Luke 15:27, commentary and pictures

A servant in the field explains to the elder son why there is feasting and music, that his lost brother has come home alive and well and their father has killed the fatted calf to celebrate his safe return. The welcome shows the Father's pitying love toward those who strayed, who does not abandon them in misery but waits with yearning to receive the repentant without reproach or condemnation. He takes the wanderer back as a son into his heart and home, forgiving and forgetting the past, covering him with righteousness and giving him a place at his table. The elder son, who shared no concern for the lost, treats this mercy as an insult, becoming angry, jealous and unwilling to go in, which pictures the self-righteous who think faithful service entitles them to reward and cannot rejoice when sinners are saved. The celebration therefore calls every backslider to return at once in humility, confession and willing obedience, for God even now stands ready to pardon, restore and fill with joy all who come to Him.

Parable Context and Story

Luke 15:27 belongs to the parable of the prodigal son, which portrays the Lord's dealings with those who have known the Father's love but have turned away and been led captive by the tempter. It was spoken in response to the complaints of the scribes and Pharisees that Jesus associated with sinners, and with the lost sheep and the lost coin it teaches mercy and forgiveness toward the lost. The younger son's departure and wasteful life set the background for the return and welcome celebrated in this verse.

Christ taught this truth through a familiar event of daily life to illustrate immortal truth, gathering spiritual teaching from everyday surroundings so that daily work is brightened by reminders of the unseen. The return to the father's home is a most pathetic and touching illustration, presented by coming directly to the point to touch the heart and awaken sympathy while leaving hearers free to accept or reject. Reading every heart, He drew things new and old from His treasure to illustrate and enforce His teaching, without forcing belief or proving by long, farfetched, complicated reasoning. The father's welcome of the lost son safe and sound, seeing him afar off, running to meet him, and rejoicing that he who had been thought dead is alive again, shows this way of making the unseen memorable through ordinary experience.

The younger son selfishly asked for his share of the estate though he could rightfully claim nothing and should have had nothing. He separated his interest from his father to manage his share as he pleased and to escape counsel, reproof, advice, restraint and mutual obligation, withdrawing far away to forget his father and to have pleasure in any way he chose. He spent the undeserved treasure in sinful indulgence until it was all gone, and was then brought by famine into pinching want and destitution down to feeding swine and perishing with hunger far from his father's house. His course pictures one ruined through selfish indulgence and one who once loved and served God but turned away, becoming a ruined temple of his own making under Satan's guidance. Once standing in pride, full of ambitious hopes and winning the richest prizes by excelling in seeking victory, he was filled with self-sufficiency by praise and flattery, his habitual wine drinking became fixed, and he sank lower and lower until he lost courage and drifted with no power to leave the snare, losing his God-given manhood as Satan controlled mind and judgment. In that far, perishing condition he is an object of compassion.

In the verse a servant tells the elder son in the field what the celebration means, for he heard the general demonstrations of joy but did not know his brother had returned. The message is that thy brother is come and the father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound, welcomed safely home again as from the dead whom they had thought dead, now alive again. The father made the return an occasion of special rejoicing and feasting, illustrating the joyful welcome given to one who comes back after going astray and the father's continuing love and readiness to receive his son. The honor and respect shown beyond anything the faithful son had received stirs the elder brother to anger so he will not go in to see or receive him, feeling the unfaithful brother had left the father, thrown shared duties upon him, and wasted in wicked profligacy the means given him until reduced to want while he at home faithfully performed a son's duties. The father entreats him to receive his brother with gladness because he was lost and is found, was dead in sin and iniquity but is alive again and has come to his moral senses and abhors his course of sin, assuring him he was ever with him and all he had was his, but it is right to show this demonstration of joy, for the fact that the lost is found and the dead is alive again overbears all other considerations.

Those acting as the prodigal are Jesus' own sons and daughters whom He yearns to bless, professed commandment-keepers who flatter themselves they are Christians yet break the law, are unthankful and unholy, and use entrusted talents to counterwork God. There is no light in them, their light is darkness, and their influence is not unto sanctification or holiness, and He longs to do them the good He delights to do but cannot because of the perversity of their characters.

Father's Compassionate Welcome

The welcome shows that God does not abandon in misery those who have strayed from Him and are exposed to the tempter's influence, but meets them with kindness and tender pity and pitying love. His love remains strong for those who separate from Him, and when they repent and return He receives them with joy as an earthly father receives a long-lost son returning in penitence. That welcome is a picture of forgiveness and restoration, giving the true representation of the tender, loving, pitying care exercised by the Father.

