Luke chapter fifteen contains three parables. The third parable, which we are going to look at this morning, is sometimes called, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” Commentator William Barclay says, “For centuries the third parable has been called ‘The Parable of the Prodigal Son.’ It would be far better if we were to call it ‘The Parable of the Loving Father’ for it is the father and not the son who is the hero of the story.” (1) This parable is about a father’s love for his children.
In his play The Merchant of Venice, William Shakespeare said, “It is a wise father that knows his son.” (2) A father who takes the time to know his children is a father who truly cares and understands how to love. In our parable this morning, we will see a father who actually knows his son and loves him dearly, but allows him to go out into the world and do his own thing. Keep in mind, however, that the father knew his son so well that he kept a constant watch for his return, because he felt there was a good chance that he would one day come running home.
To know one’s child implies that a close relationship exists between a father and his child. It’s important for a father to form a close bond with his children because, as we are going to see in this parable, animosity and distance will result in children making destructive or even fatal mistakes. I hope that a look at this passage will make us aware of the tremendous love that a good father has for his child, and of the unconditional love that our heavenly Father has for us.
Lost without His Father (vv. 11-16)
11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood. 13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” 14 “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.”
We read here about a father who had two sons. One of them asked to go ahead and receive his inheritance that was rightfully allotted to him. William Barclay points out that, according to Deuteronomy 21:17, the father was to leave two-thirds of his property to the elder son, and one-third to the younger. He also states that it was not uncommon for a father to go ahead and divide his property before he died, since the sons could take over in helping with the work. (3) We observe that what this son asked for was not just a small amount of cash, but his entire inheritance.
In verse 13, we see that this son wasted his inheritance on “prodigal living.” The term “prodigal” means, “recklessly extravagant, characterized by wasteful expenditure.” (4) The prodigal son foolishly spent his entire inheritance until there was nothing left. His financial security was his welfare, and it would have made the difference between being fed and starving to death. In other words, it made the difference between living and dying. Therefore, I must emphasize how the prodigal son sacrificed his means of sustenance for some cheap thrills.
Notice also, in verse 13, that the son journeyed to a far country. He separated himself from the care of the father, putting a great distance between them. We must understand that all people are created by God and loved by Him, but many choose to distance themselves from the heavenly Father. They choose to live a life of sin by pursuing every lust that enters their imagination, and when a person does this, they are separating themselves from life; not just mortal life, but eternal life with God the Father. Isaiah 59:2 says, “Your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear.”
It’s imperative for a child to have a relationship with his father. Without that closeness, a child’s entire life may be headed down a path of destruction. The evangelist Bill Glass ministers to inmates in his prison ministry. He has spent a great deal of time talking with them, and he has found one common denominator in the lives of these men that has had a destructive influence on them: they all hate their fathers. Their father either walked out on them when they were small, or they were abusive, or perhaps they just didn’t spend any time with them. (5)
Notice that the prodigal son escaped death. Verse 15 says, “He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” He escaped death, but he might as well have been dead, for he became an indentured servant, which was one step away from a slave. In verse 16, we see that he barely had enough to sustain him, and that he even desired the food that the hogs ate.
Like the prodigal son, when we forsake a relationship with the heavenly Father to pursue our own lusts and desires, we become as slaves; that is, slaves to sin. When we seek to fill our emptiness with even more sin, we are left hungry and void inside; and then we keep on sinking lower trying to fulfill our desires, to the point that we are spiritually willing to eat pig slop; we are willing to stoop to the lowest level possible, and we still can’t get enough to satisfy the hunger and emptiness inside.
Waiting for the Son’s Return (vv. 17-21)
17 “But when he came to himself, he said, how many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants’.” 20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son’.”
Right here the prodigal had a change of heart. He realized that home with his father was where he needed to be. Maybe his father had warned him about the costs of squandering his money, and he finally realized that his father was right. Charles Wadsworth said, “By the time a man realizes that maybe his father was right, he usually has a son who thinks he’s wrong.” (6)
In these verses, we see that the son began thinking of home. He remembered the good life he had while he was there. He had a roof over his head, food on the table, and a father who loved him dearly. He wanted to return home, but he wasn’t for certain if his father would have him back. In verse 19, we read that he devised to tell his father “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” The son actually began feeling too unworthy to return home.
There’s the story of a teenage girl who had gotten into an argument with her parents, and ran away from home. When she got out on the streets she couldn’t find any work, so she turned to prostitution. At night she would have to search for a place to sleep, and often took shelter in public restrooms. She thought back to the love that her parents had once shown her, and to all the good times she once had, but she felt too unworthy to return home. She didn’t think there was any way possible they would have her back after what she had done with her life.
