The Parable of the Prodigal Son

The Context of the Parable

Luke 15:1–2 KJV 1900

1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them.

Jesus tells three stories in response to this reaction by the pharisees:

The Parable of the Lost Sheep

The Parable of the Lost Coin

The Parable of the Lost Son

The Content of the Parable

What He Thought He Was Gaining

Luke 15:11–13 KJV 1900

11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living.

The Boy Thought He was Gaining Wealth

This younger son in his impertinence desires for his father to give him what he believes is owed to him. He asks for His father to grant Him a portion of the inheritance ahead of time. Typically in the Jewish culture, when it was time to divide out the inheritance, the first born son would receive a double portion, and then the rest would be split amongst the remaining sons. In this case then this younger son was set to gain one third of the estate. In any culture the inheritance was not typically given until dad died. Yet that is what he demanded. He then took this portion, liquidated it quickly and headed out.

The Boy Thought He was Gaining Companions

We are told he went into a far country. He surrounded himself with new friends and neighbors. We are also to that he wasted His goods with “riotous” (reckless) living. He blew it all on the party life. He squandered his inheritance. He consumed it with little thought for tomorrow. We can easily imagine what this is like. How many people win the lottery and then make wise investments.

The Boy Though He was Gaining a Life

He thought that He was finally getting to step out from his father’s shadow, and live however he wanted. His move to the far country put him away from everyone that he ever knew, and set him up to “reinvent” himself. He could follow his own desires unfettered.

What He did not realize is that this move towards a new life was a move that would bring him ever closer to death.

James 1:13–15 KJV 1900

13 Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: 14 But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. 15 Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.

What He Was Actually Losing

He Was Losing a Family Heritage

In the Jewish culture the inheritance was much more than a monetary value. It tied the family down to a portion of the promised land. It was beyond possession, it was heritage. It was passed down from father to son, from father to son, from father to son. Each new generation working the same portion of land as the previous generation. This was a big part of Jewish culture. To forsake the inheritance was to forsake your heritage and break ties with your family.

He Was Losing Safety and Security

Luke 15:14 KJV 1900

14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want.

When the man stepped out on his own, he was not thinking that anything could go wrong. He expected smooth sailing. With the money that he had he was certain a life of ease. He had not thought of the future. He was a fool living a fools dream.

Proverbs 23:1–5 KJV 1900

1 When thou sittest to eat with a ruler, Consider diligently what is before thee: 2 And put a knife to thy throat, If thou be a man given to appetite. 3 Be not desirous of his dainties: For they are deceitful meat. 4 Labour not to be rich: Cease from thine own wisdom. 5 Wilt thou set thine eyes upon that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away as an eagle toward heaven.

It isn’t long before tragedy strikes. The far country faces an economic downturn. All that this man had was now gone. He had nothing that stood between him and poverty. The scriptures tell us that he began to be in want.

He was Losing a Sense of Identity

Much more than losing home or possessions. This man was forfeiting his very self to chase after the glamour that the far country seemed to offer him. He was denying the moral values that had been instill in him by his father. He was denying the relationships that had supported him in his younger years. Now with the onset of the famine, he would face the decision to sell his own soul even further just to stay alive.

Luke 15:15–16 KJV 1900

15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.

To Jesus’s Jewish hearers, this was the unthinkable act. Pigs were unclean animals. They were forbidden to be used as food according to Jewish law, and touching the dead body of one would make you ritually unclean.

Leviticus 11:7 KJV 1900

7 And the swine, though he divide the hoof, and be clovenfooted, yet he cheweth not the cud; he is unclean to you.

The fact that the prodigal son fed the swine as a job, would have hit home to the Jewish hearers. Any self respecting Jew would have nothing to do with pigs, let alone raise them. To become a swine herder would paramount to rejecting his own faith and "selling out" amongst the gentiles. Beyond that, this man was not only working with the pigs, but he was so hungry that even the slop being thrown down for the swine looked appetizing to him.

He could not get any lower. He had given up his very identity as a Jew, ready to chow down with Miss Piggy. Finally his life on the outside had matched his heart on the inside. He was broke. He was alone. He was starving. He was lost.

…but then we have those powerful words...

