As humans, we tend to accumulate possessions and hold onto them with an iron grip. This includes our money, land—even our country—believing others don’t deserve what we have. We think so highly of ourselves and our possessions that we may even believe we’re responsible for our own salvation.
In Luke 15, Jesus teaches the parable of two sons, in which we witness the struggle of an older son as he grapples with his brother’s actions and his own feelings of jealousy and hurt. Jesus uses this parable to teach the Pharisees about the Kingdom of God. So, if you’ve been struggling to have a healthy mindset about your stuff, the Prodigal Son is a parable filled with valuable lessons.
Loving Sinners Like Jesus Would
This passage in Luke begins by setting the scene: tax collectors and sinners were gathering near Jesus to hear him. This was remarkable, considering these individuals were typically avoided and looked down upon by Jews.
This fact alone should prompt us to reflect on our own lives and question whether or not our actions and behavior make those who are far from God draw near to Him. Although we compare ourselves to Jesus, I wonder if we are living in a way that shows love and compassion to those around us?
The Pharisees and scribes were offended by Jesus’ actions and were grumbling about him eating with these people on the fringe of society. Jesus always had a parable to tell when someone challenged Him. These stories helped reveal the truth and the motive behind these situations to those who were listening with an open mind.
Jesus had spoken with the Pharisees and given them precisely what they needed to hear. Yet their hearts were hardened due to self-righteousness and a lack of love and compassion for others. They focused solely on the law of Moses, which required them to follow all these rules and commandments perfectly. If they could not, they were at risk of being outcasts, thrown out of the synagogue and cast out of Jewish society.
Jesus, on the other hand, frequently spoke about the law of love: to love God and love your neighbor as yourself. The Pharisees were missing this key element. They had a heart problem. In Matthew 9, Jesus called Matthew, the tax collector, to follow him, and they had a dinner party where the Pharisees watched Jesus eat with tax collectors and sinners.
Jesus was showing them by His actions that He came for the broken who needed a Savior, not those who thought they had it all together. He wanted them to show mercy, not just sacrifice.
It Starts with Repentance
To illustrate his point, Jesus told parables about a lost sheep and a lost coin, showing that joy comes when something that was lost is once again found. The same is true for sinners coming to repentance, returning to the Father.
Repentance involves reviewing one’s actions and feeling contrition or regret for past wrongs. It’s accompanied by a commitment to take actual steps that demonstrate a change for the better. It is not enough to simply say, “Lord, I repent,” and then continue walking in the same way as before.
True repentance requires completely turning away from the previous direction and beginning to walk a different way. It involves a pledge to take action and follow through with it. That is what repentance truly means—a combination of commitment and actions working together.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son
Then Jesus shares a story about a man who had two sons—the well-known parable of the prodigal son. However, let’s shift the focus from just the prodigal son to some other elements of this story.
The father in the parable divided his property between his two sons. The oldest son inherited two-thirds, or a double portion, while the younger son received one-third of it. So the father gave his sons their inheritance, and the younger son traveled to a distant land, where he recklessly spent all of his money. Disregarding his father’s love and wishes, he asked his father to give him what he wanted before it was due, then proceeded to tear his life apart in the process.
Eventually, a famine hit the land where he was living, and the son was left with nothing. He decided to sell himself and ended up feeding pigs for a living. In fact, he became so desperate and hungry that he started to find the pigs’ food appealing.
Realizing that his father’s hired servants were living in better conditions than he was, he decided to return home and ask his father to let him work as a hired servant. He hoped to repay his father for the wrongs he had done by leaving. He even prepared a speech for the occasion.
True Repentance Leads to Forgiveness
Have you ever found yourself in a situation where you have wronged someone and felt the need to ask for forgiveness? The son in this story was experiencing just that as he headed back to his father’s house.
But as the young man approached his father’s land, the Bible says his father saw him from a long way off and ran toward him, embracing him before he even uttered a word of apology. The father put a robe on him and a ring on his finger, and they slaughtered the fattened calf for a grand celebration.
The reason for this party was expressed in Luke 15:24: the father’s son had been lost, but now was found. He was feared dead, but now is confirmed to be alive. It is a time for rejoicing and celebrating his return.
However, there is another son in the story who is out working in the fields, abiding by all of his father’s rules and expectations. He hears the music and wonders what is happening.
The Indignant Jealousy When a Prodigal Sibling Comes Home
When the older son heard the music and dancing, he called for one of his servants to inquire about the festivities. The servant informed him that his younger brother had returned home safely, and their father had thrown a party in his honor.
