Illustrations of the Jubilee: the Parables of the Good Samaritan and the Prodigal Son

The proclamation of the jubilee in Luke 4 governs the central thought of the whole Gospel of Luke, and the parables of the good Samaritan in Luke 10 and the prodigal son in Luke 15 are excellent illustrations of the jubilee.

The Lord Jesus came to announce the jubilee, even to proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. When He came, jubilee came.

He Himself is the jubilee. Before Him, the law put demands on people and kept them in the “fold” of Judaism; when He came, grace came, and the year of jubilee started.

Now we are in the age of grace, which is the year of jubilee.

Hallelujah, today we don’t need to strive to keep the law of God nor do we need to try our best to please God: we simply can enjoy grace!

We today need to believe into the Lord Jesus and enjoy Him.

The Father doesn’t put demands on us, nor does He want us to come to Him and labour for Him, toil for His house, and do things for Him; He only wants us to come back to Him and enjoy Him. Hallelujah!

In our Christian life today we need to realize that we are in the year of jubilee.

Whenever we feel unhappy with our situation and disappointed with ourselves or with those around us, we need to turn to our spirit and contact the Jubilee-Jesus in our spirit. He is our jubilee.

When we’re in Christ, when we live Christ and He lives in us as we enjoy Him and are one with Him, we have no worries, nothing disappoints us, and we are full of rest and satisfaction.

But if we don’t live Christ and we do not enjoy Him, everything is a problem to us, and nothing is a jubilee.

May we realize that the indwelling Christ, the Christ who lives within us, is our jubilee, and may we learn to set our whole being on Him.

Day by day He is in our spirit waiting for us to turn to Him, speak with Him, and let Him spread from our spirit into our mind, emotion, and will.

When we allow the Lord Jesus to live in us and we live by Him, everything is to our satisfaction, for we live in the jubilee. Amen!

But when we live in our natural man and according to our flesh, allowing the self to live in us, we will not be satisfied but rather, we have many problems, and all things are a source of problems and disappointment to us.

The Lord Jesus came as the jubilee, lived in the jubilee, and proclaimed the jubilee.

Now He is in us to be the jubilee to us and in us.

May we live one spirit with Him today and may we allow Him to live in us so that He may enable us to be calm and free from worries as we face all kinds of situations!

The parable of the Good Samaritan is an Illustration of the Jubilee – Christ Caring for us and Restoring us Unconditionally

In Luke 10:25-37 the Lord Jesus proclaimed the jubilee and presented an illustration of the jubilee in the parable of the good Samaritan.

We are familiar with this story, and there are many important spiritual principles that we can apply here.

The Man-Savior presented in the parable of the good Samaritan signifies the expression of His divine attributes with His human virtues.

In this parable we see a man who fell among robbers, who having both stripped him and beaten him, went away, leaving him half dead.

By coincidence, a certain priest was going down the road, and then a Levite also saw the wounded man, but they passed by on the opposite side.

These were servants of God, those who cared for the service of God in the temple of God, but when it came to showing compassion to the one beaten down and wounded, they passed by.

But a certain man came, a Samaritan, and he saw the wounded man, was moved with compassion, and came to him and bound up his wounds and poured oil and wine on them.

Then, placing the wounded man on his own beast, he brought him to an inn and took care of him.

The next day, since he had to go, he paid the innkeeper and asked him to take care of him until he returned, promising to repay him whatever he spent more than the money he gave him. This is such a touching story.

The Lord Jesus is the Man-Savior coming on the earth in His lost-one-seeking and sinner-saving ministry journey (19:10).

He came to the place where the wounded victim of the Judaistic robbers lay in his miserable and dying condition.

This wounded man was minding his own business when some robbers fell upon him; this signifies the many people today who mind their own business but the enemy beats them up, and especially the religious people do this to them.

So many today lie in their miserable and dying condition, being powerless to raise up, take care of themselves, and be healed.

But the Lord Jesus comes to each one of them, to each one of us, and when He sees us, He is moved with compassion in His humanity.

The Lord Jesus does not pass us by; He sees us, He understands our situation, He knows our case, and He is moved with compassion for us.

Though we are powerless, wounded, and downtrodden, the Lord Jesus has compassion on us in His humanity with His divinity and renders us tender healing and saving care (10:33-35).

He doesn’t investigate to see what happened, who did this to us, what we did wrong, where we took a wrong turn, and what is going on with us; He simply is moved with compassion and cares for us unconditionally.

What compassion! What love! What care!

We all were in a poor state and many times even today as believers in Christ we may still be beaten down and wounded under religious regulations and ordinances, and the Lord comes to us with compassion to tenderly care for us unconditionally.

