Lk. 15:1 Then all the tax collectors and sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.
Lk. 15:2 And the Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.”
Lk. 15:3 So He spoke a parable to them, saying:
Lk. 15:4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and goes after the one which is lost until he finds it?”
Lk. 15:5 “And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing.”
Lk. 15:6 “And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’”
Lk. 15:7 “I say to you that likewise there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance,”
Lk. 15:8 “Or what woman, having ten silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek dilig4ently until she finds it?”
Lk. 15:9 “”And when she has found it, she calls her friends and neighbors together, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece which I lost!’”
Lk. 15:10 “Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner who repents.”
The lesson of these two parables is the same. Nothing brings more joy into heaven than a lost soul coming home. Although the Bible doesn’t tell us, evidently someone must have asked the Lord what God is like. The first two parables give us some idea, but this next parable paints an incredible picture.
Lk. 15:11 Then He said, “A certain man had two sons.”
The Bible calls this parable “The Parable of the Lost Son.” It very well could be called “The Parable of the Compassionate Father.” This is probably the most famous of Yeshua’s parables. We want to look at “the story behind the scenes” so to speak.. The historical context of this parable is what makes it so exciting.
The story has to be set in the agricultural setting of the first century in order to be understood. Scholars today stand in awe of the incredible depth of riches this story contains. This is truly brilliant story telling at its very best.
We are not going to try to allegorize this story by applying symbolic meanings where they do not belong. This far removed from the nature and purpose of Yeshua’s teaching. He is trying to drive home a primary point that punctuates His teaching on a specific teaching. We are going to reconstruct this story verse by verse so that you will hear it just as the people heard it when the Lord told it. What an impact this story must have had on them, for it contains wonderful subtleties that allude us if we don’t know the culture. It is a story with three key factors, the father and his two sons. The listener must pay close attention to each one of these performers and ask questions about the story’s setting in life. Three questions need to be asked: (1) What did the father think when his younger son asked for the inheritance? (2) How should the elder son respond to the family crises? (3) How do the law of inheritance effect this story? Here we must begin with the cultural setting of the story and note some of the mistaken ideas that have hidden the message of Yeshua.
Like so many of Yeshua’s other parables, this story about a father and his two sons communicate a profound awareness of the divine character. With colorful word pictures, Yeshua illustrated His message of God’s unlimited compassion and the great need of every individual. These attention-holding stories tell His listeners what God is like. They call each person to make a decision. God’s love is for everyone. God’s deep love is illustrated in the word picture of the father. This story deals with relationships within a family circle. Not only does the parable teach about the love of the father, it also addresses the relationship between the two brothers. The behavior of the younger son, who becomes the prodigal, is only a symptom of the real crisis. Even though the father has great compassion, the family problems portrayed in the parable are immense. Neither of the brothers understands the father’s love. Nor does one brother possess love in his heart for the other.
Lk. 15:12 “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.”
With this verse an enormous amount has already been communicated by Yeshua. A very dramatic story has started to unfold. His listeners must be hanging onto His every word. In the Middle East as young son would never have the audacity to ask his father for his inheritance while his father is still alive. The meaning of this statement to Yeshua’s listeners is dramatic and clear. But, since we are not familiar with the culture, we completely miss this.
This action by the younger son is unprecedented in all the annals of Jewish literature. This is the most extraordinary insult a son could possible give his father. It is literally equivalent to the son saying, “I wish you were dead! I can’t wait for you to die!” The father must have been in complete shock to hear this.
There is an example in the Mishnah (Baba Bathra 8:7) that does deal with the father giving the inheritance to the son while the father is still living. But this is done under special circumstances – usually where the wife is deceased and the father is remarrying. This is done to eliminate any possible disputes later concerning the father’s property. He goes ahead and makes out a will and gives his son his inheritance. The following things are implied: (1) first of all, this always occurs at the initiative of the father, never at the request of the son; (2) secondly, it provides for the settlement of the estate, but not the disposition. In other words, it is all laid out and then executed upon the death of the father. It is never executed while the father is still living; and (3) as long as the father lives, he has full legal right to live of the produce of the land. What the younger son has done is a radical breach on two fronts. First, he asked or demanded his inheritance while his father was still living. Secondly, he actually disposed of the property (vs. 13). By doing this he has actually undermined his father’s financial future. Yeshua’s listening audience must have been completely horrified by this time.
