11 And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. 13 Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. 14 And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ 20 And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
25 “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ 28 But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, 29 but he answered his father, ‘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. 30 But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32 It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” Luke 15: 11-32 ESV
Luke 15: 11-32 Prodigal Son
10Now as for you, son of man, tell the house of Israel that this is what they have said: ‘Our transgressions and our sins are heavy upon us, and we are wasting away because of them! How can we live?’ 11Say to them: ‘As surely as I live, declares the Lord GOD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! For why should you die, O house of Israel?’ 12Therefore, son of man, say to your people: ‘The righteousness of the righteous man will not deliver him in the day of his transgression; neither will the wickedness of the wicked man cause him to stumble on the day he turns from his wickedness. Nor will the righteous man be able to survive by his righteousness on the day he sins.’… Ezekiel 33: 10-12
…8And you will again obey the voice of the LORD and follow all His commandments I am giving you today. 9So the LORD your God will make you abound in all the work of your hands and in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land. Indeed, the LORD will again delight in your goodness, as He delighted in that of your fathers, 10if you obey the LORD your God by keeping His commandments and statutes that are written in this Book of the Law, and if you turn to Him with all your heart and with all your soul.… Deuteronomy 30: 8-10
Rod Mattoon agrees that this parable "is one of the most well-known stories of the Scriptures. The story of the Prodigal Son has been labeled by Bible scholars as the "prince of the parables" or "the pearl and crown" of all the parables of the Bible. The great writer, Charles Dickens praised this story when he said that it was the finest short story ever written....Jesus taught us that God is our Father, and nowhere more so than in the story of the prodigal son. This story, together with the companion story of the older brother, is simply the story of God as Father. He who is known as Jehovah, Adonai, Elohim, El Shaddai, Jehovah-Jireh, the Almighty, the great I AM, is also "Father." In fact, Jesus speaks of God the Father twelve times in twenty-two short verses. If we miss, "God the Father," we miss the whole point of the parable. In this first section of three in this wonderful story, we will see how to go from living high on the hog to living with the hogs. This section is about trouble and tragedy that torments a person when they surrender to temptation. It reveals to us how quickly we can fall, fail, fumble, and flounder when we run away from our Heavenly Father." (Treasures from Luke) - Precept Austin
Father give the share of property that is coming to me - There are two sons in Jesus' parable, and by the laws of primogeniture in the middle east, and many eastern civilizations of that time, hence "#1 son", the oldest was entitled to a double portion. So the younger is asking for his third, or the equivalent of that now. He doesn't want to wait for the father's passing and he's actually demanding in an entitled manner that would have made the hair stand up on the necks of Jesus' listeners. This would of sounded disrespectful even to some from my generation here in the west, but respect of elders has fallen out of fashion for the general population these days. We are no longer under the law but under grace, yet the expectation of the law is still there, but God expects it to be of the freed will, an offering cheerfully given. Jesus Himself said, "I didn't come to destroy the law or the prophets but to fulfill them."
…18“Which ones?” the man asked. Jesus answered, “ ‘Do not murder, do not commit adultery, do not steal, do not bear false witness, 19honor your father and mother, and love your neighbor as yourself.’” 20“All these I have kept,” said the young man. “What do I still lack?”… Matthew 19: 18-20
8Be indebted to no one, except to one another in love. For he who loves his neighbor has fulfilled the law. 9 The commandments “Do not commit adultery,” “Do not murder,” “Do not steal,” “Do not covet,” and any other commandments, are summed up in this one decree: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” 10Love does no wrong to its neighbor. Therefore love is the fulfillment of the law.… Romans 13: 8-10
And He divided His property between them - As you may recall, His two prior parables were about God's joy over repentant sinners. This carries along in the same vein, the loving Father representing God, the older brother representing the Pharisees, and the younger brother the tax collectors and sinners.
And there he squandered his property on reckless living - What he did with the money shows the intent of his heart when he was asking. He brings more dishonor and separates himself from his Father, the source of his inheritance, the one who raised him and wants what is best for him. It could be said of anyone who has received life, who has received above and beyond that, talent, that those things were given to them, and should be used to honor their source.
18Flee from sexual immorality. Every other sin a man can commit is outside his body, but he who sins sexually sins against his own body. 19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; 20you were bought at a price. Therefore glorify God with your body.… 1 Corinthians 6: 18-20
1 “Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.
2 “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.
