Most people know the parable of ‘The lost son’ or ‘The prodigal son’ pretty well, but maybe it should be called, ‘The parable of the loving Father’. The word ‘prodigal’ means ‘wasteful’. Before we make some applications with this parable, let’s see if we can understand the background to it first. Under Jewish Law, the terms by which a father assigned his inheritance were quite specific.
The law clearly stated that the firstborn son was to receive a double portion, Deuteronomy 21:17. In other words, two-thirds of the father’s property went to his firstborn son, and so the son who went away in the parable only owned one-third of it.
And very often during Biblical times, a person didn’t have to wait until their father died to get their inheritance; the father just gave them their share of his possessions before he died.
Jesus says there was a man who had two sons, and the younger son demanded his share of the inheritance from his father, Luke 15:12. He couldn’t wait; he wanted his inheritance right there and then.
The younger son in the parable didn’t speak to anyone about his decision, and make no mistake about it, his request was callous and heartless. Basically, what he’s saying to his father is, ‘give me now the part of my estate that I’m going to get when you’re dead anyway.’ He’s saying, ‘give it to me now, so that I can get out of here.’
Most children go through a rebellious stage at some point in their lives. Most of them, when they’re in their teens, and that’s possibly what’s happening here. The younger son feels he’s been the baby of the family for long enough, and now it’s time for him to strike out and go it alone.
Now, if that were you or I, I’m sure most of us who have kids would certainly strike back. We wouldn’t let them go without a moral lecture, but I want you to notice how the father deals with the situation.
He didn’t argue with him, he didn’t try to persuade his son otherwise, he simply divided his property between his two sons and let the younger one go, Luke 15:12. But why? Why didn’t he give him a moral lecture like so many of us would do? Why did he simply let him go?
Well, he let him go simply because he knew his son well enough to know that if his son was ever going to learn anything, he was going to have to learn the hard way. That’s why he gave in to his request, and some people are like that; they will never learn until they learn the hard way.
The younger son goes to a distant country and squanders all his money, Luke 15:13. A severe famine struck the land, and he was starving, and he was desperate, Luke 15:14, and desperate times call for desperate measures.
We might be thinking, well, at least when times were hard for him, he got a job working with pigs, Luke 15:15. Well, let me tell you, what you think of a pig is totally opposite to what the Jews thought about pigs. In Leviticus 11:1-8, when God is speaking to Moses about unclean animals, he gives a list of animals they cannot eat, and a pig is one of them, it is an unclean animal, Leviticus 11:7.
To you and I, working with a pig is no big deal but to a Jew, a pig was an unclean animal, this was lower than low. To this guy, this was the most degrading and humiliating task possible.
Despite his job, he’s still starving and lonely, and nobody would help, Luke 15:16. He knew he was better off at home because his father would take care of his needs, Luke 15:17. When things weren’t going to plan, he ended up in a pigpen and then he realised what was happening.
And there’s a great lesson for the church here, isn’t there? We can’t force people to stay faithful; we can’t make Christians go to worship and attend all the Bible studies.
Sometimes, we need to let people go and learn from their mistakes so that they can come to their senses, and see what they had when they were in fellowship and let them see that they have made a mistake. The younger brother realised he was better off at home; he knew that there would be food at home, Luke 15:17.
He even knew that his father’s servants would have food leftover, Luke 15:17. He already had it all worked out what he would say to his father when he got back home. He was going to confess to his father that he had sinned against him and heaven, Luke 15:18.
Now, this took courage; this was true humility that the younger brother showed here. Because he intended to ask his father to take him back as a hired servant, not as a son, Luke 15:19.
And you need to realise that there’s a difference between a hired servant and an ordinary servant. The ordinary servant was in some sense a member of the family, but the hired servant could be dismissed at a day’s notice. He wasn’t part of the family at all because a hired servant only worked one day at a time. He had no guarantee of employment, and as we know, he lived on the edge of starvation.
Think about what he’s done and is doing. He left home as a prince, and he’s willing to return as a lowly labourer. He didn’t just get a few things like an inheritance; his father was rich. He had full-time servants and part-time servants, and that was a sign of wealth back then. It was time for humility, time for submission, time for swallowing his pride.
Let’s take a closer look at what he did.
1. ‘He came to his senses’, Luke 15:17.
In other words, he was out of his mind when he left his home, and it’s only now that he truly sees himself for the first time. It’s never easy taking a close look at yourself because sometimes what you see is some very scary facts about your life. But when he comes to his senses, that’s the point at which he is starting his return to his father.
2. ‘He will set out and go,’ Luke 15:18.
That was the decision that he had pushed furthest to the back of his mind, but now that he saw himself more clearly, he saw his father in a different light. And let me tell you, when you look at yourself clearly, your opinions of the people around you change too, don’t they?
3. ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son, Luke 15:18.
Here’s his confession: in other words, when he reached a decision to return to his father, he already had his confession prepared. But notice his confession, there’s no messing around with his words, there are no excuses for what he had done.
4. ‘He got up and went,’ Luke 15:20.
He didn’t hesitate; he just got up and went. There was no thinking time between the saying and doing. Nothing was going to change his mind, nothing was going to tempt him to stay away. And when you think about it there are many people in the world today who aren’t Christians who are caught between the saying and the doing.
Notice the Father’s reactions to His returning son. That’s the example the church has to follow. No moral lectures, no making them people feel inferior when they return, just pure joy. While the younger son was still a long way off, his father saw him, Luke 15:20, implying that he was looking out for his return.
The father was filled with compassion, and so, he ran to his son, Luke 15:20. Don’t underestimate what the father did here by running to his son. In Bible times, men often wore long white outer garments which went down to their ankles because it was considered shameful to show their shins.
For the father to run, he would have to lift up his outer garment to run. This tells us that the father was willing to take upon himself his son’s shame, Hebrews 12:2.
The father now throws his arms around his son and kisses him, Luke 15:20. The son now confesses his sin to the father, Luke 15:21 / Luke 15:18. Notice that the father doesn’t lecture his son about his actions like many parents would today when their children go off and do something stupid.
Instead of lecturing his son, the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him, Luke 15:22. The servant is also told to put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet, Luke 15:22.
The servant is also told to bring the fattened calf and kill it, let’s have a feast and celebrate, Luke 15:23. And the reason for the celebration is because his son was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found, Luke 15:24. So they began to celebrate, Luke 15:24.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The ring, the robe, the shoes. All these were the signs of the sonship which the father restored to him, the signet ring, in particular, indicating that the father undertook to pay all of his debts. The new clothing and the status at the father’s table are fitting emblems of the salvation which God bestows upon his returning children.’
In the parables of ‘The lost sheep, The lost coin and The lost son’, Jesus teaches us a great deal about mankind. Jesus teaches us that men are lost. And it’s interesting that Jesus very seldom called men “sinners”, but rather he spoke of them as being lost.
When Jesus is sending out the twelve, He tells them not to go to the Gentiles or any Samaritan towns, but He tells them in Matthew 10:6, ‘Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel.’
When Jesus’ disciples were being harassed by a woman who had a demon-possessed girl, Jesus said in Matthew 15:24, ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.’ Jesus isn’t saying that He counted them as moral wretches or outlaws in headstrong rebellion against God. But it was simply that men were misguided and disillusioned and needed to get back on the right road.
And people are still like that today, aren’t they? They are lost like ‘the sheep’ described in Luke 15:3-7. They don’t revolt against God, they don’t fight against His church, they simply slip away from Him step by step, Hebrews 2:1.
Many people do drift away; they slip away with the tide of the world and become spiritually numb. People are also like ‘the coin’ described in Luke 15:8-10. Although there’s a difference between coins and people, the coin was lost through no fault of its own.
But with men, there’s always the responsibility of choice that governs their destiny, so the coin was lost in the sense that man could never be. But many people’s lives are wrecked, and it’s true that this may not always be because of their own fault, but because of the faults of other men.
And finally, men are like ‘the lost son’. We all know that ‘self’ is the root of sin, and it’s the downfall of many a soul. Many people deliberately, with their eyes wide open, forsake the Lord and go off on their own.
This is the essence of sin, the desire to please ‘self’ despite its consequences, to do what one wants to do, regardless of the feelings of others. Instead of pursuing the will of God, they pursue the will of ‘self’.
Let’s take another look at the younger son. He was lost, but he also lost some other things.
1. He lost the fellowship of his father and the comfort of his home.
Think about it, he had lived in the best house, with the best servants to wait on him, he had the best father a son could ever have. But all of these things meant nothing to him until he was left friendless in a strange land. And although he knew what his father was like, when he was in a far-off country in a pigpen, they were out of reach.
2. He lost something else too; he lost his self-esteem.
He left home full of self-esteem and confidence and ended up working in a field with some pigs. He threw away his family because of his pride and ended up sleeping with pigs. Have you ever been to a strange country or place where you didn’t know anyone? Well, that’s what he felt like, unknown and unheeded and unwanted in a far-off country.
3. He also lost everything he had, Luke 15:14.
It’s amazing how the inheritance that he received so easily was so easily squandered. Easy come, easy go as some may say. He lost it all, he lost everything. He had no real friends, no real pleasures, no real freedom, no real independence and no real pride; he lost everything.
