Luke 15:11-32. Lost and Found
The American psychologist George Armitage Miller gave us this Corollary
“Objects are lost because people look where they are not, instead of where they are.”
This obvious statement has much psychological and even spiritual depth. It points to a misalignment of attention and reality, we often search for things (objects, answers, people, even meaning) in the wrong places because of assumptions, habits, or distractions. It could be rewritten,
“People are lost because they don’t look for answers where they can be found.”
This short story that Jesus told of two sons is only 388 words in the Greek original, yet it is his longest parable. As we will see, there are multiple layers in its meaning.
It starts with 5 words in the Greek:
“There was a man who had two sons . . .”
In the past this story has often been called ‘the Prodigal Son’ but to say that is to miss the point, Jesus is comparing two sons. The younger son has 62 per cent of the story and the older son 38 per cent. In the original manuscripts this story is just one paragraph. The youngest son is clearly in trouble but so is the older son. The dire situation of the younger son is described twice, once in relation to his father and then later in relation to his brother:
“For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:24
“This brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:32
The younger son became dead to his father but life returned, he was spiritually lost but was found and clearly his Father always loved him deeply. But why was this phrase repeated to the older brother? Was it an eye-opener suggesting that the older brother really didn’t care about his sibling? There are clues in the story that imply that this was true. The Father expects the older son to think like him, to have his spirit.
Three stories in Luke 15
They are all to do with being ‘lost’.
There were 100 lost sheep but only one was lost by going away but was found by the shepherd.
There were 10 lost coins but only one was lost and was found by the woman
There were two sons, both were lost but only one was found
Note that there is celebration in all three stories. It is as if the first two are a warm up for the third.
The first two stories are shorter. In the first story the sheep ‘goes away’. In the second the coin is lost ‘at home’. In the third story the younger son also ‘goes away’. The implication concerning the older son is that he is lost ‘at home’.
The sheep and the coin have a financial value but the twosomes are of much more worth, they are people.
The audience
It is significant who Jesus was talking to when telling these parables.
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:1-2
‘Tax collectors and sinners’ were collaborators with the Roman authorities and so flouted Jewish law. The Pharisees (the separated ones) and scribes were another pair who were grumbling, this time about who Jesus met with.
“This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Doesn’t this warm you to Jesus? What a great means of evangelism, of sharing the good news that God cares for all people and longs that they all come home and enter his eternal kingdom.
These Pharisees and teachers of the law knew the Scriptures well but they thought that trying to keep the rules was the way to get into God’s good book. How wrong they are. The door to eternal life is through a personal relationship with the King of Kings, the Son of God himself. Wanting to life to please him is much deeper than keeping rules.
In the previous chapter we learn that Jesus was drawing large crowds to hear him speak.
“Large crowds were traveling with Jesus . . .” Luke 14:21
Jesus had shared with them some tough ideas. To be a follower of Jesus requires tough choices:
“If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters—yes, even their own life—such a person cannot be my disciple.” Luke 9:23
“And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.” Luke 14:27
There are churches that suggest that if a person agrees with most of Christian theology and perhaps occasionally goes to church that should satisfy God. Not so, Jesus wants a total commitment to him, a deep personal relationship. This is why the Christian life is often compared to a marriage - total commitment is the only way it works. It is striking that Jesus speaks in this way to those who are not yet committed to him. He asks us all to do what we would call a cost/benefit analysis. What do you gain, eternal life and a purpose for living. What do you lose, your independence to live as you want. However just as being married to a wonderful person is well worth while so is entering a life long relationship with the Lord Jesus. So Jesus is not afraid to say:
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won’t you first sit down and estimate the cost to see if you have enough money to complete it?” Luke 14:28
Jesus keeps making this same point. A king does go to war unless he is fairly certain that he will win it. So Jesus summarises what he is saying to those who would like to have eternal life and be members of his kingdom,
“In the same way, those of you who do not give up everything you have cannot be my disciples.” Luke 15:33
Hear
God gave his people a summary of what life with God entails. This ‘Shema’ is recited every day and is written on paper in the ‘mezuza’ on the doorpost of Jewish homes and is in the prayer boxes orthodox Jews wear when praying:
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up.” Deuteronomy 6:4-7
To be one of God’s people begins with ‘Hear’. If we are not willing to listen to god we cannot be his people. God has spoken to us in the bible but our instincts assure us that what God says here is true.
