The Prodigal son - the son who remained home.
Luke 15: 11-32
Lev. 7:12; 22:29-30
A parable is a comparison of two objects for the purpose of teaching. Although Jesus did not invent speaking in parables, it is significant that He is the only one who used them in the New Testament. At one time in His ministry, it was the only method He employed when speaking to the masses. (Mt. 13:34; Mk. 4:33-34; see also: Ps 78:2)
Parables appear in both the Old and New Testaments but are more easily recognizable in the ministry of Jesus. Jesus used earthly stories to teach heavenly truths, but only those who sought the truth were able to understand them.
Parables are typically brief and points are presented in twos or threes using an economy of words. Unnecessary details are left out.
The settings in the story are taken from ordinary life. Figures of speech are common and used in context for ease of understanding. For example, a discourse about a shepherd and his sheep would make hearers think of God and his people because of Old Testament references to those pictures.
Parables often incorporate elements of surprise and exaggeration. They are taught in such an interesting and compelling manner that the listener cannot escape the truth in it.
Parables ask listeners to make judgments on the events of the story. As a result, listeners must make similar judgments in their own lives. They force the listener to make a decision or come to a moment of truth.
Typically parables leave no room for gray areas. The listener is forced to see the truth in concrete rather than abstract pictures.
A master at teaching with parables, Jesus spoke about 35 percent of his recorded words in parables. According to the Tyndale Bible Dictionary, Christ's parables were more than illustrations for his preaching, they were his preaching to a great extent
The purpose of parables in Jesus Christ's teaching was to focus the listener on God and his kingdom. These stories revealed the character of God: what he is like, how he works, and what he expects from his followers.
Most scholars agree that there are at least 33 parables in the Gospels. Jesus introduced many of these parables with a question. For example, in the parable of the Mustard Seed, Jesus answered the question, "What is the Kingdom of God like?"
Typically, the characters in Jesus' parables remained nameless, creating a broader application for his listeners. The parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16:19-31 is the only one in which he used a proper name.
One of the most striking features of Jesus' parables is how they reveal the nature of God. They draw listeners and readers into a real and intimate encounter with the living God .
One of Christ's most famous parables in the Bible is the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32. This story is closely tied to the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin. Each of these accounts focuses on the relationship with God, demonstrating what it means to be lost and how heaven celebrates with joy when the lost are found. They also draw a keen picture of God the Father's loving heart for lost souls.
Although many in the professing Christian world believe He spoke in parables in order to make His point more clear, the opposite is actually true. Jesus Himself said as much. The scriptures reveal that the Messiah was once asked by His disciples why He spoke in parables (Mt. 13:10). He answered them by revealing that He did so to hide the meaning of His words from some who would hear them.
The gospel of Mark records Jesus’ words this way.
“Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, all these things are done in parables: That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.” (Mk. 4:11-12 . See also: Isa 6:9,10; Acts 28: 27)
The growing popularity of Jesus among the ‘tax collectors and sinners’, that is, the rejected and despised members of Israelite society who welcomed his message and were all coming to listen to him (Lk 15:1), was beginning to alarm the religious establishment of scribes and Pharisees, and Luke reports how they were grumbling at Jesus and accusing him of welcoming sinners into His company and even demeaning himself by eating with them (15:2). Luke elsewhere, in 19:1-10, gives us an account of how Zacchaeus, the chief tax collector in Jericho, clambered up a sycamore tree because of his small stature and his curiosity to catch a glimpse of Jesus passing by, and how he was thrilled – and converted – when Jesus invited himself to spend the day at Zacchaeus’s house.
On this occasion in Luke chapter 15 Luke shows us Jesus responding to his critics when ‘he told them three parables. Each of the three parables in its own way illustrating the simple joy at recovering something valuable which had been lost. The first parable tells of a shepherd who lost one of his sheep and who left his ninety-nine others ‘in the wilderness’ (15:4) to go and search for the lost one. When he finds it he puts it on his shoulder and carries it back home, inviting his friends and neighbours to rejoice with him in the recovery of his lost sheep. Jesus’s message was that there is ‘more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance’ (15:7), the latter group possibly referring to Jesus’s self-righteous critics.
The second parable again mentions of the rejoicing at recovering something lost. Luke introduces a woman this time, one with the domestic crisis of having lost a valuable coin, who searches high and low all over the house until eventually she finds it (15:8). Then she calls in her friends and neighbours to share her relief and rejoicing. On her triumph Jesus comments: ‘Just so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents’ (15:9-10).
