Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

After a few days, the younger son got everything together and journeyed to a distant country, where he squandered his wealth in wild living.

“Am 4:6-10). riotous living-- (Lu 15:30), "with harlots." Ah! but this reaches farther than the sensualist; for "in the deep symbolical language of Scripture fornication is the standing image of idolatry; they are in fact ever spoken of as one and the same sin, considered…”

After he had spent all he had, a severe famine swept through that country, and he began to be in need.

“Thus, like Jonah, whom the storm did not overtake till on the mighty deep at the mercy of the waves, does the sinner feel as if "the stars in their courses were fighting against" him (Jud 5:20).”

So he got up and went to his father. But while he was still in the distance, his father saw him and was filled with compassion.

“"Our Father who art in heaven," is this Thy portraiture? It is even so (Jer 31:20). And because it is so, I wonder not that such incomparable teaching hath made the world new.”

The son declared, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’

“Father, I have sinned, &c.--"This confession is uttered after the kiss of reconciliation" (Eze 16:63) [TRENCH].”

But it was fitting to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”

“(1) The deeper sunk and the longer estranged any sinner is, the more exuberant is the joy which his recovery occasions. (2) Such joy is not the portion of those whose whole lives have been spent in the service of their Father in heaven.”

I tell you, use worldly wealth to make friends for yourselves, so that when it is gone, they will welcome you into eternal dwellings.

“Make . . . friends of--Turn to your advantage; that is, as the steward did, "by showing mercy to the poor" (Da 4:27); compare Lu 12:33; 14:13, 14. mammon of unrighteousness--treacherous, precarious.”

Whoever is faithful with very little will also be faithful with much, and whoever is dishonest with very little will also be dishonest with much.

“He, &c.--a maxim of great pregnancy and value; rising from the prudence which the steward had to the fidelity which he had not, the "harmlessness of the dove, to which the serpent" with all his "wisdom" is a total stranger.”

And if you have not been faithful with the belongings of another, who will give you belongings of your own?

“Hereafter, what the faithful have will be their own property, being no longer on probation, but in secure, undisturbed, rightful, everlasting possession and enjoyment of all that is graciously bestowed on us.”

The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the gospel of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it.

“The law, &c.--(See Mt 11:13). and every man presseth, &c.--Publicans and sinners, all indiscriminately, are eagerly pressing into it; and ye, interested adherents of the mere forms of an economy which is passing away, "discerning not the signs of this time," will allow the tide…”

‘Then I beg you, father,’ he said, ‘send Lazarus to my father’s house, for I have five brothers.

“Then he said--now abandoning all hope for himself. send him to my father's house, &c.--no waking up of good in the heart of the lost, but bitter reproach against God and the old economy, as not warning him sufficiently [TRENCH].”

Then Abraham said to him, ‘If they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.’”

“A real Lazarus soon "rose from the dead," but the sight of him by crowds of people, inclined thereby to Christ, only crowned the unbelief and hastened the murderous plots of the Pharisees against the Lord of glory; nor has His own resurrection, far more…”

The apostles said to the Lord, “Increase our faith!”

“Lord--(See on Lu 10:1). increase our faith--moved by the difficulty of avoiding and forgiving "offenses." This is the only instance in which a spiritual operation upon their souls was solicited of Christ by the Twelve; but a kindred and higher prayer had been offered before…”

When Jesus saw them, He said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they were on their way, they were cleansed.

“(See on Mt 8:4.) Thus too would the Samaritan be taught that "salvation is of the Jews" (Joh 4:22). as they went, were cleansed--In how many different ways were our Lord's cures wrought, and this different from all the rest.”

Then Jesus said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well!”

“Arise--for he had "fallen down on his face at His feet" (Lu 17:16) and there lain prostrate. faith made thee whole--not as the others, merely in body, but in that higher spiritual sense with which His constant language has so familiarized us.”

Nor will people say, ‘Look, here it is,’ or ‘There it is.’ For you see, the kingdom of God is in your midst.”

“Lo here! . . . lo there!--shut up within this or that sharply defined and visible geographical or ecclesiastical limit. within you--is of an internal and spiritual character (as contrasted with their outside views of it).”

Then He said to the disciples, “The time is coming when you will long to see one of the days of the Son of Man, but you will not see…

“"This is said to guard against the mistake of supposing that His visible presence would accompany the manifestation and establishment of His kingdom" [WEBSTER and WILKINSON].”

For just as the lightning flashes and lights up the sky from one end to the other, so will be the Son of Man in His day.

“When the whole polity of the Jews, civil and ecclesiastical alike, was broken up at once, and its continuance rendered impossible by the destruction of Jerusalem, it became as manifest to all as the lightning of heaven that the kingdom of God had ceased to…”

But first He must suffer many things and be rejected by this generation.

“But first . . . suffer, &c.--This shows that the more immediate reference of Lu 17:23 is to an event soon to follow the death of Christ.”

Just as it was in the days of Noah, so also will it be in the days of the Son of Man: People were eating and drinking, marrying and being…

“Though the antediluvian world and the cities of the plain were awfully wicked, it is not their wickedness, but their worldliness, their unbelief and indifference to the future, their unpreparedness, that is here held up as a warning.”

On that day, let no one on the housetop come down to retrieve his possessions. Likewise, let no one in the field return for anything he has left behind.

“Remember, &c.--a warning against that lingering reluctance to part with present treasures which induces some to remain in a burning house, in hopes of saving this and that precious article till consumed and buried in its ruins. The cases here supposed, though different, are similar.”

I tell you, on that night two people will be in one bed: one will be taken and the other left.

“Awful truth! realized before the destruction of Jerusalem, when the Christians found themselves forced by their Lord's directions (Lu 21:21) at once and for ever away from their old associates; but most of all when the second coming of Christ shall burst upon a heedless…”

“Where, Lord?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”

“Wheresoever, &c.--"As birds of prey scent out the carrion, so wherever is found a mass of incurable moral and spiritual corruption, there will be seen alighting the ministers of divine judgment," a proverbial saying terrifically verified at the destruction of Jerusalem, and many times since…”

I tell you, He will promptly carry out justice on their behalf. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on earth?”

“(2) That in these circumstances importunate, persevering prayer for deliverance is the Church's fitting exercise; (3) That notwithstanding every encouragement to this, so long will the answer be delayed, while the need of relief continues the same, and all hope of deliverance will have nearly…”

But the tax collector stood at a distance, unwilling even to lift up his eyes to heaven.

“There may, therefore, be some allusion to this here, though not likely. a sinner--literally, "the sinner"; that is, "If ever there was one, I am he."”

Now people were even bringing their babies to Jesus for Him to place His hands on them. And when the disciples saw this, they rebuked those who brought them.

“Here, it is plain from our Lord's reply, that they thought the intrusion a useless one, as infants were not capable of receiving anything from Him. His ministrations were for grown people.”