The final word to everyone at the end of chapter 14 is ‘hear’. Jesus wants us all to hear what he has to say, they are the words of eternal life. A literal translation of this verse is,
“Let the one who has ears to hear, hear.” Luke 14:35
Can you imagine the scene of the crowds around Jesus. The non-devout are drawing near to Jesus and listening to his every word. In contrast those who think they are pious, the Scribes and Pharisees are much further away from God and his kingdom.
When the children of Israel had escaped from Egypt and spent 40 years wandering in the desert before they could enter the promised land, grumbling was a repeated feature. (Exodus 15:24, 16:2, 17:3, Numbers 14:2, 16:11 and 41). To grumble about Jesus and what he says is fatal.
Hearing and grumbling are opposite reactions. Hearing shows the piety of the impious and the impiety of the pious! The Pharisees here grumble about the company Jesus keeps (Luke 15:2). They were scrupulous not to eat and drink with those who were religiously impure. It was in response to this charge that Jesus tells these three stories about the lost.
The Two sons
Jesus liked to use this way of teaching by comparing two sons.
Jesus told two stories about two sons and in both he asks people to wrestle with the meaning: This is the other story
““What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the first and said, ‘Son, go and work today in the vineyard.’
‘I will not,’ he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
“Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered, ‘I will, sir,’ but he did not go.
“Which of the two did what his father wanted?”
“The first,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “Truly I tell you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering the kingdom of God ahead of you. For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him. Matthew 21:28-32
Jesus wants everyone to think about what really matters. This story also goes on to show that tax collectors and those known to be sinners were closer to God than the apparently religious. Look at the last verse, verse 32, of this story.
“. . . this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
In our story the father divided his living between his two sons. He was a fair father, he did not just give a share to the younger son. It was common in judaism for the older son to receive twice the inheritance of the other children (Deuteronomy 21:17). In all likelihood the older son would have received more.
The family must have been wealthy, they had hired servants, fine clothes and land. Yet the younger son opted to live for the here and now and wasted or squandered what he had inherited, Jesus is clearly emphasising that anyone can squander the inheritance God has given them and here he is particularly addressing this who have inherited God’s word and yet fail to live sit teaches.
The third story about two sons would be well known to the Scribes and Pharisees and we will look at this later. It is the story of Isaac and his sons, Jacob and Esau.
The cause of the younger son’s problems
Those who are hard workers probably hate wastefulness. Pharisees tended to work hard at their businesses and were known to be generous in supporting good causes. Jesus never criticises their conscientious work ethic but he does criticise their attitude to others. They think that work leads to reward but that sin and waste lead to disastrous consequences.
As this story gets going you can almost hear the Pharisees agreeing with Jesus on how stupid this younger son was, he surely deserved what he got. Often the conscientious person concludes that he or she is reaping the rewards of their own goodness, common sense and hard work. It is therefore all too easy for those of us who work hard to become self-righteous. Hard workers can look down on and feel indignant about those without these aptitudes. In the same way religious people think they are closer to God because of the way they live.
Those of us that live in countries where natural disasters such as famine are rare tend only to think of problems as being the people’s fault but often other factors are often involved too.
But then Jesus turns the story round. He says that those who have made foolish decisions and wasted all that God has given them are still loved by God and he will welcome them home.
This story of the two sons is so relevant to us today. It teaches us that those who have failed will be welcomed back by God if they sincerely turn back to him and they can then be much closer to god than the self-satisfied religious people.
Earlier in this book Jesus has made the same point to Simon the Pharisee when a sinful woman poured an expensive jar of ointment over Jesus’ feet.
