The Story of Two Sons
Published by Stanley Pouw in 2013 · 10 March 2013
Let us start with some background to this story. Christ is on His way to Jerusalem the last months of His life. He is planning to offer Himself as God's perfect sacrifice for sin, die on the cross and then on the following Sunday rise again from the dead, having accomplished our redemption.
He has been preaching the message of salvation for nearly three years now and calling people to enter into the Kingdom of God through repentance and faith in Him as the Messiah. But He has developed big enemies, the Pharisees and the scribes. They basically changed the Old Testament into Judaism and they ruled the synagogues. They are legalistic, corrupt, and hypocritical and they hate Jesus.
The reason they hate Jesus is because He directly confronted them on their hypocrisy. He exposed them as false teachers who do not truly understand Scripture nor the will of God. They did not know the true way of salvation. And no matter how He said it, they hated it.
And so to get back at Jesus, they accused Him of doing the miracles by the power of Satan. That was their conviction and so that is the lie that they spread throughout the land. And whenever they saw Jesus together with sinners, they affirmed that by saying that He was comfortable with Satan's people and uncomfortable with the people of God whom they believed themselves to be.
Now Jesus answers their lies and says in Luke 19:10, “The reason I associate with these sinners is because I have come to seek and to save that which is lost." Jesus explains how God feels about lost people. In Luke 15 He told two previous parables of the recovery of a lost sheep and a lost coin. And now we have the main parable of two sons.
This is probably the most famous story that Jesus ever told, it is the story of two lost sons. God is showing in these three parables the increasing value of what was lost. The first was about 1 lost sheep among a hundred, the second was about 1 lost coin among ten and now we have two lost sons.
The first part of this story of two sons is to show the joy of God over the repentance and the reconciliation of the lost younger son. And the second part is about the older son who is self-righteous and who needs to repent as well. The climax of the whole story indicates that it is the other son, the one we don't think about, that is really the main objective.
We often call this story of the younger son, “the prodigal son”. The word prodigal is an old English word, which basically meant "spend thrift," meaning somebody who is wasteful extravagant and self-indulgent.
Now there are three characters, the younger son, the father and the older son. So we should look at this story in two parts. Let us begin with the younger son. First we read about a horrible request. In verse 11 Jesus begins by saying, “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’”
When Jesus said that, you could imagine the shock of the Pharisees and the scribes. This younger son has no love and gratitude for his father whatsoever. Saying that really meant, "Dad, I wish you were dead. I would much rather have your money than have a relationship with you.”
No one ever got your inheritance until your father died. The son would be slapped across the face if he asked for it and then very likely he would be shamed publicly and perhaps disowned of everything he had and even considered as dead and not considered part of the family anymore.
So the younger son is asking for all the material stuff, land, animals, buildings, whatever possessions he is entitled to, so he can sell it quickly. In a two-brother family, according to Deuteronomy 21:17, the older son gets double what the younger son gets, that means two-thirds go to the older son, one-third goes to the younger son.
And here comes the first surprise in Jesus’ story. Verse 12 continues, "And he divided his wealth between them." The father actually grants him what he wants. He is willing to endure the agony of rejected love. And the greater the love, the greater the pain when that love is rejected. Do you realize that this is a picture of God?
This is God giving us as sinners our freedom to do what we want. The sinner doesn't care about God and all he thinks of is his own pleasure. It didn't take long for step two, verse 13, "And not many days later." And here he begins his rebellion. He didn't wait long because he does not love his father or his brother.
And the older brother does not love the father either. In fact, when the younger brother comes home at the end and the father is happy, the older brother is angry. He is equally unloving, equally ungrateful even though he stays home. Only the father shows real love and once we know Him we can learn that sacrificial love too.
So what did the younger son want? Not many days later he sold everything quickly to get the cash now. This is a picture of the blessings and mercy of God that is meant to lead the sinner into a relationship with God, but the sinner does not appreciate this and he thinks that happiness is obtained by earthly things and he rejects God’s love.
So where is the older son in all this? Why doesn't he defend his father's honor? It is because he didn't love the father either. He was happy to get his share and stay home. This is like a dysfunctional family, one seems good and stays at home, the other is rebellious and wants to leave but both hate each other and their father.
Well what happened next in verse 13, “the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.” He spent everything through wasteful living. In fact, down in verse 30, his older brother says, “He devoured your livelihood with harlots.” And Jesus put that in the story because that is an accurate reflection of what He wants to tell us what the young man did.
This young son represents sinners, the rebels, the immoral, those who clearly have no faith or love for God. These sinners are the tax collectors and the outcasts and the non- religious. They don't want anything to do with God’s law or His rule. They don't want to be accountability to anyone, including God.