The Father waits with yearning love to receive the returning prodigal, and when the lost one comes home He does not hurl accusations of wrath but prepares a feast to welcome the return. He takes the first step to seek the wanderer, drawing him back even while far away by His Spirit, so that the longing to return is the Spirit's work. Heaven expends amazing sacrifice and labor and energy to reclaim the lost in bringing them back to the Father's house. God Himself goes after the lost, calls the distressed soul to return, heals backsliding and loves freely, and heaven rejoices when the lost are restored.

Though He is the one sinned against, the Father meets the erring and repenting with compassion, pity, forgiveness and great joy. The joy is because the son, believed dead to all filial affection, has become sensible of his great sin and neglect, has come back appreciating his love and acknowledging his claims, has suffered and felt his need, and comes in humility, penitence, sorrow and contrition to the only one who can supply that need. The returning sinner is not reproached or reminded of past unworthiness, nor taunted or condemned for former sins, but is welcomed safely home with celebration and with patient care rather than cold rejection. Penitence is required, and sorrow and contrition meet forgiveness and covering with Christ's righteousness.

He receives the sinner as a son back into the family and heart, with restoration after a sinful, wasteful life through humility and repentance. He forgives and blots out the past so that past sins are forgiven and forgotten, covers the returning one with His robe of righteousness, reconciles and protects as a child and gives a place at His table. He gives favors to the poor prodigal because He appreciates and values every soul for whom Christ died, receiving any class of sinners who return to Him.

The joyful reception reveals the Father's infinite love for the fallen race in giving Jesus as a sacrifice, opening a channel to restore all who believe in Jesus Christ to His favor, giving them life in Christ and leading them to obey all of God's commandments. That love is shown at Calvary, where Christ was given as the propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and through His mercy and dying love sinners are restored to God's favor and assured of acceptance, peace and love. Their return, whether of backsliders coming with confession and contrition after wandering from God or of first-time seekers turning to Him, is met by the tender compassion and pity of Jesus who died to save them, by the convicting and helping power of the Holy Spirit resting upon them, and by the faithful fulfillment of Christ's assurances, so that none who truly come and seek Him seek in vain. Making that love known is the way of winning souls.

The safe return welcomed with feasting is a cause for celebration reflecting the joy in heaven when one is brought back to God. Heaven rejoices when a sinner returns, with greater joy over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine who need no repentance, and the endangered sinner calls forth tender sympathy and earnest labor. Heaven is thus marked by warmth, courtesy and love.

Elder Brother's Resentful Complaint

The servant in the field tells the elder son, who hears the general demonstrations of joy but does not know his brother has returned, what the celebration means — that his brother has come and his father has killed the fatted calf because he has received him safe and sound, as from the dead whom they thought dead now alive again, making the return an occasion of special rejoicing. Because the elder brother had not shared his father's concern for the lost son, the celebration awakens jealousy rather than joy in him. He treats his brother's restoration and the honor shown, even beyond anything he himself ever received, as an insult and injustice to himself, reasoning that the unfaithful brother left and threw shared duties upon him and wasted in wicked profligacy the means given him until reduced to want while he at home faithfully performed a son's duties. He becomes angry and will not go in to see or receive him. The father patiently entreats him and defends the welcome, seeking to awaken tenderness, urging him to receive his brother with gladness because he was lost and is found, was dead in sin and iniquity but is alive again and has come to moral senses abhorring his course of sin, and assuring him he was ever with him and all he had was his, yet it is right to show this demonstration of joy, for the fact that the lost is found and the dead is alive again overbears all other considerations.

His spirit is selfish, proud, envious, jealous, stubborn, contemptuous and fault-finding, watching his brother for faults and criticizing him. Instead of kind and tender treatment he shows suspicion, distrust, unkindness and retaliation toward one struggling against temptation, and his refusal to forgive stands in contrast to the Lord's forgiveness in receiving any class of sinners who return and covering them with His robe of righteousness. He does not understand God's gracious way of dealing with people, so even burden-bearing service and enduring hardship is spoiled by a spirit unlike Christ's. His complaint was natural but not right, picturing the way brother often treats brother by working to make the erring feel where they erred and keeping error before them, when those who erred already suffer in feeling and are desponding and discouraged and need pity, help, sympathy, and above everything else free forgiveness, while the father's greatest joy at his son's returning is the right response.

