The Parable of the Two Lost Sons — Luke 15:11-32

JESUS TOLD THREE parables in response to the Pharisees and scribes “grumbling” because he “welcomes sinners and eats with them.” To welcome (dechomai) implies hospitality, hosting a meal. Being invited to a meal means the host wants and accepts the guests. Not only were the guests eating with Jesus social and religious outsiders — “all the tax collectors and sinners” —  but they were “coming near to listen to him”. The three parables — the lost sheep, the lost coin and the two lost sons — invite insight into the unimaginable mercy of God.

Humanity and God

Jesus pulls out all the stops when talking to the leaders who are furiously critical of his table companions. The textual pattern of the parables reinforce Jesus’s words. They begin with loss, then the finding followed by a celebration. The lost sheep and the lost coin both start with a question inviting the leaders to consider their response. The first character is a shepherd and the other a woman, both characters who would have been offensive to the Pharisees. The final celebration evokes God’s mercy given flesh in Jesus’s insistence that the poor and outcast are welcome as his table companions.

Each of the three parables tells us something about the relationship between humanity and God. The first and third begin: “Which one [anthropos] of you …” (literally “any human out of you” Luke 15:4) and "There was a man [anthropos] who had two sons…” (Lk 15:11). Anthropos, meaning the human person, suggests the human condition. The parable concerning a woman’s experience is placed between these two (Lk 15:8).

Two Lost Sons

I think naming the third parable “The Prodigal Son” puts the focus on the younger son alone (15:12-24) and disregards the lostness of the older brother (15:25-32). Calling the parable “The Two Lost Sons” draws attention to both brothers and the triangle of relationship among the father and his two sons.

Women of the Household

The story infers a wider impact beyond the men of the family. At Jesus’s time the younger son’s behaviour would have caused suffering also for his mother in the household. A son was expected to remain at home and not only care for his father into old age, but also guarantee his mother’s place in the family. Those who first heard this parable would recognise that both parents would have been damaged by the son leaving. And this damage would have rippled out to the families living around the household.

God of the Poor

The three parables suggest a village or rural setting where life was hard and many households were poor. The characters noticing and searching for lost necessities provide images of God. The parables themselves are addressed explicitly (Lk 15:4,8) and implicitly (Lk 15:11) to the well-to-do and, maybe, to absentee landlords and owners of peasant tenants and flocks — and to all who think they know how God acts.

About Slavery

Jesus and the early Christians lived in the Roman Empire where slavery was an institution — one slave to every five free adults and one to three in Rome itself. The parable infers that the parents' household depended on slaves to function. The father asks his slaves (doulous) to bring the best robe, a ring and sandal, to kill the fattened calf and prepare and serve the festive meal. The elder son complained he'd been working like a "slave" (douleuō) which literally means “I am slaving to you". Earlier, the son had asked one of the slaves (paidōn) what was happening at the house. Paidōn refers to someone under the authority of another. All slaves (douloi) were without rights and were the property of their owners. At the master’s whim and with but a moment’s notice, slaves could be sold.

Slavery continues today as an insidious evil against human persons. The International Labor Organization estimates that more than 49 million individuals are victims of modern slavery. This is equivalent to roughly one in every 150 people in the world. We have a role to play to restore these lost people to full humanity by bringing modern human slavery to an end. We can start by buying slavery-free products because slavery flows into our lives through many of the products we buy.

“Coming to Himself”

Dry climatic conditions in the Middle East make agriculture a perilous endeavour. Droughts and ensuing famine were common. The younger son had travelled to a foreign land where he is hired to feed pigs. He is taken on as a day labourer without the position of slaves or servants who were part of an extended family. He eats carob pods — the food of animals and the poor. The son then experiences “coming to himself”, a Greek expression suggesting self-knowledge and an experience of realism. And he resolves to go to his father.

A Triad of Relationships

A threefold pattern unfolds which provides insight into God’s mercy.

First, there is a need. When the father saw the younger son coming from afar, he knew he could be in danger from the villagers. The young man had requested his inheritance from his father and used it up — behaving as if his father were dead. This was culturally and religiously offensive. He had viewed his inheritance as his due, not as a gift. In failing to “honour father and mother,” he had severed communal relationships and coming home made him at risk from the anger of villagers.

“Moved with Compassion”

Second, is the change in the father — his “heart moved with compassion”. The verb splagnizomai, and its other forms used in the New Testament, means being moved from the depths of one’s being, and echoes rahamim, the noun for womb-compassion which comes from the Hebrew word for womb, rehem. It describes the change that came over the father.

Action

Third, the father acted in a way that transformed the situation. Throwing dignity aside, the father runs towards his son and receives him home. This welcome, extravagant in all its details, averts the neighbours’ anger towards the son. The father demonstrates an unbridled welcome to the table for the celebratory meal and killing the fattened calf suggests many guests were invited — maybe even the whole village.

But the older son does not rejoice over his brother’s return. Bitterness alienates him from entering into the welcome of his brother. The tragedy for the older son is that he then becomes lost, unable to see that he already has relationship, privilege and blessing in the household.

James Keenan describes mercy as “the willingness to enter into the chaos of others”. In reflecting on this parable of the two lost sons, we can imagine God’s mercy as a radically different way of acting. So in our time, the parable invites us to see the needs, to be moved with compassion and to do something about it that shows the unimaginable mercy of God.

Tui Motu Magazine. Issue 301 March 2025: 20-21