“When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Luke 7:39
Jesus then explains to the Pharisee,
“Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.” Luke 7:47
The younger son left home, went off to a far country and there lived dissolutely. We are not told the details but his lifestyle would probably have included alcohol, drugs, parties, women, anything that gave a short term satisfaction to his lower nature. He was a real waster.
The next story, at the beginning of chapter 16, is about a rich man whose manager was accused of wasting his passions, so we have two successive stories about wasters. The word used for squander in Greek (diakorpizo) is an unusual word but it is used again in both stories, the parable of the Two Sons and the parable of the Shrewd Manager who was was accused of wasting or squandering what his master owned. This story is clearly of Palestinian origin, it talks of specific measures of wheat and oil and uses phrases such as ‘unrighteous mammon’ and ‘sons of light’ that only come from Palestine.
Wasters can be people of all classes and ranks. Can people in good jobs not also live in ways that their heavenly Father does not approve of?
He starts to think
God often brings disasters to bring people to their senses and cause them to return to him. In this story, after he had wasted his money a severe famine set in. These would often last several years.
In the distant land the young man was in dire trouble. So he turns to a ‘citizen’ of this land. This reminds us that he was not a citizen and therefore had no rights.
Pigs, a complete anathema to a religious Jew was all he could attach himself to. Shepherding was no prestigious but pig herding was even worse. It doesn’t even say ‘hired’. Pigs were ritually unclean. The benefit was that he could share some of the pigs food.
His problems were because of both bad decisions and bad luck but now everything seems outside his control. Notice that the older son only attributes his brother’s problems to his decisions.
“But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!” Luke 15:30
He sounds a bit like those Pharisees. They would have been pleased at how everything had worked out for the younger son. It was his ‘karma’, the sinner got what he deserved. Pigs eat pods that are scarcely digestible for humans. He became hungry, lonely, ashamed and very unclean in every meaning of the word. He had reached rock bottom.
It was only at this stage that he returns to sanity and starts to think. He acknowledges what he has done wrong and is prepared to be accepted back home as a servant, at least he will be clothed and fed. That decision is humbling but it was the way to life.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.” Luke 15:17-20
He had recognised that behind everything he had a deeper problem, he had turned his back on God.
“I have sinned against heaven”
That last verse is one we all need to understand. It is the route to peace with God:
“So he got up and went to his father.” Luke 15:20
He had to make a decision and genuinely act upon it.
The father’s response
Doesn’t this thrill you. It is the opposite of what the Pharisees would have done. They were saying,
“He has made his own bed, let him lie on it.”
The son had renounced his family, publicly shamed his father, squandered much of the estate but still his father loved him
The father sees him afar off - this strongly suggests that he was looking out for him and longing for him to come home.
The father runs to greet him. His love overcame decorum and dignity.
He has compassion not anger
The son was welcomed home publicly and unconditionally. There was no recrimination.
The son’s speech.
He only gets half-way through his prepared speech. He gets interrupted by his father before he can ask to be a hired servant. Compared what he says with verses 18-19,
“ “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ “But the father said to his servants . . .” Luke 15:21-22
Although he has shown his obvious love to the son, what he says is only said to the servants.
““But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:22-23
Why does he start with the word ‘Quick’? Surely there was no time to lose, he wanted all those years to be forgotten. The ‘robe’ and ‘ring’ meant he was restored to his former status. The best robe would be the highest ranking robe. I wonder what the older son thought of that! Instead of bread he was given the ‘fatted calf’, a treat reserved for visiting dignitaries. Only one calf at a time would be fattened, even in upper households.
The best robe, the family ring and fatted calf would have legally belonged to the older brother since the inheritance had been divided., but the father’s position still gave him authority to use his money as he wanted. Doubtless the older brother found his father’s generosity uncomfortable.
Why all this celebration?
