And his elder son was in the field; and as, coming [up], he drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
The younger son has come home, and the house is full of joy over him. This verse turns to the other son, who was out in the field while the celebrating began.
One writer takes "the field" as the clue to the whole man.
"His elder son was in the field." There was joy inside, and he was outside it. "The field" is the place of work. The sincere religious man is always a hard worker. He has a zeal for God, but it is not based on knowledge. He sets out to build a righteousness of his own, so he does not submit to the righteousness of God (Rom. 10:2-3). Like the elder son, he is "near" to the Father's house, but he never gets inside, and he never feels the warmth of the Father's heart.
The word behind "dancing" is worth pausing over, because it says something about the scale of the Father's gladness.
The word there translated "dancing" is the plural of "Choros", which is where our word "Chorus" comes from. It means "a choir, or a band of singers." The Father's heart was so full of joy at receiving back his son, who was lost and is found, that He had to have an abundant, lavish supply of singers. Not one band, but "bands of singers," gathered to sound out the Welcome Home!
The sound carries out to him. The meaning does not.
The joy of true Christian worship, of living fellowship in grace, makes no sense to the natural heart. This was the sound that grated on the ears of the elder son... He could grasp debt. He could press a claim of right. He could see failure and pass judgment on it. But he did not hesitate to judge God Himself... His heart was outside his father's home. He did not share the spirit of the love his father was showing to the son who had come back. He was a stranger to grace, so he had no part in all this joy.
Another writer points out that he was puzzled before anyone told him about his brother.
It is not that he has heard yet of the return of his brother. It is not that he is simply a stranger to grace. But the sounds themselves are strange to him: "he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant." He is the picture of that joyless, cheerless service which finds nothing in God. Where faith and love are, the soul works surrounded by music, and is never outside the Father's presence.
Jesus told this parable to men who objected that He ate with sinners. One writer is careful to say who this figure is not.
He is not a self-righteous Christian, any more than the prodigal stands for a believer caught in a sin... But here it is one who would not come in. Every Christian is brought to God. He may not fully enjoy or understand his privileges. But he knows keenly where he falls short, he feels his need of God's mercy, and he is glad when others receive it. Would the Lord describe the Christian as outside the presence of God? So the elder brother here, I have no doubt, stands for those who condemned Jesus for eating with sinners.
Commentators differ on whether the celebration pictures heaven or the present. One writer gives the elder son's arrival as his reason for placing the scene on earth.
Some will no doubt exclaim, "That is heaven." Not at all. It is here, it is now. It is true of the Christian in this world... But I deny that this scene of joy in the parable means heaven, and I will tell you why. The eldest son was in the field; and when he came to the house, he did not understand the reason of such joy.
Another writer points the same words forward, in a warning to a young believer about the world's amusements:
The day is coming when we will have "music and dancing" (Luke 15:25), but it is not down here.
- Outside. The elder son is in the field, the place of hard religious work. He is close enough to hear the house, never close enough to feel its warmth.
- Sound. What reaches him is a chorus, bands of singers, the lavish overflow of a Father's gladness over one son who came home.
- Strange. He hears the joy and has to ask what it means; debt, duty and failure he understands, but grace is a foreign language to him.
- Sour. The parable aims at those who complained that Jesus ate with sinners. It does not picture believers who fail, but people who will not come in.
- Inside. The joy is real, present, and near enough to hear from the field. The question the parable leaves open is whether the one outside will come in.
And having called one of the servants, he inquired what these things might be.
The younger son is inside the house, dressed and welcomed. The older one comes in from work, hears the music, and stops a servant to ask what it means — and that one question shows where his heart has been living.
The music comes from his own father's house, yet it sounds foreign to him. One commentator says the natural heart cannot make sense of such joy:
The joy of true Christian worship, of living fellowship in grace, is unintelligible to the natural heart. This was what struck the elder son's ears as something repugnant. "And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant." He could have understood debt. He could have argued for what was right. He could see failure and pass sentence on it. But he did not hesitate to judge God Himself, as we shall see.
