This third parable in the series again repeats the point of the former two that God gladly receives repentant sinners, but it stresses still other information. The joy of the father in the first part of the parable contrasts with the grumbling of the elder brother in the second part. The love of the father was equal for both his sons. Thus the parable teaches that God wants all people to experience salvation and to enter the kingdom.
"This parable is often called The Prodigal Son,' but it is really about different reactions to the prodigal. The key reaction is that of the father, who is excited to receive his son back. Thus a better name for the parable is The Forgiving Father.' A sub-theme is the reaction of the older brother, so that one can subtitle the parable with the addendum: and the Begrudging Brother.'"353
15:11-12 The man in the story had two sons, a younger and an older one (v. 25). Therefore the younger son's inheritance would normally have been one-third of his father's estate since the older son would have received a double portion (Deut. 21:17). However a disposition of the father's estate before his death would have probably yielded this son about two-ninths of the total.354Jesus did not explain the exact terms of the settlement since they were insignificant details. However the son's request evidently precluded any future claim on his father's estate (v. 19).
Normally the inheritance did not pass to the heirs until the death of the father. To request it prematurely was tantamount to expressing a wish that the father would die.
". . . to my knowledge, in all of Middle Eastern literature (aside from this parable) from ancient times to the present, there is no case of any son, older or younger, asking for his inheritance from a father who is still in good health."355
This father's willingness to accommodate his younger son's request shows that he was gracious and generous. Evidently the older son also received his inheritance at the same time (v. 31), though this is not certain. The implication is that the younger son was an older teenager since men usually married about then, and this young man was apparently unmarried.356
15:13-16 Evidently the son turned his assets into cash and then departed to have fun. Feeding pigs was, of course, unclean work for a Jew and a job that any self-respecting Jew would only do out of total desperation (Lev. 11:7). However the son was willing to do this because his need had become so great. The pigs and the son evidently ate the seeds of carob trees.357This was not very nourishing or appetizing fare. He had sunk so low that no one showed him any compassion.
". . . neither sense nor reason exists in sin but the very contrary."358
The Pharisees would have recognized this young man as representing the sinners whom they despised.
15:17-19 "He came to his senses"is an idiom that indicates repentance.359He changed his mind about his attitude and decided to make a change in his behavior. The young man used "heaven"as a euphemism for God (vv. 18, 21). The Jews frequently did this to avoid using God's name in vain, and there are many examples of this in Luke. The young man meant that he viewed his actions as sin against his father and against God (cf. Ps. 51:4). The son's proposal to his father shows the genuineness of his humility and repentance. He was willing to serve his father as a day laborer since his father had a reputation for paying his servants generously (v. 17).
". . . the boy's proposal indicates that, while he desires the father's house, he doesn't understand the father's heart."360
15:20 Since the father saw his son while he was still a great distance from his house, he had apparently been scanning the distant road daily hoping to see him. The father's compassion reflects some knowledge of his son's plight. Perhaps he had kept tabs on him since he left home. The father put feet to his feelings by running out to meet his son. Embracing and kissing him continually also expressed the father's loving acceptance (cf. Gen. 45:14-15; 33:4; 2 Sam. 14:33; Acts 20:37). This attitude also contrasts with the elder brother's attitude and the Pharisees' attitude. The father initiated the restoration of fellowship before the son could articulate his confession.
15:21-24 Evidently the father cut his son's confession short because he knew what was in his heart. Rather than simply accepting his son back, much less making him a servant, the father bestowed the symbols of honor, authority, and freedom on him (cf. Gen. 41:42; Esth. 3:10; 8:8).361Then he prepared a banquet for him that probably represents the messianic banquet (13:29; 14:15-24). People in Jesus' day ate far less meat than Americans do, so their eating meat indicates a very special occasion.
The son had determined to leave the father permanently and so was dead and lost to his father. He now had new life and was found (cf. Eph. 2:1-5). This was just the beginning of rejoicing, the implication being that it would continue through the messianic kingdom (i.e., the Millennium). Jesus' hearers would have understood Him to teach that sinners would enter the kingdom because they came to God by believing in Jesus.
