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28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ 31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’” ~ Luke 15:28-32
The Prodigal came home, the father celebrated and the older brother was angry. And, in the older son, the Pharisees met themselves. They were angered by the the Lord Jesus' grace shown to known sinners. The religious leaders believed in righteousness and justice and holiness, yet they lacked a proper definition of each. According to their theology, there was no grace of God.
In v.28, the Lord Jesus uses the word "begged." The Greek word parakaleĊ means to come alongside to speak to, to come right alongside someone. The noun form of the word is used of the Lord for the Holy Spirit. God pleads with him, and he calls him to come into the experience of His love.
In v.29 we read, "but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends."
The older brother had a master servant relationship with his father. And, since in his eyes he was perfect, having not disobeyed his father once, he made the most arrogant statement ever. In this one verse, we see why the religious leaders never turned to the Lord Jesus: they didn't need a savior. There is an amazing amount of self-deception being thrown out here in one verse.
In the last sentence of v.29, "And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends." The older son is accusing the father of unjust favoritism. And, his father is nothing more than a slave master. The older brother probably wished the father were dead. He doesn't care about his father and now his father is wasting assets on this other son, a wicked son who by his own admission is unworthy.
In v.30 we read, "Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!" He identifies his brother as "this son of yours." He wouldn't even say "my brother."
So, we've got a celebration going on with music and dancing and the younger son and the feast and it's just a high time of joy. And out in the dark of the night we've got this horrific assault on the father by the older son. The Lord Jesus was picturing the religious leaders, they saw themselves as righteous, and they sat in judgment of God.
In v.31-32 we read, "31 His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!"
Divine joy is released when one sinner repents and is reconciled. And heaven's joy will be released not just for the prodigal, not just for someone who's immoral and irreligious and blatantly sinful, but for secret sinners, the rebels, the religious, the moral, the hypocrites, the ones whose lawlessness is all on the inside.
The younger son was overwhelmed by his sin and with his father's grace. Immediately he confessed his sin and he received instantaneously forgiveness, reconciliation, sonship, all the rights and privileges that the father had at his disposal to give. He entered into the celebration of the father's joy . That is eternal salvation. And, the joy in heaven will be for ever.
The older son who had experienced the same tenderness, kindness, mercy, and grace, reacts with bitter resentment. He attacks the integrity of the father. And his father makes one final appeal. "We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!"
Everybody in Luke 15 experienced the joy of the Lord except the older brother. The shepherd, the woman, and their friends all experienced the joy of finding. The younger son experienced the joy of returning and being received by a loving and gracious father. The father experienced the joy of receiving his son back safe and sound. But the older brother would not forgive his brother, so he had no joy. He could have repented and attended the feast, but he refused, so he stayed outside and missed out on the eternal celebration.
