“For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.”

Luke 15:24 (KJV)

The story

And he said, A certain man had two sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. The request is worse than it sounds to modern ears. An inheritance passed at a father's death, so asking for it early treats a living father as though he were already gone. The father's response is the first surprise of the parable: he does not refuse, argue, or disinherit. He divided unto them his living, which means the elder son received his share at the same moment. Luke 15:11-12

Not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. The collapse is described in three swift stages. And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. His own choices account for the first stage, and circumstances entirely outside his control account for the second. He arrived at the bottom by a combination of folly and bad timing, which is how it usually happens. Luke 15:13-14

He went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. For a Jewish audience the detail is deliberate: he is now employed tending animals his own law calls unclean. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. He is not merely poor; he is unnoticed. The far country that promised freedom has left him hungrier than the pigs and invisible to everyone around him. Luke 15:15-16

And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! The phrase came to himself suggests that the whole episode was a kind of madness he has now woken from. His plan is honest and carries no excuse: I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. He intends to return as an employee, since he has calculated that sonship is gone and only labour remains. Luke 15:17-19

But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. The father was watching, and a dignified older man running in public was undignified in that culture. The son delivers his confession but never reaches the hired servant clause, because the father is already calling for the best robe, a ring, shoes, and the fatted calf. Restoration is total and immediate: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. Then the parable turns. The elder son, coming from the field, hears musick and dancing, learns what has happened, and was angry, and would not go in. His father came out and intreated him, exactly as he had gone out to meet the younger. The elder's protest reveals how he has understood his whole life at home: Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid. He calls his brother this thy son rather than my brother. The father answers, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine, and insists, It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. The parable ends without telling us whether he went in. Luke 15:20-32

Quiz

1. What made the younger son's request so serious?

   • He asked for his inheritance while his father still lived
   • He asked in front of servants
   • He asked for the elder son's share
   • He asked for land, not money

2. What did the father do with his living?

   • He kept it back
   • He divided unto them his living
   • He gave it to the elder only
   • He sold it

3. What two things brought the younger son to want?

   • Robbery and illness
   • Debt and war
   • Riotous living and a mighty famine
   • A shipwreck and a fine

4. What work did he take in the far country?

   • Feeding swine in the fields
   • Serving in a house
   • Building a wall
   • Keeping a vineyard

5. What detail shows how alone he was?

   • He had no coat
   • No man gave unto him
   • He had no road home
   • He could not speak the language

6. What phrase marks the turning point in the son?

   • He arose in haste
   • He remembered the far country
   • When he came to himself
   • He wept sore

7. What position did the son intend to ask for?

   • To be made as one of the hired servants
   • To be restored as a son
   • To be given a second portion
   • To live in the fields

8. What four things did the father do when he saw him?

   • Called, waited, welcomed, and blessed
   • Had compassion, ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him
   • Sent, met, embraced, and questioned
   • Wept, prayed, rose, and spoke

9. What did the father command be brought for his son?

   • Bread, wine, and oil
   • A staff, a purse, and a cloak
   • The best robe, a ring, and shoes
   • A bed, a lamp, and a table

10. Why would the elder son not go in?

    • He was angry
    • He was ashamed
    • He was far away
    • He was ill

11. How does the elder son describe his years at home?

    • As a joy
    • As a burden he chose
    • As service in which he never transgressed a commandment
    • As a time of learning

12. How does the elder son refer to his brother?

    • This thy son
    • My brother
    • The younger
    • Thy servant

Discussion

1. The father runs to meet the younger son before any confession is made, and goes out to plead with the elder son too. What does it say that he leaves the house twice, in opposite directions, for two very different kinds of lost son?
2. The younger son planned to negotiate his way back as a hired servant, and the father never let him finish. Why do people find it easier to accept a demotion they have earned than a restoration they have not?
3. The elder son kept every rule and still stood outside the party, describing years at home as service. How can someone do everything right and completely miss the relationship it was supposed to be part of?
4. The parable deliberately does not say whether the elder brother went in. Why might Jesus have left it open, and what does that unfinished ending ask of the person listening?