.

So I can’t wait to discover them with you…

Especially since the last time, we saw that it was super-easy to understand a parabola.

Proposal
So, I suggest that you take advantage of this moment:

• to make revisions;
• to ask you a question;
• to tell you a true story that happened recently in our beautiful canton.

All this while reading two parables; and, obviously, trying with God’s help to take advantage of what He wanted to tell us.

1) Let’s revise

Two essential things with parables

An idea, not 36…
Understanding a parable is very simple but, often, it complicates…
A parable is an illustration, a press cartoon, a painting, to highlight a truth, not 36…

The parables are not an allegory where every detail has a meaning, but the general idea of ​​the story is compared to a spiritual truth that Jesus wants to emphasize.
To detect it, it is very simple.

6 essential steps

Comprehension

1) Who is the course for?
We have seen that mainly it is to the…
Luke 15.2
But the Pharisees and the scholars of the law

2) What is the triggering event, the starter, which causes the parabola?
Luke 15:2
murmured, said,
« This man welcomes sinners and eats with them. »

3) How does the fictional story (the parable) compare to the spiritual truth that Jesus wants to emphasize?
Joy in heaven for the repentance of the worst, vis-à-vis 99 “righteous”,
compared
to the joy of the village for the 100th sheep found in view of the 99 safe in the flock. (We have the same idea with the parts).

4) Jesus often provides additional clarification following the parable
In verses 7 and 10, Jesus emphasizes the need for repentance

Biblical truth
5) All this makes it easy to identify the general truth that Jesus wants to underline
Total joy on earth as in heaven for the one (considered the worst) who repents in the face of those who are usually considered righteous.

Application to your life
6) And you, concretely, how are you going to live this truth today?

Progressive pedagogy of Jesus

We had noticed some pedagogical subtleties:

Jesus forces the line, what is lost is more and more important (1 sheep 1%, then a piece 10%).

Jesus forces the line and destabilizes them, He passes to a distant pastoral image of the reality of religious notables, to a reality of life. Yes, but she’s a woman (at the time it was a shame to be compared to a lady).

Jesus plays on words. What is translated by “coin”, “drachm” (Aramaic of the word zuz, zuzim in the plural) had a double meaning and also meant: “those who have gone away, those who have left”.
It insinuates that those who have wandered away are bound to be found (interesting for the next parable).

Jesus insists on the return home of the lost (it may well be that Jesus insists again in the next parable).

What more will the next parable bring us?
Yes, OK, these first two parables emphasize repentance, but how does it really work?

And finally, when I repent, God does not take me on the shoulders like a shepherd does for a sheep. Concretely, how does God react?

Joy (also in the sky) is expressed how? A smile, a check!

How are the 99 righteous who do not need repentance?

Even more concrete

In the 3rd parable that we are going to read, the line is forced, even more shocking, the ratio is no longer 1% or 10%, but will increase to 50-50%…

They are no longer sheep or coins, but people like you and me.

Even more scandalous (to awaken consciences)
Scandal, an inheritance is distributed during the lifetime of the father of the family (affront at the time).
Scandal, this money is squandered with people of bad life (well, as in the reproaches made at the beginning of the chapter).
Scandal, there are pigs (for religious notables, it’s unthinkable, nothing more degrading – Jews don’t eat pork!).
Scandal, the father runs and certainly, we see his… thighs (and one, it is normally the son to go to his father and lay low, moreover we did not show his thighs at the time , but to run you have to lift your tunic!).

Father’s house or Father’s house?

Well, it’s about returning home, where we are expected.
It’s actually his house. Where it should always have been!

A real celebration
Ah, if joy and celebration is like that here below, what must it be like in heaven…

There’s One Who Sulks
It seems that the eldest who doesn’t need repentance (like the 99 in the first parable) may be the one who needs the most to walk with God.

Hey, maybe like me!

So, do we read this great parable?
But just before, I promised a question.

2) The Question

This parable is often said that of the prodigal son?
Is it right ?
Hint: who is it addressed to?

Luke 15.11 – 16.17
11 He said again:
“A man had two sons.
12 The youngest said to his father,
‘Father, give me my share of the inheritance.’
The father then shared his property with them.

13 A few days later, the youngest son picked up everything and left for a distant country, where he wasted his fortune by living in debauchery.
14 After he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country and he began to be in want. 15 He went and served one of the inhabitants of the country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. 16 He would have liked to eat the locust beans that the swine ate, but no one gave him any.
17 He began to reflect and said to himself,
‘How many workers in my father’s house have plenty of bread, and I, here, am starving! 18 I will return to my father and say to him:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son, treat me as one of your workers.’

