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Luke 15:25–32
“[His father] said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (vv. 31–32).
When the younger son returned home penitently after disowning his family, his father did not hesitate to receive him. Instead, he celebrated, even killing a fattened calf for the feast (Luke 15:11–24). This highlights the joyous atmosphere of the father’s embrace of the younger son, for in first-century Israel, Jews ate meat only on special occasions. Most Jewish families could not afford to eat meat on a regular basis because animals were costly. The meaning of the parable up to this point is clear: God is thrilled when sinners return to Him in faith and repentance. He forgives eagerly, not with reluctance.
The parable of the prodigal son is the last of three parables that Jesus told when Jewish leaders grumbled at His extension of God’s forgiveness to notorious sinners (see vv. 1–10). Yet unlike the parables of the lost sheep and the lost coin, the parable of the prodigal son includes a figure who represents those Jewish leaders—the older son.
When the older son learned what the celebration was about, he grew angry. He objected to the father’s party for his brother, complaining that he had never received even a small celebration even though he had never betrayed his father as the younger, wayward son had (vv. 25–30). Note that the older son assumes a symmetric relationship with his father, believing that his father owed him for his obedience, in effect accusing him of being stingy for not celebrating him and unwise for rejoicing over his younger son. The implication is that his father has a limited amount of love and favor to bestow, and that by showing it to the disobedient son he is withholding it from his faithful son.
Since the father represents God in the parable, we see that the older son has misunderstood his relationship with our heavenly Father. God promises blessings for obedience (Deut. 28:1–14; James 1:25), but He is not waiting to bless us until we are good enough. As the father in the parable says, all that he has always belonged to the older son (Luke 15:31). God freely gives good things to His children, and He has more than enough for all. The grumbling Jewish leaders—the older son—had a wrong perspective on God. The Lord’s forgiveness of heinous sinners does not demean the obedience of those who have been more faithful, who should never think that God is reluctant to give them all things. They should rejoice whenever the wicked turn from their ways (v. 32).
Coram Deo Living before the face of God
Cyril of Alexandria, an important church father who helped refute the Nestorian heresy, comments, “When any are called to repentance, even if they have a bad reputation, [the Christian] must rejoice rather and not give way to an unloving irritation because of them.” We should eagerly want to see the most heinous of sinners forgiven and reconciled to God, and we dare not grow resentful if the Lord greatly blesses those who seem to have been less obedient than we have.
for further study
- Deuteronomy 9:4–5
- Jonah 4
- Acts 11:1–18
- Romans 11:11–32
the bible in a year
- Psalms 80–84
- Romans 8