PARABLE OF THE SONS

LUKE 15:11-32

 1. Father (11)

      James M. Boice wrote, “Jesus begins, not with the object’s loss, but with the loss sustained by the owners or father, that is, by God.”

Gal. 4:6-7 [ESV]. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.

    a. True story (Lk. 16:19)

      Jeremias stated, “The parable is not an allegory, but a story drawn from life, as is shown by vv. 18, 21, where, in a periphrastic way, God is named.”

    b. Two sons (Mt. 21:28; Gen. 4:1-2, 25:26)

      Stagg said, “God is like the father who grieves over the loss of both sons.”

•          Younger and the elder

•          Son who left and the son who stayed

•          Runaway and the home-body

•          Vocal prodigal and the sullen angry

•          Field of sin and the field of service

•          Open rebellion and hidden resentment

•          Public embarrassment and private burden

•          Indulged in the flesh and imagined in flesh

•          Wondered where he was and the one always there

•          Said "give me" and said "never gave me"

 2. Family (12)

Prov. 17:21 [GNB]. There is nothing but sadness and sorrow for parents whose children do foolish things.

    a. Insult

      Vincent explained, “If the share of younger children was to be diminished by gift or taken away, the disposition must be made by a person presumably near death.”

    b. Inheritance (Dt. 21:17; the firstborn obtains twice as much as the rest of the sons)

      Jeremias said, “The younger son demands not only the right of possession, but also the right of disposal; he wants a settlement because he proposes to lead an independent life. V. 13: . . . after turning the property into cash. . . he emigrates.”

    c. Independence

Prov. 13:1 [NLT]. A wise child accepts a parent’s discipline; a young mocker refuses to listen.

      Jeremias stated, “The younger son is evidently unmarried, which allows us to draw conclusions about his age: the normal marriageable age for a man was eighteen to twenty.”

 3. Far (13)

Rom. 6:23 [ESV]. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

      Jerry Vines said, “How far is the far country? It is one step of disobedience to God. Where is the far country? It is anywhere a soul goes from God in the far country.”

    a. Willful

      Stagg wrote, “Love and life cannot be imposed upon a son, not even by a loving father.”

    b. Wasteful

1 Pet. 4:3 [CEV]. You have already lived long enough like people who don't know God. You were immoral and followed your evil desires. You went around drinking and partying and carrying on. In fact, you even worshiped disgusting idols.

      Jerry Vines said, “Any life not lived for Jesus Christ is a wasted life.”

      Fathers of prodigals hurt:

•          Because the children you love have turned toward self-destruction

•          Because the children stand in defiance

•          Because the children do not appreciate contributions to their lives

•          Because you feel like failures

•          Because you are haunted by thoughts of “If only we had. . . .”

•          Because other parents who have not had problems look at you like you failed

•          Because you feel frustrated cleaning up their messes

•          Because you must mix with people who know about your children’s problems

•          Because you wonder if you ought to give up your positions at church or in the community

•          Because you don’t know how to help your children

 4. Famine (14)

Is. 55:2a [GNB]. Why spend money on what does not satisfy? Why spend your wages and still be hungry?

      Alexander Maclaren wrote, “There is always famine in the land of forgetfulness of God. . . .”

    a. Spent

1 Cor. 15:32-33 [ESV]. What do I gain if, humanly speaking, I fought with beasts at Ephesus? If the dead are not raised, "Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die." Do not be deceived: "Bad company ruins good morals."

Jas. 4:3 [ESV]. You ask and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions.

    b. Short

Rom. 3:23 [ESV]. for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

      R. G. Lee said, “The devil always pays in counterfeit money.”

 5. Fall (15)

    a. Slavery (Jn. 8:34)

    b. Swine (Lk. 11:7)

      The father did not pay the son’s expenses while living like a prodigal. The father did not shield the prodigal from the outcome of wrong choices.

•          Sin will take you farther than you want to go.

•          Sin will keep you longer than you want to stay.

•          Sin will cost you more than you want to pay.

 6. Food (16)

    a. Starvation (Lk. 16:21)

    b. Sympathy (Jas. 1:17)

      The Prodigal never found what he needed in the far country away from the Father’s house. A young man from Austin, Texas, rode a bicycle away from home and ended up at the Baptist Rescue Mission in New Orleans, Louisiana, lost, hungry but found salvation.

 7. Forgotten (17-19)

•          Plenty

•          Empty

      David Smith wrote, “It was not his sin but his misery that troubled him.”

“Selfish in his sin, he was selfish in his repentance. In truth, he did not repent at all until he was in his father’s embrace, and then his heart melted.”

“Once he has returned to the Father’s House and discovered the Father’s love, he will understand what sin means and will sorrow over it with a godly sorrow.”

