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The Prodigal Son: Two Sons and a Party · Behind the Bible Verse: The Stories and History Behind Scripture

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This is a story about a father, two sons, and a party that one of them
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wouldn't go to.
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Behind the Bible Verse. This is made with the assistance of AI.
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Our reading is from the Gospel of Luke, chapter fifteen, verses eleven to
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thirty-two, in the World English Bible, British Edition. The speaker at the start is
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Jesus, telling a story to the crowd around him.
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He said, â€œA certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his
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father, â€˜Father, give me my share of your property.â€™ So he divided his livelihood
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between them. Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and
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travelled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
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When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country,
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and he began to be in need. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of
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that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He wanted to fill his
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belly with the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any. But when he came to
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himself, he said, â€˜How many hired servants of my fatherâ€™s have bread enough to
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spare, and Iâ€™m dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father,
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and will tell him, â€œFather, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
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I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.â€ â€™
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â€œHe arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off,
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his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck,
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and kissed him. The son said to him, â€˜Father, I have sinned against heaven and in
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your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.â€™
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â€œBut the father said to his servants, â€˜Bring out the best robe and put it
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on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf,
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kill it, and letâ€™s eat and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead and is alive again.
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He was lost and is found.â€™ Then they began to celebrate.
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â€œNow his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house,
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he heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him and asked what was
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going on. He said to him, â€˜Your brother has come, and your father has killed the
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fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.â€™ But he was angry
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and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him. But he answered
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his father, â€˜Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a
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commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my
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friends. But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes,
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you killed the fattened calf for him.â€™
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â€œHe said to him, â€˜Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is
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yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this,
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your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.â€™ â€
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So that's the story Jesus told. It's one of the best known stories in the
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world, usually called the parable of the prodigal son. And it's worth knowing
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straight away that the word "prodigal" isn't in it. Prodigal means wasteful,
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extravagant with money. The title was given to the story much later. Some readers
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think it points at the wrong person, and that the story could just as well be called
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the parable of the two sons, or of the father. By the end, you can decide for
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yourself.
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First, where it comes from. This story is found only in the Gospel of
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Luke. None of the other gospels tell it. And Luke is careful to tell us why Jesus
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told it, and to whom. At the start of chapter fifteen, he sets the scene.
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"Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him."
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And then: "The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, 'This man welcomes
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sinners, and eats with them.'"
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A word on who those people were. Tax collectors in Judea and Galilee
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collected money for the ruling powers, which in the end meant Rome, and they had a
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reputation for taking more than they should. To many people they were collaborators
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and cheats. "Sinners" is a broad word in the gospels, for people seen as living
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outside the law. The Pharisees were a Jewish movement devoted to keeping God's law
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carefully in everyday life, and the scribes were experts in that law.
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It would be unfair to treat them as cartoon villains. They took holiness seriously,
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and eating with someone, in that world, was a sign that you accepted them.
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That's what worried them.
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So Jesus answers the grumbling with three stories in a row. A man with a
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hundred sheep loses one, leaves the ninety-nine, finds it, and carries it home on
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his shoulders. A woman with ten silver coins loses one, lights a lamp,
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sweeps the house, and finds it. And each time, they call in their friends and
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neighbours and say, "Rejoice with me." One in a hundred. One in ten.
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And then, in the third story, one of two.
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Notice that the stakes keep rising. It's easy enough to be glad about a
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sheep. But this last story is about a person, and about a family.
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And it's the only one of the three where somebody refuses to join the celebration.
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Now, the first scene. The younger son asks for his share of the property,
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while his father is still alive. In the law of Moses, an eldest son received a
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double share of the inheritance. So with two sons, on most readings, the younger
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would get about a third. And many commentators point out how shocking the request
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would have sounded. Asking for your inheritance early is a little like saying you
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can't wait for your father to die. Others think it was less unusual in practice.
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Either way, the father says yes. And notice, the text says he divided his livelihood
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"between them". Both sons get their shares. That will matter at the end.
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The younger son turns it into cash, it seems, and travels to a far country,
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and there, the text says, he "wasted his property with riotous living."
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That's all the narrator tells us. Hold on to that, because later someone else will
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fill in the details, and it isn't the narrator.
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Then the money runs out, and a famine hits. He hires himself out to a
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local man, who sends him to feed pigs. For Jesus's listeners, that's about as low as
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a Jewish young man could go. Under the law of Moses, pigs were unclean animals.
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And he's so hungry he envies the pigs their food, the pods they eat,
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which many think were carob pods, a cheap animal feed. And no one gives him
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anything.
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Then comes a lovely phrase. "When he came to himself." As if he'd been
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somewhere else, and had just woken up. He thinks of home. Even my father's hired
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workers have more bread than they need, he says, and I'm starving. And he rehearses
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a speech. Father, I have sinned. I'm not worthy to be called your son.