The Lord Jesus is the jubilee, He comes to proclaim the jubilee, and He comes to us in our situation to bring us into the jubilee!

And He brings us to an inn, to the church, where He rewards the church for caring for us to restore us to our function.

As we are cared for by the Lord in this way, we enter into the jubilee, we enjoy the jubilee, and we become heralds of the jubilee.

We go to speak of this wonderful good Samaritan to others also, caring for them in the Lord’s humanity with His divinity, and we bring them to the church to be restored – unconditionally. Hallelujah!

We go with the Lord’s compassion and love, and we are one with the Lord to render tender healing to people by ministering the Spirit as oil and wine to soothe them, comfort them, and cheer them up.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to us in our low condition and not judging us but being moved with compassion for us. Oh Lord, thank You for Your loving care for us. Thank You for not only approaching us in our miserable and dying condition but also rendering us tender healing and saving care. We love You, Lord. You didn’t have to do this for us, but You came to us and, being moved with compassion in Your humanity with Your divinity, You healed us and saved us. Thank You for being our good Samaritan who fully meets our urgent needs. Thank You for not condemning us or criticizing us for our condition and situation but rather, caring for us and loving us unconditionally. Oh Lord Jesus, thank You for bringing us into the church, the inn, where we are being restored and healed. We are one with You, Lord, to proclaim You as the jubilee so that many others may be restored and healed. We go in Your name to proclaim the jubilee and care for others in Your humanity with Your divinity so that they may enjoy tender healing and saving care!

The Parable of the Prodigal Son is an Illustration of the Jubilee: we can Return to God to Enjoy Him as our Feast, Inheritance and Possession

In Luke 15 we see the parable of the prodigal son, which is an excellent illustration of the jubilee.

The Man-Savior presented in this parable shows His shepherding, seeking, and saving Spirit with the Father’s loving, forgiving, and compassionate heart (Luke 15:11-32; 9:55-56).

In this parable, we see how one of the two sons took his share of the inheritance, left his father’s house and went to a distant land where he spent it and lived dissolutely until he lost everything.

Then, a famine came on that land, and he joined himself with someone who had a hog farm to work for him; he was so hungry he wanted to eat the carob pods that the pigs ate.

Then, he came to himself and realized that in his father’s house, food is abundant, and even his father’s servants had shelter and food, so he decided to go back to his father.

He prepared a speech to repent before the father and ask him to receive him as one of his hired servants, for he thought he was not qualified to be his father’s son.

While he was a long way off, his father saw him and ran to him, hugged him, kissed him, and welcomed him.

As the prodigal son started his speech of repentance, the father stopped his nonsensical speaking and asked his servants to bring out the best robe to put on him, put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, and commanded that the fattened calf would be slaughtered so that they all feast, enjoy, and be merry. Amen!

When the prodigal son returned to his possession and his father’s house, that was a jubilee, a liberation, and everything became pleasant and satisfying (15:20, 24; Lev. 25:10-12).

When we are saved, we return to our inheritance, for we return to God and enjoy Him anew as our possession (Eph. 1:13-14).

When we are saved, we gain God, and when we have God, we have everything, for without God we have nothing (Col. 1:12).

God has become our blessed portion in Christ; however, many Christians today are unhappy, even though they have Christ, for they are like lights that do not shine because they don’t “turn on the switch” by taking God as their portion (Eph. 4:18; Phil. 2:12-16).

We need to realize that our enjoyment of the jubilee is not only initially, at the time of our regeneration, but throughout our Christian life.

Why are so many believers unhappy today? It is mainly because they do not enjoy Christ as the jubilee.

Their mind is set not on Christ but on many other things. We may even walk in the vanity of our mind as the Gentiles do (Eph. 4:17).

When we’re in our mind and our mind is set on the things on the earth, we do not enjoy the jubilee but rather, we’re in darkness.

May we return to the Lord again and again and enjoy the jubilee; the Father accepts us, for we are in the year of jubilee, the year of grace (Luke 15:20).

God in Christ has become the fattened calf for the enjoyment of the repentant and returned prodigal son (v. 24).

We may think that we need to return to God and work for Him, and He will be pleased with us.

But in the year of jubilee, we simply need to return to God and enjoy Him, and we should not labor at all but just enjoy the riches of Christ.

In Lev. 25:11-12 the people are not to sow nor reap in the year of jubilee but only eat and enjoy.

We believers in Christ are not the Father’s hired servants but His enjoying sons; we can continually enjoy God as our possession from now unto eternity.

We may have the same concept as the prodigal son that we return to God and serve Him harder, striving to please Him; the Father, however, just wants us to come back to Him and enjoy all His riches. We are not His laboring servants but His enjoying sons.

