Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering round to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.” Then Jesus told them this parable.
—Luke 15:1–3
The Elder Brother and the Two Lost Sons
Jesus’ story might best be named the Parable of the Two Lost Sons. It is a drama in two acts, with Act 1 entitled “The Lost Younger Brother” and Act 2 “The Lost Elder Brother.”
Act 1: The Younger Brother Among the Two Lost Sons
Act 1 begins with a short but shocking request. The younger son comes to the father and says, “Give me my share of the estate.” The original listeners would have been amazed by such a request. [. . .] Here the younger son asks for his inheritance now, which was a sign of deep disrespect. To ask this while the father still lived was the same as to wish him dead. [. . .]
This younger brother, then, is asking his father to tear his life apart. And the father does so, for the love of his son.
The Father’s Love in the Parable of the Two Lost Sons
Most of Jesus’ listeners would have never seen a Middle Eastern patriarch respond like this. The father patiently endures a tremendous loss of honor as well as the pain of rejected love. Ordinarily when our love is rejected we get angry, retaliate, and do what we can to diminish our affection for the rejecting person, so we won’t hurt so much. But this father maintains his affection for his son and bears the agony.
The Prodigal God
Go Forward in Love
A Year of Daily Readings from Timothy Keller
Timothy Keller
Zondervan Books
