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Luke 15

Jesus answers complaints about his welcome of sinners by showing heaven’s joy over repentance and a father’s compassion.

Tax collectors and sinners gather to hear Jesus, while Pharisees and scribes complain that he welcomes them and eats with them. Jesus answers with stories about a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a father with two sons. Each story reaches a celebration over what was lost and found. The last story ends with the elder son outside the feast, angry at his brother’s welcome, while his father comes out to plead with him.

guilt and confessionforgiving someoneenvy and comparison
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1Now all the tax collectors and sinners were coming close to him to hear him.
2The Pharisees and the scribes murmured, saying, “This man welcomes sinners, and eats with them.”
4“Which of you men, if you had one hundred sheep and lost one of them, wouldn’t leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that was lost, until he found it?
5When he has found it, he carries it on his shoulders, rejoicing.
6When he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!’
7I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.
8“Or what woman, if she had ten drachma coins, if she lost one drachma coin, wouldn’t light a lamp, sweep the house, and seek diligently until she found it?
9When she has found it, she calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the drachma which I had lost!’
10Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting.”
12The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ So he divided his livelihood between them.
13Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living.
14When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need.
15He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs.
16He wanted to fill his belly with the pods that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
17But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!
18I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.
19I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’
20“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.
21The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet.
23Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let’s eat and celebrate;
24for this, my son, was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.’ Then they began to celebrate.
25“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing.
27He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’
28But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him.
29But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends.
30But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’
31“He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours.
32But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Luke 15:4The shepherd’s search establishes the pattern of seeking and finding that makes celebration fitting throughout the chapter.
Luke 15:10Jesus connects the woman’s joy over her recovered coin with joy in God’s presence over a sinner’s repentance.
Luke 15:32The father’s final words affirm the celebration and call the angry elder son to recognize the returning son as his brother.
Where this chapter reaches

Matthew also tells of a shepherd seeking one sheep that has strayed, while Ezekiel portrays God seeking his scattered sheep and bringing them home. Ephesians shares the movement from death to life through God’s mercy that the father uses to describe his son’s return.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What do the searches and celebrations show you about why Jesus welcomes sinners?

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What stands out to you about the father’s response to each son?

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Questions people ask about Luke 15

What does the prodigal son mean in Luke 15?

Prodigal means wasteful or extravagant; the label refers to the younger son spending his inheritance in riotous living. The chapter itself calls him the younger son. His hunger leads him home, where he confesses his sin and receives his father’s welcome. The story then turns to his elder brother’s anger.

Who does the older brother represent in Luke 15?

The elder brother’s anger echoes the Pharisees and scribes complaining that Jesus welcomes sinners. His refusal to join the feast exposes resistance to the joy Jesus describes. Jesus does not name him as a particular person or group within the story, and the ending leaves his response to the father unresolved.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).