Luke 15:11 Jesus also told them another story:
Once a man had two sons. 12 The younger son said to his father, “Give me my share of the property.” So the father divided his property between his two sons.
13 Not long after that, the younger son packed up everything he owned and left for a foreign country, where he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 He had spent everything, when a bad famine spread through that whole land. Soon he had nothing to eat.
15 He went to work for a man in that country, and the man sent him out to take care of his pigs.[b] 16 He would have been glad to eat what the pigs were eating,[c] but no one gave him a thing.
17 Finally, he came to his senses and said, “My father’s workers have plenty to eat, and here I am, starving to death! 18 I will go to my father and say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you.19 I am no longer good enough to be called your son. Treat me like one of your workers.’”
20 The younger son got up and started back to his father. But when he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt sorry for him. He ran to his son and hugged and kissed him.
21 The son said, “Father, I have sinned against God in heaven and against you. I am no longer good enough to be called your son.”
22 But his father said to the servants, “Hurry and bring the best clothes and put them on him. Give him a ring for his finger and sandals[d] for his feet. 23 Get the best calf and prepare it, so we can eat and celebrate. 24 This son of mine was dead, but has now come back to life. He was lost and has now been found.” And they began to celebrate.
25 The older son had been out in the field. But when he came near the house, he heard the music and dancing.26 So he called one of the servants over and asked, “What’s going on here?”
27 The servant answered, “Your brother has come home safe and sound, and your father ordered us to kill the best calf.” 28 The older brother got so angry that he would not even go into the house.
His father came out and begged him to go in. 29 But he said to his father, “For years I have worked for you like a slave and have always obeyed you. But you have never even given me a little goat, so that I could give a dinner for my friends. 30 This other son of yours wasted your money on prostitutes. And now that he has come home, you ordered the best calf to be killed for a feast.”
31 His father replied, “My son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we should be glad and celebrate! Your brother was dead, but he is now alive. He was lost and has now been found.”
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The first thing we see in the story of the prodigal son is one of the sons is selfish. The father apparently decided to allow the selfish son to continue in his selfishness. When someone is self-centered, they are identifying with the father of selfishness who is Satan.
There is a certain amount of humanity in each one of us that encourages selfishness to occur, but when a soul makes a deliberate choice to be selfish, he is choosing to follow an illegitimate father. When a person deliberately sets himself under another father, he begins to exhibit the character of the father he is under. In the life of a Christian the ideology of John the Baptist becomes negated, because instead of ourselves becoming less prominent than Christ, we actually are becoming more prominent than Christ.
The prodigal son was making his plans to deliberately walk away from his father’s house while trying to feign devotion to his father. His heart was to get out of there and be his own boss and live wild and free. The son finally took off making his break from his father’s house and though he took his inheritance with him lost it all living in full rebellion.
The lost inheritance the son experienced was something that was given to all of the sons the father had. He was having so much “fun” that he didn’t see the inheritance slipping away. In a spiritual application it was the gift of salvation and eternal life. The inheritance that we have been given by our father needs to be guarded intensely or it will slip away. To many people take the approach of seeing how much they can get by with. That is a purposeful deliberate sin.
Now that he had lost everything...his identity as a son, his inheritance, and his dignity; he tried working his way back to have status in the society. The regional famine had taken a toll on the job market and all that was left for him was feeding pigs the corn stalks and slop. He was literally starving, but could not even eat the pigs food.
It is here that he remembered his father! He knew full well that he was probably disowned as a son; but thought he could go back as a servant. He is beginning to humble himself, and recognizes that he isn’t worthy of being called a son and maybe not even a servant but it was worth a try. He thought it would be better to serve his father as a servant/master scene and be able to partake of the crumbs of food and righteousness than nothing.
The son, emaciated though he was started the long arduous journey back home to submission, love, and care. As he was approaching the father extended his arms of love once again as he ran to greet him. The son, though he was happy to be back, came forth with a message he had saved up for this meeting. He acknowledged that his father had disowned him and he was willing to take that burden even though it meant he wouldn't be respected in the family or society. He was willing because he knew he would be fed physically and spiritually, that he would be protected, and that he would be home. He had seen the real world and had determined that it was a harsh world and that any entertainment he had found in it had ultimately led to his destruction.
The father, having felt sorrow in the loss of his son; though he had disowned him, was prepared to take him in again as a son should the situation should arise. The father lifted the burden from the disowned son and reinstated him as a son in the family and also socially.
The older brother, however, returning from a hard day’s work in the fields hears the noise of an unscheduled party and wants to know what is going on. Catching a servant of his fathers, he urged him to fill him in with the meaning of it all. After having heard that his brother was home; he became jealous and stubbornly refused to enter into the party. The younger brother, in his mind was still disowned and he would not take any part in welcoming him home.
As the father realized the stubbornness of the older brother, he encouraged him to join in. The father recognized the issue of the younger son being disowned in the eyes of the older brother and went right to the source. He said to the older brother, “This your brother was dead to us and is alive again; He was lost, and is found”.
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The Jewish people full well knew what happened when a son left the family under these circumstances. The father would say, “You are dead to us”. The family wouldn't mention his name any more and would act as though he hadn't existed.
The willingness of the father to receive the younger son back into the family, indicates his merciful nature which was driven by his love. Imagine the grief the father must surely have felt when his son turned his back on him and his family.
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