20 He got up and went to his father.
While he was still far away,
his father saw him
and was filled with compassion,
he ran to throw himself on his neck and kissed him.

21 The son said to him,
‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you, I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 But the father said to his servants,
‘Bring [quickly] the best garment and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and put sandals on his feet.
23 Bring the calf that has been fattened and kill it!
Let us eat and be merry, 24 for this my son
was dead and has come to life again,
he was lost and is found.’
And they started to party.

25 Now the older son was in the field.
When he returned and approached the house, he heard music and dancing.
26 He called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 The servant said to him,
‘Your brother has returned, and your father killed the fattened calf because he found it healthy.’
28 The eldest son became angry and did not want to come in.

His father went out to beg him to come in, 29 but he answered his father,
‘I have served you for so many years without ever disobeying your orders, and you have never given me a kid to do party with my friends.
30 But when your son arrived, he who ate your goods with prostitutes, for him you killed the fattened calf!’

31 ‘My child,’ said the father, ‘
you are always with me and all that I have is yours, 32 but we had to celebrate and rejoice,
because your brother here
was dead and has returned. to life,
he was lost and is found.’”

Answer to the question

What title for this parable: is it that of the prodigal son?

Yes of course, we cannot miss the journey of the younger son, which shows us how he came to repent.

Yes, of course, we cannot miss the attitude of the father

• who waits,
• who loves,
• who goes ahead and
• organizes a memorable party.

We had a friend in Porrentruy who perfectly illustrated this welcome when we arrived at his place. And I did not fail to read this parable at his funeral.

But these three parables are addressed to our dear religious notables who felt

• “clean”,
• without need for repentance,
• because they have always done everything just right.
• It seems that the lack of joy, self-righteousness is highlighted by the attitude of the eldest son.

It seems that the best title for this parable would be that
of the parable of the repentant son and his brother,
there are of course these two attitudes to emphasize, without forgetting that of the father.

The eldest brother and the religious notables

But note that the older brother illustrates very well:

The feeling that the religious notables had of themselves. They strived to do everything right and certainly, that they did it with seriousness and application.
By disciplining themselves to no deviations, they thought they had gained more merit and were no longer on the same level as those who did the opposite.
So, there is no question of rejoicing with those who return « righteously » to God, through repentance. It’s too easy.
Yet it is « your brother » (note here that Jesus emphasizes that « sinners » Luke 15.2 are brothers of the same nation as religious notables)
However, he returns home. It is their house (to the two brothers, to the two types of population – religious notables and people of bad life).
He was “spiritual brain dead” and now he has come back to life!
Truth of this 3rd parable with the support of the first two
The truth that this 3rd parable points out to us:

Joy of heaven for a sinner who repents and lack of incomprehensible joy for one who believes himself to be just.

We have nothing acquired by our merit

May our path of Christian life never lead us to believe, like the eldest son, that over time, we have acquired the merit of being in the house of the Lord.

If we have this assured place, it is only because of Christ who bought this place for us at a high price, as much for any other person who repents!

The path that leads to Christ can be surprising
And the path of the one who returns to God and who seeks God can be surprising…
There too, we can have, as our life with Christ progresses, the typical portrait that the one who must come to Him, who should already have the manners of a believer, clean on him.

Priority over those who truly seek God

But God looks at the heart.
God looks at the priority that is placed on Him, despite all the faults, the false attitudes, the cunning to get there.

God really looks at those who seek Him
Didn’t God prefer Jacob, liar, forger, rogue, who wanted to have the blessing of his Father Isaac at all costs?
Romans 9.13
I loved Jacob and hated Esau.

While his brother expected to receive the blessings as if it were a due, a right because he was the eldest!

 » I’m allowed  » !
Genesis 25:31-34
Jacob answered, « Sell me your birthright today. » 32 Esau replied, “I am going to die. What good is this birthright to me?” 33 Jacob said, « Swear to me first. » He swore to her, he sold his birthright to Jacob. 34 Then Jacob gave bread and lentil soup to Esau. He ate and drank, then got up and left. This is how Esau despised the birthright.
Genesis 27

Nowadays
OK, that’s the Bible, but nowadays?
Well, as promised, I have a true story that happened in our township.

3) A true story that happened in our township.

In the canton of Vaud
Our favorite bookseller told me a true story that happened recently with one of the Christian bookstores in our canton:

The so-called bookstore had the excellent idea of ​​offering books and Bibles on a stall on the sidewalk.