He represents unrepenting Israel and the Pharisees refusing to regard publicans and sinners as fellow people to be forgiven and sought for. The welcome with feast and kindness given every repentant soul without reproach or reminding of past unworthiness, with penitence required, illustrates the joy and kindness of the Heavenly Father that Israel had resisted. It describes God's dealings with Israel in loving, fatherly mercy, willing to suffer for their sins and bear their guilt though they resisted His grace and neglected His invitations, a mercy Jesus grieved over in Jerusalem while knowing the judgment that awaited it.

He represents many handling sacred things who feel their own course righteous, suppose they have been faithful in home duties, think they need no repentance and expect to be commended and honored. He contrasts his own course with the prodigal's and cannot sympathize with the father's joy in receiving back the wandering one, and in selfishness is unwilling to receive his repenting brother and rejoice at his return, which proves he himself is in need of repentance, a lesson given for those claiming to love God that they may properly represent Him in service. People who have served longer or endured more may resent another's welcome when they believe their work entitles them to greater reward, and the father's joyful reception of the son safely home therefore contrasts with a view of service as earning salvation.

That same elder-brother spirit appears when members of churches resent labor bestowed to save the lost instead of feeding themselves, envy the care given to new believers, and murmur as though robbed of ministerial labor. The very ones who neglected souls in peril, left them to wander and perish, and drove them into Satan's snares reenact his jealousy and complaint over the fatted calf when they refuse to rejoice with Christ in bringing back the lost and wandering sheep and complain of the Father's favors to the restored sinner, whom He appreciates and values as one for whom Christ died. Those who have had labor bestowed should have knowledge of God and of Jesus Christ, and if Christ is formed within as the hope of glory they will seek to save the lost and use strength and talents to carry the burden for perishing souls, hunting for souls and bringing truth close to hearts rather than expecting to be constantly fed with sermons while failing to do righteousness at home and in church. A living church is not a gossiping church planting doubt, questioning, evil surmising and jealousy, but an earnest, working church whose members are chosen vessels carrying salvation, light-bearers reflecting truth by precept and example, stretching out hands all day in burden for souls and sincere prayer. Such murmuring lacks Christ's Spirit, displeases God who hears words and sees attitude, hinders the saving of souls and God's work, and can keep erring people from the kingdom, as was acted out in the Ashfield church where instead of rejoicing that wandering people were brought back some resented that more labor could not be devoted to them; the warning against the complaining attitude toward a returning sinner has eternal importance.

Conditions of Restored Sonship

The welcome home brings the wanderer back into the father's care and restores his place as a son, celebrated because he returned safe and sound. Enjoying the privileges of sonship requires living according to the father's conditions and submitting to the father's authority. Claiming a son's privileges means accepting a son's obligations. Like the found sheep, the restored wanderer is to remain in the fold under the shepherd's care rather than wander again.

Enjoyment of sonship calls for complying with its conditions on God's ground, not man's own, with cordial assent and willing obedience to His terms. This means receiving Christ as Saviour and King to reign in the soul, renouncing the favor and friendship of the world, and making Him all and in all. It means walking in accordance with His Word, acknowledging His authority, consulting His will, making His law the rule of life and making His life the pattern. It means denying self and being ready to part with all and make any sacrifice for His sake, with friendship with Him measured by His dominion. This is made possible because God in boundless love assumed humanity in the person of His Son, who made propitiation for the sins of the whole world, and who is not far off but will freely cooperate with and gladly receive all who come. God accepts those who turn to Him with full commitment, and souls who decide to return to God and receive truth can be wisely cared for and saved, for truth brought into their lives has saving power.

Seeking and Restoring Wanderers

Luke 15 teaches the church to seek the lost and bring them into the fold, hunting for souls and bringing truth close to hearts rather than expecting to be constantly fed with sermons. It calls for earnest cooperation with God in seeking the lost sheep and in winning back the prodigal, for the father's joy over receiving his son safe and sound shows the tender, loving, pitying care with which God receives those who repent and return. Those who have been sought and brought back can then understand how to seek others and bring them to the Father. A living church is not a gossiping church planting doubt, questioning, evil surmising and jealousy, but an earnest working church of chosen vessels carrying salvation and light-bearers reflecting truth by precept and example, stretching out hands all day long in burden for souls and sincere prayer and doing righteousness at home and in church. That duty was pressed home in labor for George Lay, that the church must seek the lost and bring them in.