The other son, who remained home and labored for the father diligently, had the same concept; he refused to enter the house when he heard that his brother returned and the father received him with joy.

He was upset that, since he labored for the father for such a long time, he was never given even a goat to feast with his friends.

The father’s answer, however, shows us God’s heart: Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours; but we had to be merry and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life, and he was lost and has been found (Luke 15:32-32).

We may have the attitude that, since we have served the Lord for so many years, why can’t we enjoy such a feast as the one who has returned?

There are many in the church life who meet regularly, but they are not happy; they may even be angry, for they serve as a slave and never neglect the Lord’s commands, but they never enjoy the Lord.

May the Lord enlighten all His people that we’re in the Father’s house, where we have the rich Christ as our portion, and we can enjoy Him.

May we not just serve the Lord but even more, feast on Him and enjoy Him with all His riches.

The heart of our Father God is that we as His children would enjoy the riches of the all-inclusive Christ as our portion, eat, feast, and be merry!

Yes, we do need to serve the Lord and labor, but our life is a life of feasting, for we’re in the year of jubilee, and God is our portion for our enjoyment!

May we not just slave away in the church life but enter into the jubilee!

May we enjoy the all-inclusive Christ as our God-allotted portion today in the church life with all the saints, rejoicing for and with all those who have returned to the Father’s house!

Father, thank You for Your loving, forgiving, and compassionate heart. We return to You from our wandering away from God. We come back to the Father’s house to enjoy all the riches of the all-inclusive Christ. Though we are not worthy, for we have squandered Your riches and Your gifts, we return to You. Thank You for welcoming us back to Yourself. Amen, Lord, thank You for saving us continually so that we may gain God and enjoy an all-inclusive Christ. Hallelujah, God has become our blessed portion in Christ! Amen, Lord, we want to be joyous Christians who take God as their portion day by day. Keep us enjoying You as the jubilee in the church as the Father’s house. We want to partake of all the riches of Christ together with all the saints. Show us, Lord, that we’re not the Father’s “hired servants” but His enjoying sons! Praise the Lord, we as sons of God need to simply enjoy, eat, drink, and be merry in the Father’s house, for we are in the age of jubilee today! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ricky Acosta in the message for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Luke, pp. 552-553, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (2024 July Semiannual Training), week 5, Enjoying Christ as the Reality of the New Testament Jubilee.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – The jubilee (3), a portion from, Life-Study of Luke, Chapter 66.
  – “Let Your Speech Be Always with Grace, Seasoned with Salt” – via, Shepherding Words.
  – What is the Jubilee? The year of jubilee is the year of grace. More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ to the World, via, Bibles for America blog.
  – Biblical illustrations of God’s complete salvation – The Prodigal son, via, I read the Bible.
  – Three Parables Portray the Triune God as our Entrance into New Jerusalem, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Christ meeting every need, a portion from, The Mending Ministry of John, Chapter 2, by Witness Lee.
  – The Jubilee – The Freedom you get from Enjoying God, via, uuCoC.
  – The Gates of New Jerusalem in Luke 15, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The ministry of the Man-Savior in His human virtues with His divine attributes from Galilee to Jerusalem (12), a portion from, Life-Study of Luke, Chapter 34.
  – Lost and Found: The Story of the Prodigal Son from Luke 15 in the Bible, via, Living to Him.
  – Lost and Found: The Bible Story of the Prodigal Son, via, BfA youtube channel.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – He came and bound our wounds up; / He healed these damaged persons. / He poured in oil and wine— / His Spirit and His life divine. / He placed us on His donkey / To carry us so lowly, / And brought us to the church life / With blessing for our care. / We love this dear Man-Savior, / Divine One, fully human / Whose tender care, so merciful / And bountiful to save / Condemned and dying sinners, / Reveals the highest standard / Of His morality seen in His precious, / Saving grace. (Song on, The Good Samaritan, stanzas 2-3))
  – I’m so happy here, / With my Father dear, / Once lost, now I’m near again! / (It was) First His smiling face, / Then His warm embrace, / I’m surprised by grace again! / I was lost, now I’m found again! / I was dead, but now I live! / Come rejoice with us, and be merry then. / Back in my Father’s house again! (Song on, Back in My Father’s House Again! – stanza 1 and chorus)
  – Thou the prodigal hast pardoned, / “Kissed us” with a Father’s love; / “Killed the fatted calf,” and made us / Fit Thy purpose to approve. / “It is meet,” we hear Thee saying, / “We should merry be and glad; / I have found My once-lost children, / Now they live who once were dead.” (Hymns #43 stanza 3)