The Other Lost Son

THE OTHER LOST SON

An Exposition of Luke 15:25-32

By Pastor Brian Wilbur

Date: August 7, 2022

Series: Luke 15

Note: Scripture quotations are from The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard   Version®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

THE SCRIPTURAL TEXT

Holy Scripture says:

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 And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, ²⁹ but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’” (Luke 15:25-32)

INTRODUCTION

There is a party going on in Luke 15. In verses 3-6, the kingdom of God is like a shepherd who takes great pains to find the one lost sheep. Once he finds it, a beaming smile breaks over the shepherd’s face as he lays the little one on his shoulders. The shepherd is full of joy – and the nature of true joy is to express it and share it and draw others into it – so he invites his friends and neighbors to rejoice with him. Jesus says that this is a picture of the exuberant joy in heaven when one lost sinner repents and returns home to the Father (verse 7). There is a party going on.

In verses 8-9, the kingdom of God is like a woman who searches diligently for the one very valuable silver coin that had been misplaced. When she finds it, great relief and joy arise in her heart, and she also invites her friends and neighbors to rejoice with her. This too is an illustration of the deep joy that arises in the presence of God’s angels when one lost sinner repents (verse 10). There is a party going on.

In verses 11-24, a father had two sons, and the youngest went astray like a foolish sheep. This prodigal son went to a far country and wasted all of his resources on a reckless lifestyle, on a thousand parties of cheap pleasures that leave the soul empty, unclean, and alone. Once he couldn’t fund his debauchery any longer, he got in a really bad way when a famine descended upon the land. Hungry and destitute, he managed to make it to the bottom of the barrel as a feeder of pigs. He was bankrupt and broken, weary and tired, guilty and ashamed.

Why in the world is the son of an honorable and wealthy father perishing with hunger in the middle of a drove of pigs? Sin, that’s why. Sin is not merely an isolated misdeed. Sin is walking away from the Father – the Father who gave you life and who loves you; sin is walking down into the valley and crossing the boundary markers and leaving behind the safety of the green pastures and gentle streams and warm meals that characterize your Father’s estate; sin is choosing to live outside the protective framework of your Father’s life-sustaining words. Sin is choosing to live in the devil’s domain, where promises are deceitful, resources are squandered, other people are unreliable, bodies are debased, and souls are robbed of their proper glory. It always ends in the mire, and after that, hell. After the tap is dry and the people are used up, it is no party. All the shiny allurements and seductive words of the far country are only a trapdoor that descends “to the chambers of death” (Proverbs 7:27).

But there is a party going on, and the party I’m talking about is the incomparable celebration that takes place when a sinner is rescued from the far country of death and returns home to life with the Father. While still in the muck and mire of his own sin, the prodigal came to the sobering realization that one day on the rolling fields of his father’s estate is better than a thousand elsewhere, that dwelling one day even in the servants’ quarters of his father’s large farmhouse is better than living in the tents of wickedness. Breathing the fresh air of sound thinking for the first time in years, the destitute prodigal returned home. And once he arrived: no chiding, no scolding, no public shaming, no lecturing, no ‘you worthless idiot’. But instead: a father’s compassion, a father’s embrace, a father’s exceeding joy, a father’s tender-hearted and clear-minded determination to throw a party –  a ‘once was lost, but now is found’ party, a ‘once was dead, but now is alive’ party – to celebrate the safe return of his younger son. Just as the shepherd and the woman had called together their neighbors and friends to rejoice with them, so now the father mobilizes his entire household to celebrate the homecoming of his dear son:

“[The] father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’” (v. 22-24)

Why is there so much “joy in heaven” (v. 7) and “joy before the angels of God” (v. 10) “over one sinner who repents” (v. 7, 10)? The answer, of course, is because our Father in heaven delights to show mercy and is overjoyed when one sinner comes home. When a sinner returns home, the Father’s joy draws His entire household into jubilant celebration and festive eating, complete with music and dancing. The Father bids every friend within the sound of His voice to join the party. But are you able to join in the celebration?

WALKING THROUGH LUKE 15:25-32

This brings us to today’s passage – verses 25-32. There is indeed a party going on, but not everyone is able to join the celebration. Someone is standing outside the banquet hall and is unable to go in. The inability to enter the party is not a physical inability but a spiritual inability: the outsider doesn’t share his father’s joy – he is angry, not joyful – and therefore he is unable to rejoice with the father.

