Father and 2 sons

In Luke 15 parable of 2 sons, who is the Father?.

There are 3 steps i follow when reading the scripture. 1. Understand the back ground behind the scripture. 2. Understand the time-less principle the author wants us to know. 3. Find the application to follow.

If you talk to any one who is close to me, they will say this - Sam does not believe any one. I constantly question the scripture. For some I got answers and others remains a mystery. good answer to my questions are at Deuteronomy 29:29. I think same was the case with Luke. Since he was a non-Jew and books he wrote are reports to an official, he would have had many question. he took much care to answer many of them(luke 1:3-4). he might have thought why follow this Jewish God?. That maybe the reason why he traced the genealogy all the way to Adam. That may be the reason why he found this parable of 2 sons very important to include in his book. He found 2nd as non-Jews who left fathers house longtime ago.

The very first question he tries to answer - who this Father is?. He starts his book by describing the majesty, glory, and mystery behind Jesus birth. Anyone reading that will know that this is not a ordinary birth. Then Luke move on to describe Jesus ministry and culminates with Jesus himself declaring that He is the creator and heavenly Father. First he forgives man's sin which only God can do(Luke 5:17-26) and then calls himself as the Lord of Sabbath(Luke 6:1-6).

What is this sabbath and its connection to Jewish laws. Sabbath law(exodus 20:8) is in the Decalogue(10 commandments) God gave to Moses. There is 2 parts in the law. First part is they to cease from what they do. 2nd part is for them to look towards their Maker(Lord). So that they could be saved from their slavery.

Teachers of the law understood the first part very well. And they did not get the second part. Instead of delivering themselves from slavery, they added more laws to follow. When Jesus and His disciples refused to follow the additional rules the teachers of the law put in, they were furious. Instead of looking towards the Lord to deliver them, they looked towards the devil to kill the Father.

Well there was those 2nd sons who looked towards the Lord of the sabbath to be delivered. Those withered hands, lepers, blind people and sinners. Luke makes it a point to tell us that those deliverance were done on sabbath. When He called Himself as the Lord of the sabbath, He is asking us to look towards him. He will deliver us from all slavery.

The father in this parable of 2 sons, is Jesus Christ. some in the crowd might not have known but teachers of the law knew what He was talking. Luke makes it a point that we get it. This Father is perfect representation of invisible God, radiance of God's glory, and our creator. All can return back to Him and He will deliver.

sola gratia

Grace alone. Salvation is through grace alone. Salvation is not inherited by birth in a big family. certainly can not be bought. it can not be obtained through any acts of kindness or generosity. But only through grace alone. not the Grace that i and you think in our minds or see through dreams but illuminated to us through scripture. Sola scriptura.

The scripture that you and I have in our hands is about one person and one act. The person is God-man Jesus Christ who is perfect representation of invisible God, radiance of God Glory, and creator of this universe. The act is the atoning sacrifice of himself for our salvation. Man was created to have close relationship with the creator. But on mans disobedience, separation happened at the garden. Separation is so big that only way to saved back to the creator is through an act of grace by this God-man Jesus Christ.

If we decide to believe this message and follow this God-man as the guiding light to restore the original relation we had with God. If we are to be saved, all needs to believe this message and follow Him. there is no exception. If you are a Jew or a Greek. If you are rich or poor. if you perform miracles in Gods name or not. if you are considered a religious leader or not. if you are a scientist or not.

The parable talked at Luke 15: 11-31 is about 2 sons. Both needed the grace of God. Only the younger one realized it and elder one thought he deserved it because he was going to church for a long time. the parable ends with the Father pleading the elder one that it is - sola gratia :- amazing grace, he was lost and is found.

The parable ends there but Luke continues the story. The story ended with elder son killing the Father for letting the younger son into the home. This elder son behavior i have in me. just because i know the scripture better than others, i want the better share of the inheritance. just because i know a better way to pray, i want to be blessed better than my brother. Just because i spend more time at church, i don't want anybody close to me.

You may start thinking that i fully misunderstood the parable. if you think that way, please contact me. i would love to spend sometime why i think this way.