The scene is now set in Luke’s Gospel for ‘the prodigal son’. It begins with Jesus explaining ‘there was a man who had two sons’ (15:11), a statement which, many commentators observe, would immediately call to mind among his Jewish listeners the famous two sons of Isaac, Esau and his younger brother Jacob, the revered ancestor of their people (Gen 25: 25-26; 28:10-14). If so, they were about to be upset rapidly, because Jesus went on to describe how the younger son went wrong, perhaps hinting at Israel’s own historical desertion of God.
Here begins the parable of the prodigal son and we shall look into the details as we go along.
The Biblical record indicates that Jesus was addressing the scribes and the Pharisees (Lk. 15: 1-3) when He told this story of “The Lost Son." However, it is reasonable to conclude that sinners who had come to see Jesus also heard His words—for it was about them that He spoke.
The scribes and the Pharisees were constant antagonists of the Messiah. They sought to discredit Him at every turn. Jesus was eating with what the scribes and Pharisees regarded as “undesirables.” Simply put, His dining companions were sinners. The religious leaders observing this were highly offended that the Messiah would associate with such people. As a result, they began murmuring among themselves, expressing their disgust at Him for doing so (Lk. 15:1-2).
At this point, it is also important to understand that these religious leaders were brazenly arrogant. They would often tout their own righteousness, while at the same time condemn others. In the parable of “The Pharisee and the Publican” (Lk. 18:10-14), a Pharisee actually belittles a tax collector when praying to the Father in heaven. During his prayer, this religious leader had the audacity to thank God that he (the Pharisee) was not like all the wretched people around him.
Now, as they witness Jesus is showing compassion to those whose lives were scarred by bad decisions and a sinful life, these “pious” men declare their disdain for those who sought out the Messiah. They see no redeeming qualities in these people. Furthermore, they see Jesus’ lack of discernment as further evidence that He is not a true man of God.
This is clearly what was taking place at this moment. In essence, these spiritual pillars of Judaism were doing three things:
1) They were asserting their own righteousness,
2) they were condemning others who clearly had some serious flaws in their lives and,
3) they were questioning the wisdom of Jesus for showing compassion to such people while at the same time failing to show honor to them.
Jesus responded to this by offering a trilogy of parables in which the first two (“The Lost Sheep” and “The Lost Coin”) expose the hypocrisy of the Pharisees' grumblings.
The third parable then presents them with a chilling reality of how distant their judgement was from that of God’s. In this parable Jesus tells a story about a sinner who repents, a father who forgives, and an elder brother who :
1) asserts his own righteousness,
2) condemns his sibling for past mistakes, and
3) questions the wisdom of a father for showing mercy to a sinner while at the same time failing to show honor to him.
While some in God’s church hold up the older brother as a model of honor to a father, he is in fact nothing but a resentful child that cares little about anything but himself.
Most of us are familiar with this parable of the prodigal son. We've read it and studied it many times, and have seen numerous lessons legitimately drawn from it. And I would imagine that most of us, to some extent, identify with the wayward son in this story. After all, which of us has not made some bad choices and shown poor judgment in our lives? And which of us has not suffered the consequences?
We have all had our "far country" experiences! Each of us, on some occasion, has probably found ourselves in one of life's "pig pens." Perhaps some of you are there now! Others have come to their senses and returned home. Some perhaps are ready to come back to the Father, and are searching for the way home.
Thus, we easily identify with the prodigal son. In so many ways you and I are or have been that wayward child.
The main character in the parable, the forgiving father, whose character remains constant throughout the story, is a picture of God. In telling the story, Jesus identifies Himself with God in His loving attitude to the lost. The younger son symbolizes the lost (the tax collectors and sinners of that day, Luke 15:1), and the elder brother represents the self-righteous (the Pharisees and teachers of the law of that day, Luke 15:2). The major theme of this parable is the restoration of a believer into fellowship with the Father.
In the first two parables, the owner went out to look for what was lost (Luke 15:1-10), whereas in this story the father waits and watches eagerly for his son's return. We see a progression through the three parables from the relationship of one in a hundred (Luke 15:1-7), to one in ten (Luke 15:8-10), to one in two (Luke 15:11-32), demonstrating God’s love for each individual and His personal attentiveness towards all humanity. We see in this story the graciousness of the father overshadowing the sinfulness of the son, as it is the memory of the father’s goodness that brings the prodigal son to repentance (Romans 2:4).