Earlier the shepherd, after he had found his lost sheep, had “[called] together his friends and neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’” (Luke 15:6) Can you imagine one of those friends or neighbors responding, ‘Are you kidding me? Why in the world would I rejoice with you because of your lucky find of your stupid sheep? I never have your luck, by the way. Why do good things always happen to you? And why do you have to tell me about it? No partying from me, man.’ Some friend, huh?

Or suppose that one of the friends or neighbors responding to the woman’s invitation to rejoice with her after she found her lost silver coin, said, ‘Give me a break! You lost a coin – haven’t we all? You found it – and you think this is newsworthy? Be more careful next time not to lose it in the first place, and please spare me the information.’ Some neighbor, huh?

And yet, the father has found something far more valuable than a sheep or coin. The father has found his son. And the father essentially says to his household and to his servants, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my son that was lost.’ But in this case there is someone whose response is critical and cynical and cold. This critical response doesn’t come from a friend or neighbor or servant, but from the father’s other son, the older son, the one who had stayed at home. This older son is, in fact, the other lost son. For he also had turned away from his father.

Let’s walk through verses 25-32 in four steps.

Step #1: Luke 15:25-27

In verses 25-27, the curious older son inquires about the celebration. When the party started, the older son had been out “in the field” (v. 25), and he didn’t know what was going on. But eventually he “drew near to the house” and realized that the sound of “music and dancing” (v. 25) was in the air. Therefore he asked of “one of the servants” (v. 26) to find out what was going on. The servant informs him: “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.” (v. 27)

Step #2: Luke 15:28a

In the first half of verse 28, the now informed older son stiffens with anger and refuses to join the celebration. The older son’s attitude is worlds apart from his father’s attitude. The older son’s response to the news of the celebration is also worlds apart from the rest of his father’s household: “they began to celebrate”, but he began to stew with toxic emotions; they were dancing, but he was about to denounce the whole affair.

Step #3: Luke 15:28b-30

In the second half of verse 28 through verse 30, the angry older son complains that the celebration is profoundly unfair. The conversation between the older son and the father begins because the father “came out and entreated him” (v. 28). The older son was unwilling to “go in” to the banquet hall where his father was, but the father – like the shepherd we met earlier – was willing to leave the banquet hall and go to his older son. The father sought to persuade his eldest to lay down his resistance and join the dancing, but the older son wouldn’t have it. Instead, he complained:

“Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never game me a young goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!” (v. 28-29)

The older son’s rationale is based on his own understanding of fairness. In the older son’s mindset, faithful service and diligent compliance make you worthy of getting a young goat so that you can have a festive get-together with your friends. In the older son’s mindset, squandering resources and indulging in immorality make you unworthy of getting a fattened calf killed for you and of getting a party thrown for you. Of course, the older son’s understanding of fairness has been violated in both aspects. The older son thought that his own good track record made him worthy of a young goat, but he says to his father “you never gave me a young goat”. On the other hand, the older son thought that his younger brother’s exceedingly bad track record made him unworthy of a fattened calf, and yet the father “killed the fattened calf for him!” The older son thinks that all of this is a gross violation of justice: the good guy is overlooked, the bad guy is celebrated. And frankly, the good guy who feels overlooked and slighted isn’t about to celebrate the bad guy who is getting all the attention.

Step #4: Luke 15:31-32

In verses 31-32, the father answers the older son’s complaint and defends the rightness of the celebration.

First, the father addresses the older son’s complaint that he has received the short end of the stick: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” (v. 31) The problem with the older son is that he can only think in terms of getting what he thinks he deserves in response to his dutiful conduct. Check the right boxes, get the young goat. Keep the rules, get the father’s approval. Work hard, get a party with your friends. The father’s answer blows through the lie of his son’s ‘you’ve got to earn it’ mindset. The son put the emphasis on service and compliance, but the father puts the emphasis on relationship: “Son, you are always with me”. The son put the emphasis on paychecks and bonuses (like a young goat) for labor performed, but the father puts the emphasis on the father-son fellowship that involves sharing their lives and resources with one another: “and all that is mine is yours.” Read between the lines:

‘Son, if you hadn’t let your labors in the field take priority over our father-son relationship, if you had taken time to get to know me and my heart, and if you had understood that everything I have is at your disposal, then you would have felt free to take a young goat any time you pleased and you would have felt free to invite your friends over for a long and delicious feast any time you pleased and, most importantly, you would have known that I would have a beaming smile on my face as you and your friends celebrated together in the courtyard below. I might have even crashed your party! But alas, my son, you barely know me, and you don’t even know what is properly yours, and therefore you cannot see clearly about anything.

