• In The Prodigal Son Parable, Jesus tells three stories as one parable. In the Lost Sheep story, Jesus is the Shepherd. In the Lost Coin story, Jesus is the Woman. And in the Lost Sons parable, Jesus is the Father.

  • The Pharisees see themselves as the “righteous,” those who followed the Law of Moses.

  • The Pharisees are complaining that Jesus is accepting Sinners. To the Pharisees, sinners are “unclean,” because they break the Law of Moses.

The younger son was in a bind:

  • Staying home was not a good option. His older brother was a pain. Matthew 23 establishes that the his big brother did everything for show, and was full of greed and self-indulgence.

  • Neither was staying at home and rebelling. The Law required that unrepentant, rebellious sons be put to death.

The younger son wanted to leave the village, but he did not have any money. In a daring move, the younger son asks his father for his inheritance right away—not waiting for his inheritance to be given to him after his father’s death. A request like that was (and is) unheard of in the Middle East.* The expected response to such a request is for the father to strike his son in the face. Yet—unexpectedly—his father grants his request for inheritance.

Having ample money now, the younger son determined to leave the village. Yet he knew the cost of leaving. Any Jew who left for a foreign, Gentile town and later tried to return would face the Kezazah ceremony in which the villagers would raise a clay pot that was filled with burnt beans, and smash it at the prodigal's feet and say, “You are permanently removed from the village." In short, a decision to leave the village also meant a decision never to return.

Later, a famine appears in the far country. The younger son finds himself with no friends and no money. He has wasted his inheritance on wild living. And with no money, his friends left him alone to starve. It’s at this point that the younger son remembers that his father has more than enough to eat. If he would return home, it would not be because he wanted to reconcile with his father or brother, but rather because he desires something to eat. He knew the consequences of returning to the village but starvation pushed him home. To give himself the best chance of being accepted, he crafts a speech of repentance, and he’d tell his father to make him an employee so that he could pay back his debt.

With his plan in mind, the younger son heads back to the village. When his father saw him from a great distance, the father sprints (dramon the Greek word for footrace) to his son at the village gate. When he reached his son, he hugged and repeatedly kissed him on the top of his head. In response, the son's prepared plan to manipulate his father into giving him something to eat became simply, "I'm not worthy to be called your son."

The father then called for his special robe to cover his son, shoes to put on his feet, and a ring to put on finger. The ring was likely a signet ring that would give the him the ability to transact in the village. To me it’s interesting that the father did not order him anything to eat at that time. Yes, a banquette was planned for the evening—but he was starving. To my mind this speaks to the importance of the relationship between the father and his son. More important than food, their deepest desire was for restoration and reconciliation. Bailey points out that the father could have easily let his heart become callous and filled with anger. Yet instead the father reprocessed anger into grace.

*From The Cross & the Prodigal, pp. 41-42

Luke 15: 11 - 32

And Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that falls to me. And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living. And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate: and no one gave him anything.

When he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, 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 skilled craftsman.’”

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. 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.”

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; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found." And they began to make merry.

Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the young boys and asked what this meant. And he said to him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him with peace," But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him.

But he answered his father, "Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed the fatted calf!"

And he said to him, "Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found."