We will begin unfolding the meaning of this parable at verse 12, where the younger son asks his father for his share of his estate, which would have been half of what his older brother would receive; in other words, 1/3 for the younger, 2/3 for the older (Deuteronomy 21:17). Though it was perfectly within his rights to ask, it was not a loving thing to do, as it implied that he wished his father dead. Instead of rebuking his son, the father patiently grants him his request. This is a picture of God letting a sinner go his own way (Deuteronomy 30:19). We all possess this foolish ambition to be independent, which is at the root of the sinner persisting in his sin (Genesis 3:6; Romans 1:28). A sinful state is a departure and distance from God (Romans 1:21). A sinful state is also a state of constant discontent. Luke 12:15 says, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” This son learned the hard way that covetousness leads to a life of dissatisfaction and disappointment. He also learned that the most valuable things in life are the things you cannot buy or replace.
In verse 13 we read that he travels to a distant country. It is evident from his previous actions that he had already made that journey in his heart, and the physical departure was a display of his willful disobedience to all the goodness his father had offered (Proverbs 27:19; Matthew 6:21; 12:34). In the process, he squanders all his father had worked so hard for on selfish, shallow fulfillment, losing everything. His financial disaster is followed by a natural disaster in the form of a famine, which he failed to plan for (Genesis 41:33-36). At this point he sells himself into physical slavery to a Gentile and finds himself feeding pigs, a detestable job to the Jewish people (Leviticus 11:7; Deuteronomy 14:8; Isaiah 65:4; 66:17).
Needless to say, he must have been incredibly desperate at that point to willingly enter into such a loathsome position. And what an irony that his choices led him to a position in which he had no choice but to work, and for a stranger at that, doing the very things he refused to do for his father. To top it off, he apparently was paid so little that he longed to eat the pig’s food. Just when he must have thought life could not get any worse, he couldn’t even find mercy among the people. Apparently, once his wealth was gone, so were his friends. The text clearly says, “No one gave him anything” (vs. 16). Even these unclean animals seemed to be better off than he was at this point. This is a picture of the state of the lost sinner or a rebellious Christian who has returned to a life of slavery to sin (2 Peter 2:19-21). It is a picture of what sin really does in a person’s life when he rejects the Father’s will (Hebrews 12:1; Acts 8:23). “Sin always promises more than it gives, takes you further than you wanted to go, and leaves you worse off than you were before.” Sin promises freedom but brings slavery (John 8:34).
The son begins to reflect on his condition and realizes that even his father's servants had it better than he. His painful circumstances help him to see his father in a new light and bring him hope (Psalm 147:11; Isaiah 40:30-31; Romans 8:24-25; 1 Timothy 4:10). This is reflective of the sinner when he/she discovers the destitute condition of his life because of sin. It is a realization that, apart from God, there is no hope (Ephesians 2:12; 2 Timothy 2:25-26). This is when a repentant sinner “comes to his senses” and longs to return to the state of fellowship with God which was lost when Adam sinned (Genesis 3:8). The son devises a plan of action. Though at a quick glance it may seem that he may not be truly repentant, but rather motivated by his hunger, a more thorough study of the text gives new insights. He is willing to give up his rights as his father’s son and take on the position of his servant. We can only speculate on this point, but he may even have been willing to repay what he had lost (Luke 19:8; Leviticus 6:4-5).
Regardless of the motivation, it demonstrates a true humility and true repentance, not based on what he said but on what he was willing to do and eventually acted upon (Acts 26:20). He realizes he had no right to claim a blessing upon return to his father’s household, nor does he have anything to offer, except a life of service, in repentance of his previous actions. With that, he is prepared to fall at his father’s feet and hope for forgiveness and mercy. This is exactly what conversion is all about: ending a life of slavery to sin through confession to the Father and faith in Jesus Christ and becoming a slave to righteousness, offering one’s body as a living sacrifice (1 John 1:9; Romans 6:6-18; 12:1).