“For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.” Luke 15:24
Note that this is the theme of all the parables in this chapter: The shepherd, the woman and the father all celebrate
“Then he calls his friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost sheep.” Luke 15:6
“She calls her friends and neighbours together and says, ‘Rejoice with me; I have found my lost coin.” Luke 15:9
“But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.” Luke 15:32
Older son. Luke 15:25-27
The older son is an integral part of this single parable. The key to understanding this is the use of the words, ‘While he was still a long way off,’ which contrasts with the older son who was close by, ‘in the field’. As he ‘drew near’ he heard ‘music and dancing’ but did not really understand what was being celebrated. The Greek word for ‘drew near’ has the same root as the word used at the beginning of the chapter. Surely religious people are meant to notice this:
“Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus.” Luke 15:1
In one case, sinners are drawing near to Jesus to hear what he has to say to them about forgiveness and in the other case, the older son only draws near to criticise.
Doubtless the older son had had many privileges in contrast to the crowds but the crowds had recognised something the older son had missed, a relationship with God is essential, just as a relationship with the father, is all important.
It is interesting that the younger son went off to a ‘distant country (Luke 15:13). The Greek word ‘makran’ is used again when it describes the father seeing the returning younger son ‘far of’. Could this be a reminder that God sees all that is going on when we like to think some things are private.
The older son does have questions but notice he does not talk to his father, he only talks to one of the father’s servants:
“So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.” Luke 15: 26
When people have questions why don’t they first ask God directly. He loves us all and longs to be involved. Was this just one indication of a barrier between the older son and his father? The reply of the servant is simple and factual:
“Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.” Luke 15:27
This parable is surely meant to tell us that there is real joy in God’s house when anyone returns into a close relationship with their heavenly father. Unfortunately there are some in our churches who do not seem to understand this. The older son’s reaction is highly emotional:
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in.” Luke 15:28
Somehow the father heard of this reaction and lovingly acts to resolve the tension:
“So his father went out and pleaded with him.” Luke 15:28
He urges him to change the way he is thinking but the attitude of the older son is intransigent. He even blames his father!
“Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!.” Luke 15:29-30
As we have seen, ‘celebrate’ is one of the key words in this chapter. He wants to celebrate with his friends, not his family. This says something. He wants to celebrate away from his father. He also wants to be separate from his father. In this succinct way Jesus is telling his story. Both wanted to be separate from their father.
The use of the word ‘slaving’ (Greek doleuo) is interesting for two reasons. It was now his property that he shared with his father. Hard work on a farm he owns is to his benefit. He speaks as a slave but he is really a son. Later the apostles describe all Christians as willing slaves of the Lord Jesus in gratefulness to all he has done in saving us.
He still refuses to go in to welcome his younger brother. Notice how his reply to his father starts, ‘Look!’. He doesn’t say ‘Father’. The absence of a word tells its own story. This is another sign that this relationship was distant. Notice too how self-centred the older son is, ‘I’, ‘I’, is key to his thinking. Doesn’t he understand how his father thinks about his younger son? He has the easy life yet doesn’t appreciate all that his Father has done for him and given to him.
Contrast this with the way the younger son starts his address, ‘Father’.
In spite of this rudeness, the father still responds with grace. There is no compulsion, just loving reason:
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’” Luke 15:31-32
Don’t you wish there was another paragraph saying how everything was resolved? Did the older son return to a close relationship with his father and brother? Did Luke deliberately leave this question open for us to ponder?
Reflections on Luke 15 in light of the Old Testament
When Jesus told the parable of the two sons (Luke 15:11–32), he was not just creating a memorable story. He was crafting a narrative that echoed deeply with earlier Scriptures—stories the scribes and Pharisees knew well. There two stories tell of two sons, Jacob and Esau and Cain and Abel.
All three stories have repeated themes:
Rebellion
Rejection
Remorse
Repentance
Reconciliation
There are also repeated motifs such as hunger, death, fields, far countries, robes, goats, and the Father’s blessing.
The brilliance of Jesus’ parable is this: it makes perfect sense to those who know nothing of the Old Testament—but makes far more sense to those who do.