Debt, rights and failures are categories he can work with. Gladness over a returned sinner is not.
He has to ask because he does not already know. One writer traces that gap to where he had been:
The elder son spoiled everything for himself by his self-importance. He came back from the field. The field is a picture of the world, and the world can have a religious side too, standing close to God on the outside. He heard music and dancing in the house. He had not been near enough to know the father's joy, so he asked a servant (v.26).
Another writer takes up the field as the place of work:
"The field" is the place of labour. The sincere religionist is always a hard worker. He has a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge... Like the elder son, he is "near" to the Father's house, but he never gets inside, and he never experiences the warmth of the Father's heart.
He puts his question to a servant. The Greek word behind it means a child:
παῖς, 'a child,' regardless of age, and so used for a servant... Luke 15:26.
One commentator draws out the reversal. The servant had taken in the father's gladness; the son had to have it explained:
The sound of joy reached the elder son's ears. The natural conclusion would have been that he should share in his Father's joy. If his Father was joyful, some blessed thing must have happened. But there was NO real union or sympathy between his Father's heart and his. A selfish mind is not made for joy. The workings of grace are unintelligible to it. He asks a servant boy (pais) what made his Father's house happy, and he was told — told in terms that ought to have awakened every sympathy and every feeling... For the servant boy had caught, and to some degree entered into, the joy of the house.
His surprise shows what his years of service had been like. One writer sees a religion full of work and empty of joy:
It is not that he has heard yet of his brother's return. It is not that he is simply a stranger to grace. The sounds in themselves are unfamiliar to him. He is the picture of that joyless, cheerless service which finds nothing in God... There is work of a certain kind perhaps in plenty, but it is work in the field only — far off. Such work is no test of piety... And where faith and love are, the soul works surrounded by music, and is never outside the Father's presence.
One writer names who this figure stands for:
In the elder son the Lord vividly portrays the self-righteous, those who murmur against grace, such as the Pharisees and scribes. They are many in every age, especially where Scripture is widely available and people boast of religion.
The same writer adds a caution. This figure is not a picture of a Christian at all:
Every Christian is brought to God. He may not fully enjoy or understand his privileges. But he has a keen sense of his shortcomings. He feels his need of divine mercy, and rejoices in that mercy for others. Would the Lord describe the Christian as outside the presence of God?
- Field — He worked hard, but "far off." Work like that proves nothing. It kept him outside the very house he worked for.
- Sound — Grace makes a noise the natural heart cannot place. He could handle debt, rights and failure; joy over a rescued sinner was foreign.
- Question — Having to ask what the joy meant was his confession. He had never been close enough to his father to guess.
- Servant — A household boy had caught the father's joy and could explain it. Nearness to the father, not years of service, is what gives understanding.
- Choice — This is not a believer who has stumbled. It is the self-righteous man, who hears grace and still stays outside.
And he said to him, Thy brother is come, and thy father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and well.
The elder son comes in from the field, hears music in the house, and has to ask a servant what is going on. The answer he gets — a brother home, a calf killed, a father's welcome — is what turns him cold.
He lived on the estate, yet the sound of gladness meant nothing to him until someone explained it. One commentator ties this to where he had been and to what his mind could handle:
The natural heart cannot understand the joy of true Christian worship, of living fellowship in grace. That joy struck the elder son's ear as something offensive. "And having called one of the servants, he inquired what these things might be." He could have understood debt. He could have pressed a claim of right. He could see failure and pass judgment on it. But he did not hesitate to judge God Himself... He was a stranger to grace, so he had no part in all this joy. He was pursuing his own things. No doubt he was active and intelligent "in the field," in the world, away from the scene of divine mercy and spiritual joy.
The servant does not say "the runaway" or "that son of his." He uses two family words, and one commentator weighs them:
The servant told him, "Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound." "Your brother," "your father" — these words should have drawn gentle and kindly feelings from him. Instead, they stirred up opposition at once. He did not care at all about his brother's welfare. He had no part in the shared joy.