      Alexander Maclaren said, “There is no sign that his conscience smote him, or that his heart woke in love to his father. His stomach, and it only, urged him to go home.”¹¹

      Alexander Maclaren wrote, “Thank God for the teaching that even so low a motive as that is accepted by God; and that, if a man goes back, even for no better reason — as long as he does go back, he will be welcomed by the Father.”

    a. Conviction (cf. Legion, “sitting and clothed and in his right mind.”)

    b. Confession

        (1) I am lost (Lk. 13:3)

        (2) I am going home

        (3) I am a sinner (Ex. 10:16-17)

        (4) I am not worthy (1 Jn. 3:1)

•          “Give me”

•          “Make me”

      Edersheim wrote, “Nor would he go back with the hope of being reinstated in his position as son. . . .”

      Jeremias explained, “After the legal settlement he has no further claim, not even to food and clothing. He asks to be allowed to earn both.

 8. Faith (20a)

    a. Arise

    b. Arrive

      Spurgeon pictured, “‘Oh,’ said the devil within him ‘your father will never speak comfortably to you: you had better run away again.’”

      The prodigal trusted in the merciful nature of the Father.

      Stagg said, “The younger son was mixed up about life, but at last he found it precisely where he had missed it.”

      Jerry Vines noted, “He made the worst decision of his life in the best place the father's house. Now he is going to make the best decision of his life in the worst place the hog pen.”

“He was there all the time”

 9. Forgiveness (20b)

      The Father did not force His love, and the Father did not cease His love. Nothing changed the father’s imprint of love for the son.

      The father did not make it hard for the son to ever come back or set conditions for forgiveness. The father did not make the son grovel over the past mistakes.

Ps. 103:13. Like as a father pitieth [his] children, [so] the LORD pitieth them that fear him.

Mal. 4:6. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.

    a. Gaze (looking for the answer to prayer)

      The father stood at the far corner of the property where he could watch the farthest point down the road for the son.

      Spurgeon wrote, “It was just like that day when Adam sinned. God walked in the garden, and he missed Adam. He did not cry out, ‘Adam, come here and be judged’ No; with a soft, sorrowful, and plaintive voice, he said, ‘Adam, where art thou?’”

    b. Gut (Lk. 10:33)

    c. Gait (Lk. 24:12)

      Jeremias noted the run as “a most unusual and undignified procedure for an aged oriental even though he is in such haste.”

      The elderly father did not retain any dignity by standing and waiting for the son to reach him.

    d. Grasp (Acts 20:37)

      Jerry Vines explained, “In those days when a boy departed like this, not only would he disgrace the father, he would disgrace the whole village.”

“He goes out there and he puts his arms around that boy and he covers him. He carries him into the village as if to say to the villagers, ‘If you are going to stone anybody, stone me.’ That is what Jesus did for us at Calvary.”

    e. Greet (Gen. 45:15)

      Spurgeon said, “Your Father’s kisses will make you forget your brother’s frowns.”

      Jeremias said, “The kiss is (as in 2 Sam. 14:33) a sign of forgiveness”

      Stagg called this, “God’s willingness to accept the unacceptable!”

      Spurgeon said, “He was not forgiven on conditions; he was not received to his father’s heart if he would do so-and-so. No; there were no ‘ifs’ and no ‘buts;’ he was kissed, and clothed, and feasted, without a single condition of any kind whatever.”

Prov. 22:6 [Cambridge]. If a child is trained up in the right way, even when he is old he will not be turned away from it.

Ring the bells of Heaven! There is joy today,
For a soul, returning from the wild!
See, the Father meets him out upon the way,
Welcoming His weary, wandering child.

Glory! Glory! How the angels sing:
Glory! Glory! How the loud harps ring!
’Tis the ransomed army, like a mighty sea,
Pealing forth the anthem of the free. (William O. Cushing)

10. Feast (21-24)

      Alexander Maclaren said, “GOD’S giving always follows His forgiving.”

      Jeremias said, “He treats the returning one, not as a wage-earner, but as an honored guest.”

      The father did not act embarrassed at the son’s return but celebrated openly.

    a. Robe (Is. 64:6; Zech. 3:4-5)

      Jeremias wrote, “First comes the ceremonial robe, which in the East is a mark of high distinction.”

    b. Ring

      Jeremias said, “Excavations have shown that the ring is to be regarded as a signet-ring; the gift of a ring signified the bestowal of authority. . . .”

    c. Rights

      Jeremias explained, “Shoes are a luxury, worn by free men; here they mean that the son must no longer go about barefoot like a slave.”

    d. Reception (the calf)

      The riotous party at his reception was as extravagant as the riotous living of the past–only now he was in the father’s house not with friends.

    e. Rejoice

      The rejoicing at the prodigal’s repentance erased any memory of the son’s rebellion.

    f. Reason

      Jeremias said, “The three orders given by the father are the manifest tokens of forgiveness and reinstatement, evident to all.”

