The Lost Son

3/20/25 Bible Thought (Luke 15)

Photo by Sylwia Adamowska on Unsplash

A helpful principle we must remember anytime we open God’s Word is to consider the original audience. This is important not only as we survey the letters of Paul and the original churches to whom he wrote for instance, but it’s also important when we see narrative portions of Scripture. This is especially significant as we open up the Gospels and see the Lord Jesus interacting with various people.

In Luke 15, Jesus is criticized by the religious elites because he was willing to receive and eat with those who were sinners (Lk. 15:1-2). To this, Jesus responds with three parables, but in a sense, they are all one.

If someone lost a sheep, even if he had 99 others, he would leave the 99 in search of the one that was lost. Likewise, if a woman had 10 silver coins, and she lost one, she’d sweep the house until she found it. In both stories, there is great rejoicing when that which is lost is found. Jesus concludes that this is an illustration of the rejoicing in heaven when a sinner repents (Lk. 15:7,10).

The climax of the story comes with the third parable, famously known as the prodigal son. A man had two sons. The younger of the two asks for his inheritance early, even though his father was still alive. He then leaves home and wrecks his life by spending everything. So much so that he finds himself in desperate need to the point where he’s working to take care of pigs and even longs for the pigs’ food. It’s important for us to remember that Jesus’ audience as first-century Jews considered pigs unclean. So, this guy has descended as low as you could go. He squandered the inheritance entirely.

When he “came to himself” he concludes that if he returned home and was merely accepted as a servant, not a son, that his life would be better than it presently was (Lk. 15:17-19). He determines to go home, to apologize, and to hopefully be accepted as a servant.

Yet, as he comes, he doesn’t even make it to the door. His father runs to him, not only receiving him back with open arms, but he then throws a party. He puts a robe on him, a ring on his finger, and decides to slaughter the fattened calf and to celebrate (Lk. 15:22-23). He concludes, “For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Lk. 15:24).

It's a time of incredible celebration! Everyone is happy, right? The son who was as good as dead has returned, how much better could it be?

Well, as we probably all know, the story doesn’t end this way. Truly, not everyone is happy. There is one who has a huge problem with all of this: the older brother. He complains that his younger brother had devoured the inheritance with prostitutes and in return he’s getting a party?! He himself never got a party. He was never blessed in a radical way by his father. He didn’t even get a goat to celebrate with friends, let alone the fattened calf. What gives?

The father responds that all that he had belonged to this oldest son, he had access to everything, he wasn’t in a less-than position. Yet, the return of the youngest son necessitated a celebration.

As we consider that the original audience of this parable is a group of religious elites, it becomes very clear that they are the older son in the parable. Typically, when people think of the prodigal son the emphasis is on the wonderful grace of the father and the need for the prodigals to come home. While this isn’t untrue, the emphasis actually is on the son who was truly lost: the older brother.

Like the story of Jonah, the parable of the prodigal son ends on a sour note. It ends with one character who is disgruntled and doesn’t get their way. It ends with a cliffhanger that effectively says to us, the readers, “So how about you? Are you like Jonah? Are you like the older brother?”

Countless religious people forget that the only reason they are saints is because God had mercy on them. They aren’t any better than any other sinner on planet earth except by the grace of God. Every saint begins merely as a sinner. Every saint is one who has found mercy and grace that were totally undeserved and as such we should welcome the sinner into the Father’s house with open arms.

If someone new comes to faith, we should celebrate just as heaven does. It doesn’t matter if they have a criminal record. It doesn’t matter if they don’t look the part. Perhaps they have cusswords tattooed on their face. That doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter who they are or what they’ve done. If they come to Christ in faith, although they were dead in their trespasses and sins, they can be made alive in Christ Jesus (see Eph. 2:1-5).

The charge then is for those of us who have been in Father’s house, those who are forgiven, those who come to church every Sunday, those who are “saints” to not pass judgment on others where God doesn’t. Truly, no sinner is too far gone to find grace and mercy with a gracious and loving God.

His arms are open wide, the question then is: are ours?