Those who have fallen under temptation and gone astray must not be abandoned, harshly condemned or severely judged. They need the loving Father's welcome, not the elder brother's cold rejection, contempt, indifference, suspicion, distrust and retaliation. They are to be labored for tenderly with loving, unselfish care and patient welcome that seeks to lead them to repentance and to the sin-pardoning Saviour. The father's embrace and celebration over receiving his son safe and sound, with clothing and ring and the killed fatted calf, shows God's tenderness toward the returning sinner and warns against withholding compassion from one struggling to come back. Making the Father's love known is the way of winning souls.

The safe return is a source of the greatest joy, expressed in feasting, because the son believed dead to all filial affection has become sensible of great sin and neglect and has come back appreciating the father's love and acknowledging his claims, having suffered and felt need and come as to the only one who can supply it. Such a repentant one restored safe and sound must be welcomed and forgiven with pity, help, sympathy, gladness and love, and above everything else free forgiveness, rejoicing when the lost are restored and partaking in God's seeking love and heaven's rejoicing. Brother must not pursue brother by making the erring feel where they erred, keeping error before them, magnifying every fault, or meeting them with censure, suspicion and reproach. The elder brother's complaint at the honor shown was natural but not right, and his cold, jealous, resentful spirit of suspicion, distrust, retaliation, indifference and careless disregard for those ready to die stands condemned as the opposite of the father's mercy. Those who have learned by experience what distrust feels like must not return it nor practice it in labor for others, but exercise patience and forbearance, refuse retaliation, treat the brother with kindness and brotherly love, and keep Christ's prayer before the mind and answer it in daily attitude and practice.

Invitation to Return Home

The verse invites every thorough backslider who has wandered from God and truth out of the Father's house and blessing into Satan's and sin's service to return like the prodigal by an immediate square-about decision to be a Christian from that day. That leaving includes giving up the Sabbath and Christian service for worldly employment, even when it began through discouragement, Satan's temptation, and brethren dealing too severely with youthful indiscretion and lacking tenderness and love. Returning means leaving sin and no longer withholding and robbing God of time, talent and influence that belong to Christ who loved and bought him with His blood, even at cost of position, livelihood and trade, while mistakes and severity from brethren give no excuse for staying away and grieving Christ whose tender compassionate love shines from Calvary. The degraded sinner moved toward full conversion should humble himself, follow enlightened conscience, and come to Jesus who alone can save and help, for turning back brings the Father's welcome and blessing.

The return is made by backsliders coming to the Father's house to seek the Lord with confession and contrition of soul and penitence, and the same picture holds for first-time seekers turning to Him. The Lord waits with open arms for those who come after sin to bring failures and ask strength to begin again. A message of love helps the wanderer grasp hope of redemption through Christ, met by the tender compassion and pity of Jesus who died to save, by the convicting and helping power of the Holy Spirit, and by faithful fulfillment of Christ's assurances so none truly coming seek in vain.

God as Father is ready even now to accept the erring one long separated and staying away so long and to pardon all transgressions if he will but come, meeting him with evidenced pardon and love. When he turns square about he is put in a new channel with purified thoughts and changed purposes and solemn responsibility, and is received back safe to his Father's house filled with happiness and thankfulness. Christ presents to such a one the message of mercy, Come for all things are now ready, and the Majesty of Heaven invites him to come that he may have life and be cleansed from sin by laying hold on Christ.

The returning sinner must search his heart over what road he is traveling and where it will end, and rejoice that life was not cut off while without certain hope of eternal life. He must no longer neglect the work lest he perish in sins, not flatter his soul with false hopes, and consent to accept the one humble way to get hold again. Serving sin and the flesh and the devil brings only poor wages and no profit, and the call to the prodigal is Turn ye, turn ye, for why will ye die.

The safe homecoming received with joy and the killed fatted calf and celebration encourages without delay all who left the Father's house to return to God. It is an example of returning humbly to parents and to God rather than delaying, showing the wayward can come back. Sanitarium workers are to encourage the sinful and prodigal to come back to the welcome awaiting them. That return is pictured in Edson's return to his father's house gaining rich experience toward submission to God's will, in the urging of Daniel as a prodigal neglecting God's invitation to return and take the Lord's side, and in the warning that children's rebellious ways may follow parental indulgence and neglect of discipline.