Luke 15:11-32 English Standard Version The Parable of the Prodigal Son 11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. 17 “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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. 25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” You all probably know this as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, but "prodigal" is not a word that many know and understand and Jesus is teaching three different parables that teach the same thing in different way, but each time He's raising the stake a bit so that the thig that is lost is of more value. First it was one out of one-hundred sheep (1%) and then one out of ten silver coins (10%), but now there will be one out of two sons (50%). But which son is actually the one that is lost in this parable? We think we know the answer to that in the beginning of this parable, but there is a dramatic twist as we go through the story and the way the parable was told, these fathers would understand the reaction of the father in this story, even though no one would ever imagine God the Father acting in this way.
Let's first take a look at the setup to the story. There is a younger son and an older son. Typically in that culture the oldest son got a double portion of the inheritance upon the death of the father. To make a request to receive your inheritance while your father was still living was equivalent of saying that your father was dead to you, you wished he were dead right now, and that you can't wait any longer for him to die. Those listening would have understood the disrespect shown to the father here, and they would start to imagine this person as one of the wicked tax collectors or "sinners" that we were talking about earlier, or maybe even a pagan Gentile. Whatever they imagined of this person, they likely were not thinking of themselves rebelling against God and wanting to do things their way, which is what we should be thinking about when we read this story. All of us are the rebellious son that was a prodigal--that is one given to extravagant living once he received his inheritance from his father. Things don't go so well for the prodigal son as he goes off in a far country--for a Jew to leave the land God gave Him was to abandon the covenant that God made with them. This younger son wanted to become like the Gentiles and took all that was given by the father (remember the father in this story is God) and spends it on wild, or as the passage says, reckless, living. This is why we call him a prodigal. He finds himself bankrupt and in need of money, but can find no job other than to be a hired hand to feed another man's pigs. This would be a terrible job for a Jew for pigs were unclean and no Jew would ever want to work around pigs, but this man longed even to eat their food to satisfy his own hunger because there was a famine in the land and the pigs were eating, but he was not, yet no one cared to give him anything. There comes a moment in the story where this younger son "comes to his senses" and confesses both the sin he committed and the truth about his father's love and compassion, even for those who serve him, and the younger son knows that he would be better off as his father's hired servant than as the servant of these foreign masters who didn't care if he lived or died. So he repented and turned around to go back home, though he was dirty and stinky and probably disheveled probably having been homeless for quite some time if he did not even have enough money with which to buy his own food. Yet, his father who had been watching for him since the day that he left, saw him turn and come back home while he was a long ways off and did not let the son finish the speech he had prepared. The father called for his son to be restored and for clean clothes to be given to him, for a ring to be put on his finger, and for sandals to be put on his feet. These all represent different parts of the restoration that God gives us taking our impurity and giving us clean garments (the righteousness of Christ), giving us authority and an identity that we belong to His family (the ring) and making us freemen because only freemen at that time wore sandals--slaves did not. The fattened calf--the best that was available was killed to hold a feast in honor of the lost son who had returned. We see that it was not the father who was dead, but that it was the son who had been dead and is now alive and was lost, but now is found. We like to end the story there, but we do a disservice to Jesus' teaching if we do, for He told this parable and the others before it in response to the Pharisees trying to condemn Him for hanging out with sinners and tax collectors. Jesus is making the point that these sinners and tax collectors are repenting because they know they sinned and they are being restored and made right by God, and God and the angels of heaven or celebrating the return of those that were lost, but there was another son in this story--the older son--the one that we will see is the one who really was lost. The older son clearly represents the Pharisees having an view that the love of the father should be based off of works and that they should be favored because they had been good, and they despised their father and their brother not only for what the brother had done, but moreso because the brother had been forgiven and accepted back and his return had been celebrated. The older brother hated the younger brother and could not see him for anything other than the one who squandered their father's wealth. The younger brother's sin was not against the older brother, but against the father, and the father has forgiven the younger son, so what right does this older son have to bear a grudge against and hate his brother? He has no such right. The older brother refuses to go inside the house to join the party (I think this is a sign that the older brother will choose to not go to heaven if "those people"...the "sinners" and "tax collectors" will be there. The gospel changes us as we repent and believe by faith and the younger son was not the same man he was when he came back home as when he left, but his brother refused to see that. So then this older brother refuses to forgive and we know Jesus' teaching on this says that this is evidence that this older brother was never forgiven himself. So the one that appeared to have his live together and lived in the father's house and we assumed would receive a double portion of the inheritance and have a good relationship with his father in the end breaks his relationship with his father, because his father chooses to love his wayward son who has come back and restores him. This older son is just as self-centered as the younger son, but it is couched in self-righteousness instead of indulgence of the flesh. The older brother makes demands of the father as if the father owes him something, and yet the father says "All that I have is yours" (meaning that the Law-abiding Jews have been experiencing the blessings of the covenant all along), yet their obedience was only skin-deep and was all about them wanting their inheritance that they believed they earned. They are no better really than the younger son, just the younger son was more honest about it and said that he wished his father was dead so that he could have his inheritance now. The older son pretended to be loyal to the father, but the whole time was hating the one whom the father loved and in so doing he really ended up hating his father. It was the older son in the end who was truly lost, because he didn't realize that he too needed to repent and have his relationship with his father restored. He needed to love his father, and love those his father loved and forgive because he too was a man in need of forgiveness. He was not perfect, even though he fancied that he was. Jesus ends the parable saying that it was good and right to celebrate the one that was lost and the older son was invited to come into the party and celebrate the return of his brother, but the older son refuses to come inside. That is why many people like to try to end the story at verse 24, because it gives them the happy ending they can feel good about, but this is not a story with a happy ending--this is a story meant to call out the Pharisees and they will hate Jesus for it. Everyone will know they are the self-righteous older brother and they are the ones who are refusing to join in the celebration of sinners coming to repentance. They would prefer that these "sinners" never repented and that they saw them remain dead or saw God's judgment poured out on them. Like Jonah, they do not want to have grace and mercy on those they view to be their enemies and they pout and and are angry when God decides to save those that they believe don't deserve it. But who are they to decide who does and doesn't deserve God's forgiveness and grace, and why can't they see that they too are in need of forgiveness and that their pride and arrogance and lack of repentance was leading to a broken relationship with their repentant brothers and with Father God? Once God has saved and changed someone form the inside out we should no longer keep reminding others of how bad that person used to be. They were a sinner, but they are now a son There is no reason to make such a person feel like a second-class citizen or a slave because the Father has restored them. Comments are closed.
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Daniel WestfallI will mostly use this space for recording my "journal" from my daily devotions as I hope to encourage others to read the Bible along with me and to leave a legacy for others. Archives
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