The Prodigal Son is a poignant and profound parable about God’s desire to be reconciled with the lost. Tax collectors and sinners were being drawn to Jesus Christ, but “the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled” and complained, “This man receives sinners and eats with them” (Lk. 15:2).[1] This contempt for the penitent sinner prompts the Lord to offer a trifecta of parables on God’s desire to be reconciled with the lost — the missing sheep (Lk. 15:4-7), the lost coin (Lk. 15:8-9), and the prodigal son (Lk. 15:11-32). Each illustrates God heart to seek and find the least, lost, and lowly of the world.
God’s desire for reconciliation went beyond saving one lost sheep from the herd of one hundred. It was more than the good fortune of a woman who declutters the home to find a valuable lost coin. It is like one father who reunites with two sons! What then can we learn from about the God’s heart for the lost from the parable of the prodigal son?
“There was a man who had two sons” begins the parable of the prodigal son. First off, we learn the story is about one father and two sons. The beginning of the story focuses upon the father’s younger son and remainder upon the eldest son. The father of the two sons represents God, whereas two sons embody two groups of people, the younger being the tax collectors and sinners whereas the elder the Pharisees and scribes. Moreover, anyone who hears this parable come to realize the brothers in their respective ways were estranged from their father!
Next, we learn about the folly of younger son’s attempt to build a life disconnected from his father. “Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me” the younger son demanded (Lk. 15:12). Jesus’ audience would have been shocked to hear such a thing even as a story. “To ask one’s father for one’s share of the inheritance early was unheard of in antiquity,” writes New Testament scholar Craig Keener, “in effect, one would thereby say, ‘Father, I wish you were already dead.”[2] One wonders why the father never gave the ungrateful the son a stiff slap in the face for such an insult. Yet, in a wild turn, the father gives the younger son his share of the family estate. The first century Jewish audience “would think of him as stupidly lax to pamper such an immoral son.”[3] Yet, the younger son receives his inheritance and goes out to make a life for himself apart from his father.
But life alone in the outside world is far harsher than the younger son could imagine. The boy squanders his wealth with reckless living. A famine then strikes, the penniless younger son falls into a ditch of poverty, and winds up selling himself into slavery as a pig famer. Pigs were unclean animals to according to Mosaic Law (Lev. 11:7-8; Deut. 14:8), yet the boy yearned to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate. Moreover, nobody one gave him anything. Sure, there were others around, yet none truly cared about his troubles.
This journey into a distant land signifies the folly of all efforts to build a life apart from God. Earthly treasures alone can only build houses upon the sand, so when the wind, rain, and floods come, they come tumbling down. The branch severed from the vine withers and dies. Just as a limb can survive for a while the without nourishment supplied by the blood, once the supply of blood is cut off the gangrene sets and the limb dies. So too a life severed from God – the source of life. Apart from God we can only temporarily shelter ourselves from the cruelties of life east of Eden, and we never stand a chance without God.
The destitute prodigal, however, comes to a true evaluation and realizes the error of severing ties with his father and family. “How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread,” said the younger son, “but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants’” (Lk. 15:17-19). Recognizing his own folly, the prodigal decides to return home, hoping for his father’s mercy. The younger son’s decision to return home expresses the critical moment of repentance. It is only when the false shelters of self-sufficiency are stripped away that lost people can recognize their need for God and the possibility of redemption and reconciliation.
But the most astounding thing happens: When the returning prodigal appeared on the distant horizon, “his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him” (Lk. 15:20). The father in the parable represents God, whose love and mercy are boundless. Contrary to the expectations of the son and the norms of the time, the father does not wait for an apology but runs to embrace his returning son. This act of compassion and forgiveness is a powerful illustration of God’s readiness to welcome us back, no matter how far we have strayed.
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son,” says the humbled prodigal (Lk. 15:21) but the father responds with epic compassion and generosity. Athanasius of Alexandria (c. 295-373) points out the younger son’s “father neither takes him in like a hired servant nor treats him like a stranger. Oh no, he kisses him as a son. He accepts him as a dead man come back to life again. He counts him worthy of the divine feast and gives him the precious garment he once wore” (Festal Letter 7).[4] The graciousness of the father towards his prodigal son corresponds to God’s grace poured out upon the Christian. “To replace corruption, he clothes him with an incorruptible robe. To satisfy hunger, he kills the fatted calf. The Father provides shoes for his feet so that he will not travel far away again. Most wonderful of all, he puts a divine signet ring upon his hand. By all these things, he begets him anew in the image of the glory of Christ” (Festal Letter 7). The father’s response is not just an act of forgiveness but a restoration of the son’s place in the family. He orders the best robe, a ring, and sandals for him, and calls for a feast to celebrate his return. This celebration is a vivid portrayal of the joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Lk. 15:7).