The day passes and ends: the servants enter what was offered on the sidewalk and find that a book is missing which obviously has not been checked out to be purchased. We have to resolve it, a Bible was stolen during the day…

Bigger! It sucks to steal a Bible!
Well, it can happen.

Some time later a person comes to the bookstore.
No, it wasn’t the thief or the thief, but someone who came on his part with the money to pay this “advance loan”.
Visibly touched by his reading of the Bible, he was keen to repay the stolen book.

It’s still strong, in our beautiful canton, that a person touched by the Bible is touched by the person who stole it!

While there are 1000 ways to be able to acquire it, or even to receive it for free…

Luke – Chapter 16

1 Jesus also said to his disciples,
“A rich man had a steward. They came to tell him that he was wasting his possessions.
2 He called him and said,
‘What do I hear about you?
Account for your management, for you will no longer be able to manage my property.’

3 The steward said to himself,
‘What am I going to do, since my master is taking away the management of his property from me?
Work the land? I don’t have the strength.
Beg? I’m ashamed of it.
4 I know what I will do so that there are people who will welcome me into their homes when I am fired from my job.’

5 He summoned each of his master’s debtors and said to the first,
‘How much do you owe my master?’ 6 ‘I owe 100 barrels of olive oil,’ he replied. He said to her:
‘Here is your receipt, sit down quickly and write 50.’

7 Then he said to another, ‘And you, how much do you owe?’
‘I owe 100 measures of wheat,’ he replied. And he said to him: ‘Here is your receipt, write 80.’

8 The master praised the dishonest steward for his skill.
Indeed, the children of this world are more skilful towards their generation than are the children of the light.

9 And I say unto you,
Make yourselves friends with unjust riches, that they may welcome you into eternal habitations when you run out of them.
10 Whoever is faithful in small things is also faithful in large things,
and whoever is dishonest in small things is also faithful in large things.

11 If therefore you have not been faithful in unjust riches, who will entrust the true goods to you?
12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another’s, who will give you what is yours?

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will cling to the first and despise the second. You cannot serve God and money.”

14 Hearing all this, the Pharisees who loved money laughed at him.
15 Jesus said to them,
“You seek to appear righteous before men, but God knows your heart.
In fact, what is highly esteemed among men is abominable before God.
16 The law and the prophets remained until John; since then, the good news of the kingdom of God has been announced and everyone is trying hard to enter it.

17 Heaven and earth will disappear more easily than a single stroke of the law will fall.

Value reversal

Perfect counterpoint: Jesus challenges his listeners, making the dishonest the hero,
because the religious notables needed to be shaken up,
because we are also “super religious” who need to be shaken up.

To understand it, let’s not forget the three other parables
However, let’s stay in the same dynamic as the other three parables and, if we take a little distance, on the three parables:
Jesus underlines the repentance of the lost and the joy that should result.
Jesus, inevitably, adds something to these themes in this 4th parable because we have in verse 1 of chapter 16 “also”.

Context and intentions after the parable

Jesus also gives clues to understanding following the parable of Luke 16:

• Verse 9, the target is to be welcomed into eternity.
• Verse 13, choose carefully who you rely on, money or God, but you can’t bet on both counts.
• Verses 10 to 12 rather account for
• the priority,
• the energy that we show in our priorities, objectives, big or small.

Understand the story told in the parable

The rich man is good

A rich man dismisses his steward for bad management (normally he could have had him condemned and certainly imprisoned, not being able to repay), so the rich man is rather benevolent in this situation.

The intendant gives “his notice of dismissal”
Obviously, the intendant is not relieved of his duties immediately, since he still has control over what he was managing.

Facing him, he has two types of solutions:

• Either, get by himself with his little muscular arms outside the rich man’s house (verse 3 Working the land? I don’t have the strength. To beg? I’m ashamed of it.), we can note the notion of strength and shame.
• Either, rely again on his master by demonstrating his ability to get out of it in critical moments (this is the original meaning in Greek of “ability” which is underlined by the master – a little the same attitude as David when he plays crazy to save his own skin) to stay in the house.

The steward knows how to bounce
The steward chooses the second option and his ability to bounce back to positively grab the rich man’s attention is successful.

Noted attitude
We note that the rich man validates the attitude of the steward more than what he actually does.

The line is forced
The idea is reinforced in verse 8b: obviously,

• sinners (chapter 15.2),
• the children of this world (16.8)
  are more determined than
• Pharisees and specialists in the law ( chapter 15. 2),
• “the children of light” (16. 8).

Comparison of the parable with the teaching of Jesus

We could say that the determination and readiness to immediately bounce back from the dubious steward and do everything (by whatever means) to always be in the house of the good and wealthy man is compared to determination
and
priority that every man who knows himself lost demonstrates in order to grasp the eternity of God who is good.