Jesus portrays the father as waiting for his son, perhaps daily searching the distant road, hoping for his appearance. The father notices him while he was still a long way off. The father’s compassion assumes some knowledge of the son’s pitiful state, possibly from reports sent home. During that time it was not the custom of older men to run, yet the father runs to greet his son (vs.20). Why would he break convention for this wayward child who had sinned against him? The obvious answer is because he loved him and was eager to show him that love and restore the relationship. When the father reaches his son, not only does he throw his arms around him, but he also greets him with a kiss of love (1 Peter 5:14). He does not consider the dirty clothing and the unwashed person smelling of pig odor, but he is so filled with joy at his son’s return that he doesn’t even let him finish his confession. Nor does he question or lecture him; instead, he unconditionally forgives him and accepts him back into fellowship. The father running to his son, greeting him with a kiss and ordering the celebration is a picture of how our Heavenly Father feels towards sinners who repent. God greatly loves us, patiently waits for us to repent so he can show us His great mercy, because he does not want any to perish nor escape as though by the fire (Ephesians 2:1-10; 2 Peter 3:9; 1 Corinthians 3:15).
This prodigal son was satisfied to return home as a slave, but to his surprise and delight is restored back into the full privilege of being his father’s son. He had been transformed from a state of destitution to complete restoration. That is what God's grace does for a penitent sinner (Psalm 40:2; 103:4). Not only are we forgiven, but we receive a spirit of sonship as His children, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, of His incomparable riches (Romans 8:16-17; Ephesians 1:18-19). The father then orders the servants to bring the best robe, no doubt one of his own (a sign of dignity and honor, proof of the prodigal’s acceptance back into the family), a ring for the son's hand (a sign of authority and sonship( cf. Esther 3:10; 8:2; Genesis 41:42) ) and sandals for his feet (a sign of not being a servant, as servants did not wear shoes—or, for that matter, rings or expensive clothing, vs.22).
A fattened calf is prepared, and a party is held Had the boy been dealt with according to the Law, there would have been a funeral, not a celebration. “The Lord does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.” (Psalm 103:10-13). Instead of condemnation, there is rejoicing for a son who had been dead but now is alive, who once was lost but now is found (Romans 8:1; John 5:24). Note the parallel between “dead” and “alive” and “lost” and “found”—terms that also apply to one’s state before and after conversion to Christ (Ephesians 2:1-5). This is a picture of what occurs in heaven over one repentant sinner (Luke 15: 7, 10).
But, there is one major character in this parable who is often overlooked, or just examined in passing --- The Elder Brother. In a sense, he is a prodigal son also. His younger brother was lost in the far country, but he was lost at home.
Who was this other son of the father in the parable? --- this elder brother of the "prodigal son"? And what lessons can we learn from him? We will try to answer these questions in this study on the prodigal son who remained at home.
The elder brother, who so far had been in the background, now emerged into the action. He had been out in the fields working hard for his father as usual, and as he was returning home he was surprised to hear all the commotion and rejoicing in the house. When he asked a slave what was going on, he was told that his brother had suddenly turned up and his father had killed the fatted calf for them all to celebrate. The brother’s anger appears to have boiled over. He had probably been jealous of his younger brother as their father’s favourite, spoiled and indulged as younger siblings can be, and he had deeply resented the father’s yielding to the whim of his young brother to go his own way, taking his share of the family’s substance and abandoning all feeling of responsibility to their father or the family or the inheritance. After squandering his share of the family property in riotous living, now the spendthrift had come back penniless, and their father and the family were actually celebrating his return by killing the fattened calf. And who was going to pay for all this?
While his younger brother was out "sowing his wild oats," the older brother was in the field, diligently sowing seed for his father .... and working to harvest the grain.
He was also an obedient son. He didn't rebel and go out and squander his father's wealth on loose living, like the younger son. In fact, in vs. 29 he tells the father, "I have never neglected a command of yours." He was obedient .... he was conscientious .... he was a hard worker. In short, we might almost say that he was the "ideal" son. Certainly not like that "wild younger son" who was such a "disappointment" to the father!!
Perhaps we can even say that he was a morally upright individual. At least he certainly seemed incensed over the immoral lifestyle of his younger brother.
These are all good qualities. And if this was all we knew about this older brother, we would have a pretty positive picture painted of him here.
Jesus doesn't fault the morality or the obedience or the work ethic of this elder brother. However, He does fault his attitude. In spite of his many commendable qualities and his tireless service to the father, the elder son was not right in his heart! When the prodigal son returned home, the father and his household rejoiced. The elder brother, hard at work in the field, heard the merry-making and came to investigate. When he saw the reason for the rejoicing, vs. 28 says, "He became angry."
Not only was he angry, but he also sulked and pouted and withdrew himself from his brother. Vs. 28 reads: "The older brother became angry and refused to go in." Notice here, however, that by refusing to fellowship with his brother, he also excluded himself from the fellowship of the father's household!!! The father finally had to come outside of the house, where the older brother was, to plead with him to come inside the house.