The servant is not a neutral messenger. He shares the joy of the house, and his words give the elder son two reasons to share it too:
He asks a servant boy what has made his Father's house happy. The servant tells him — and tells him in words that ought to have awakened every sympathy and every feeling. The words give him a double motive: what he should have felt himself, and what the Father felt, if the Father's mind had been his... For the servant boy had caught, and in some measure entered into, the joy of the house.
The servant's last words are about more than safety. One writer, commenting on a letter that wishes a Christian named Gaius good health, points to where the same word is used:
John expressed his desire for Gaius's well-being. The word translated "be in health" is found in Luke 7:10 and 15:27, where the King James translation renders it "whole" and "safe and sound."
One writer reads the killed calf as a picture of Christ. Notice who sits down to eat:
Christ is the fattened calf of Luke 15. God says, "Bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate." Who are the "us" invited here to "eat and celebrate"? It is the Father and the returned prodigal son. God says, "I have found my delight in Him, and now you come and find your delight in Him too." So at His own invitation I feed on what the Father feeds on.
The son had wanted a place among the hired workers. The reason the servant gives for the feast is not the son's plan but the Father's own welcome:
The servants he would have joined were the servants and instruments of God's grace, goodness and bounty. He could not take a place among them as a hired man. This shows how the Father receives the sinner. The welcome does not follow the thoughts awakened in the sinner's heart when he comes to himself. It follows the thoughts of the Father, which rest on His own joy... His shame and his time away were no secret. They were known as the occasion of the Father's joy at his return. The Father goes out to him. First He puts all the honour of His acceptance and joy on him. Then He brings him into the house.
One commentator sees in the elder son a kind of person who has never died out:
In the elder son the Lord paints a sharp picture of the self-righteous, those who murmur against grace, such as the Pharisees and scribes. There are many of them in every age, above all where Scripture is widely known and people boast of religion.
- Heard. He is near enough to hear the music and too far off to know what it means. Grace makes no sense to a mind that only counts debt, rights and failure.
- Told. The servant hands him two motives: your brother, and your father — what he should feel, and what his father already feels.
- Whole. "Safe and sound" is a health word — elsewhere in Luke the same word is translated "whole."
- Fed. The killed calf pictures Christ, and the Father invites the returned son to feed on what He Himself delights in.
- Outside. The feast rests on "he has received him" — the Father's joy in the welcome, not the son's own terms. The man who refuses that joy is the only one left outside the house.
But he became angry and would not go in. And his father went out and besought him.
The house is full of joy because a lost son has come home, and one man stands outside refusing to join in. His refusal turns the parable's spotlight from the son who came home to the brother who never left.
The elder son is not upset at a stranger. He is upset with his father. That shows how little the two shared.
The elder brother (the self-righteous person) was angry, and would not go in. God had shown what He was in Himself, by His Son, in receiving the lost son. Now He would show what they were in themselves. The elder brother had no communion with his father — for if the father was happy, why was he not happy too? If such a vile person as the tax collector gets in, that makes my righteousness count for nothing! And it is truly so, for where God's happiness is, self-righteousness cannot come.
The insult he meant for his brother landed somewhere else.
Angry with whom? Angry with his father. Why was he so angry with his father? Because he had received back his repentant brother and had not said a word about his sins. He had shown grace and mercy instead of judgment. He may have meant to insult his brother, but in reality it was his father whom he insulted.
One writer follows the Greek word behind "refused" into other passages. These quotations use an older translation.
For thelo see John 6:67, "Will you also go away?" It is not simply the act, but the will to do it: "Is it your will or disposition?" "Are you also disposed to go away?" In Luke 15:28, "he was angry, and would not go in."
The same will splits people into two groups.
The one was hungry and went in; the other was angry and stayed out. The arrival of grace always divides men into these two classes. Some know they are worthy of nothing. Others imagine they are worthy of more than they have got.
Grace itself is what this man cannot bear.
