• 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.

A character’s silence can provide as much insight as his actions. The older son doesn’t say or do anything when he witnesses the conflict between his younger brother and his father. Culturally, an older son was obligated to mediate between the two, in order to reconcile them. But, in this parable, the older son stands watching in the background.*

When the father grants his younger son’s request for inheritance, most translations indicated, “the father divided his property between the two sons.” The translated word for property has the underlying Greek word, bios, which translates to life, not property. In effect, “The father divided his life between them.”

Later in the story, when the older son learns that his brother had been received by the father with peace (shalom), the older son refuses to enter the banquet. Culturally, the older son is obligated to enter and serve the quests. Refusing this responsibility would result in severe punishment. Shockingly, the father goes out to the older son in the courtyard to try to reconcile with him.

But the older son complains bitterly about his father and brother:

“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 [to be served at the banquet].” Luke 15: 28-29

In response to his older son’s complaints, the father called him special son, teknon, and the rest of what the father says are words of celebration:

“And he says to him, “Teknon, 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.” Luke: 31-32

The father says, “You are always with me,” to the older son. In other words, wherever the father goes, the older son will be on the father’s heart and mind. Then the father says, “All that is mine is yours.” The father lets his older son know that the son’s inheritance is intact. Finally, the father says that he wants to celebrate with his older son.

Yet before the audience finds out how the older son responds, the parable ends. As with a number of Jesus’ parables, Jesus intentionally leaves the ending open for his audience to complete themselves. Will the older son enter the banquet? If so, what would next day look like? Will the father, younger, and older be seated tougher around the breakfast table? Based on the Bible, we know the answer: the Pharisees will lead the effort to put Jesus to death.

Amazingly, Jesus continues to hold the banquet door open after his death and resurrection. Consider the Apostle Paul, who touted himself as the ultimate Pharisee. Paul was intent on tearing down all that Jesus had built up. But Jesus did not call down fire from heaven like the prophets of the Old Testament; rather, Jesus made Paul temporarily blind. When the Gentiles (non-Jews), whom Paul had persecuted, learned of Paul’s location. Shockingly, these Gentiles didn’t kill Paul. Rather, these Gentiles showed Paul love. From that point forward, Paul’s life is changed.

Did Jesus speak to the Pharisees in anger or with a grieving heart? I asked my wife to read out-loud Matthew 23 in an angry voice. Then I said that the primary definition of woe means great sorrow and teknon means dear special son. So I asked my wife to read out-loud the same words again as she would speak them to our son if he were a Pharisee. Kim couldn’t get through even one sentence before she broke down into tears, her voice quivering. Jesus saw that if the leaders of the church continued on their current course, they’d experience great sorrow, and when they’d look back on their actions, they’d see the destruction they caused.

Here are a few verses from Matthew 23, replacing ‘Woe to you’ with ‘Dear precious Pharisees’:

  • Dear precious Pharisees, what sorrow awaits you. You shut the door of heaven in people’s faces.

  • Dear precious Pharisees, what sorrow awaits you. You’re careful to tithe (give 10% of your income), but you ignore the more important aspects of the law—justice, mercy and faith.

  • Dear precious Pharisees, what sorrow awaits you. You are full of greed and self-indulgence.

  • Dear precious Pharisees, what sorrow awaits you. Your descendants murdered the prophets and you are about to finish what your ancestors started by killing me.

Jesus then said to the Pharisees in Matthew: 33- 39:

How will you escape the judgement of hell? …I am sending you prophets and wise men and teachers of the law. You will kill some of them and flog and chase others.

To my mind, Jesus knew the only way to change the callousness of the Pharisees’ hearts was to lay His own life down, thus paying the cost of their repentance. To Bailey, repentance means “accepting being found.” As the Shepherd did the work of restoring the sheep to home, and as the Woman searched diligently for the lost coin, so too the Father’s efforts made possible the restoration of and reconciliation with his sons (and hopefully the brothers’ relationships with each other). The Father’s extravagant, “costly love” is type of love that can “change one’s mind.” Love did what the Law and coercion were incapable of.

*From The Cross & the Prodigal, page 45

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."