Luke 15:17 - Printer Friendly

ESV: “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger!

NIV: When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death!

NASB: But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired laborers have more than enough bread, but I am dying here from hunger!

CSB: When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired workers have more than enough food, and here I am dying of hunger!

NLT: When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger!

KJV: And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

NKJV: “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

The foolish son in this parable (Luke 15:11–12) is apparently unmarried but old enough to strike out on his own. That means he's probably a mid- to late-teenager. In modern culture, particularly in the west, it's common for teenage boys to want to rebel against their fathers, spend all their money, and leave the discipline of home behind. That wasn't common in Jesus' day. Most people in the Roman Empire were slaves or servants. Being the son of a Jewish landowner was a privileged position. This young man did more than disrespect his responsibilities and waste his opportunities. He also shamed his family by choosing to live as if his father were dead.

After spending all his inheritance, the son finds himself in the middle of a severe famine. He's toiling on another man's farm, jealous of the pigs he is feeding (Luke 15:13–16). The Greek word translated "hired servant" means a day laborer who earns the very least. The boy's father even provides seasonal farm hands with enough bread to sate them. He realizes that the lowliest of his father's servants has more than he does.

Often, we attempt to justify sin by removing ourselves from reality; we fool ourselves into thinking we've created a better life. When things go sour, the tendency is to make excuses and invent reasons to believe we're still better off. At some point, wisdom may inspire us to consider how we found ourselves in this position and what we left behind. That is the first step of repentance: recognizing we are wrong and God is right. The second step is acting on that truth (Luke 15:18).

Luke 15:11–32 records the famous parable of the prodigal son. To be "prodigal" is to be wastefully extravagant. Jesus is speaking to Pharisees who condemn His association with sinners. His point is that God seeks sinners so they can be saved (Luke 15:1–10). In this parable, Jesus presses others to join God's celebration over the return of repentant sinners. This is one of the most detailed and developed parables in the Bible, almost on the level of allegory, and is unique to Luke. Next, Jesus teaches how the lives of Christ-followers should differ from those in the world (Luke 16:1—17:10).

To answer criticisms that He associates with sinners, Jesus tells three parables. A shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep to rescue a single lost member. A woman searches diligently to locate a lost coin. A father eagerly forgives his wayward son when the young man returns in humility and repentance. All these lead to celebration. In the same way, Jesus teaches that God cares about restoring those who have fallen, and we should mirror His joy whenever that happens.

Luke 15 contains three parables with the theme of something "lost." The lost sheep, coin, and son represent sinners who leave God foolishly, unknowingly, or rebelliously. God seeks the foolish and the ignorant and waits patiently for the rebel to return to Him in humble repentance. Next is a collection of teachings on the differences between worldly and kingdom living (Luke 16:1—17:10). After two more groups of a miracle, teachings on the kingdom, and teachings on salvation (Luke 17:11—19:27), Jesus will enter Jerusalem and prepare for the crucifixion.

Luke was a traveling companion of Paul (Acts 16:10) and a physician (Colossians 4:14). Unlike Matthew, Mark, and John, Luke writes his gospel as an historian, rather than as a first-hand eyewitness. His extensive writings also include the book of Acts (Acts 1:1–3). These are deliberately organized, carefully researched accounts of those events. The gospel of Luke focuses on the earthly ministry of Jesus Christ. Luke's Gentile perspective presents Christ as a Savior for all people, offering both forgiveness and direction to those who follow Him.