The joy of grace is unbearable to the self-righteous man. He has no heart for God's goodness to the lost. The scene of joyful communion with the Father stirs up in him fierce opposition to God's way and will... But here it is one who would not come in, while every Christian is brought to God... The elder brother here, I have no doubt, represents those who condemned Jesus for eating with sinners. He stands for the self-righteousness of the Jew in particular, and of anyone who denies grace.
The type is not tied to one nation or one century.
The Pharisee thinks he has righteousness for God. The elder brother pictures him. You do not need to be a Jew to be a Pharisee. The elder brother is the Pharisee in every age... A Pharisee has no sense of sin, or else he would know he was a sinner; no sense of holiness, or of love.
The father does not stay inside with the joy. The word for his pleading is a continuous one — he kept it up.
Luke 15:28 — "Besought," or "kept beseeching" (imperfect). Adeney: "There is a Gospel even for the Pharisees."
Nothing shut this son out except his own will.
This elder brother had no door closed in his face. "He was angry, and would not go in." There was no indifference toward him either — quite the opposite: "his father came out and entreated him."
Every voice in the story catches the father's joy except one, and the parable leaves him where he chose to stand.
Take care that your heart is not turning the love and grace God shows to a fellow sinner into something sour. "He would not go in." The father reasoned with him. He said, "It is your brother come back" — not "my son", but "your brother" (love is high enough for anything). It was all in vain. He could not share the spirit that moved everyone in the house, from the father down to the lowest servant. "He remained outside," and had none of the happiness and none of the joy.
Grace came out to him, and still he would not have it.
The Father went out even to this Pharisee, but nothing could win the self-righteous man.
- Anger — The elder son's rage is aimed at his father, not his brother. The father showed mercy instead of judgment.
- Will — "Would not" describes what a man wants, not an accident. He was angry, not hungry, so he stayed out while the starving son went in.
- Mirror — The portrait fits those who condemned Jesus for eating with sinners. It fits the self-righteous man in any age.
- Grace — The father came out and kept pleading. There is good news even for those who resent it, and no one shut the door on him.
- Loss — Nothing could win him. He shut himself out and had none of the joy the whole household shared.
But he answering said to his father, Behold, so many years I serve thee, and never have I transgressed a commandment of thine; and to me hast thou never given a kid that I might make merry with my friends
The elder son has heard the music, learned why it is playing, and refuses to go in — and this verse is his answer to a father who came out and pleaded with him. Every word of it is a defence of himself and an accusation against the one he calls neither "father" nor "brother."
One writer points to the word he chose for those years:
"Serve." The verb is δουλεύειν, "to serve as a slave." Compare Hebrews 2:15, which speaks of people held in slavery all their lives.
One writer takes the reply line by line and marks what each claim really shows:
His father comes out in the fullness of love and pleads with him. The son answers with an indignation against divine love that looks pious but is really impious. That kind of feeling belongs to the natural mind and does not shock it. "Look, these many years I have served you" — hollow and wretched service! "And I never disobeyed your command" — the unhappy sinner had no sense of sin! "Yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends." So he was bold enough to judge his father, just as the self-righteous man does not shrink from judging God.
One writer meets that boast with a question, then a verdict:
Enough, enough — "I never disobeyed." Could a man with a grain of conscience speak like this? Elder son, loveless brother, stranger to the joys of the Father's house.
His complaint names what he wanted, and it was not his father's company. That one line puts him closer to his brother than he would admit:
If the younger son pictures the repentant sinner, the elder son is a true picture of the spirit of the Pharisee. The one was hungry and went in; the other was angry and stayed out. When grace arrives it always divides people into these two classes. Some know they are worthy of nothing. Others imagine they are worthy of more than they have got. The elder son said, "You never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends." So he too found his company and his pleasure in a circle of friends outside his father's circle. Only the character of the friends differed: the younger son's had a bad name, and his own, we may suppose, were respectable.
He never once calls him "Father," and even the animal he asks for is smaller than the one killed for his brother:
The younger son had addressed his father, and had done it in a respectful way, saying, "Father." The elder brother spoke to him as well, but in words of reproach, and with no recognition that he was speaking to his father. Surely the contrast between a calf and a young goat was deliberate. A young goat is smaller, and worth far less. He had never had even that, though he said he could count up years of unbroken, faithful service.