Truth supported by the words added by Jesus
God rejoices

• in the determination,
• in the urgency,
• and in the priority
  that someone who knows he is lost places in order to seize eternity while there is still time.

Those who think they are « clean » should be inspired by it, those who believe that it is due to them, because they have not sinned or in any case not committed « big sins »…

The continuation of Luke 16 is better understood:
9 And I say to you:
Make friends with unjust riches
(like the steward, the lost, those of bad life, on the contrary Pharisees who believe themselves to be just! Here , there is irony in awakening religious listeners),
so that they welcome you into the eternal habitations when you run out of them.

10 Whoever is faithful in small things is also faithful in large things, and whoever is dishonest in small things is also faithful in large things.
(Jesus points out that the little things we do here have consequences for those that are essential, eternal)

11 If therefore you have not been faithful in unjust riches (like the doubtful steward), who will entrust to you the true (essential, eternal) goods?
12 And if you have not been faithful in what belongs to others (Mrs. Pharisees and scholars of the law), who will give you what is yours (or you who think that everything is yours Eternity)?

13 No servant can serve two masters, for either he will hate the first and love the second, or he will cling to the first and despise the second. You can’t serve God and money. » (Gentlemen Pharisees, you cannot have it both ways: the spiritual and the business…
Take the example of the dubious steward who put all his priority and urgency on what is essential, eternal and above all on his Good Master Rich like our Lord).

Revival

This parable is deliberately disturbing and ironic because

• it is the one who manages badly,
• who is dishonest with respect to the law
  who is praised by Jesus!

To wake up everyone, including us…

Highlighting religious shortcomings
Jesus certainly takes the opposite view of the codes expected by the religious world (which loved trade, money and goods here below) to further explain

• self-sufficiency,
• the attitude of one’s own just as demonstrated by the second son in the previous parable,
• the priority put on their business, thinking that their religious offices were more than enough for eternity.

There is therefore a rise in power, a progression with these four parables which are linked.

And U.S ?

Grace okay, but I’m worth it, even I’m « Vaud » well (in all respects: I work, I pay my taxes, no debts, I pay tithes and go to worship every Sunday)…

“I’m still not like those who are in social services, on the hook of society after having done anything with their lives.
« There’s no risk of them coming to pollute eternity, those ones! » »
Are you so sure?
Their determination to seek God can be amazing.
In any case, God notices her and would like to see her in your life. May you, like them, know repentance and the joy that goes with it.

Urgency
Is there this urgency of God within us?

Are we people who really seek Christ?
Or are we evangelical religious notables who play on both sides:

• religious
• but a lot financially?

Faith is running out
of steam in religious movements If we take a step back,

• from the Emperor Constantine to the Reformation, the official faith has run out of steam, in roughly 1200 years,
• the true faith of the Reformation has disintegrated in 400 years,
• the true faith of the evangelical wave risks being only a ripple of less than 200 years…

Priority problem
For the same reasons as the religious notables of the time of Jesus.
Faith is perfect in theory, in theology, but dead in intention.
Our fire, our “niaque”, our priority is more visible in daily affairs than for God.

After the obligations, if I may…
How is our life program oriented? I am not talking in terms of time, but of priority.
When all the obligations, hobbies, videos, kids, my husband, my studies, homework, business, series are over, is there a place for God?

No matter the obligations, my person is oriented on my passion
Or are obligations, hobbies, videos, children, my husband, my studies, homework, business, series are secondary and my deep goal , even if many things eat up my time, is it God and what He appreciates?

A bit like when you live a passion.
School, work, obligations certainly take time, but our whole person is turned, oriented towards our passion.
Is this our case with God?

We could be surprised by those who are passionate about God
Because we, small evangelical religious notables, we could be shocked by those who really and primarily seek the Lord and who do not do so according to the biblical “code of the road”.

That we can find the right priority in the course of life, so that we can seize the eternal opportunities, so that we can rejoice, celebrate with the
dealer who repents and comes to Christ, the one who has scrupulously squandered the pension fund to party in sleazy boxes but who energetically finally sought God and found him, turning sincerely to Christ and who we should be partying with now!

God waiting
God does not change:
He waits for us, watches us, comes to meet us, from the house, from our eternal home, the one we should never have left.

But how will I be?
But two opposite types of reactions were shown to us by these parables:

Eternal priority of repentance, joy and celebration.
Religious sufficiency, « right acquired » by his conduct, claims with regard to his « perfect conduct ».
Who knows, the one you reject may precede you into eternity?