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Make me one of your hired servants.
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Whether that speech is real sorrow or a hungry man's plan,
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readers have argued about for centuries. The text leaves it open. What we know is
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that he gets up and goes home.
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And then the heart of the story. "While he was still far off, his father saw
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him." Which means the father was looking. You don't see someone far off unless
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you're watching the road. He's moved with compassion. And he runs.
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Many commentators note that in that culture a respected older man running
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would have been unusual, even undignified. Long robes,
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a position to keep up. Whether or not that's quite right, the text makes a point of
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it. He runs, he falls on his son's neck, which is the old way of saying he throws
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his arms around him, and he kisses him.
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Now listen closely to what happens next, because it's easy to miss.
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The son starts his speech. Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
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I am no longer worthy to be called your son. And then he stops.
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The line he practised, make me one of your hired servants, never gets said.
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In the reading, the father is already talking. Whether the son couldn't finish,
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or the father didn't let him, the story doesn't say. But the request to come back as
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a servant is simply never answered, because it's never made.
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Instead, the father calls to his servants. Bring out the best robe.
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Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. Many readers see each of those as a
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sign. A robe of honour. A ring that may mark family authority.
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Sandals, because servants and slaves often went barefoot and sons did not.
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And bring the fattened calf. Most families kept meat for great occasions,
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and a calf would feed a crowd. This isn't a quiet welcome. It's a party for the
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whole village. And the father gives the reason in words he'll repeat at the very
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end. "This, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is
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found."
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And just when it sounds like a happy ending, the story turns. "Now his elder
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son was in the field."
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Of course he was. He's working. He comes home at the end of the day and
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hears music and dancing. He asks a servant what's going on, and he's told:
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your brother is back, and your father has killed the fattened calf. And he's angry,
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and he won't go in.
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Then the father does the same thing he did for the younger son.
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He goes out. He went out to meet the one who'd been far away. Now he goes out to
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meet the one who's been right there all along. The text says he "begged him".
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And the elder son lets it all out. All these years I've served you.
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Some translations say "slaved for you", and the Greek word can carry that sense.
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I never disobeyed you. And you never gave me so much as a young goat, to celebrate
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with my friends. But when "this your son" came, who devoured your living with
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prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.
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Two small things here. First, "this your son". He won't say "my
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brother". And second, the prostitutes. Remember, the narrator only said "riotous
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living". The detail about prostitutes comes from the elder brother. Maybe he'd heard
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rumours. Maybe he's assuming the worst. The story doesn't say which. It just lets us
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hear who's adding it.
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And the father's answer is gentle. "Son, you are always with me,
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and all that is mine is yours." Remember that the property was divided between them
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at the start. The father isn't taking anything from him. Then he corrects him,
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quietly. It was right to celebrate, "for this, your brother, was dead,
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and is alive again. He was lost, and is found." Not this your son.
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This your brother.
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And then the story stops. We never find out whether the elder son went
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in. Jesus leaves him standing in the yard, outside the party, with his father
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pleading with him. And remember who was listening. The story began because some
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people were unhappy that Jesus welcomed the wrong kind of guests to the table.
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It ends with a man outside a feast, deciding whether to go in.
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This parable has been read in many ways. Many Christians read the father
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as an image of God, and the story as being about repentance and a welcome that's
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bigger than anyone earns. Others put the weight on the elder brother, and see the
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story as a challenge to people who've always done the right thing. Readers familiar
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with the Hebrew Bible notice that it's one of a long line of stories about two
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brothers, Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau, Joseph and his brothers,
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where the younger is often unexpectedly favoured and the family has to find its way
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through the resentment. Each of these readings sees something real in the story.
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It's also travelled far beyond religion. "The prodigal returns" has become a
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phrase people use for anyone coming home after going astray. And one of the most
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famous paintings in the world, made by Rembrandt late in his life, shows the moment
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of homecoming. A ragged son on his knees, his shaved head pressed against his
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father's chest, his worn-out shoe falling off his foot, and the father's two hands
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resting on his back. And standing to one side, in the shadows,
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watching, a tall figure many take to be the elder brother.
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Maybe that's why the story lasts. Almost everyone has been one of these
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two brothers at some point. The one who walked away and needed to be let back in.
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Or the one who stayed, did everything right, and found it hard to watch someone else
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be forgiven so easily. And the father in the story goes out to both of them.
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So here's a question to sit with, and there's no right answer to it.
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Which of the two brothers do you find it easier to understand, and what would it
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take for him to walk into that party?
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Thanks for listening to Behind the Bible Verse. Scripture readings are from
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the World English Bible, British Edition, which is in the public domain.
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Every episode is checked against the text and the historical record.