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He is not asking for a gift. He believes he has earned one, and that is why he got nothing:
Man's ruin magnifies God's grace. The more deeply a man feels his ruin, the more he values that grace. The elder brother never got a young goat so that he might celebrate with his friends — and why? Because he imagined he had earned it. "Look," he says, "these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command." Vain man! How could he expect the ring, the robe, or the fattened calf? If he had received them, they would have been only the trappings of self-righteousness. They would not have been the ornaments that grace puts on the believing sinner.
Commentators give the man a name: the Pharisee, who is sure he has the righteousness God requires. That type did not die out with him:
The Pharisee thinks he has righteousness for God; we have that described in the elder brother. You do not need to be a Jew to be a Pharisee — what the Lord calls a whitewashed tomb, full of all uncleanness. The elder brother is the Pharisee in every age; it is the most hateful thing that exists. A Pharisee has no sense of sin, or else he would know he was a sinner; no sense of holiness, or of love. It is the most thorough selfishness, with no thought for anything else. "You never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends."
- Service. The word behind "I have served you" means slave labour. He lived in his father's house on the footing of a slave.
- Claim. "I never disobeyed" is a sentence no honest conscience could form. It shows a man with no sense of sin at all.
- Complaint. He wanted the young goat for a party with his friends, away from his father. His chosen circle sat outside the father's, just like his brother's.
- Wage. He got nothing because he thought he had earned something. The robe and the calf would only have decorated his self-righteousness.
- Door. The younger son was too hungry to stay out. The elder was too angry to go in. Grace still divides people that way in every age.
but when this thy son, who has devoured thy substance with harlots, is come, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf.
The elder son has been out in the field, and when he learns why the house is full of music he refuses to join it. This verse is his reply to his father's pleading. It is a charge against his brother, and behind that, against his father's generosity.
One word is missing from his complaint: "brother." He also picks his own word for the property.
He does not call the prodigal his brother, but tauntingly "this son of yours." And though it was what the father had given, he calls it "your property." Every time, he puts the worst side forward.
The charge is loud about someone else's failure and silent about his own. Commentators recognise a familiar religious type in him.
The Pharisee thinks he has righteousness for God; we have that described in the elder brother. You do not need to be a Jew to be a Pharisee — what the Lord speaks of as a whitewashed tomb, full of all uncleanness. The elder brother is the Pharisee in every age; it is the most hateful thing that exists. A Pharisee has no sense of sin, or else he would know that he was a sinner; no sense of holiness, or of love.
His grievance turns on a comparison of two animals. He measures his brother's welcome against the smallest thing he says he never got.
The contrast between a calf and a young goat must have been deliberate — the goat is smaller and worth far less. He had never had even that, though he said he had served for years without a break.
The older brother has nothing to show for those years. His idea of what he had earned explains why.
The elder brother never got a young goat so that he might celebrate with his friends; and why? Because he imagined he had earned it. "Look," he says, "these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command." Vain man! How could he expect the ring, the robe, or the fatted calf? If he had got them, they would have been only the trappings of self-righteousness. They would not have been the ornaments that grace puts on the believing sinner.
He objects to a party in the house while wanting a party of his own. That detail exposes how little distance there is between the two sons.
If the younger son pictures the repentant sinner, the elder son shows the spirit of the Pharisee. The one was hungry and went in; the other was angry and stayed out. The arrival of grace always divides men into two classes. Some know they are worthy of nothing. Others imagine they are worthy of more than they have got. The elder son said, "You never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends." So he too found his company and pleasure among friends outside his father's circle. The only difference was in the character of the friends.
The father does not answer the accusation with an accusation. He had already left the feast to plead with this son. Commentators apply this to anyone who thinks grace is soft on sin.
Is there anyone who would say that divine grace approves of sin? Let him read his own verdict in the spirit of the elder brother here. Yet let even such a person see how grace speaks to him. "His father came out and entreated him." We see the patience of love toward this wretched man. Love was patient not just with a poor prodigal, but with this one who did not share in the general joy.
