The parable of the lost son at first glance appears
slightly different [to other parables of Jesus]. It is longer and more complex,
having three central characters rather than simply one or two. It is also clearly
very closely tied with the setting described in 15:2, where there is murmuring
against Jesus on two counts: that he receives sinners and that he eats with
them. Terminologically, one might add, diegongyzon
in 15:2 recalls the ‘murmurs’ in the wilderness.
Both these elements of criticism, receiving
and eating, are picked up in the parable. Thus the father does indeed receive
his son, with both compassion (esplanchnisthē;
15:20) and joy. Joy is exhorted in 15:23 (euphranthōmen)
and a necessity in 15:32 (euphranthēnai
de kai charēnai edei). This emphasis on joy links this parable with the two
preceding it, and the repeated exhortation and note of obligation intensifies
the challenge to the Pharisees and scribes to join in rejoicing over the
repentant. As for eating, the father also sets a feast for his lost son, which
the elder son refuses to join. The feast itself features the fatted calf,
implying ‘a meal of sumptuous and abundant nourishment’, thereby emphasizing
both the satisfaction of the younger son’s craving but also the intensity of
the father’s joy at his son’s restoration.
Relationally this creates a triangle of roles
like this:
Father
= host and (implied) Jesus
younger son = elder
son =
guest + other third party and critic
guest + other third party and critic
The father seems identified with Jesus since
the issue of 15:2 is Jesus’ reception of and eating with sinners, which is the
elder son’s objection to the father. (Michael J. Ovey, The Feasts of Repentance: From Luke-Acts to Systematic and Pastoral
Theology [New Studies in Biblical Theology 49; London: Apollos, 2019], 26-27; comment in square brackets added for clarification)