The elder brother was also guilty of self-righteousness. When the father came out to talk with him, this son immediately called the father's attention to all the wonderful things he had done. In vs. 29 he spoke of the fact that he had never neglected one of his commands, and that he had worked hard for him for years.
In comparison he was like the Pharisee in verse 9 of Luke 18. "And He told this parable to certain ones who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and viewed others with contempt" (vs. 9). Speaking of contempt, the elder brother was guilty of this also. In vs. 30 notice how he referred to his younger brother. "...this son of yours!" He refused to even regard him as a brother! It's as if he were saying, "He may be your son, but he's not my brother!"
There was also the sin of envy .... or jealousy. "You kill the fattened calf for him .... yet you never gave me even a young goat, so I could celebrate with my friends!"
Suddenly the picture of the older brother isn't so pretty anymore. This hardworking, obedient son has a corrupt heart. His heart is characterized by anger, envy, self-righteousness, contempt, and pettiness. On the outside he appeared to be the ideal son; on the inside he was full of anger and jealousy And everybody suffered as a result of his attitude. The prodigal son was deprived of the warm, loving welcome he should have received from his older brother. The father was torn away from the festivities to plead with a son plagued with an evil disposition.
And the elder brother himself suffered. By his attitude, he had cut himself off from the fellowship and the joys of the father's household. He stood outside .... miserable, angry and alone.
Notice the words of the father to this elder son: "My child, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to be merry and rejoice, for this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found." - verse 32.
Not only does the father appeal to reason here --- he explained the logic for such a celebration --- but he also appeals to his sense of family : "My child ..... this your brother." The elder son was long on duty and service, but short on family!!
Family should be a place of safe haven. A realm of loving acceptance. A place where failure does not have to be fatal. The elder brother failed to recognize this.
The problem with the older brother is that he’s just as ‘prodigal’, just as wasteful of his relationship with his father, as his younger brother is.
His one complaint, is that the rebel son got the fattened calf and he, the faithful older son, didn’t even get a goat for a party with his friends.
There are two things to consider regarding the fattened calf and the absent goat. The first lies in the nature of the older brother; what he says should be taken with a pinch of salt. He is, after all, the complaining type. He’s a stickler for protocol, for the way things should be done; for rightness rather than relationship. He’s the sort (and you find him everywhere—there is a bit of him in most of us), he’s the sort who will make sure that everything is done just right, no matter what it takes, or how many people are hurt, put down, or trampled on in the process. Complaining comes naturally because he has taught himself to look for what is wrong (and to point it out of course) rather than to celebrate what is right. The older brother won’t celebrate until everything is done right .
The focus in this story is upon the elder brother who was laboring in the fields. When the older brother found out the younger brother had come home from this trip of sin and how the father freely gave him the family blessings and killed the "fattened" calf without his earning it, he became enraged.
Now I want to focus upon the fattened calf!
The calf did give up the most than anyone else for this celebration by the way! The father had the family robe, family ring, and family sandals brought out but also he had the fattend calf killed. The usual word for “kill” in the NT is the Greek word "apokteino." - to kill in any way whatever ( cf. Luke 9:22; Luke 11:47-49; Luke 12:4-5; Luke 13:4; Luke 13:31; Luke 13:34; Luke 18:33; Luke 20:14-15 kjv.)
However, the word used for “kill” used in ' kill the fattened calf' is "thuo." This word means “to sacrifice”. This word is used in verses 23 ,27 and 30 of Luke chapter 15. This word was also used of sacrificing the Passover lamb. The father gave the family blessings to the son but it was in connection with the sacrifice of the fattened calf - the fellowship offering of the Old Testament.
Lets go to the Old Testament and look into the background of the "fellowship or Peace offering"
You could offer a Peace Offering as an
(a) act of thanksgiving (Lev. 7:12; 22:29-30),
(b)or to fulfill a special vow (Lev. 7:16; 22:21), or
(c)as a freewill offering (Lev. 7:16; 22:18, 21, 23).
These were all optional offerings, which an Israelite could offer at any time, except for the feast of Pentecost (Lev. 23:19) and the fulfillment of the Nazarite’s days of separation (Num. 6:13-20), when the offering was mandatory.
You would begin by selecting an animal without any defect, either male or female, from the herd or from the flock (Lev. 3:1, 6). You would then bring this animal to the doorway of the tent of meeting, where you would lay your hand upon its head (3:2, 8, 13), thus identifying your sin with this animal, and yourself with its death. When you have slain the animal, the priests will collect the blood which is shed and sprinkle it around the altar (3:2, 8, 13).