Source: M:Baba Bathra 8:7
There is another story unfolding within this story. We are told at the beginning of this parable that there are how many sons – two? What about the older son? What is his role in all of this? The role he plays is equally an affront to the father and the community. Why? First of all, given the circumstance, we should expect two things of the elder son. The culture would dictate this. First of all, he should loudly protest and refuse to accept his portion. He would recognize what an offense this was and refuse to have any part of it. Not only does he not do this, but in fact, he accepts his inheritance also. Secondly, he is condemned by his silence. In this culture and under these circumstances, he was expected to be a reconciler. He was the one expected to try to heal the breach in this relationship. He would be expected to go to his younger brother, counsel with him, and try to restore the relationship. But, the elder son does not do this. He is seriously indicted by his silence. It is a sin of omission, verses the younger son’s sin of commission. He also has a broken relationship with his father
The property remains in like a trust for the father. He is able to give orders to the servants and maintain limited control over the estate. The father has divided the inheritance between both sons, but the law of the Mishnah gives him a measure of control over the estate’s assets until he dies. However, in the parable the younger son was able to realize the value of his share of the estate before his father’s death. He probably sold the estate at a considerable loss because the buyer would have to wait until the father died in order to take possession of the property. The people hearing the story understand that the younger son is taking a third of the family’s accumulated wealth, selling it at a low price, and running away from his father and his family’s heritage (Deut. 21:17).
Source: Deut. 21:17.
Lk. 15:13 “And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.”
The Bible says he goes off to a “far country.” This is another way of saying he went off to live with the Gentiles. He is already acting like one; he might as well be one. There is no Implication here that “wild living” actually means he was engaged in immorality. This is an important point that will resurface later. What is suggested here is that he lived in a very wasteful manner.
This offense so profound that it not only shattered the son’s relationship with his father, but also the son’s relationship with the whole extended family. There are even provisions in Jewish Law (M:Yevamoth 2:9; 4:6; 10:1-4; 15:1,6; 15:8-10) for cutting off someone who has committed such an offense. There is a radical break in fellowship here. That is the setting being established in this story. Given the culture we would expect not only for the father to refuse such a request, but he could become enormously angry and cut the son off from his inheritance. Another possibility is that he would become so overwhelmed thinking ,”My son wants me to die,” that he could literally become physically sick. The strong element of shock and dismay felt by the original audience is often lost for the modern reader. When the younger son asked for his inheritance early, his father understood what he was saying and would have realized that his own son preferred his death to his life.
Sources: M:Yevamoth 2:9; 4:6; 10:1-4; 15:1,6; 15:8-10
Lk. 15:14 “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want.”
Right when he is at the end of his own means something happens to make his situation worse. This is a situation that would strike fear at the very heart of the people listening. Famine is a terrible set of circumstances and these people are very familiar with its effects. Here is a Jewish boy in an alien land of Gentiles, but not yet broken.
Lk. 15:15 “Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.”
He is so desperate that he has given up all religious practice and become a swine herder. He is now even associating with unclean animals.
Lk. 15:16 “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate and no one gave him anything.”
In the far away country, the young man becomes desperate. A great famine sweeps across the country, causing extreme hunger and human suffering. Having expended all his resources, the younger son is forced to rely upon the benevolence of a non-Jewish foreigner. This man probably intends to run off the Jewish youth by telling him to feed the pigs. As a Jew who humiliates himself by tending to the swine, the younger son probably expected some food from the foreigner who assigned him the task, but no one gave him anything. He is not getting food to eat on a regular basis. He is so desperate that he is tempted to eat the very pods the pigs are eating. There is an interesting little implication here. A sort of courteous way to get rid of someone who is becoming a pest is to assign him to a job you know is so offensive that he will turn it down. This boy is a Jew. His religion prohibits him from having anything to do with pigs. The citizens here are probably getting tired of this boy begging all the time that he gives him this task to get rid of him. Yet, the boy is so desperate that he accepts it. This is highly symbolic to the Jewish community, indicating his terrible fallen state.
It says that he wanted to eat the “pods” the pigs were eating. Carob pods were very well known in that area. It has been a wonderment as to why these were incorporated into this parable. The truth of the matter is that there are two kinds of carob pods. There are the cultivate kind, which have a sweet, delicious flavor, and there is the wild carob pods. These have very little flavor, and even less nutritional value. During a famine, they would not be feeding the cultivated kind to the swine. What they would be doing was permitting the pigs to root among the wild carob pods to find what they can. The young son has become so desperate that he is eating these wild carob pods. He is eating something, and yet, he is starving to death for lack of nutrition. This boy is totally lost.
Lk. 15:17 “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?’”
So, what is happening? “He came to himself” This is an interesting term used in Rabbinic literature as a metaphor for repentance – teshuvah in Hebrew. What is being hinted at here is a certain type of “turning back,” but it is very qualified. It is not full or complete. Do we have any indications at this point that the son is truly grieved for his sin? No! What he is grieved for is his hunger. “My father’s servants have plenty to eat and I’m starving.” That is what he is grieved at. He is going to go back to his father, but there is no sign of a full fledged repentance.