3 But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6: 1-4
…14You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. 15Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a basket. Instead, they set it on a stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.… Matthew 5: 14-16
And when he had spent everything - Sometimes having what we want leads us towards the world and away from God, towards seasonal pleasures that cannot begin to compare with eternal glory or eternal judgment.
…2You crave what you do not have; you kill and covet, but are unable to obtain it. You quarrel and fight. You do not have, because you do not ask. 3And when you do ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may squander it on your pleasures. 4You adulteresses! Do you not know that friendship with the world is hostility toward God? Therefore, whoever chooses to be a friend of the world renders himself an enemy of God.… James 4: 2-4
A famine arose in that country and he began to be in need - A lot of us won't go to the doctor till we are in the worst sort of way, but pain is meant for that, to make us aware that something is wrong, to seek a physician. It is a mercy that we grow hungry or else we would starve, and a greater mercy that we come to see our need.
…3So when you, O man, pass judgment on others, yet do the same things, do you think you will escape God’s judgment? 4Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance? 5But because of your hard and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.… Romans 2: 3-5
Vs. 16 He was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate and no one gave him anything - These were not easily digested by humans, a sort of last resort and even then roasted to make consuming easier. I remember overdosing as a young man and having people show up the next day to help me go find more drugs, but when I quit, or when you run out of money, as in the prodigals case, they were nowhere to be found. When I think of friendship now it is not the people who encourage me or act accepting of me as I move away from God's design, but rather those that confront me about my sin, that tell me of my need. Also a pig was the most unclean thing on the list of unclean animals, so to Jesus's listeners this son would probably not be worth redeeming at this point. In their minds it was as low as a person could go.
Craig Keener - Animals ate these carob pods raw; people ate them roasted, but depended on them for sustenance only in times of famine. (Some later rabbis remarked that whenever Israel was reduced to eating carob pods, they repented.) no one gave him anything. Moralists commonly observed that those who were friends only for the sake of pleasure would abandon one when the money ran out. A normal ancient story might have ended here, with an obvious moral for listeners: don’t disrespect and abandon your father, or you might end up like this! Yet Jesus’ story continues. (See NKJV, Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible) - Precept Austin
vs. 17 But when he came to himself - Sometimes it looks like this, but everyone has to hit the bottom of themselves, of self reliance, selfishness, vain ambition. Like the Bible says, "blessed are they that mourn for they shall be comforted."
Verse 18 Father I have sinned against heaven and against you - Every sin is against God, and there is no little sin, so those that think so or see themselves as good have the most difficult time of getting to this place. I have a very thick head, and you would think that overdosing 3 times would wake me up, or having epilepsy would slow me down. It wasn't till recent years that I saw God's hand of correction in it, and I cannot stop seeing His hand since. The younger son's prayer is one of contrition.
…20Then Job stood up, tore his robe, and shaved his head. He fell to the ground and worshiped, 21saying: “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will return. The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away. Blessed be the name of the LORD.” 22In all this, Job did not sin or charge God with wrongdoing.… Job 1: 20-22
Vs 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son - No one is worthy, doing what you're supposed to do is not going above and beyond, entitlement is a dangerous sort of delusion. This sinner is approaching the right way, there is no strange fire in his bowl, no self righteousness. His only hope is compassion from his father.
…8Instead, won’t he tell him, ‘Prepare my meal and dress yourself to serve me while I eat and drink; and afterward you may eat and drink’? 9Does he thank the servant because he did what he was told? 10So you also, when you have done everything commanded of you, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’ ”… Luke 17: 8-10
…7in order that in the coming ages He might display the surpassing riches of His grace, demonstrated by His kindness to us in Christ Jesus. 8For it is by grace you have been saved through faith, and this not from yourselves; it is the gift of God, 9not by works, so that no one can boast.… Ephesians 2: 7-9
Vs 20 But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion - Our inability to forgive, to desire reconciliation is another sin called pride, look how far the father stoops to show his love. The father is guilty of nothing, even letting the son leave and not interfering with his finding bottom. You cannot call him an enabler; he only gave the son what he was going to give him anyway. If you want to live such a life then you must live it away from the father, because he has no part in such things, but he is praying and waiting for your return, trusting God with the results. Don't forget, this is a story about two kinds of sinners and a father who desires to see both of them come to repentance.
Vs. 21 And the son said to him - He says what he realized when he became truly woke, that he was a sinner and unworthy. But this is all the father lets him get out, the state of every man, but mingled with godly sorrow. "Blessed are the poor in spirit", he has nothing to offer but honest remorse and the hope of mercy. The father stops him before he can get out the rest and has his servants prepare a banquet, a banquet where he is the guest of honor, the cause for celebration.