Next, the father defends the rightness and goodness of the celebration: “It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.” Don’t miss the fact that the father is not celebrating the deadness of the son who had been dead; the father is not celebrating the lostness of the son who had been lost; the father is not celebrating the foolishness or the sinfulness or the wastefulness or the recklessness or the unruliness or the shamefulness or the irreverence of the son who had rebelled against him and run away to a far country and brought himself to ruin. The father is not throwing a party for an unrepentant sinner. The father is not showering lavish gifts upon someone who is still dead in trespasses and sins. The context of Luke 15 is clear – the joy bursts forth “over one sinner who repents” (v. 7, 10); the party is thrown for a son who is no longer dead, no longer lost, no longer blind, no longer in rebellion, no longer alienated. Now the prodigal son is alive and found, safe and sound, reconciled to the father and ready to live the rest of his life in fellowship with the father. And that, says the father, is eminently worthy of celebration.

When we come face-to-face with the reality that a sinner has passed from death to life, from darkness to light, from deception to truth, from the domain of Satan to the kingdom of Christ, from wandering afar off to returning home to the Father – when we realize that this has happened to someone, shouldn’t we rejoice? Joy is the only fitting response to the blessed news that a dead sinner has been raised to life by the power of God. The resurrection of the dead is worthy of extensive and prolonged celebration.

And so the parable ends with the father’s appeal to his angry, older son. But through this parable – and through the father’s appeal to his angry, older son – Jesus is appealing to “the Pharisees and the scribes” (Luke 15:2), those critical religious people whose hearts were far from God.

ANOTHER LOOK AT THE CONTEXT OF LUKE 15

At this point we need to remember that the two sons in Luke 15:11-32 – the younger prodigal son and the older principled son – represent the two different groups of people that Luke introduced at the beginning of Chapter 15:

“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”” (Luke 15:1-2)

The tax collectors and sinners – the obvious sinners, the religious misfits and moral shipwrecks – are represented by the young son who had “squandered his property in reckless living.” But just as the young son came to his senses and returned home to the Father, so in real life “the tax collectors and sinners” were coming to their senses and “drawing near to hear him [Jesus].”

Meanwhile, “the Pharisees and the scribes” are represented by the older son who “was angry and refused to go in.” Just as the older son was angry about the father’s demonstration of generous love for the repentant prodigal, so in real life “the Pharisees and the scribes” were angry and critical and grumbling that Rabbi Jesus was taking time to demonstrate care for and share meals with people who had a track record of disobedience. Instead of being thrilled at the wonderful prospect that sinners were repenting and returning home and finding grace from the Savior, all the Pharisees could do is look down their long noses in disgust.

There is a party going on, but not everyone is able to join the party. Like the older son in the parable, “the Pharisees and the scribes” were angry and refused to join the celebration. This brings us to two important lessons that I want to draw from Luke 15:25-32.

IMPORTANT LESSONS FROM LUKE 15:25-32

Lesson #1

Here is the first lesson: the refusal to share the Father’s exuberant joy when a sinner repents demonstrates that your own heart is far from the Father. In other words, the inability to rejoice when a lost sinner returns home demonstrates that you yourself are lost, blind, dead. We know from other passages that “the Pharisees and the scribes”, who are represented by the older son in the parable, were indeed lost.

The Pharisees were serious-minded religious people who took their religious and moral duties seriously. The scribes were experts in the meaning and significance of religious laws. The scribes and Pharisees weren’t squandering their resources in wild living; instead they were attempting to live careful lives in rigorous compliance with their religious traditions. They were like the old son slaving away in the fields of religious duty. And yet, they were lost.

In John 8, Jesus said to the Pharisees: “You know neither me nor my Father.” (John 8:19)

In Matthew 23, Jesus said,

“Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people’s bones and all uncleanness. So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)

In Mark 7 Jesus said that the words of Isaiah the prophet accurately described “the Pharisees and the scribes” (Mark 7:5): “This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me” (Mark 7:6).

