The Father and His Two Sons

Context

Jesus tells this as a parable—a story that uses a familiar human situation to reveal spiritual truth. It centers on one father and two sons. The younger son’s decision creates the visible crisis, but the older son’s response becomes just as important. One son must decide whether to return; the other must decide how to respond when his brother does. The father’s actions toward both hold the story together.

Story

The younger son asked his father to give him his share of the family property. The father agreed and divided his property between his two sons.

Not many days later, the younger son gathered everything he had and left for a distant country. There he squandered his wealth in reckless living. Before long, all the money was gone.

Then a severe famine struck that country, and the young man became desperately needy. He went to work for a citizen of that land, who sent him into the fields to feed pigs. He was so hungry that he longed to eat the pods given to the pigs, yet no one gave him anything.

At last, he came to his senses. He remembered that his father’s hired workers had more than enough food, while he was starving. He decided to return home and confess that he had sinned against heaven and against his father. He no longer considered himself worthy to be called a son. He would ask to be treated as one of the hired workers instead.

So he got up and started home. While he was still a long way off, his father saw him. Filled with compassion, the father ran to meet him, embraced him, and kissed him.

The son confessed that he had sinned against heaven and against his father and was no longer worthy to be called his son. The father turned to his servants and told them to bring the best robe and put it on him. They were to place a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. Then they were to prepare the fattened calf for a feast.

The father explained why they must celebrate: this son of his had been dead and was alive again; he had been lost and was found. The celebration began.

Meanwhile, the older son was out in the field. As he approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called a servant and asked what was happening. The servant told him that his brother had returned and that their father had prepared the fattened calf because he had received him back safe and well.

The older brother became angry and refused to go inside. His father came out and pleaded with him to join them.

But the older son protested. He said that he had served his father for many years and had never disobeyed a command, yet his father had never given him even a young goat so that he could celebrate with his friends. By contrast, he called the returned brother “this son of yours.” He accused him of wasting the family property with prostitutes, and now their father had prepared the fattened calf for him.

The father answered, “Son, you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” Yet he said the celebration was fitting. The returned son was still the older son’s brother. He had been dead and was alive again; he had been lost and was found.

What We Learned

• Repentance involves both honest confession and action. The younger son recognized his sin, got up, and returned to his father.
• The father’s compassion gives a vivid picture of God’s grace. He ran to welcome the returning son before the son could earn back his place through service.
• The restoration of someone who was lost is a reason for shared joy, not reluctant tolerance.
• The older brother’s years of service did not protect him from resentment and comparison. Remaining near the father was not the same as sharing his heart.
• The father reached toward both sons—embracing the younger and pleading with the older—while reminding them that they still belonged to one family.