"There is a Buddhist story that provides a fascinating contrast to the Lord's story. It also tells of a son who left home and returned years later in rags and misery. His degradation was so profound that he did not recognize his own father. But his father recognized him and told the servants to take him into the mansion and to clean him up. The father, his identity unrevealed, watched his son's response. Gradually, time wrought changes, and the son became dutiful, considerate, and moral. Satisfied, the father finally revealed his identity and formally accepted his son as his heir.
"The Pharisees would have understood and approved of such a story. It makes sense to wait for a son to achieve worthiness. It is reasonable to treat a repentant person according to the stage of penance achieved. But that is not the Father our Lord describes. It is not a parable of merits. Here is a picture of grace."362
"To an alarming degree it [the evangelical church of today] has lost touch with the unconditional love of God."363
15:25-27 Jesus pictured the older brother, symbolic of the Pharisees and scribes, as working hard for the father. The Jews as well as the Jewish religious leaders likewise enjoyed the privileged status of an older brother in the human family because God had chosen them for special blessing (Gen. 19:5-6). The older brother was outside the banquet having missed it apparently because of his preoccupation with work and his distant relationship with his father.
15:28 The older son's anger at the father's forgiveness and acceptance of his brother contrasts with the father's loving compassion demonstrated by his coming out and entreating him. Similarly the Pharisees grumbled because God received sinners and welcomed them into his kingdom (v. 2). Nevertheless God reached out to them through Jesus as the father reached out to his older son.
15:29-30 After a disrespectful address, the older son boasted of what he had done for his father and than blamed him for not giving him more. Clearly he felt that the father's response should reflect justice rather than grace. He was counting on a reward commensurate with his work (cf. Matt. 20:12). This hardly reflects a loving relationship.
"He hasn't stayed home because he loved his father, but because working in his fields was a way to get what he wanted."364
He refused to acknowledge his brother as his brother since he had so dishonored his father. By calling him his father's son he was implying that the father shared his son's guilt.
15:31-32 The father responded to the older son's hostility with tenderness and reason. The Greek word teknon, translated "child"or "son,"is a term of tender affection. The father stressed his older son's privileged position as always enjoying his father's company. This was a uniquely Jewish privilege that the nation's religious leaders enjoyed particularly (cf. Rom. 3:1-2; 9:4). All that God had was Israel's in the sense that they always had access to it because of the privileged relationship He had established with the nation. It was necessary to celebrate the return of sinners, implying that the older brother should have joined in the rejoicing. The reason for the rejoicing was the salvation of the lost. The parable closes with the father's implied invitation to the older son to enter the banquet. That invitation was still open to the Pharisees when Jesus told the parable.
"Thus the parable teaches that God loves sinners, that God searches for sinners, that God restores sinners, and that God confers the privileges and blessings of sonship on those who return to Him."365
There are two interpretations of these three parables that are common among evangelicals. Some see them as teaching the restoration to fellowship of believers. They cite the fact that the man owned the sheep that he lost, the woman owned the coin, and the lost son was a son of his father. They view these relationships as indicating the saved condition of the lost objects in the parables. Other interpreters view the lost objects as representing unbelievers. This seems more probable since Jesus was speaking to Pharisees and lawyers who rejected God's salvation that He extended through Jesus. They grumbled against Jesus because He received sinners who believed on Him. Moreover the younger son received a position that he had not enjoyed previously when he returned (v. 22). The Jews were God's children only in the sense that God had adopted them into a special relationship with Himself (Exod. 19:5-6). They still had to believe on Him to obtain eternal life (Gen. 15:6).366
On one level these parables deal with Israel's religious leaders, but on another level they deal with all the Jews. The unbelief that characterized the Pharisees and lawyers also marked the nation as a whole. Therefore it seems that these parables teach God's reaching out to the Gentiles in view of Israel's unbelief as well as His extending salvation to Jewish sinners in Jesus' day. As Luke's Gospel unfolds from Jesus' postponement of the kingdom (13:34-35), Jesus' mission primarily to the Jews declines and His worldwide mission to the Gentiles becomes an ever increasing emphasis.