Lk. 15:18 “‘I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”’”
Lk. 15:19 “‘And I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.’”
This son has developed a plan which is quite interesting if you understand the culture. He has developed what amounts to a face-saving plan. What did Yeshua’s audience understand as to the implication of him saying, “Make me one of your hired servants.” Within this culture there were three types of servants. The first was called a bond servant. This servant lives on the premises; is in a very intimate relationship with his owner, and sometimes is even considered part of the family. The second type was called the slave of lower class. He was basically subordinate to a bond servant. His status was the lowest of all. He gets all the dirty jobs that no one else wants. The third type was called the hired servant. These were artisans, construction workers, and even contractors. They were even considered to be on the same level as an owner. They did not live in the house as the other servants did. They owned their own homes. They lived independently and were paid a good wage. The son has come up with a plan whereby he can live independently of his father (and older brother), make good wages, and maybe even start repaying his father for what he had done to him. In other words, he was trying to think of a way to earn his salvation. He wants to do some good deeds that would allow him to repent without being humiliated. He wants to save himself. He needs no grace from his father (he thinks).
Lk. 15:20 “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.”
He now starts to put his plan into action. He gets up and goes to his father. You need to remember that in Judaism repentance is not just a thought. It has to be accompanied with some kind of action. At least here, the son does start to act. We have to give him credit for that.
But now look at what happens. The father sees him from a long way off, runs to him, and throws his arms around him and kissed him. What is important to understand is that everything that the father does is to spare his son of judgment and humiliation. He is trying to spare his son the ridicule and rejection of the community. In fact, the father is humiliating himself so the son won’t have to be. For example, the father runs to his son. In the time of Yeshua it was considered rude, humiliating and undignified for an elder man to run. The Sages said that you could determine the character of a man by the nature of his walk. Before the son even has a chance to come into the village the father humiliates himself by running.
The image that most people have is that the father lives on a big farm, something like you would see on the TV show “Dallas.” This is totally wrong. In the first century culture, you did not live in a house out in the fields. Everyone lived in a village for protection and security. During the day you would go out into the fields to work. At night you would then come home to the village. The father may have had a larger house than most, but it was still be part of the village. This is important to understand because this son coming home is about to be a community affair. When the boy was seen approaching home, within a few minutes everyone in the village knew about it. When the father “ran” to his son, the whole village watched. In a great act of love and compassion the father runs to greet his son before he faces humiliation by the village, because by now everyone knows what he did to his family earlier. He would not have received a very warm welcome by these people. Rather than the son having to “run the gauntlet,” the father does it for him.
The language here suggests that the father kisses him over and over again. This is very symbolic in this culture. When there was a breach in a relationship, the men would actually kiss each other on their cheeks to show that the breach was healed. The father kissing his son shows the people of the village that the son has been reconciled and restored to the family. Because the father has forgiven him and accepted him back, the rest of the village is required to do the same.
Lk. 15:21 “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.’”
Look at the response of the son. At first, he begins his rehearsed speech. Heaven is used here as an evasive synonym for God. “I have sinned against God and against you.” But, this is the end of the speech. What has been left out? “Make me one of your hired servants.” Now an argument could be made that the father interrupted his speech and the son didn’t get to finish it. This is true to some degree, but the son had plenty of chances afterwards to ask his father to make him a hired servant, yet he doesn’t. What probably has happened here is that the son fully realizes what kind of sacrifice his father has made in this act of compassion and it brings about true repentance in the boy. Love and compassion always bring about changes in a person’s life that nothing else can. What started out as a selfish way of trying to get out of a situation has turned into a broken, contrite heart that brings forgiveness that only a loving father can give.
Lk. 15:22 “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.’”
The father now responds with incredible generosity. The servants are there because by this time a crowd would have gathered. The father’s actions are to indicate to the crowd that the son has been reconciled and he wants the son to be reconciled to the community. What is the “best robe?” It is a special garment the father always wore just for special occasions. The father is saying, “Wrap him in my robe” (righteousness). What is the ring? It is the signet ring. This indicates that the father is placing enormous trust in the son again. Putting shoes on his feet indicates that the son could enter his father’s house once again as a free man, not a servant. With all these actions the father is not only restoring the wayward son to himself, but also to the entire community. The community now understands that the son that was lost has been found and restored. Had the father waited in the house for the boy to come to him, which he properly could have done, he would have ended up a servant. But, by the father’s initiative of great love, he has his son back.
Lk. 15:23 “‘And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry.’”