      God does not treat repentant sinners in the manner rightfully deserved.

      When asked what the President would do when the southerners returned to the Union, Abraham Lincoln replied, “I will treat them as if they had never been away.”

11. Field (25-27)

      David Smith wrote, “The villain of the story is not the prodigal but his elder brother.”

      The distance from the prodigal’s fields of sin to the father's house was shorter than the distance from the elder’s fields of service to the father’s house.

    a. Sound (Ex. 32:18; 1 Sam. 4:6; 2 Sam. 6:14)

Ps. 30:11 [GNB]. You have changed my sadness into a joyful dance; you have taken away my sorrow and surrounded me with joy.

    b. Servant

Phile. 16 [ESV]. no longer as a slave but more than a slave, as a beloved brother--especially to me, but how much more to you, both in the flesh and in the Lord.

12. Feelings (28-30)

      The Lord does not exempt sins of the spirit and just condemn the deeds of the flesh.

Eph. 4:31-32 [HCSB]. All bitterness, anger and wrath, insult and slander must be removed from you, along with all wickedness. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God also forgave you in Christ.

    a. Angry

      Charles L. Allen said, “It did not worry the elder son when his brother left the father’s house and headed in the wrong direction. He never spent a sleepless night over the wrong of another. He never spent an hour in prayer for his brother’s salvation. The father’s heart was grieved and broken because of his boy, and he kept watching and eagerly hoping for his return. When the prodigal did return, the father welcomed him with a banquet. But the elder brother ‘was angry, and would not go in.’”

    b. Bitter

      Stagg noted that the elder “complained of not being paid. . . the heart of a slave, not of a son. . . kinship of the flesh but not of spirit.”

    c. Proud

      Barclay wrote, “His years of obedience to this father had been years of grim duty and not of loving service.”

      Charles L. Allen said, “Others fell into sinful ways, but he boasted of the straight life he lived. He felt he was as good as he was supposed to be. He had no need to improve; his heart never hungered and thirsted for God; he never felt the need of kneeling at the altar.”

    d. Jealous

      Jeremias said, “He avoids giving the returned prodigal the name of brother.”

      The elder brother would rather be with his “friends” than the younger brother (Lk. 15:29). The elder brother called the prodigal “thy son” rather than “my brother” (Lk. 15:30).

•          The prodigal opted for the fatted calf instead of husks, but the elder would rather have goat.

•          The prodigal opted for the father's house, but the elder would rather be at his friends’ house.

•          The prodigal was the elder’s brother, but in the elder’s eyes the prodigal was only the father’s boy.

    e. Malicious

      Barclay wrote, “He, no doubt, suspected his brother of the sins he himself would have liked to commit.”

      The elder brother brought up the subject of “harlots” (Lk. 15:30). Barclay said, “There is no mention of harlots until he mentions them.” The elder brother found it much easier to condemn the sins of others than to examine his own heart (2 Sam. 12:1-7; Mt. 7:1-5; Lk. 18:11).

    f. Unforgiving

      No one can claim a special relationship with the Father who does not demonstrate grace to another.

      James M. Boice said, “We are never so like God as when we rejoice at the salvation of sinners. We are never so like Satan as when we despise those who are thus converted and think ourselves superior to them.”

13. Found (31-32)

      David Smith wrote, “There was room in the heart of Jesus not only for sinners but for Pharisees.”

      Jeremias said, “The father’s address is specially affectionate ‘my dear child.’”

“He spoke kindly to him’, ‘addressed him in friendly fashion’”

    a. Money (Mt. 20:15)

      Robertson wrote, “He had not appreciated his privileges at home with his father.”

    b. Merry (Lk. 10:20)

    c. Mercy (Eph. 2:5)

Reexamining Popular Misconceptions

About the Parable of the Prodigal Son

 1. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about three stories, not a single story.

 2. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the Father, not the sons.

 3. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about two lost sons, not one.

 4. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the inheritance distributed to the elder brother, not just the younger.

 5. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the sovereignty of God sending a famine, not just the prodigal running out of money.

 6. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about a prodigal who tried to manipulate the Father one more time (still trying to get money), not a thorough repentance.

 7. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the Father’s reception, not the son’s repentance.

 8. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about what the Father went through to redeem the son, not what the son went through before coming home.

 9. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the sins of the elder brother’s spirit, not the sins of the wasteful prodigal.

10. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the inheritance not spent, as much as the inheritance wasted.

11. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the contrast in God’s attitude toward the lost with the Pharisees attitude toward sinners.

12. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the ease with which God can save prodigals and prostitutes compared to the self-righteous.

13. The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a parable about the invitation of the Father for the elder to come inside the house, not only the prodigal to come back home.