One night when she walked into a restroom to find a place to sleep, she saw a flyer hanging on the wall with a picture of her parents. It had a note on it that read, “No matter where you are, and no matter what you’ve done, we will always love you.” At that moment tears began to stream down her face, but they weren’t tears of sadness; they were tears of joy. She knew right then and there that she could go home. The love that this girl’s parents had for her is just a glimmer of the love that our heavenly Father has for each of us.
The father in our parable demonstrated this kind of love. Verse 20 says, “But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” The father had not given up hope on his son coming home. He had been watching and waiting each and every day for his return; and like the father who was looking for his son to return, the Lord is watching and waiting for us to come home to Him. As the old gospel hymn says, “Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling; calling, O sinner, come home.”
Even though the Father loves us and is waiting for us to return home, there is one thing required of us, and that is repentance. In verse 21, the son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.” Repentance is being truly sorry for our sins, and then confessing them before the heavenly Father.
Romans 10:9-10 lays out repentance for us to understand. These verses say, “If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” To come into God’s presence and be saved from our sins, we have to confess our sins, and confess Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.
Receiving a Great Inheritance (vv. 22-32)
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” 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 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf’.” 28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him’.” 31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found’.”
When the wayward son returned home he received the shock of his life! There was a party thrown for him! C. Barry McCarty says that in the previous two parables, and in the one right here, that “God throws a party over one sinner who repents.” (7) The Christian singer Michael English, in describing the salvation of a lost person, once said, “There’s going to be a party up in heaven!” All of heaven rejoices when a person comes home to God from a life of sin.
William Barclay says, “In Luke 15:22, each of the three things the father mentions has its own significance. The robe stands for honor; it was the first or the best robe; it was not to disgrace but to honor that the son came home. The ring stands for mastery. The ring would be a signet ring; and when a master gave his ring to a servant or a father to his son, it meant that he was handing into his control all his possessions. The shoes stand for the status of son. Slaves went barefoot but the children of the family went shod.” (8)
When formerly this younger son had only received a third of his father’s property, here he was given an equal portion with his brother. In this parable, the eldest son is symbolic of the Jews who were God’s elect, and firstborn. They believed that they alone would receive the inheritance of the kingdom. If you look at verses 25-32, you can see the argument of the eldest son; portraying how the Jews didn’t consider the Gentiles as brothers. This fact can be seen specifically in verse 30, when the eldest son refused to acknowledge the prodigal as his brother, and called him “this son of yours.”
The younger son is symbolic of the Gentiles, whom the Jews believed were substandard and would receive a lesser inheritance; if they received any at all. Jesus shared that all people who come to the Lord, whether Jew or Gentile, will be seen as equal in God’s eyes, and receive an equal inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you have done, the Lord will not look down on you. Whatever sins you have committed, they will not keep you from God’s forgiveness, if you will repent and surrender your life to Him.
Time of Reflection
In this parable we see that the love of a father is very important, because it can mean the difference between life and death for a child. A father should seek to establish a close relationship with his child. He should strive to exemplify the love of God in everything he does.
“A little boy, frightened by a thunderous lightning storm, called out one dark night, ‘Daddy, come. I’m scared.’ ‘Son,’ the father said, ‘God loves you and He’ll take care of you.’ ‘I know God loves me,’ the boy replied. ‘But right now I want somebody who has skin on.’ It is the role of [a] father to be and demonstrate God, with skin on.” (9)
We also see in this parable that the love of the heavenly Father is so great that He will take us into his kingdom no matter what we have done, so long as we repent. Don’t feel too ashamed to ask the Lord’s forgiveness. He will pardon you and give you eternal life if you will confess Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior.
NOTES
(1) William Barclay, The Parables of Jesus (Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1970), 187.
(2) Taken from the Internet June 2000 at http://orders.mkn.co.uk/fathers/quotes.en.
(3) Barclay, 181.
(4) “Prodigal,” Simon and Schuster Collegiate Dictionary, (1999 Prentice-Hall, Inc.).
(5) Bill Glass, Central Kentucky Celebration for Christ, held at Campbellsville, Kentucky in September 1999.
(6) Taken from the Internet June 2000 at http://orders.mkn.co.uk/fathers/quotes.en.
(7) C. Barry McCarty, Parables and Miracles, (Cincinnati: Standard, 1999), 64.
(8) Barclay, 181-182.
(9) Michael P. Green, Illustrations Unlimited (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1997), 147.