Jacob and Esau (Genesis 25–33)
Isaac had two very different sons—Jacob and Esau. There is rivalry over who receives the father’s blessing and inheritance. In this story, the older brother is cheated out of his inheritance and becomes furious (Genesis 27:41). The younger brother, Jacob, fled to a far country to save his life (Genesis 28:5). He leaves with nothing but later returns, now rich and repentant.
Esau is described as a man of the fields (Genesis 25:27). At one point, hungry and exhausted, he says,
“I am about to die” Genesis 25:32
In Jesus’ parable, it is the younger son who says,
“Here I am, dying of hunger” Luke 15:17
Esau sells his birthright because of his hunger. Jesus flips the story—his younger son, instead of selling what he has, comes to his senses and returns home.
When Jacob finally comes back from the far country, something astonishing happens. Instead of revenge, Esau runs to him, embraces him, and kisses him (Genesis 33:4). This is almost identical language to Luke 15:20:
“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.”
That phrase “and he kissed him” appears only a handful of times in the Torah. The scribes and Pharisees would know this well. Jesus is deliberately echoing this powerful moment of reconciliation. If Esau, who was cheated out of everything, could forgive his brother—how much more should the Pharisees rejoice when tax collectors and sinners are welcomed by God?
There are further echoes:
Goat skins (Genesis 27:16) used by Jacob to deceive his blind father. In Luke the fatted calf was probably a young goat that was sacrificed to celebrate the reconciliation.
In Luke, the father says, “Bring the best robe” (Luke 15:22). Whose robe? Likely the older brother’s.
Isaac was blind and could not “see afar off” whereas the father in Luke sees from a distance.
The word “drew near” appears multiple times in the Jacob narrative (Genesis 27), echoing the son’s return in Luke 15.
Esau “stayed at home”, in anger, waiting for Isaac to die. The older son in Luke also refuses to enter and shows hostility toward his father.
Jesus seems to be saying: If even Esau, the wronged one, could forgive and be reconciled, what excuse do you Pharisees have, for resenting grace shown to repentant sinners?
Cain and Abel (Genesis 4)
This is the first story of two sons in the Bible, and again, it shares deep connections with Jesus’ parable.
Both Cain and Abel bring offerings (Genesis 4:3–4). God accepts Abel’s offering, but rejects Cain’s, just as the father in Luke shows favour to the repentant younger son, not the resentful elder. Cain, like the older brother in Jesus’ story, becomes very angry (Genesis 4:5). His face falls. His jealousy festers.
God speaks gently to Cain:
“If you do what is right, will you not be accepted?” Genesis 4:7
But Cain refuses, and instead kills his brother (v. 8). In Luke, the older brother doesn’t kill physically but he does so socvially, he emotionally disowns his sibling, saying, “this son of yours” (Luke 15:30).
Cain walks away from the presence of the Lord (Genesis 4:16). The elder brother in Jesus’ parable refuses to enter his father’s house and share in the joy. In both cases, it is the one who stays near who ends up far from the Father.
God says to Cain,
“Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground” Genesis 4:10
But Hebrews 12:24 says that Jesus’ blood speaks a better word than the blood of Abel—not a cry for justice, but for mercy.
Jesus retells the Cain and Abel story—but reverses the ending. In Genesis, the older son kills the younger. In Jesus’ parable, the younger returns to life—and the Father pleads with the elder to join the celebration.
“This brother of yours was dead and is alive again.” Luke 15:32
Jesus is asking the Pharisees:
Will you choose the way of Cain—anger, distance, and rejection? Or will you come in, come back to me and rejoice with me that your brother is home?
So Jesus story works at various levels. It has careful word choice, and it is morally challenging asking all of us which sort of son are we? The sequence of the ‘lost parables is surely significant. The sheep was lost away, the coin was lost at home, the prodigal was lost away until Gos spoke to him and the older son was lost at home. Esau was lost at home and his descendants became the Edomites, archenemies of God’s people, Jacob was lost away until god spoke to him.
BVP.