The older brother, however, was not pleased with this news and became angry. He felt that his brother had squandered his inheritance and was receiving a celebration he did not deserve. This anger stemmed from the fact that the older brother knew that the property used for the party was supposed to be his one day. The father noticed the older brother’s anger and left the party to speak with him. This action prompts us to consider the significance of the father leaving the party to address his son’s concerns.
The father tries to connect with both his younger and older son, demonstrating the depth of his love for them. The older son, however, grumbles and questions why his father has never thrown a party for him. He refers to his brother as “your son” and expresses disapproval at the celebration being thrown for him. In response, the father reminds his older son that everything he has belongs to him and that it is appropriate to celebrate the return of his lost brother.
In this brief section of Scripture, Jesus tells the stories of the lost sheep, lost coin, and lost son all being found. These parables serve as a reminder of the importance of forgiveness and the joy of finding what was once lost.
The Kingdom of God is a Safe Place for Prodigals and Sinners
Jesus was trying to convey to the Pharisees that they had a deeper issue within their hearts that caused them to judge and reject those they deemed unworthy, such as tax collectors and sinners. Yet Jesus taught us that in the Kingdom of God, the first shall be last and the last shall be first. True greatness is achieved by serving others.
Jesus was explaining that the Kingdom of God operates differently than the kingdom of this world. God’s Kingdom is made up of broken sinners who humbled themselves and were willing to seek God with nothing but a sincere, contrite heart.
Most important, the Pharisees could not comprehend that the gospel was for all people, regardless of their class, nationality, or skin color. With this parable, Jesus encouraged the Pharisees to examine their hearts and turn toward God’s love and grace. Because everyone who repents and believes in Jesus is offered forgiveness of their sins.
Modern-Day Pharisees Need to Check Their Hearts
In the story of the Lost Son, three characters were examined, and one of them was the Lost Son who desired the stuff of the kingdom, but not the King himself. Before making idols out of material possessions, it is essential to check your heart and make sure it’s in the right place.
It’s easy for the devil to put a thought into your head that something other than God can satisfy you. Repentance and belief are needed for those who place their worth and value in things God created rather than God himself.
It’s important to remember that, despite our past mistakes, our Heavenly Father still loves us and wants us to repent and believe in Him. Those who come to Jesus with a repentant heart are promised rest, just as Matthew 11 says.
However, there are also those who believe they are deserving of a higher place due to their religious activities, such as attending church, participating in Bible studies, or memorizing verses.
It’s important to check our hearts and make sure our actions are not driven by a sense of superiority over others. Love for people is more important than just doing religious activities.
God cares more about the condition of our hearts and how we use our resources for His Kingdom. It’s crucial to have a humble and repentant heart that is open to being shaped by God. Our hearts reveal who we truly are, and it’s essential to connect with either the lost son or the older son in this story, and recognize where we stand in our relationship with God.
Prodigals Are Never Too Far Gone for God
In this story, the most important character is the father. Both the younger and older son have a relationship with the father. The younger son thought he had to pay the father back for all the things he had done wrong, and believed he had to become a hired servant to regain his father’s love. However, the father said that he would take care of things and there was no need for the son to pay him back.
The older son thought he deserved the father’s possessions because he had been working and doing everything as he was told. But both sons were incorrect in their thinking.
The character of the father in this story represents God, who does not care whether you have squandered everything or if you have been the most outstanding Pharisee. His message to everyone is to repent and believe. What he has to offer is far better than anything else the world can offer.
Jesus quotes Isaiah in Matthew 15:8, saying that people can honor him with their lips and service, yet their hearts can still be far from Him. God desires a heart like David’s, who, despite his mistakes, prayed for God to create in him a clean heart and renew a right spirit within him.
The same is true for us. God is not afraid of our reckless living or past mistakes. He desires us to repent and believe in Him.
Next Steps
God is not scared of reckless living, no matter how many bad things you’ve done. The same God who created the world is the One who parted the Red Sea and performed miracles in the flesh on Earth.
God is almighty, Creator of all things, and we should repent and believe, walking in humility with Him. The God of all creation isn’t a distant God, but is here with us, dwelling with us and dying on the cross for our sins so we can come to Him.
In response to a God like this, we should each check our hearts to make sure we are not thinking like the lost son who thinks he can’t come to the father without paying him back, or thinking that we can be good enough to earn the father’s love or blessing.
What things in your life do you need to repent of or believe in? Who is God calling you to share the gospel with? Maybe you can even tell them this parable to help them understand that God is not a far-off God, but He comes to us like the father in this story.
Whether we are walking as the younger son or the older brother, we need to lay things down at the feet of Jesus and repent, believing in Him. Everything else will fall in line if that’s where we start.