…47Therefore I tell you, because her many sins have been forgiven, she has loved much. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.” 48Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.” 49But those at the table began to say to themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”… Luke 7: 47-49
For this my son was dead - We are all spiritual still borns, inheriting sin from our parents, all the way back to Adam, and proving our judgment just by continuing this heritage both in the thoughts of our mind and the actions of our bodies. He was lost to his father, but at his lowest he saw himself and came home. The father's yoke was easy, the burden so light that even his servants were better off than the son when he was away from him. I remember the feelings of embarrassment, of feeling so stupid about the way my life had turned out, that I had done everything I was taught not to do, and now it stung. I had built up a wall of pride against having to admit how stupid I was, even trying to make stupid seem fashionable. I still struggle with the desire to make a joke of everything, but in light of the cross it is difficult to make light of what God hates.
1And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, 2in which you used to walk when you conformed to the ways of this world and of the ruler of the power of the air, the spirit who is now at work in the sons of disobedience. 3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.… Ephesians 2: 1-3
And is alive again - We use the same picture in being born again, which everyone must be who would come to a right state with God. This is the literal spiritual state, a state bearing eternal implications.
…4But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, 5made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in our trespasses. It is by grace you have been saved! 6And God raised us up with Christ and seated us with Him in the heavenly realms in Christ Jesus,… Ephesians 2: 4-6
He was lost - Remember the preceding parables of the coin and the lost sheep?
Now his older son was in the field - He's out doing what he should be doing, working the family farm. He's a faithful son, like a few employees I have known over the years, but he's keeping a ledger of this. He is not wrong for doing what is right, but look a little further.
He was angry and refused to go in - His brother was lost, his brother was starving, his brother was on the wrong side of God, a cause for much grief and many a prayer for a father's aching soul, but the older brother could not be happy. He doesn't love his father as much as he thinks he does because he doesn't love his brother.
…19We love because He first loved us. 20If anyone says, “I love God,” but hates his brother, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen. 21And we have this commandment from Him: Whoever loves God must love his brother as well.… 1 John 4: 19-21
His father came and entreated him - Rather than sharing in his father's joy he was like the Pharisees who wrote off the tax collectors and other sinners who sinned differently than them. To see someone realize their sin, to realize their utter inability to fix the situation and bridge the infinite gap between them and a holy God, and then find in Christ the way to remedy all that, that is a miracle. The father describes it in the language of the miraculous, for being born again is a greater miracle than Lazarus being raised from the dead. One is solely tied to this life, the other to eternal life. Like the Pharisees, the ones who hung around the law, had the word read to them, the older son had no heart for the lost or joy for their return. Yet the father reaches out to him, and it is already a point of disrespect, he is now doing the same as the younger son, only in a different way. The father entreats him which is the same as pleading with him to repent.
…39And this is the will of Him who sent Me, that I shall lose none of those He has given Me, but raise them up at the last day. 40For it is My Father’s will that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in Him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.” 41At this, the Jews began to grumble about Jesus because He had said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”… John 6: 39-41
I never disobeyed your command - Until now because his dad wants him to be happy, to share in the joy of his brother's restoration, but he rejects this. He is self righteous, not seeing himself as a sinner. "You owe me dad, for doing what I was supposed to do anyway. Of course you should love me because look how great I am compared to my brother."
…38As she stood behind Him at His feet weeping, she began to wet His feet with her tears and wipe them with her hair. Then she kissed His feet and anointed them with the perfume. 39When the Pharisee who had invited Jesus saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, He would know who this is and what kind of woman is touching Him— for she is a sinner!” 40But Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.” “Tell me, Teacher,” he said.… Luke 7: 38-40
You never gave me a young goat - Poor you, you had a great dad that provided for you and taught you how to provide for yourself, God blessed you immensely, but you think it was all owed to you. Except for the working part and the loyalty he sounds like an entitled millennial, "you ruined my life because you didn't get me that 1000 dollar cell phone I wanted. Now I shall turn to a life of bitterness and crime, all because of you."
Who has devoured your property with prostitutes - He took his cut and blew it on hookers, and you are going to let him back into the house? We need to be wise and discerning, for sure, but this is a case of repentance, of someone who has seen their sin, had their heart break over the love they left, and returned in complete self denial. I have known people to fake this, but it shows quickly, they always lack the humility of the prodigal. The sin of the older brother is that he wants to see him as he was, he wants others to continue seeing him that way, and he is not hoping for his recovery, he is actually against it.
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