Do you get the picture? The older son, representing the scribes and Pharisees, had the appearance of righteousness and the appearance of moral goodness. But outward appearances can be deceiving. As it is, the older son’s inability to share in his father’s joy revealed the fact that his heart was far from the father. The older son didn’t truly know his father; the older son never got his father’s heart; the older son was never captured by his father’s generosity and kindness. The older son understood rules and duties in some limited way, but he didn’t understand the father’s loving heart. He looked good on the outside, but inside he was full of insecurity, self-indulgence, anxiety, self-admiration, anger, bitterness, and contempt for others. He was, quite simply, lost.

The parable of the two sons in Luke 15:11-32 teaches us that there are two ways to be lost. You can be lost like the younger son: wasteful, irresponsible, reckless, utterly foolish. Or you can be lost like the older son: dutiful, industrious, productive, impressive resume, no heart for God. John Piper captures these two ways of being lost in his wonderful poem about these two lost sons:

“… And so his father cried,

And felt that both his sons had died:

The one from play when passions boil,

The other from his toxic toil.

The one a hundred miles away,

The other even while he stay.

The one a slave to lust and fools,

The other slave to laws and rules.”[1]

The careful churchgoer, dutiful deacon, and seminary student can be just as lost and dead as gamblers, prostitutes, fortune-tellers, and money-chasing fools. You can dwell in the inner sanctum of religious activity and ministry productivity, and yet be completely lost. Do you know the Father? Do you share the Father’s joy when a sinner repents? Are you glad when a sinner comes home?

The refusal to share the Father’s exuberant joy when a sinner repents demonstrates that your own heart is far from the Father.

Lesson #2

Here is the second lesson: the inclination to anchor your worth in your own track record of service and compliance demonstrates that you are a stranger to the Father’s grace. The older son believed that his “many years” of service and compliance (Luke 15:29) established his worth, made him worthy of the father’s attention and approval, made him deserving of a party with his friends. The older son believed that his track record of good conduct could earn him some benefits from his father. But that’s not how it works.

Within the parable itself, the father puts the emphasis on relationship, not performance: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine with yours.” Before your labors in the field, during your labors in the field, and after your labors in the field – “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine with yours.” In order for our labors in the field – our obedience and good deeds – to be truly pleasing in God’s sight, they must be the fruit of our relationship with the Father. If we know the Father and know the Father’s love and have fellowship with the Father, then our relationship with the Father will overflow in a manner of life that reflects our Father’s character and priorities.

But do you see what the older son had done? For the older son – and for the scribes and Pharisees that the older son represented – service and compliance had replaced fellowship with the Father. The older son’s confidence was in his own record of service. It’s just like another parable that Jesus told, the one about the Pharisee and the tax collector in Luke 18. Jesus told this parable to people “who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt” (Luke 18:9). In this parable, Jesus contrasts the Pharisee who prayed a proud prayer and the tax collector who prayed a humble prayer. The Pharisee’s attitude in prayer was self-righteous – he thought that his own self-willed righteous conduct made him acceptable in God’s sight. The tax collector’s attitude in prayer was completely different – he prayed, “God, be merciful to me, a sinner!” (Luke 18:13) Jesus said the tax collector “went down to his house justified” (Luke 18:14) – in other words, the tax collector was now in a right relationship with the Father. The Pharisee, on the other hand, was not in a right relationship with the Father. The Pharisee trusted in himself that he was righteous, and treated others – like the tax collector – with contempt. The older son trusted in himself that he was righteous, and treated others – like his younger brother – with contempt. The older son didn’t have a right and healthy relationship with the Father.

The issue in all these things is not whether pursuing obedience and faithfulness and moral excellence is necessary. Pursuing these things is necessary. The issue is what occupies center stage. If you believe that your own religious and moral performance establishes your worth and worthiness, if you believe your involvement in ministry and your doing good to others puts the Father in the position that He owes you blessings and privileges because of your respectable conduct, then you have a huge problem. Because here’s the deal: what you do, what you have done, and what you hope to do, is a pathetic and suicidal substitute for the solid joy of having a stable and satisfying relationship with the Father simply because He is your Father who loves you and has redeemed you and who delights to give you His kingdom: “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.” Have you tasted and seen that the Father’s unearned love is better than life?