Lk. 15:24 “‘For this my son was dead and is alive again; for he was lost and is found.‘ And they began to be merry.”
It is very significant here that the father tells the servants to kill the fatted calf. Normally when you welcome an honored guest you would kill a lamb. That is more than enough meat for a small feast. By killing the fatted calf, the father is saying that he is going to have a feast for the entire village. Otherwise, that much meat would spoil very quickly if it wasn’t eaten. 100 or more people could be fed by a fatted calf. The father is wanting to incorporate the entire village into the celebration. It would take all day for that much meat to cook. This would seem to indicate that this incident occurred early in the morning, because the father would be very much aware of how long it would take to prepare a feast.
Lk. 15:25 “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing.”
When the party was ready to begin, the first thing to happen would be music and dancing. It was to be a very joyous occasion. Education within the home also included acquiring an appropriate skill craft, or trade for making a living. A son often learned as an apprentice from his father (M:Kiddushin 4:14). Because of the wide use of music and dance among the Hebrews, many parents must have provided instructions for their children in these areas as well.
Source: M:Kiddushin 4:14
Lk. 15:26 “So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant.”
But wait! The older son has been down in the fields working all day and is now coming home in the evening. As he gets close to home he hears the music and the merrymaking. He asks a servant what is going on. Remember, he has been in the fields all day and doesn’t know anything of the day’s events.
Lk. 15:28 “But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore the father came out and pleaded with him.
What is the elder brother’s response? He becomes very angry and refuses to go into the house. Again the father humiliates himself by going out to the son. The elder son committed a second extraordinary insult against his father. First of all, the elder son refuses to go in and honor his younger brother. He is supposed to act as the host for the party. If he has any objections, he should go privately to his father after the party is over.
When the elder brother hears that his younger brother has returned, he refuses to join the joyous celebration. He does not even enter the house. He resents his father’s great joy concerning his brother’s return. He has served his father faithfully and feels that his brother is unworthy to receive anything. The elder son has the same problem because he, like his younger brother, viewed his father as the employer who pays wages. According to the custom of the period, he would have been expected to at least pretend that he shared his father’s joy. Again the father expressed his compassion when the elder son humiliates him in front of everyone.
Lk. 15:29 “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.’”
Lk. 15:30 “‘But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.’”
Secondly, he humiliates his father further by complaining to him out in public. Remember, there were several other men out working the fields the same as he was and would be coming in at the same time. But, here again we see evidence of a deeply broken relationship between father and son. Matter of fact, you can see a big difference in the two sons already. When the father responded to the younger son with love and compassion, it led to repentance and restoration. The father’s response to the elder son is met with complaining and rebellion. The elder son here speaks not as a son, but as a slave. That has probably been his attitude most of his life. Even though he was with his father all the timer, in reality he was very far away from his father. He even uses the phrase “this son of yours,” instead of “my brother.” He has disfellowshiped himself from the entire family. Not only is he willing to condemn the younger son, he is willing to embellish it by accusing him of being with prostitutes. He wasn’t there with his younger brother and could have no way of knowing that. But, he is willing to viscously slander his brother, trying to make himself look good.
Lk. 15:31 “And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.’”
Lk. 15:32 “‘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.’”
Again, the father responds with an incredible act of love. Totally contrary to custom, the father leaves the house and goes out to the son. He doesn’t berate the son as he could have, but pleads with him. He doesn’t become angry; he becomes compassionate. The statement that the father makes that his son owns all that he has is very correct. Remember, back at the beginning, the elder son also received his portion of the inheritance. According to Jewish Law, the elder son would have received 2/3 of the estate. The younger son would have received only 1/3. Literally everything the father has belongs to the elder son. This is a legal term that is being used here.
The parable begins with a wish that the father was dead. It ends with the reconciliation of the son who wished that. What is interesting is that this parable has no ending. We aren’t told here what the elder son does. Does he repent and go into the house? Or, does he rebel and walk away? Yeshua is putting His audience (and us) on the spot by saying, “You finish the story.” What would be your response in this situation? When most of us read this parable, we tend to focus on the younger son and what happens to him. And yet, the elder son is as lost, if not more, than his younger brother. What we sometimes miss here is that Yeshua is painting a picture of what God is like. He is a Father that is more willing to pay the price so we don’t have to. And when we are so undeserving because of what we have done to hurt Him, He forgives us before we have the chance to really ask. His only response to our stumbling and bumbling is love and compassion. But, there is also another lesson here. We are all human and make our share of mistakes. When someone falls, He wants us, the community of God, to be there to pick them up. Our proper response to those who make mistakes should be love and forgiveness and help in getting them back on their feet. He did it for us. We are required to do the same for others.
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