The younger son is inside; the older one is still outside, holding his complaint. Commentators note that the parable never shows him crossing the threshold.
The result is that he "would not go in"; he has no part in the Father's joy of grace. He has only satisfaction in himself. He has reproaches for the saved sinner, and insult for the God of all grace and His boundless goodness to "this son of yours."
- Wording. He says "this son of yours," not "my brother." He calls what was spent "your property" — each time picking the version that sounds worst.
- Blindness. The complaint has no sense of sin in it; a man who could say he never disobeyed a command shows he does not know himself.
- Arithmetic. He compares a young goat to a fatted calf, and thinks service should have earned him at least the smaller one.
- Friends. He wanted to celebrate outside his father's circle. That puts him nearer his brother's old life than he thinks.
- Outside. Grace came out and pleaded with him. The parable leaves him standing outside — pleased with himself, hard on the forgiven, insulting the Father's goodness.
But he said to him, Child, *thou* art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine.
The father leaves the party and goes outside to a son who has just accused him of unfairness. His first word is not rebuke but affection. So who is this elder son, and why does he hear such warm words while standing outside in anger?
The father says nothing about the long list of services just thrown at him. He reaches instead for the tie that no service created.
The father now speaks, passing over, however, all reference to the claim of unfailing and devoted service. Had the elder brother really done all that he declared, he had only done his duty — nothing more. The silence of the father, therefore, on that point, may be understood. But he speaks — and what does he say? He would make known the proper place and portion of a child. "Child," he said, reminding him of the birth tie, "you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." To be with the father is the proper place of the child. All that the father has is his.
He chooses a tender word, and he uses it on a son who has just insulted him.
Truly the patience of God is as wonderful as His love. So the father keeps on: "But he said to him, Child, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." Nothing can exceed the tender mercy of the father, even toward the unthankful and the evil, the ungrateful and rebellious son.
The elder son is not a stumbling believer. He is the man who resents that God is kind to the undeserving.
The joy of grace is intolerable to the self-righteous man; he has no heart for God's goodness to the lost... Would the Lord describe the Christian as outside the presence of God? So the elder brother here, I have no doubt, represents those who condemned Jesus for eating with sinners. It is the self-righteousness of the Jew in particular, and indeed of anyone who denies grace.
Commentators differ on the exact reference. Some read it of the privileges God gave Israel. Those gifts never took away His freedom to bless others.
The father replies, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours." God gave the oracles, the covenants and the promises to the Jews. But He will not give up the right to show His grace to sinners, because of the self-righteous selfishness of the Jews, or of anyone else.
Others read it of the earthly portion the careful man still holds.
Heavenly grace, when it gives the best robe, does not thereby give back lost health, wasted substance, the natural things that may be gone forever. These things still belong to the careful, sensible person, such as the elder son was. The meaning here should be very plain. God would appeal in this way to those who receive daily from His hand, yet are content to live at a practical distance from Him.
The son's own words give him away.
His nearness to his father had been external only. His work had come from some motive other than love. His idea of real happiness was to be away from the father, in the company of his friends. A terrible exposure of the religious man's true state of heart in relation to God.
If the son was never truly near in heart, the sentence still stands — because it describes the father, not the son.
There was no real nearness to the father, then, in this elder son... What remains for us? Surely, as to the younger, so to the elder, it was the father's heart that spoke. From his side, "You are always near me" tells of One who is not distant from His creatures, in whose heart they live near indeed.
The father had to leave the house to say these words.
Is there anyone who would say that divine grace approves of sin? Let him read his own judgment in the spirit of the elder brother here. Yet let even such a man see how grace speaks to him. "So his father came out and entreated him." We see the patience of love toward this wretched man. He is not merely a poor prodigal. He is the one man who had no share in the general joy.
- Child. The father answers an insult with a word of relationship, not with a defence of his own fairness. His tender mercy reaches even the ungrateful.