But sin never works out the way you expect. Verse 14 says, “But when he had spent all,” He surrounded himself with those so-called friends that are always there when you spend a lot of money and so he runs out of money even quicker. Like Vince Young, the NFL quarterback who in 2006 had a 52 million dollar contract and now is broke.
Verse 14 continues, “There arose a severe famine in that land.” That's not his fault, but that is how life is. What is a severe famine? The people listening to Jesus would surely understand that. They would remember, for example, the times when Israel was under siege and women ate their afterbirth and people even cannibalized their children. That is all described in 2 Kings 6.
Here he is in a foreign land, all his resources are gone and now he is living with the consequences. But he is still not ready to go home to humble himself and to face his father. So he does what people do when they hit bottom. It says at the end of verse 14, "and he began to be in want.” He looked for work.
And finally it says in verse 15, “Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.” Desperate people do desperate things. This Jewish boy is feeding pigs in a Gentile land. Many Old Testament passages indicate that pigs are considered unclean.
And verse 16 says, “And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.” He didn't get anything to eat. This is the greatest tragedy that these Jews could ever conceive of. And that was the point of Jesus, now there is nothing he can do to save himself.
This is the picture of a sinner who has exhausted all his plans, I will fix my own life, I will do drugs, I will get drunk, I will go to some self-help group, I will move to a new neighborhood, or I will marry a new person. When all that stuff does not help, the sinner wakes up desperate and what he cannot do himself; only the father can do.
Verse 17, “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” Real repentance begins with an accurate assessment of your condition of helplessness, of no resources and impending death.
Now he remembers that his father is loving, kind and very generous. His father is not a hard man, he is a forgiving man. So the son has nowhere to go, but he believes in his father. This is a picture of one whose repentance leads to salvation because, not only repentance here but faith in his Father.
So verse 18-19 begins, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.”’ Listen to how severe he is about himself, "I have sinned against heaven and before you." We have to realize that ultimately all sin is sin against God Himself.
Those Pharisees and Sadducees liked the idea that he came to his senses, they like the idea that he is coming back. But according to them he will have to earn his way back. That is Pharisaic theology, along with every other religion in the world.
But listen further in verse 20, “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.” At this point, the Pharisees and scribes were totally surprised. The son had been outrageous and he should be punished, but that is not what happened.
In fact, while he was still a long way off, his father sees him which is an indication that the father was seeking, right? God, the Father always seeks the sinner for salvation and reconciliation, He is the divine initiator. And then when the son finally gets there, even more shockingly, he embraced him on the neck, stinking and dirty as he was.
Verse 21-24, “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ 22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.” Isn’t this incredible?
Did you notice that the father hugged the son before he completed want he wanted to say? This is a picture of the grace of God that comes before there is repentance. The son said, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But he left something out (verse 19), "Make me like one of your hired servants.” Why? Because of grace there is no need for works.
This is not a story about the prodigal son; this story is primarily about our gracious God. The lost sheep in the first parable was found because the shepherd looked for it. The coin was found because the widow did not give up looking for it. And the son was restored because the father kept waiting for him to come back. Jesus seeks sinners!
So let us look at the main point in this story, beginning in verse 25, “Now his older son was in the field. And as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and because he has received him safe and sound, your father has killed the fatted calf. 28 But he was angry and would not go in.”
“Therefore his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 So he answered and said to his father, ‘Look, 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. 30 But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots; you killed the fatted calf for him. 31 And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. 32 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.’”
Here Jesus painted a picture of the older brother as a self righteous person who thinks that he has done nothing wrong (look at verse 29) and feels the he was the only righteous person all along. Remember who Jesus was talking to? He was addressing the Pharisees and the scribes who were so self righteous.
What is self righteousness? Well there two signs, number one a person like that does not want to repent, because they see themselves as being already righteous. Number two, the self righteous person cannot rejoice. Look at the older brother; he does not want to come in to celebrate with the rest. Now who are they that rejoice? They are the servants who rejoice, which are the souls of people and angels in heaven rejoicing with God.
You are self righteous when you think: God why are you blessing that person? Maybe you are self righteous if you are jealous of someone else’s ministry. You are self righteous when you feel you do not need to pray, because that says that you can do everything on your own. You are self righteous when you are proud of what you have achieved, and do not realize that it all is by grace from God.
You might be self righteous if you find something wrong with everything in the church. You might be self righteous if you are critical of other people, of what they wear, of what they do or not do. You might be self righteous if you are thinking that it is good for others to hear this message, because there are so many people that really need this.
The younger brother cannot be saved unless he repents of his sins, but the older brother cannot be saved unless he repents of his self righteousness. Let us do what Jesus did, He sought sinners. And in the same way Jesus seeks the unrighteous, He also seeks the self righteous. And He is seeking right now, whoever you are! Let us pray.