Luke 15:11-32 - The Prodigal Son/The Pursuing Father

PRE-STUDY

Summarize V.1-11 for context.

OBSERVE

V. 12 – The younger son asked for his inheritance and the father gave it to him.

V. 18 – The younger son has a plan on what to say, but that doesn’t go the same way he
planned.

 Younger Son
o V. 19 – Treat me like one of your slaves
o V. 21 – “I am no longer worthy to be called your son” – and that’s the very thing
he does! The father still calls his son, son.

V. 20 – KEY VERSE
 The Father goes out and intercedes! He embraces the son before he receives any
punishment from the city.

 Elder Son
o V. 29 – Hey, I’ve worked like a slave for you!
o V. 30 – “When this son of YOURS”, not my brother.

 The Father
o V. 32 – He still calls the older son, son, and this brother of yours.

Both sons did not feel like a son.

INTERPRET

V. 13 – When he goes to a distant land

 This is not Jewish land. He lost his money so that means it was to Gentiles which is
another no-no.
Luke 15:11-32 - The Prodigal Son/The Pursuing Father
V. 12-14 – You wouldn’t liquidate the father’s inheritance before he died.
 You wouldn’t even ask for it, that wasn’t the sons place to do so.
 This is only for the father to do, but the father doesn’t even argue it.
 Since the son liquidated (sold the inheritance) he had to travel out of town or there
would be punishment.
o The son deserved to die.

V. 15 – What’s significant about this?

 Jews were supposed to understand themselves as distinct from God, apart from other
nations, such as the Gentiles.

V. 16 – Pigs weren’t kosher (unclean food to eat.)

 So there’s the theme of unclean.

V. 17 – When the son comes to his senses, is he repenting at that point?

 The younger son has his own plans to survive to be with his father, as a slave, because
he doesn’t deserve to be a son anymore.

V. 18 – Possible interpretation: We aren’t saved by our plan.

V. 20 – The father wouldn’t usually run.

 Some have talked about how this imagery would fit more of a mother, because this is
something that a father wouldn’t do.
 It is more shameful to run because he would’ve had to pick up robe

V. 29 – Elder son; "I’ve obeyed your every command!" (But he didn’t go to the party.)
 When the elder son said, “you didn’t even provide a celebration for me and my
friends…” Do we value our friends more than our relationship with the father?
 The elder son’s no-no is how he decided not to go into the party, a son wouldn’t do that.

V. 32 – The father desires for relationships to be restored to the father and to each other.
 The father not only pursues the younger son, but also the older son.
Luke 15:11-32 - The Prodigal Son/The Pursuing Father
APPLICATION

 Challenge: share the concern for the lost, to scan the horizons, and pursue them!

 Are we willing to share the father’s heart and join in the celebration, join in what the
father is doing, and search for the lost?

 Are we living out the mission of God?

o This passage lifts up the mission of God – “all that is mine is yours!”
o The elder son didn’t share the father’s concern for the lost, that’s why he feels
this disconnect.

MAIN POINT

 Know the context of the passage: There is Jesus eating with the “undesirables” and
there’s a complaint from the "righteous" Pharisees and Scribes.

 The passage ends with the “undesirable” one brought in, and a complaint from the
brother.
o This elicits a response from the Pharisees and Scribes: Will they join the party
and celebrate?

 It's not the son that finds the father; it's the father who found him.

 The father isn’t passive. He is pursuing us.

o Are we pursuing the father?
o Are we participating in the father’s mission of pursuing others?