The truth of the matter is that whenever a sinful human being in this fallen world comes to have a true and healthy relationship with the Father, such a relationship is always a free gift of the Father’s grace. Always. It doesn’t matter if you are highborn or lowborn, great or small in the world’s eyes, rich or poor, prodigal like the younger son or principled like the older son, a secular fool or a religious fool. It doesn’t matter. What the older son must discover is the same thing that the younger son discovered when he returned home to the Father: a son is robed with the dignity of sonship not because he deserves it, but because the Father in grace bestows it; a sinner is qualified to feast at the king’s table not because she has earned it, but because the Father “so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16).

The prodigal, wallowing in the mire with the pigs, stinks to high heaven. This is true. But it is equally true that the outwardly clean older son, relishing in the pride of his own imagined greatness and full of resentment and hate, also stinks to high heaven. Proud and “haughty eyes” are an abomination in the sight of the Lord (Proverbs 6:16-17; see also Proverbs 8:13). What the older son needs to hear is the same thing that each and every one of us needs to hear: “None is righteous” (Romans 3:10), not even you; “no one understands” (Romans 3:11), not even you; “no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:11), not even you; “All have turned aside” (Romans 3:12), including you; “no one does good” (Romans 3:12), not even you. There is nothing that you can do to un-do your sin and guilt and shame and condemnation and pride. Your service and compliance and activity can never compensate for your sin-sick heart. Your obedience and piety can never win the Father’s favor. The Father’s favor is bigger than you can possibly imagine, but it isn’t for sale. It is a free gift. As Scripture says:

“For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person–though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die–but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” (Romans 5:6-8)

“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ–by grace you have been saved–and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 2:4-6).

When any sinner repents and returns home to the loving Father whose love is revealed in the sacrifice of Christ, that sinner is made alive and raised up and seated with Christ and clothed with the robe of royal sonship – and this new life and privileged status is a gracious gift that is given before that repentant sinner has taken done anything in the way of ministry or service or spiritual growth. Relationship first, and everything else follows.

In our parable, the older brother will never be able to celebrate the grace bestowed on his younger brother, until he himself becomes a recipient of that grace. In real life, the scribes and Pharisees and their religious churchgoing descendants will never be able to celebrate the Father’s grace bestowed on rascals and misfits until they themselves become recipients of that grace.

A FINAL ENCOURAGEMENT

Do you want this congregation to be a well-watered garden of grace in the midst of this dry and barren land in which we live? Do you want that? Well, there are two things that must happen. First, we must be overwhelmed by the incomparable gift of free grace: apart from our works, apart from our good works and bad works, apart from our successes and failures, apart from our outward respectability and shame, apart from our intelligence and ignorance, apart from our productivity and laziness and wastefulness, apart from our doing, doing, doing, apart from all these things, the Father loves His sons and daughters who bank on His goodness and mercy through Jesus Christ. Will our grasp of the Father’s love transform our lives? Absolutely it will. But never put the moral transformation in place of the relationship itself. There is no substitute for the Father’s love – there is no substitute for the Savior’s love. Without this love, you are the poorest of the poor; with it, you are rich indeed. We must be overwhelmed by the incomparable gift of free grace. The unmerited and unearned love of the Father is better than life.

The second thing that must happen if we would be a well-watered garden of grace in the midst of this barren land, is that we must rejoice whenever God redeems a lost sinner. Rejoice, celebrate, throw a party. When we see that a sinner has been converted or a backslider has been restored, when we hear a testimony of God’s saving or reviving grace, when we see a repentant sinner entering joyfully into the waters of baptism, when believers become a part of our church family as an outworking of the fact that they were previously converted and now they want to follow Jesus with us – brothers and sisters, these are things to celebrate. For these things are not business as usual, but is the holy work of God in our midst. It is Christ assaulting the gates of hell and bringing many sons and daughters into His glorious kingdom. Let’s feast! 

We who have come to know the Father, we who have come to have the Father’s heart, we who understand that we are debtors to grace, will not resent the costly fattened calf being turned into a feast for a spiritual birthday party. Instead we will reflect the Father’s heart, ‘It is fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this our brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found. Therefore let us eat and celebrate!’

ENDNOTES

[1] John Piper, The Prodigal’s Sister. Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2003: p. 15.