The Father and His Party

This page is a resource to help us consider the compelling aspects of Christianity in one single chapter of the Bible. This chapter, Luke 15, is a great starting place for Christians to invite their friends who believe differently to investigate the essential elements of the Christian faith (sin, repentance, and the character of God).

Have you ever read the story of the Prodigal Son? Did you know it’s really a story about a father and two sons, not just one?

Read through Luke 15 and consider the questions below.

  1. What are the similarities in these three parables?

    1. Lost and valuable are found: sheep, coin, son

    2.  Rejoicing & Celebration that the lost are found: 15:5-6, 9, 23-24, 32

    3. Joy in heaven over repentant sinners vv. 7, 10, 32

  2. What are some differences in the last parable compared to the first two?

    1. It’s about a Father and two sons rather than sheep and coins (all three are signs of material wealth, and value)

    2. It’s a longer parable with more details

    3. There is someone who goes after the lost items in the first two parables, but no one goes after the younger son (if you don’t consider the Father looking and seeing the son a far way off. )

  3. Who is the audience listening to Jesus in this chapter (15:1-2)?

    1. Tax collectors and sinners were gathering to listen to Jesus

    2. Pharisees & scribes were grumbling/complaining about Jesus (the people with which he ate)

  4. How do the brothers in the story depict the two groups in the audience?

    1. Younger brother – tax collectors and sinners

    2. Older brother – religious leaders (Pharisees and scribes)

  5. Who gets into the celebration at the end of the story and who is left out?

    1. The younger brother gets into the Father’s celebration and the older does not.

    2. Why is the older brother left out? By his own choice.  He doesn’t like how the father operates, who the father is welcoming back. The older brother’s record of obeying his father was seen as enslavement and at the end it is those “good deeds” that keep him out of the father’s party.

  6. What bothers you or confuses you about this parable? (the more we study the context, the more it will bother us)

  7. How would you describe Christianity based on this chapter?

    1. Who does the father represent in the parable?

      1. The father represents God who loves both his sons (the wild one and the self-righteous rule follower)

    2. Where do you want to be at the end of the parable (desired final destination)?

      1. The Father's party, his feast and celebration for his repentant and restored son.

    3. How would you describe sin from this passage?

      1. Both sons depict sin differently, but both rebelled against the Father and try to live apart from him. The younger son’s rebellion is obvious, but the older son’s sin is hidden in his good deeds.

      2. This is what keeps people from entering the desired place/destination?  

      3. This is what Christianity calls sin - rebellion against God, trying to live without him, missing the mark of our designed purpose of loving God and others.

    4. What is required to get into the desired place/destination?  

      1. Repentance - turning away from rebellious living and returning to the loving father. 

      2. The full gospel account tells that Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10) and that no one can come to the Father except through him (John 14:6). So, a more complete idea of repentance is to turn to God the Father through faith in Jesus the Son of God.

    5. Who is left out of the father's party at the end of the parable? Why?

      1. It is not the father keeping the older brother out of the party. It is the older brother’s pride and self-righteousness that keeps him out of the Father’s party.

      2. The older brother has not repented.  He doesn't think he needs to repent because he think he's kept all the rules, but we see that the older brother doesn't love who the father loves. The older brother has kept the rules in order to get the father's stuff, but not because he loves the father.  This is rebellion against God too.

    6. How does the father character challenge your view of God?

    7. What character is missing from the parable of the sons that is in the first two parables?

      1. The character who went to find the lost and valuable item.

      2. The listeners of the parable would have seen the missing character in the third parable and would have known that a good older brother would be the one to seek and save the lost younger brother.  This is exactly what Jesus came to do.  Jesus says as much later in Luke's Gospel account 19:10 - "For the Son of Man came to seek out and to save the lost.” 

      3. The honorable older brother would work on behalf of the father to seek out the loved and valuable, though foolish younger brother.  This is exactly what Jesus did for us.

      4. To restore the younger brother the older brother would need to share his inheritance - this is exactly what Jesus did for us.

    8. What is attractive or compelling about this parable?  

      1. Who wouldn’t want this Father?

      2. Jesus came to seek and save the lost (Luke 19:10), to makes this Father known (John 14:6) and gives us a place in his home forever (John 14:1-4).

    9. How does it correct or challenge your view of Christianity? 

      1. What do you think about the older brother who kept all rules as the one negatively viewed and outside the father’s party at the end?

      2. Older brother doesn’t repent, he doesn’t think he needs to repent because he has kept the rules of the father. The older brother has kept the rules of the father, but doesn’t love the father, otherwise he would love what the father loves and whom the father the loves.