The parable begins with the son requesting an early disbursement of his inheritance, which in the culture of the time was an insult. Such a request, while your father was still alive, would be seen as rejection and could even be interpreted as wishing your father was dead. It was virtually unheard of for anyone to dishonor his father in this way.
The father in the parable, representing God the Father, is utterly heartbroken and grieving over the foolish actions of his child. However he knows he can’t live the son’s life for him or force him to change his mind so, despite the hardship of taking the money prematurely from the estate, the father gives the son his portion of the inheritance.
After receiving his inheritance the son leaves, no longer wanting to live under his father’s roof. He travels to a foreign country where he ‘wasted his possessions with prodigal living’ (verse 13). To Jesus’ Galilean Jewish audience, the reference to “a foreign country” would’ve indicated the pagan area of the Decapolis, east of the Sea of Galilee, where the Greeks had founded a number of cities a few centuries earlier. The culture there was thoroughly pagan and sinful, characterized by idolatry and sexual sins of all kinds.
The parable continues: “But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine” (verses 14-15). This underscores the fact the son had gone to a pagan gentile area, because he ends up feeding swine—which were commonly raised for food and also for sacrifices at the many pagan temples.
Eventually he realizes the servants in his father’s home have plenty of food and determines to “… go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you'” (Luke 15:18). His father, who has been anxious and worried about his son, sees him approaching from a distance “and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him”(verse 20).
He tells his servants to: ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet’” (verse 22). The robe and ring were symbols of being accepted back into the family as a son, and not as a servant.“‘And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (verse 23).
The older brother, who has faithfully served his father for years protests: “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.” (Luke 15:29). The father assures him “Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 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” (Luke 15:31-32).
This parable illustrates God’s deep desire for us to come before His throne of grace in faith and be forgiven. He is a loving Father who doesn’t give up on His children. Even when we reject Him, He wants us to change our ways and return to Him.
The other lesson of this parable is that no one should act like the other son, ready to cast the first stone at someone we might view as a sinner. Forgiving others is a condition to receiving forgiveness from God for our own sins and faults: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses” (Matt 6:14-15 NKJV).
God the Father stands waiting for the time when each of His children will at last realize the need for a lasting and satisfying relationship with Him. This parable demonstrates the attitude our Father in heaven has towards us when we seek reconciliation with Him.
