Verses 11-13 Remember the reason for Jesus telling these parables. The religious leaders’ anger at Jesus for welcoming and eating with tax collectors and sinners prompts these parables.
The third parable is called “The Prodigal Son.” Most people think this story is about a lost son who was reckless and wasteful. He is an essential character, but ultimately the parable is about the older brother because Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees here.
This story is also about the riches of gospel grace.
A father has two sons. God is the father in this story and we are all his children. God is God, not of the Jews only, but of the Gentiles (these sinners) as well. (Romans 3:29) He is the same Lord rich in mercy to all who call on Him.
Obedient to his father, the oldest son is cautious and reserved. This son is like the Pharisees, who practice everything within the law. They don’t venture out of the boundaries of what’s written in the book.
But the other was unpredictable, impatient, and didn’t want to be held down. This son was younger and had become tired of the restrictions of living at home. He wanted his freedom. He was wild and willing to gamble away his fortune and future.
Arrogantly and with no manners, this son asks his father to give him his portion of the inheritance. This son’s domineering demeanor treated the request like this gift from his father is a debt that was owed to him.
It would not be normal for a parent to divide up a will for their children before death, but this son asked for it while his father was still living. By doing this, the son was saying, “you have nothing left to offer me. You’re as good as dead. I just want your money.”
The sin in us looks at the temporary things and covets the perceived instant gratification that comes with it with no care about future happiness when that is gone. Jesus sent the disciples out to preach repentance to sinners, like this son. These sinners are the people Jesus is hanging out with. In our natural state, this prodigal son is every one of us.
This younger son had no business plan or investment in mind to make with his inheritance. He was simply tired of being governed or disciplined by his father. Under sin, people don’t think about what their impatience will give them in the long run. Impatience will bind us with the cords of our own lust. Instead of being tied up to the rules of God’s government, sin wants to be its own god. Sin is distrustful of God’s management and the authority in our lives.
The father gives the younger son his inheritance, knowing fully well that in a little time this son would see his own foolishness, and that he would not be as wise a manager for himself as he thinks he will be.
God is a kind Father to ALL his children. He gives them life, breath, and good things, even to the evil and unthankful.
The hope is that we will use the gift of life to serve and glorify him.
The younger son was living on his own with lots of money. He didn’t need anyone. He thought he could manage his inheritance better than his father. Sounds like a typical teenager.
The son squandered it all on prostitutes and reckless living. He bought expensive clothing and meals. You can always find what a person cares about when you look at how they spend their money. “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be.” (Luke 12:34) Those that live uncontrolled waste what they have. Sin always leaves us wanting more.
Sin does not satisfy the longings of our God-given soul. We will have to answer for our choices one day.
Do we waste our time or opportunities? Where do we spend our thoughts? What about our talents? Are they buried used for personal benefit without regard to God’s honor? How do we use the gifts God has given us? Do we serve God with them and do good, or do they fuel our own desires? This is God’s currency to us we waste.
Pride is his ruin. Adam and Eve ruined their lives with a foolish ambition to be independent of God. This is at the center of every sinner’s persistence in sin—they want to be in control. If God were to leave us on our own for even a short time, it wouldn’t be long before we would find ourselves distanced from God, too.
Hell is anywhere away from God.
Verses 14-16 But then the bottom fell out. A few days later, the son makes himself into a beggar. When all the son’s money was gone, a severe famine struck the country. Everything was scarce and dear.
This is the misery of sinners who have thrown away their own mercies, the favor of God, their interest in Jesus, the strivings of the spirit, and friendly counsel or warnings against wrongdoing. They pursue the world’s wealth and pleasures.
The land of sin is where famines reign. There’s no forecast calling for the rain of God’s favor or a drop of dew from is his blessings.
The young man became so desperate that he accepted work feeding pigs. This Jewish man accepts a job and must enslave himself to the farm, finding and cleaning animals. Those who commit sin are servants to sin. (John 8:34)
The son also had nothing to eat; he longed to eat his fill from the pods that the pigs were eating. The pods were carob pods, the fruit of a carob tree, which was used to feed animals. Since no one gave him anything to eat, the pigs were doing better than he was. His newly gained freedom had come at a high cost.
Sin is a state of perpetual dissatisfaction. Wherever we promise ourselves satisfaction outside of God will disappoint us. We will work for things that will not satisfy us. All the stumbling blocks of sin will never fill us up.
‘Why spend your money on food that does not give you strength? Why pay for food that does you no good? Listen to me, and you will eat what is good. You will enjoy the finest food.’ Isaiah 55:2 NLT
“They will throw their money in the streets, tossing it out like worthless trash. Their silver and gold won’t save them on that day of the Lord’s anger. It will neither satisfy nor feed them, for their greed can only trip them up.” Ezekiel 7:19 NLT
The wealth and entertainment in this world might serve our bodies, but what does it do for the soul? They do not satisfy our desires nor supply our needs. Sin is never relieved from the things or people in this world.
