CSSA 1-4-16 - THE PRODIGAL SON

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91. THE PRODIGAL SON

"This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost and is found".

Aim

To show how Jesus taught in a parable that God is a loving Father, ever ready to forgive His children.

Though the leaders of the Jews hated Jesus, the common people were glad to hear him. His words were full of encouragement and showed the people just what God wanted them to do. His teaching was clear and easy to understand, for those who really wanted to please God. It was often "publicans and sinners", despised by the Scribes and Pharisees, who crowded around Jesus to listen to his parables. One day he told three parables about something "lost" - a lost sheep, a lost coin and a lost son. Many people in Israel were "lost' - they had strayed from true worship. Jesus was sent by God to find them and bring them back.

Luke 15:11-32

THE PARABLE OF THE LOST SON

A man had two sons. The older one was steady and hard working, but the younger one was restless and discontent. One day the younger son asked his father to give him the inheritance that would one day belong to him. He wanted to go out into the world and spend money, find new friends and live for his own pleasure. The young man's father was no doubt very sad to see his son leave home and go out into the world to mix with strangers.

The son "gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country" (v13). He lived wickedly and wasted his money with new found companions who helped spend his inheritance. In time, the money was gone - and so were the "friends" who had helped him spend it. They had cared nothing for him. Their friendship with him had been selfish. Now with no money and no friends, how was he going to live? To make things worse, there was a famine in the land. At last he found a job feeding pigs. What a hateful job for a Jew (see Deut. 14:8). How low he had sunk. Once he had been rich and enjoyed the best of everything but now he was reduced to feeding swine. He was so hungry he would gladly have eaten the pods that the pigs ate, "and no man gave unto him" (v16).

"I WILL ARISE AND GO TO MY FATHER"

Desperate with hunger and thoroughly ashamed, the young man thought longingly of home and his loving father. He knew that the servants at home never went hungry. His father's servants always had "bread enough and to spare", but here he was dying from hunger. So he decided what to do. He would return to his father and say, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants" (vv18-19). He was by now so ashamed of his own foolish behaviour that he would gladly be just a servant in his father's house. He knew that his father was kind and generous and hoped that he would forgive him and take him in again. Having made up his mind, he set off at once for his father's house.

HIS FATHER MEETS HIM

Now his father had lived in hope of this willful son returning. He had longed and hoped every day. So it was that, as his younger son trudged homeward "when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him; and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck and kissed him" (v20). How distressed the father was to see his son in such a dreadful state. His son however had only one thought uppermost in his mind - to confess to his father how foolish he had been and to ask his forgiveness.

"Father", he said, "I have sinned against heaven and in thy sight and am no more worthy to be called thy son" (v21). Before he had time to finish his father interrupted. Instead of being angry as the son might have expected, his father was so overjoyed to see him so repentant, that he immediately called his servants to prepare a joyful feast.

"Bring forth the best robe and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf 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" (v22-24).

What a change there was in this son now. In that far-off country he had been "lost", as good as dead. Only when he had been reduced to hunger and wretchedness did he realise how foolish he had been. His unhappy experiences had taught him a great lesson. His father had no thought of casting him among his servants, but gave him the best robe, and a ring and shoes. Together they sat down to a happy feast.

THE ELDER BROTHER IS ANGRY

All this happiness was not, however, shared by the elder brother. He had been out working in the field, and as he drew near the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. He called one of the servants to ask what this meant. The servant was only too happy to tell him the good news.

"Thy brother is come and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound" (v27).

The older brother was not at all pleased. He was so angry that he refused to go in to join his family in their meal. So his father went out to him and begged him to share their joy. All he got was an angry and resentful reply.

"Lo these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends" (v29).

He could not understand how they could be pleased to see that good-for-nothing brother of his back home.

What a mean spirit he showed. It took all the pleasure out of the work he had done for his father.

Yet his father had been grateful and not unmindful of his labours. "Son, thou art ever with me", he said patiently, "and all that I have is thine" (v31). Did he not realise that his younger brother had come home because he had realised at last how foolish he had been? "This thy brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found" (v32).

LESSON FOR US

We sometimes behave very much like these brothers, don't we.

It is easy to be selfish and foolish and wasteful as that younger son was to begin with. If only he had stayed with his father, where he was secure, all would have been well, but he wanted to enjoy the pleasures of the world. These "pleasures" only ended in disaster for him. He was as good as dead. Let us be wiser than that, for we know that there is no true happiness in the world.

Yet if we do sin, let us be humble enough to admit it and change our ways. That is the kind of spirit God wants to see in us.

Too often, perhaps, we might show a mean spirit like that older brother. He was resentful and unforgiving. There was no room in his heart to believe that his sinful brother might have repented. Let us always show a generous spirit to those about us, because we all sin against God, and we all need God to forgive us.

ADDITIONAL NOTES

What then is the hidden meaning of this parable? God of course, is represented by the father who loved both his sons. God is always mindful of how hard we try to please him and will, we know, reward our labours when He sets up His kingdom. He is also only too willing to forgive those who sin against Him as soon as they repent.

The publicans and sinners who were so despised, were like the younger son. They were lost and needed someone to bring them back to God. This was the work of the Lord Jesus Christ who gladly
showed them the way to salvation.

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The Pharisees, being self-righteous, were like the older son. They too needed to listen to Jesus' words but mostly they were too proud.

QUESTIONS

Short Answers

1. A man had two sons. What did the younger son ask for?

What did the younger son do when his father gave him what he asked for?
What happened when all his money was gone?
Where did the son go when he realised how foolish he had been?
What did his father do when he saw him?
What did his father tell his servants to bring to him?
The father said: "This my son..." Finish the sentence.
How did the older brother feel when he heard what his father had done for his younger brother?
Did the older brother join in the feasting?
What can we do like the younger brother that God would be pleased with?