The Parable of The Loving Father, The Prodigal Son and the Dissatisfied Brother (15:11-32).
When we come to the third parable there is a different emphasis in that the emphasis is laid, not on the seeking out of the person involved, (that has already been made clear in the previous two parables), but on his repentance, and on the father who is longing for his son's return, and on the contrast with the elder brother who is angry when his younger wastrel brother is rapturously received. But it has in common with the others the finding of what was lost and the same emphasis on the rejoicing at the return of the one who was lost. It is a vivid picture of human psychology and emotions.
When considering the parable we need to have in mind the contents of the crowd. There were first of all the common people, the ‘public servants and sinners', whose religious life was a little haphazard, and then there were the ‘righteous' people, those who were good living, responsive to God, and who genuinely looked to the sacrificial system to keep them in fellowship with God. And finally there were the hypercritical among the Pharisees and Scribes, men who struggled hard to build up a special level of righteousness and to ensure that they kept every letter of the covenant, but who thereby missed its most important underlying basis, the principle of mercy. The younger son represents the first. The elder son the second and third, both of whom needed to learn more of the grace of God.
We should notice that it is the parable of the two sons, as well as that of the loving father. It can therefore be divided into two or three parts, the first mainly dealing with the activities of the younger son, the last mainly dealing with the response to his return of the elder son, and the middle section mainly having in mind the loving father (although the father's love shines out all the way through). The fall, and especially the repentance of the younger son, is vividly described, reminding us that it was not just any public servants and sinners, but repentant public servants and sinners that Jesus welcomed. But equally important in its significance is the resultant reaction of the elder son, for this vividly portrays the reaction of the Pharisees and ‘the righteous' (those who wholeheartedly sought to live their lives before God) to His welcoming of public servants and sinners. It is not only hypocrites who sometimes find it difficult to understand how a man can live a long life of open sin and then be welcomed back at the end as though he had never sinned. Here Jesus will give something of an explanation.
Thus while the initial part of the parable deals with the welcoming of sinners, the final lesson arising from the parable deals with the harsh attitude that the ‘righteous' might have towards the reception of repentant sinners. The question is not finally dealt with but is left open for all to consider. (And we must never forget that a number of Pharisees did become Christians).
But the overall importance of the parable is found in the compassion and wisdom of the father who was able to cope with both and sought to understand and be reconciled with both. He is the figure who unifies the parable and is its central theme. For central to its significance is the love of the Father, Who yet in His love requires repentance from both. Without that there can be no restored relationships.
Analysis.
a And he said, “A certain man had two sons” (Luke 15:11).
b “And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of your substance which falls to me.' And he divided to them his living” (Luke 15:12).
c “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country, and there he wasted his substance with riotous living” (Luke 15:13).
d “And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country, and he began to be in want, and he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine, and he would willingly have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat, and no man gave to him” (Luke 15:14-16).
e “But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants”.' ” (Luke 15:17-19).
f “And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20)
g “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight, I am no more worthy to be called your son' ” (Luke 15:21)
f “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry, for this my son was dead, and is alive again, he was lost, and is found.' And they began to be merry” (Luke 15:22-24).
e “Now his elder son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called to him one of the servants, and enquired what these things might be. And he said to him, ‘Your brother is come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him safe and sound.' And he was angry, and would not go in, and his father came out, and entreated him” (Luke 15:25-27).
d “But he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years do I serve you, and I never transgressed a commandment of yours, and yet you never gave me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends' ” (Luke 15:28).
c “But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you kill for him the fatted calf.' ” (Luke 15:29).
b “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are ever with me, and all that is mine is yours' ” (Luke 15:31).
a “But it was right to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive again, and was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:32).
Note that in ‘a' there are two sons and in the parallel there are again two sons. This brings out the pathos of the remainder of the story. Ever since the younger son had left there had been an emptiness in the heart of his father. He had only had the one son. But now his other son has been restored. In ‘b' the younger son claimed his inheritance, and in the parallel all that is left now belongs to the elder son. In ‘c' the young man lives riotously, and in the parallel this is precisely the elder brother's grumble. In ‘d' the descent of the younger son into abject poverty is described, from partying (spending all) to swine husks, and in the parallel is the contrast of the hardworking elder brother, keeping on an even keel and always well fed but never partied. In ‘e' we have the young man's repentance and recognition of his folly, and in the parallel the elder son's reaction and hardening. In ‘f' we have the father's joyous reaction to his son's return, and in the parallel this is emphasised and expanded on. And centrally in ‘g' we have the depiction of and stress on the young man's repentance.
The story is partly based on Old Testament ideas where God said, ‘Sons have I reared and brought up, but they have rebelled against Me' (Isaiah 1:2). And the consequence was, ‘A voice on the bare heights is heard, the weeping and pleading of Israel's sons, because they have perverted their way, they have forgotten the Lord their God. Return O faithless sons, I will heal your faithlessness' (Jeremiah 3:21-22 a). And the reply then comes, ‘Behold we come to you, for you are the Lord our God' (Jeremiah 3:22 b). And who can fail to see the yearning of the father for his lost son in Jeremiah 31:20, ‘Is Ephraim (Israel) My dear son? Is he My darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I remember him still, therefore My heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the Lord'. So the Old Testament is firm in its teaching concerning the Father Who yearns for His sons to return to Him, and is ready to receive them with mercy.
It will also be noted that, as we also find in Old Testament chiastic parallels (see our commentaries on Numbers 18:4; Numbers 18:7; Numbers 23:24 and Exodus 18:21-22; Exodus 18:25-26), there are here in Luke repetitions of phrases within the chiasmus. Both ‘Father I have sinned against Heaven and in your sight, I am no more worthy to be called your son', and ‘this my son (your brother) was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found' are repeated. It will be noted that both are central emphases in the story.