Now he’s in a mess, and I wonder how the church would deal with someone who went off and lived like this and then came to their senses and came back home? The shepherd with the sheep, the woman with the coin, the father with the son, was filled with uncontrollable joy when they gained again what had been lost.
And that’s because God is kind and He’s more understanding than we are. And He feels deep in His heart the joy of joys when one wanderer returns home. And then we come to the part of the parable that I don’t like.
I wished I could just leave it there in Luke 15:24, because that’s a happy ending. But sadly, I’m not the author and thank God for that, because I think there are some serious lessons we can learn from this older brother’s reactions. The older son was saved but lost.
While the celebrations are going on the older son was in the field and as he got nearer to the house, he heard music and dancing, Luke 15:25. He goes to one of the servants and asked him what was going on, Luke 15:26. The servant tells him that his brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound, Luke 15:27.
The older brother was a self-righteous kind of man, and he could find nothing good in the life of his brother; everything his brother had done was bad. The older brother was proud of himself and proud of his life. He was very proud, and he was very much like the Pharisees who started Jesus off with these parables by accusing Him of receiving sinners, Luke 15:1-2.
But the older brother was so jealous that he wouldn’t even go inside and greet his brother, but decided to stay outside the house and sulk, Luke 15:28. But most of all, the older brother was just pure heartless. He’s so heartless that he would probably die and have the words, ‘What are you looking at?’ on his gravestone.
The father went out to plead with him, Luke 15:28, but he wasn’t having any of it. He says, ‘Look! All these years, I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends, Luke 15:29.
Coffman, in his commentary, says the following.
‘The distorted views of the selfish soul are evident in this verse. The older brother had received the double portion of the divided estate, Luke 15:12, and he was in fact the owner of the whole estate, Luke 15:31; therefore, it was his duty to have given to the father, not the other way around. If this elder brother had wanted to share a banquet with his friends, it was surely within his power to have done so; but as a matter of obvious fact, he did not wish to share anything with anybody, even resenting the slaughter of the fatted calf for the return of his brother.’
He wasn’t happy at all that his brother had come home; he would probably be happier if he had been beaten up and forgotten about. And that was the attitude of the older brother, ‘who wants him back!’
He was jealous and heartless, and all he cared about was himself. And let me ask you, how did he know his brother was with prostitutes? Luke 25:30. Because there’s no mention of prostitutes until he mentions them. Maybe he suspected that’s what he did, and maybe he accused his brother of those sins because he himself would have liked to commit those sins.
And notice that he refers to his brother, not as ‘My brother’ but as ‘Your son,’ Luke 15:30. This man would have no problems kicking you down under the gutter when you’re already lying on top of it. Even when his father says to him, ‘My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours,’ Luke 15:31.
In other words, your brother has squandered all he had, but you’ve still got your inheritance, it’s twice as much as your brother had. But he still didn’t want to listen; he was hurting himself without realising it.
Now he’s not thinking straight; he needs to come to his senses. Even when his father tells him, ‘that they had to celebrate and be glad because his brother was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found, Luke 15:32.
Even then, his anger took hold of him. He just couldn’t see that if his father had gained a son, he had gained a brother. His whole attitude shows us that his years of obedience to his father had been years of grim duty and not loving service. There’s not a sympathetic bone in his body.
The lesson from this parable is severe. You don’t necessarily have to go on a long journey in order to leave God. You can stay at home and not know your father and not know your father’s heart. And so you can be lost at home, just as you can be lost anywhere else in the world.
God’s attitude is seen in the diligent search of the shepherd and of the woman in the other two parables I mentioned earlier. Because it’s one thing to accept a sinner, but it’s another thing to go out and look for them. It’s one thing to go out and look for them, but it’s another thing to know that they’re diseased with sin and they would probably let you down anyway.
Once again, Jesus is revealing an amazing truth here, and the truth is that it is easier to confess to God than it is to many a man. The truth is that God is far more merciful in His judgments than we will ever be with our fellow man.
The truth is that the love of God is far broader than the love we have for each other. The truth is that God can forgive people even when people refuse to forgive each other. And when you’re faced with a love like that, then you too will be lost in wonder, lost in love and lost in praise.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law who started Jesus off with these parables would have said, ‘Who cares, it’s just one lost sheep.’ Jesus would say, ‘Rejoice with me, I have found my lost sheep, Luke 15:6.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law would have said, ‘What’s a coin, it’s worthless anyway.’ Jesus would say, ‘Rejoice with me, I have found my lost coin’, Luke 15:9.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the Law would have said, ‘Cancel the party, my brother’s home.’ Jesus would say and still says today, ‘we had to celebrate and be glad because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found’, Luke 15:32. That’s love, that’s forgiveness, that’s worth rejoicing.