Verse 16 tells us that no one gave this son a thing. Not even a crumb of bread. God cannot help us when we leave him. Our cries are in vain to the gods we once served or the world that is too wrapped up in their own lives to notice.
Verses 17-19 Then the son finally came to his senses. Sometimes God lets us experience a tremendous fall because that’s what it takes to open our eyes. It took life on a pig farm to bring this young man to his senses. He finally saw things as they really were and realized he should never have left home. His father’s hired workers were doing better than he was.
Without God, we are hopeless. Lost. Sin destroys us with foolish desires and yet deceives our hearts with foolish hopes. We become our own worst enemy.
This foolish son goes home, confesses his sin against God and his father, declares his unworthiness, and asks to be treated like the hired help. 
While there is still life, there is still hope.
The grace of God can soften the hardest heart. Even if a stubborn sinner sees repentance as a last resort, God can turn the strongest current of a corrupted soul into surrender.
The son’s suffering caused him to want relief by returning to his father and repenting of his ways. Sometimes the grace of God is found in our afflictions. Divine grace may sanctify a sinner’s suffering. Pain can open our ears to discipline and our hearts to instruction better than pleasures.
Often it is when we find everything else insufficient to make us happy, and have tried everything in vain to relieve our souls, that we accept returning to God as our only other option.
At the crossroad of misery and the groans of guilt is the grace of Jesus.
The son considers his father’s servants, reflects upon his life and sees he is worse off if he stays away. Sometimes it takes a near-death experience in the muck of sin for a sinner to return and repent.
Jesus has no ego to protect. He doesn’t care what kind of desperate circumstances it takes to draw us to Him.
Verses 20-22 While the son was still a long way off, his father saw him. What does that imply? The father had been looking for him. When he saw his son, it overwhelmed him with compassion. He ran to his son and embraced him. The son tried to say his rehearsed confession, but the father cut him off, commanding his servants to dress his boy in a robe, a ring, and sandals.
That’s a beautiful picture of salvation and the restoration of wandering saints. A destitute sinner comes to a holy God in repentance and faith with nothing to offer but a desperate need. God, the Father, responds with love and compassion, granting the sinner all the privileges in the family and showers him with blessings–“every spiritual blessing in the heavens in Christ.” Ephesians 1:3 NLT
Verses 23-24 Yet all of this wasn’t enough. The father told his servants, “let’s have a party.” He had them kill the fattened calf and prepare a feast. For his dead son was alive; they found his lost son. This son was dead in trespasses and sins, destitute of spiritual life, had no union with Christ, no spiritual sense, and no living for or serving God. The prodigal son was also dead to his father and his family, cut off from them because of his own doing.
Verses 25-30 Finally, Jesus introduced his listeners to the older son. Since he’s telling this parable to the Pharisees and scribes, everything in the story leads us to the response of the older son. He was coming in from the field – which means he had been working – when he heard music and dancing. That meant there was a party going on that he didn’t know about. When he learned that the celebration was for his brother, he became angry and refused to go inside. The young fool had run off, wasted his inheritance, and wrecked his life. Then he came home to be treated like a king?
When his father tried to plead with him, the older son pointed to his years of service and obedience. Despite all his hard work, he never even received a goat to celebrate with his friends.
But when this son of yours came who has devoured your assets with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.
Verses 31-32 But the older son didn’t understand. He was always with his father. Safe, provided for, and loved. His brother, meanwhile, was as good as dead. Since they found his brother alive, it was only natural to celebrate.
What makes a shepherd rejoice? When he finds a lost sheep. What gives a woman joy? When she finds her lost coin. What causes a father to celebrate? The return of his lost son whom he loves. The Pharisees and scribes were angry with Jesus for welcoming tax collectors and sinners because they had failed to understand the heart of God. God longs for the lost to be found. He’s filled with joy when a single sinner repents and comes home. He rejoices at a restored relationship.
Notice the abrupt ending of the parable. We don’t know how the older brother responded. Did he return to the house with his father to celebrate his younger brother’s repentance? Or did he walk away in disgust and jealousy? There’s no answer because Jesus intended the religious leaders to ask themselves these questions. Were their hearts where God’s heart is? Is yours?
Prayer
Jesus, I am so thankful for your mercy and compassion. You are always calling me to a life of obedience because that is where I find my best life. There is favor, mercy, and provision under your authority and government. Help my wandering heart find its home in you. Help me see life with you is full of the riches of grace that I need. I want to depend on you, Jesus. Help me throw off the sin that easily entangles me or tries to lure me in to be a slave/addict of its own devices. There is no other God I serve but you. I trust the laws, warnings, and directions in Your word for my life. Protect my heart, Jesus, from being jealous of others or losing sight of what is most important. I want to make the best use of the time, skills, talents, opportunities, and thoughts that you’ve given me. Give me ideas, open up doors, and reveal them to my eyes. Help me honor you with these valuable gifts and bring you great glory, God. In Jesus’ name, Amen.