Luke 15:17 KJV 1900

17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!

What He Gave Up to Gain Again

“He came to Himself.” He finally came to his senses. He saw his life for what it was. He saw himself. He saw what he had given up. He saw the kind of man he had become.

Each and everyone of us like this lost son must have a moment(s) in life of brutally honest self evaluation. Most people will not do so. Most will put off examining self, because they are afraid of the fearful reality that will meet them. We are naturally going to work towards self-preservation. Pulling back the curtain, and unveiling our true nature feels self-deprecating. We register it in our minds as being a dangerous behavior. We fear that we will not like what we find, when we ask our selves the hard questions and hold ourselves to a higher standard outside of ourselves.

This feels dangerous, but it is the only way to truly live. To hide in denial of guilt or shame, to justify or excuse our iniquities, to rationalize away our sin, only binds us to it even more. It is not until we like the man in the story are able to “come to ourselves” that we can take the next step and come to the Father.

Notice that the man does not come back home demanding his old position. He does not come back begging for his old room. He does not return hoping that his father will just let bygones be bygones. No. This man comes to the father being absolutely truthful.

Luke 15:18–19 KJV 1900

18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.

This is true repentance. It is a remorseful acknowledgment of our sin against God and a recognition of our own unworthiness. It is more than just admitting that we have “made a mistake.” “To err is human after all.” “No one is perfect.” No, true repentance assumes the guilt of our actions and recognizes them the sins that they are.

Sin is cosmic treason. Sin is treason against a perfectly pure Sovereign. It is an act of supreme ingratitude toward One to whom we owe everything, to the One who has given us life itself.

R. C. Sproul

Then we take those sins, and we lay them down at our father’s feet. We confess them before him, and plead for his mercy. Knowing that we deserve His judgment.

Then what does our Father do?

Luke 15:20–24 KJV 1900

20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry.

He does the unthinkable. If we come before him broken and honest, He forgives us. Not only that he receives us not as his servants, but as his sons. Not only that but he grants us the fresh riches of his grace. He feeds us, clothes us, puts the ring on our finger, and shoes on our feet. He celebrates that we are home.

Why? Because we were dead, but now we are alive again. We were lost, but now we are found.

Ephesians 2:1–10 KJV 1900

1 And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins; 2 Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: 3 Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others. 4 But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, 5 Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) 6 And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: 7 That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: 9 Not of works, lest any man should boast. 10 For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them.

We call this story, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son,” but I think it is more appropriate to call it, “The Parable of the Prodigal Sons.”

Luke 15:25–32 KJV 1900

25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

This older son, despised his younger brother. He despised him for leaving. He despised him for squandering the father’s wealth. He despised him for shaming the family name. Now he despised him for repenting.

This older brother was the emphasis of Jesus parable. The younger son represented the sinners and tax collectors that flocked to see Jesus, but the older represented the hardened Jews who could not accept that sinners were seeing their lives transformed by the gospel.

Now note Jesus also gives an invitation to the older son. This son who did the best he knew how to follow the Father’s will was likewise given a chance to repent. He too needed a changed heart. Though he did not have the scars of immorality placed on his body and mind, his heart was still tainted by sin, and Jesus was the answer.

One of those Pharisees eventually does come to Jesus. We have his words recorded in Scripture.

Romans 7:18–25 KJV 1900

18 For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. 19 For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20 Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21 I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22 For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23 But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24 O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death? 25 I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. So then with the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with the flesh the law of sin.

Paul saw himself as the younger brother, and his life was an example of true repentance.

What about you? What about me?

Do we confess our sins with sorrow that we offended a holy God, or do we try to play it off through comparison with our fellow man. Have you had repentance that led to salvation, or are you just playing the church game? It is not wrong to come to a church to find friends, fellowship, and a spiritual experience. However there will be many who sit in churches today that will hear the dreadful words, “Depart from me, I never knew you!”

Come to Jesus for salvation, and if your are already a Christian, may I challenge you to make confession and repentance a regular spiritual exercise. It is true that we don’t have to worry about losing our salvation, but at times we can disrupt our fellowship with God. In those cases

1 John 1:9 KJV 1900

9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.