Luke 15:11-32 ASV
And he said, A certain man had two sons:
[12] and the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of thy substance that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living.
[13] And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together and took his journey into a far country; and there he wasted his substance with riotous living.
[14] And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that country; and he began to be in want. [15] And he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine.
[16] And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him.
[17] But when he came to himself he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish here with hunger!
[18] I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight:
[19] I am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants.
[20] And he arose, and came to his father. But while he was yet afar off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
[21] And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight: I am no more worthy to be called thy son.
[22] But the father said to his servants, Bring forth quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet:
[23] and bring the fatted calf, and kill it, and let us eat, and make merry:
[24] for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. [25] Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard music and dancing.
[26] And he called to him one of the servants, and inquired what these things might be.
[27] And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound.
[28] But he was angry, and would not go in: and his father came out, and entreated him.
[29] But he answered and said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, and I never transgressed a commandment of thine; and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:
[30] but when this thy son came, who hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou killedst for him the fatted calf.
[31] And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that is mine is thine.
[32] But it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

We call this parable of Jesus the prodigal son, which means a person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way, but it’s called the parable of the lost son.
Normally in the Jewish family according to Deuteronomy 21:17, the older son should receive a double portion or two-thirds of his father’s estate but only at the death of the father, certainly not for the younger son to ask for his share with his father still alive.
“Give me the property coming to me”! The younger son didn’t want to wait for his father’s death to receive his inheritance. His share would have been half of what the older brother would receive. Sounds like a lot of us, doesn’t it?
We approach the Lord in desperate need in prayer and as soon as we get what we’re after, we walk away. How many of us are the “lost son” or prodigal son?
The whole of chapter 15 talks about “the lost”, the lost sheep who got lost naturally from wandering away, the lost coin that was accidentally misplaced, and finally the lost son who wilfully got lost.
Jesus’s parable of the lost expresses God’s passionate love to seek and save the lost and showcases God’s unconditional love in receiving sinners when they repent and turn back to Him.
We could retitle this and call it the “prodigal father” seeing as God the Father is lavishly generous and extravagant in Character and according to Psalm 103:10 God does not deal with us as we deserve.
Are you a lost child?
Have you walked away from the Lord and squandered all you asked Him for?
Like all the other lost things, there was a diligent search for the lost one out of the others until they were found but unlike the lost son, who was capable of moral choices and actions, he was responsible for his homecoming, he needed to make the conscious choice to return home.
God sees humanity as the two sons, which one are you?
The younger son? Who lacked wisdom, was repentant and humble enough to return home to the father’s compassionate welcome ready to confess his sin?
Or the older son who also lacked wisdom but was full of anger, arrogance, and pride, with little show of love and compassion for both his father and brother with constant complaints and bragging in self-righteousness?
Whichever son you think you are, this parable is equally about the father, symbolic of our heavenly Father who is always searching and looking out for His lost children with compassion, willing and ready to welcome them with arms open wide to embrace, forgive and restore that child to honour while celebrating their return.
The second son returned home after his resources ran out that’s what happens when we cut off the sources of supply and leave the environment of production like he did, that he was even ready to return to his father as a servant tells us how desperate his condition was.
Don’t be a lost child, cut off from the Father, wandering around and don’t return to Him, only to treat yourself as a stranger or servant in your father’s home because you made a mistake.
Your Father is waiting for your return with a fatted cow for a feast to welcome you. Come home lost child, come to the Father!
Shalom