- Comes out. The father leaves his own feast to plead with the one man not celebrating. Grace reaches the self-righteous as well as the ruined.
- Always with me. The son's nearness was outward only. The words still stand, because they speak of a Father who is not distant from His creatures.
- All that is mine. It may mean Israel's covenants and promises, or the earthly portion still in a careful man's hands. Either way, God keeps His right to show grace to sinners.
- Still outside. The parable ends with him refusing to go in. Yet the proper place of a child is with the father.
But it was right to make merry and rejoice, because this thy brother was dead and has come to life again, and was lost and has been found.
The parable ends outside the house, with the father pleading with the older son who will not come in. His last words give the reason for the party — and hand back the word that son had just refused to use.
The word behind "fitting" carries the force of what must be done.
This word is often translated "must" and "ought." The father was bound to celebrate when the prodigal son came home.
That necessity has a mirror image.
It is logically necessary that Heaven should celebrate and be glad when the son who was lost comes home. Yes — if the weeping and wailing of hell are a logical necessity, then the music and gladness of Heaven are just as necessary.
The father does not tell the servants to enjoy themselves while he watches. He counts himself in.
"Let us eat and celebrate." It is not, "Let him eat and celebrate." Again he says, "It was fitting that we should celebrate and be glad." There was only one exception to the delight in the house. The elder brother (the self-righteous person) was angry, and would not go in… if the father was happy, why was he not happy too?… If such a vile person as the tax collector gets in, this makes my righteousness go for nothing! It is truly so; for where God's happiness is, self-righteousness cannot come.
(Older translations read "that we should make merry and be glad" here; the ESV has "to celebrate and be glad.")
One writer draws out what this shows about God:
"It was fitting to celebrate and be glad." Wonderful thought! God Himself delighting in the joy of grace and putting Himself in it along with others.
The elder son had just said "this son of yours." The father answers by naming the tie his son was trying to drop.
Notice again: "this your brother was dead, and is alive." The words "your brother" matter. God will not in any way allow anyone to deny a proper relationship.
Another writer applies this to family ties in general.
A brother stays a brother, whatever the ups and downs of his affairs, and whatever his ways are like. In the parable, the father reminds the elder son that the prodigal was his brother.
The father is not speaking about a funeral. He is describing where his son stood in relation to him.
The father was not saying that his son had been physically dead and buried. His son had been dead to him all the time he was in the far country. So it was with us. We were very much alive in this world… but quite dead in relation to God, with no movement in our souls towards Him.
This language also rules something out.
He was dead, having no spiritual life, but now alive. He was lost, totally away from God, but now found. You could not say this about a believer who simply needed restoring.
The two sons picture two kinds of people.
If the younger son pictures the repentant sinner, the elder son accurately represents the spirit of the Pharisee. The one was hungry and went in; the other was angry and stayed out. The arrival of grace always divides people into two classes. Some know they are worthy of nothing. Others imagine they are worthy of more than they have.
One writer states the case the parable makes, and how it ends.
If people in this life would take back someone who had gone wrong — and who could doubt it? — should God be denied the joy of welcoming someone who repents? Here, then, the parable ends. The elder brother is never seen to enter the house; he shuts himself out of it. The prodigal had entered it, never to leave it. Self-righteous people, like the elder brother, were in danger of shutting themselves out of the Father's house. They did not understand how God could show favour to those who truly repent, and delight in them.
- Fitting. The joy is not optional. The word means it had to happen. Heaven's music over one sinner coming home is as necessary as hell's weeping over one who is lost.
- Shared. The father says "let us celebrate," not "let him celebrate." God does not host the joy from a distance. He is inside it, delighting in His own grace.
- Brother. The elder son said "this son of yours." The father answers "this your brother." God will not let anyone cancel a relationship He has formed.
- Alive. "Dead" means a soul with no movement towards God, not a body in a grave. It does not describe a believer who has only wandered.
- Outside. One son was too hungry to stay out, the other too angry to go in. The story ends with the door open and the self-righteous man still on the wrong side of it.