Now the eldest son became filled with indignation after witnessing the celebration for his younger brother who has returned home. Money was never the real issue “the inheritance had been divided, the elder brother was already assured of his share, effective on the father’s death (15:12); he had nothing to lose by his brother’s return.”[5] The elder was unwilling to reconcile with the younger. He represents the Pharisees and scribes who grumbled about the tax collectors and sinners drawing near to Jesus.
What is worse is the elder son finds fault in the father’s love and kindness poured out to the younger son. “Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends,” the elder son grumbled, “but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” (Lk. 15:29-30). Here the elder son charges his father of being morally flawed. He condemns the father from holding back from him all the good things of life. Not even providing a young goat for feasting with his friends. Moreover, he charges his father of showing favoritism to the obviously morally depraved ungrateful younger son. Many skeptics share a similar contempt for God as the elder son to his father, and they rage against God sizing Him up to be a moral monster.[6]
“My son,” the father says, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours” (Lk. 15:31). This gentle reply exposes the depth of the older son’s misunderstanding. This response underscores that the father’s love and generosity for the elder son are neither limited nor diminished by the return of the prodigal son. “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found, said the father (Lk. 15:32). The younger brother had a change on heart, he returned to reconciled with father and family and to revive old relational ties that had died long ago. The elder son misapprehends the love and mercy his father extends to his penitent brother. Moreover, the father entreats the elder son to extend love and mercy towards his younger brother who is seeking reconciliation.
The parable of the prodigal son is ultimately a story of hope. It reassures us that no matter how far we have wandered, God’s mercy is always within reach. It is “a beautiful description of the forgiving love of God, his grace, and the joys of repentance,” says Thomas Schreiner.[7] The father’s compassion towards his sons is a testament to the unconditional love that awaits us when we turn back to God. The father runs out to meet the younger prodigal on the way home. Again, the father runs out to the field to council the elder prodigal brooding in the field and resisting reconciliation with his younger brother. Both sons in the parable embody different aspects of humanity’s struggle with sin and self-righteousness, yet the father’s response to each underscores a profound truth: God’s love is constant, and His mercy is infinite.
— WGN
Notes:
[1] All Scripture cited from The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2016), unless noted.
[2] Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993), Lk 15:11–12.
[3] Ibid.
[4] All quotes from Athanasius cited from Arthur A. Just, ed., Luke, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2005).
[5] Keener.
[6] It is unnecessary to get into a lengthy discussion with a skeptic who is like chat bot, just throwing out questions, criticisms, and insults without desiring to consider or think about the reasons to believe being offered. Neither does one need to be the champion orator who out wits every opponent. See Graham Veal, “Contemporary Atheists and Sneer,” Christian Research Journal, 38, 5 [2015]: https://www.equip.org/articles/contemporary-atheists-sneer/ and Clay Jones and Joseph Gorra, “The Folly of Answering Distracting Atheist Arguments,” Christian Research Journal, 36, 4 [2013]: https://www.equip.org/articles/folly-answering-distracting-atheistic-arguments/#christian-books-2 But there are those who have jettisoned Christianity for various reasons, such as the impression that Christianity suppresses freethinking, disappointment over being mistreated by Christians, unanswered questions about the Christian faith (e.g., reliability of the Bible, morality, problem of evil, etc.), or having been duped into a philosophical naturalist presumption about the world. See Paul Chamberlain, “Why People Stop Believing,” Christian Research Journal, 41, 4 [2018]: https://www.equip.org/articles/why-people-stop-believing/. Helpful treatments on addressing modern skepticism can be found in Paul Chamberlain, Why People Stop Believing (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books, 2018), Mitch Stokes, How to be an (A)theist: Why Many Skeptics Aren’t Skeptical Enough (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2016), and Paul Copan, Is God a Vindictive Bully? Reconciling Portrayals of God in the Old and New Testaments (Grand Rapids, Baker Academic, 2022).
[7] Thomas Schreiner, The Baker Illustrated Bible Commentary, ed. Gary M. Burge and Andrew E. Hill (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2012), 1092.
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