Luke 15:11–32 “Rejoice With Me”
The Word is Powerful.
The Word transforms our lives.
Let us desire the Word.
Today’s passage is one of Jesus’ most famous parables—the story of the prodigal son. Let’s look at it together through three people: the younger son, the older son, and the father.
1. The Younger Son
The younger son comes to his father and says, “Give me my share of the inheritance.”
In that culture, inheritance was never given while the father was still alive.
So what he was really saying was, “Father, I don’t need you. I just want your money. I wish you were dead.”
It was an unthinkable insult—an offense so serious that the townspeople could have stoned him to death.
But the shocking thing is this: the father agrees. He divides his property and gives it to him.
The second son left his father and went to a distant country, where he lived a reckless life and squandered all his wealth.
After he had spent everything and become so miserable that he had to work feeding pigs, he remembered his father.
He decided, “I will go back to my father and become one of his servants.”
2. The Older Son
Let’s take a look at the older son. The older son seems better compared to his younger brother. He faithfully served his father and appeared to be a wonderful son who had never disobeyed any of his father’s commands. However, one day, when the younger brother—who had been lost and thought to be dead—returned, the older son, who should have been happy, instead became angry.
He was upset that his father welcomed his younger brother back so warmly. Jesus tells us that this attitude, too, is sin.
Why was the older son angry about his brother’s return and his father’s warm reception?
It was because his father held a feast for the younger son using what would one day become the older son’s inheritance.
Both sons, not just the younger one, desired their father’s wealth.
Although the older son had worked hard and obeyed his father, his true motive was no different from that of his younger brother.
3. The Father
The father knew his younger son would waste everything. But he still gave.
What kind of father does that? A foolish father? An unreasonable one?
No—this father represents God Himself.
In verse 12, the word for “property” in Greek is bios, meaning “life.”
The father didn’t just give away his possessions—he gave away his very life.
That is the gospel: our Father gave His life for us through His Son, Jesus Christ.
When the son returns, the father doesn’t scold him. He runs to him, throws his arms around him, kisses him, dresses him, and puts a ring on his finger.
This is the picture of God’s heart toward sinners who come home.
We are all like the younger son.
We left home. We lived as if God didn’t exist.
But Jesus came to find us.
He carried the cross for us so that we could become children of God.
The Father rejoices when the lost are found.
But there’s one person in the story who does not rejoice—the older brother.
Jesus was speaking to the Pharisees and the teachers of the law who were angry that sinners were coming to Him.
They were the older brothers.
The older son thought, “My brother is a sinner, but I’m not.”
He couldn’t rejoice because he didn’t see his own sin.
If he had realized he, too, needed grace, he would have joined the father in joy.
Jesus was saying, “You are not meant to live grumbling lives. You are meant to rejoice when the lost return. And I will make you that kind of person.”
Jesus never gives up.
He says, “I will make you someone who waits for the lost to return, who rejoices when they come home. Rejoice with Me.”
Love begets love.
When we are loved, we begin to love.
When we are filled with joy, we begin to share joy.
When we long for His grace and depend on His mercy, there will come a day when His joy overflows in us—
and we will live like the father in the story, waiting, embracing, and rejoicing over those who come home.
Normally, the older brother should have rejoiced when his younger brother came back.
But he couldn’t—because he was broken inside.
There are many “younger sons” in our churches today—people who have wandered and are trying to come home.
And God is looking for older brothers and sisters who will pray for them, welcome them, and celebrate their return.
The Father’s love that ran toward the younger son is the same love that is being poured out on us today—and still being poured out.
Let’s pray to experience and live in that love.
If you’ve lost the joy of loving God, pray:
“Lord, restore to me the joy of Your salvation. Help me to delight again in Your love.”
God is bringing prodigals back to His house.
May we not turn away in indifference or discomfort.
Instead, may we hear His invitation:
“Rejoice with Me.”
Let us pray and live so that when the lost come home, we can join the Father’s joy and say,
“Rejoice with Me, for what was lost has been found.”
