God finds no joy in the death of the wicked. However, God does find joy in the restoration of sinners. See Deuteronomy 30:9-10, Isaiah 62:5, Jeremiah 32:41, Zephaniah 3:17 & Luke 10:20. The joy of God is found in the salvation of sinners. The greater the sinner restored, the greater the glory to God.

In this parable everything is extreme. The father is extreme in his love and forgiveness. One of the sons is extreme in his sin and the other in his self-righteousness. Jesus set himself squarely against the self-righteousness of the Pharisees. They wanted nothing to do with sinners. They would not even evangelise sinners. The Pharisees were actually far from God. They found that their best form of attack upon Jesus was to use his association with sinners.

A symbol of the early Church was a shepherd carrying a large sheep on his shoulders. The Pharisees could celebrate over a sheep that was found or a coin that was found because it had value. (See Luke 15:1-10). They could not rejoice over a sinner who repented as to them it had no value! They had a shame-honour culture. You did what brought you honour and avoided what brought you shame. The story of the prodigal son is full of shame and the shame of the father is the greatest of all. This study is split into the three main characters in the story.

1 – The licentious son (vs. 11-16)

It is the tale of the two sons and the younger son is known as the “Prodigal Son”. The word “prodigal” means that he is overly self-indulgent. Yet the main point of the parable is the reaction of the older son.

• A shameful request (vs. 11-12). You do not go to your father and ask for your inheritance now. You are saying that you want your father dead. The son wants his inheritance and he wants it now. The older son got a double portion so this younger son would expect one third of the estate. He wants his freedom. He does not want a father or family in his life telling him what to do. You would maintain your honour by slapping your son in the face and then publicly beat him. He would be expected to protect his honour. However, this is not what happens. The father divides the wealth and gives it to his son. The father is shaming himself. He is allowing his son to go out and waste his inheritance. When you inherited the family estate you were supposed to manage that estate wisely. The father remained in charge of the family estate until he died. Why does the older brother not intervene? He doesn’t protect the father or warn his own brother. The father is willing to suffer rejected love. This is God giving the sinner his freedom to not have a relationship with Him.
• The son’s rebellion (vs. 13-16). The younger son only waits a few days. He wants cash and so the son has to sell quickly and thus sell cheap. The person buying would pay now and get possession when the father died. He gets as far away as possible by heading to a Gentile country. The Jews would have a funeral for their son who rebelled. The son spends all of his money on loose living. He spent his money on the present like there was no tomorrow. He spent his money on debauchery (prostitutes, etc). Soon he has nothing left. (vs. 14) This was his fault. Then a famine comes to the land and the son is not ready. This was not his fault but that is the way things go sometimes. The effects of a famine can be devastating. He is forced to sell himself out as a slave. He was a slave to a Gentile. It was shameful. He is still not ready to repent and go home. He is reduced to begging for help from a citizen. He is then given a job that reduces him to feeding and living with pigs as no one wants to know him. He has no money or food. He is fighting with the pigs for food. That was a losing battle! He has become a pig. You can’t get any lower. It is when the sinner hits rock bottom that they look for a way out. This would seem ridiculous to the Pharisees. Sin in your life will wish God dead and squander all that He has given you. It brings destitution and death. Sin looks for fulfilment outside of God and does not find it.

2 – The loving father (vs. 17-24)

The love of the father is ridiculous. It is a love that is extraordinary.