The animal would then be skinned and cut into pieces. The priests would then take the fat of the animal, along with the kidneys and the lobe of the liver, and burn it on the altar of burnt offering (3:3-5; 9-11; 14-16). God’s portion of the Peace Offering would be the blood and the fat (Lev. 3:16-17; cf. 17:10-13). The priests would be given the breast and the right thigh of the animal (cf. Exod. 29:26-28; Lev. 7:30-34; 10:14-15). Aaron and his sons receive the breast (7:31), while the thigh goes to that priest who offers up the Peace Offering (7:33).
Since the fat and blood are offered to God and the breast and the right thigh are given to the priest, the rest of the sacrificial animal is left for the offerer to eat. Thus, after the offering of the fat portions on the altar, the Israelite would eat a meal, partaking of the portions of the sacrificial animal which remained. Not much is said about the meal that is eaten.
So here we have it. The father sacrificed the fattened calf as a fellowship offering " to say thank you for God's generosity in bringing my wayward son back." Also the fattened calf was the father’s answer to the question. “How do I demonstrate forgiveness, welcome and reconciliation that goes way beyond a family putting up with a rebellious son ? What can I do so that next month or next year, when doubts begin to plague his mind, this son of mine will know for certain that he was not simply allowed home, he was welcomed and wanted?” That’s what the fattened calf does. And the father, shedding his dignity, running down the road, does it too; far better than any words could ever have done.
It would be difficult for Jesus' opponents among the scribes and Pharisees not to realise that they were being criticised in the person of the elder jealous brother who represented them in their resentment of all the "sinners" who came to Jesus. There is another significant passage earlier in Luke’s Gospel which describes how Jesus actually called one of the detested tax collectors, Levi, to join his close band of disciples, and Levi put on a special dinner in his house for Jesus and all his colleagues and their friends. Then, when the scribes and Pharisees put their usual complaints to Jesus’s disciples about his eating and drinking with tax-collectors and sinners, it was Jesus himself who retorted: ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick; I have come to call not the righteous but sinners to repentance’ (5:27-32).
Our Lord was motivated to tell this parable after He heard some Pharisees and scribes grumbling about His eating with “sinners” (Luke 15:1–2). Remember that the religious leaders of Jesus’ day, while they might have acknowledged that they sinned from time to time, did not view themselves as “sinners.” That was a category that applied to those who were “worse” than they were—tax collectors, prostitutes, and others. These "sinners", thought the Pharisees and scribes, were beyond the reach of God’s grace. They were so corrupt that no truly holy person could eat with them and escape defilement.
The Pharisees and the scribes are represented in the parable of the prodigal son by the older brother, who is resentful at his father’s embrace of his sinful sibling (vv. 28–29). How could his father welcome back this son who squandered his father’s gifts in riotous living and great sin? But such a viewpoint shows the failure of the older boy to understand God’s attitude toward fallen people, and thus it shows how wrong the Pharisees and scribes were to cast aspersions on Jesus’ dining with sinners. The Lord rejoices whenever a sinner turns from His wicked ways and returns to Him. Let us also rejoice.
The wise father seeks to bring restoration by pointing out that all he has is and has always been available for the asking to his obedient son, as it was his portion of the inheritance since the time of the allotment. The older son never utilized the blessings at his disposal (Galatians 5:22; 2 Peter 1:5-8). This is similar to the Pharisees with their religion of good works. They hoped to earn blessings from God and in their obedience merit eternal life (Romans 9:31-33; 10:3). They failed to understand the grace of God and failed to comprehend the meaning of forgiveness. It was, therefore, not what they did that became a stumbling block to their growth but rather what they did not do which alienated them from God (Matthew 23:23-24, Romans 10:4). They were irritated when Jesus was receiving and forgiving “unholy” people, failing to see their own need for a Savior. We do not know how this story ended for the oldest son, but we do know that the Pharisees continued to oppose Jesus and separate themselves from His followers. Despite the father’s pleading for them to “come in,” they refused and were the ones who instigated the arrest and crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Matthew 26:59). A tragic ending to a story filled with such hope, mercy, joy, and forgiveness.
When the parable ends, the elder brother is outside the house ..... separate from the celebration ..... standing in the darkness. And it wasn't his years of service and obedience and hard work that put him there .... it was his heart!!!
