Amy C Walters

The Parable of the Prodigal Son | Luke 15:11-32

The father of the Prodigal Son faces a lot of heartache–insults and ingratitude from both sons, his son leaving home, and shame from the younger son’s wild living. But the father does not disown his son. He’s watching and waiting for his son to return. And when he does come, the father runs to receive him.

The story of the Prodigal Son starts out with a bang. The son demands his share of the inheritance, in effect telling his father, “I wish you were dead so that I could have your stuff right now.” What an insult! 

How might we expect a father to respond to something like this? We’d probably expect anger, or that he’d throw the son out of the house and not give him one red cent. 

Instead, the father divides the inheritance and gives the son his part of the estate. And then the son goes off to a distant country to squander the wealth. 

This son brings shame on his family with his wild living. It reflects on the father and the family name. The father could have disowned the son. But he doesn’t. 

When the son finally hits rock bottom, he returns home. The father sees him a long way off. This means that the father was watching for his son. He didn’t move on with the rest of his life and write the boy off. He was watching, anticipating the day his son would return. 

We’re also told that the father was filled with compassion toward the son. Not frustration, not anger, not “how dare you come back here.” But compassion. 

That compassion compels the father to run to his son, throw his arms around him and kiss him. Running was terribly undignified, especially for the patriarch of a Middle Eastern family. But the father doesn’t care. He’s got eyes for his son and he runs out to meet him. The son is filthy and reeks of pigs, but the father still hugs him and kisses him.

Notice too, that the father does this before the son has even spoken a word. The son was prepared to demote himself to a servant and try to repay the debt. But the father doesn’t even let him get all the words out–before the son is able to ask for a job, the father calls for his robe and ring and sandals to clothe his son. 

This is such a rich, deep part of the story and there are several important things to notice here.

First of all, the father runs to the son, even while he’s still a long way off, and meets him where he is. Before the son has even apologized, the father is there to welcome him. The father is the one who initiates the welcome.

Also, the son is trying to get through his spiel to say, “Hey, I’m gonna pay you back.” But the father doesn’t even let him get to that. There will be no paying him back. 

In fact, there’s no probation or parameters placed on the son’s return. There’s no stipulations of strict rule following and being under close watch. There’s no mention of making him pay anything back. Instead, the father offers welcome, open arms, and open forgiveness. 

I like this imagery, too, of placing the robe on the son. In other parts of Scripture, God’s righteousness is pictured as clothing us (Isaiah 61:10). And I think that’s the image that we have here, that the father is clothing his son in his own righteousness, covering up the filthy rags he was wearing. What a welcome to that son!

The father then says, “Bring the fattened calf and let’s kill it. Let’s feast and celebrate for this son of mine, was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found.” He calls him, “this son of mine.” The father does not accept the son’s proposal of demoting him to a servant. The son is still the son.

Killing the fattened calf was a big deal in those days when people didn’t usually eat meat at every meal. And the fattened calf was reserved for very special occasions. So the father is going all out in his welcome. He spares no expense for this celebration. 

How do you think the son felt when the father welcomed him this way? He was probably overwhelmed to receive such mercy, to be unconditionally forgiven. Unconditionally loved.

But not everyone was excited about the younger son’s return. Because the older son hears what’s going on and refuses to come into the house. We’re going to talk more about the older son in the next post, but for now, let’s look at the father’s interaction with him. 

Once again, we see the father going out to the son. And he pleads with him to come in and participate in the celebration. Tim Keller points out that the father goes to both of the sons. When the younger son is a long way off, he runs out to greet him. When the older son is outside refusing to come in, the father goes out to plead with him. The father takes the initiative to go to these wayward children.

The older son is upset about how much the father has spent to welcome back the younger son. And the older son is also rude to his father, saying, “Look, I have slaved for you.” 

But the father does not disown him, does not kick him out. Instead, he says, “My son,” using that family term, “You have always been with me and everything I have is yours.” 

The father has already divided the inheritance and given the younger son his portion. Everything that’s left is going to be passed on to the older son. So everything that the father has will one day be the son’s. What an incredible inheritance coming his way!

The father has not been stingy to the son. He has been generous toward him. But the son begrudges the way the father is spending his money. 

Looking at both interactions between the father and the younger son, and the father and the older son, we come to our key truth for today: the father runs to receive us. 

He goes out to his sons where they are. He initiates drawing them in. 

Initially I was thinking of this key truth as the father waits to welcome us. But he’s not waiting. He is going out to them, and I think that’s so important in this story.

The father in the parable represents God the father. God is not reluctant or begrudging in his forgiveness of us. He doesn’t place terms on his forgiveness. There’s no probation. And there’s no paying him back. The father has paid it all. 

Look at what it cost the father to receive these sons. It cost him shame, which the younger son brought on the family with his wild living. It cost him his dignity as he ran to his son and poured out his love and affection on him. He’s breaking the bank to throw this celebration with the fattened calf. It costs the father a lot to welcome his son back, but he does it with open arms.

The same is true for me and you: it doesn’t matter what it costs, the Father is ready to receive us. He runs to us.