• The shameful repentance (vs. 17-19) – He makes an honest assessment of his own situation. He knows he is dying with hunger and losing the battle with the pigs. – He thinks about his father. To be a hired man was shameful. They were the lowest in the labour force. You had to pay the day labourer at the end of the day. See Leviticus 19:13. The father was generous even to the day labourer. The son knows that his father is loving and forgiving. The sins of this son reach to heaven. The father is good, kind and generous but also has standards of justice. – He makes a plan to go back to his father. The son is now prepared to do what is right. He will ask for no privileges. He is prepared to work as a day labourer for his father. He throws himself at the mercy of God. He is not looking for reconciliation in the family. The Pharisee would be happy for the son to work until he has paid everything off that he has lost. The son could be expected to wait days in shame before seeing his father. He would then have to kiss his feet, be beaten publicly and do daily work until his debt was paid off. How would his father react?
• The shameful reception (vs. 20-21). The father would be expected to be unavailable when the son returned. He would be made to sit outside of the town for a few days so that the people could mock and he would be shamed. The son would then have to bow before his father and work to make restitution. This was the way of the Pharisees. You had to work to gain favour and restitution with God. However, this is not what happened! The father has compassion. The young son was a long way off and the father recognised him. He was looking. He has always been looking. The father gets off his seat. It is daytime and there are other people about. He wants to reach his son before the village reaches his son. He wants to protect him from the shame, abuse and scandal. He is dishonouring himself in his actions. Middle-Eastern business men do not run! The father should not run. He was supposed to “glide”. The men wore long robes. No man would show his legs as it was shameful. When he sees his son he sprints toward him like a man in a race. He brings shame by running through the village to hug his son and then kissing him on the head! The son would be expected to be kissing his father’s feet! The son would normally be publicly mocked as he approached the father, so the father runs to meet him. This shows to everyone how much the father loves his son. This is how God comes to the earth to save us. The Pharisees did not get it. The son got it! He knew it was a gift of pure grace. He did not have to work to pay off his debt. The father took his shame. It is God who finds and runs to the sinner. God shows forgiveness and joy to wretched sinners who show repentance. God finds his joy in the restoration of even one sinner.
• The shameful reconciliation (vs. 22) – The father has no shame. He heaps blessing upon his reconciled son. He is not protective about his own honour. He gives him three things that the Pharisees understood only two well what they meant. They represented the dignity and authority of the family. – The best robe. The father’s robe was the best robe. It would have been worn by the oldest son when he got married. It was the “first ranking” garment. – A gold ring is put upon his finger. It was a signet ring with the family crest or seal. He has control of all of the assets and possessions of the family. He has authority. This should be going to the older son. – Sandals for his feet. The servants and hired hands went barefoot but only the master or sons wore shoes. The forgiveness is instantaneous. He is given full sonship. God’s forgiveness for the repentant sinner is instantaneous. There is no need for a time delay. Grace triumphs.
• The shameful rejoicing (vs. 23-24) – They are to kill the fattened calf and have a party. To the father this is a great event that needs to be celebrated with a mega-feast. This calf would feed about 200 people. This annoys the Pharisees as it is shameful. It only takes the salvation of one sinner for the party to start in heaven. God is not waiting for a large revival to rejoice. It is the father who is celebrating his love and forgiveness to his son. In heaven this party never ends! The joy of heaven will never end.

3 – The legalistic son (vs. 25-32)

The legalistic son may be the main point of this parable when you consider its context with the Pharisees.

• The shameful reaction (vs. 25-28). Most people think that the older brother was the Christian. He was at home doing what he was supposed to do. This is not true. When the Pharisees are introduced to the older brother they are introduced to themselves. The older brother represents the Pharisees. The older brother is “in the field”. He has no relationship with his father or his younger brother. The young brother had gone to a “far country” but the older brother was in a “far field”. They were both way off from the father. The older brother hears music and dancing. He is dutiful to his father to ensure he gets wealth and prestige but he does not love his father and brother. The older son sees his inheritance being used. The fact that his brother has returned should have filled him with joy. He has a love for himself rather than his family. He is more concerned about the resources being consumed. The Pharisees can understand the response of the older son. They can understand his anger. The father and younger son have continually shamed themselves and the family. A legalist does not understand the forgiveness of the father in this story. Hypocrites are sinners on the inside. Outwardly they look righteous but they are not. Good works are sinful if they are not done to glory of God. If you think you are attaining salvation by your good works then you adding further sin by thinking you can earn your salvation.
• The shameful response (vs. 29-32). The father finds his older son. The father reaches out to the hypocrite the same way that he reaches out to the rebel. He is pleading with his son to come to the celebration. The father would have been expected to publicly beat his son for his insolence. The response is shameful. He does not address him as “father”. He is not showing respect. He sees himself as a slave to his father without any joy. He was no different than his younger son in wanting his father to die and get his inheritance. He boasts that he has obeyed all of his father’s commandments. He is under the illusion that he is good because he has done good. He is self-righteous. He is deceiving himself. His heart is wicked. He is a classic hypocrite! The older son expects the father to ask for his forgiveness. The older son has friends who are outside of the family and would want to throw a party with them. He would be happy if his father was dead. He refers to “this son of yours” rather than the name of his own brother. The older brother is attacking the virtue, integrity and character of his father. He has blown his cover. He is heaping contempt while the younger son is at a party extolling the father’s grace. It is hard for hypocrites to change. It is easier for sinners to change.
• The shameful resolution. The story ends abruptly. What happened with the older son? Was he reconciled to his father? What was the ending? We hope that the older son fell on his face and asked for his forgiveness. The Pharisees wrote the real ending. The real ending is that the older brother was outraged at his father and took up a piece of wood and beat his father to death in front of everyone. It was extreme. This is what the Pharisees did to Jesus in a matter of months. They took his blood upon themselves. They took this action to protect their honour. See Hebrews 2:12. It was for the joy of seeing sinners repent and be saved that Jesus went to the cross and despised the shame.

Categories: Luke