The Prodigals Are Returning: Will We Have the Father’s Heart?
The prodigals are returning.
The question is not whether the younger son will come home.
The question is how those already in the Father’s house will respond when he does.
Will we have the heart of the openly rebellious, yet ultimately repentant younger son?
Will we have the heart of the older son, whose hidden rebellion was cloaked in outward obedience? He remained externally faithful but struggled to rejoice when grace was extended to someone he perceived as less deserving.
Or will we have the heart of the Father, a heart full of grace, mercy, compassion, forgiveness, and reconciliation?
The Parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11–32 is not only a story about a rebellious son who leaves home and eventually returns. It is also a revelation of two very different heart conditions and a Father whose heart is extended toward both sons.
The Younger Son Came Home, but the Older Son Stayed Outside
The younger son’s rebellion was obvious.
He demanded his inheritance, left his father’s house, traveled to a distant country, and wasted what he had been given. His rebellion could be seen.
But eventually, something changed:
“But when he came to himself…”
Luke 15:17
He recognized his condition. He repented. He got up. And he went home.
The older brother never physically left the father’s house. He remained. He worked. He served. He obeyed.
Yet when his brother returned and the father celebrated his restoration, what was hidden in the older brother’s heart suddenly became visible.
The younger brother had experienced rebellion in a distant country.
The older brother was experiencing rebellion while standing in the father’s field.
One rebellion was obvious.
The other was hidden beneath obedience.
And the return of the prodigal exposed it.
What Will the Return of the Prodigals Reveal in Us?
This is an important question for the Church.
We pray for prodigals to return. We intercede for those who have wandered. We ask God to restore those who have fallen.
But what happens when He answers those prayers?
What happens when people return carrying histories we know about?
What happens when God restores someone we believe should still be experiencing consequences?
What happens when the Father puts a robe on someone we remember in rags?
What happens when He places a ring on someone whose failures are still fresh in our minds?
What happens when heaven celebrates someone we have not yet forgiven?
The return of the prodigal does not only reveal the condition of the prodigal’s heart.
It can reveal the condition of ours.
As we examine the older brother in Luke 15, several ungodly heart conditions emerge.
1. Spiritual Pride
The older brother said:
“Lo, these many years I have been serving you; I never transgressed your commandment at any time…”
Luke 15:29
His obedience had become part of his argument for why he deserved preferential treatment.
He measured his worth by his performance and viewed himself as superior because of his obedience.
There is a subtle danger when faithfulness becomes the basis for comparison.
We can begin by faithfully serving God and eventually start believing our service makes us more deserving than someone else.
2. Self-Righteousness
The older brother believed his works entitled him to reward and recognition.
His complaint was essentially, I have done everything right. Therefore, I deserve more.
But relationship with the Father is rooted in grace, not entitlement.
The father reminded him:
“Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”
Luke 15:31
The older son was trying to earn through performance what was already available to him through relationship.
3. Jealousy and Envy
Instead of rejoicing over his brother’s restoration, the older son resented the celebration.
Someone else receiving grace felt like something was being taken away from him.
But grace is not diminished when God gives it to someone else.
Another person’s restoration does not threaten our relationship with the Father.
When the lost are found, heaven rejoices.
Our hearts should too.
4. Unforgiveness
Notice how the older brother described the returning prodigal.
He did not call him my brother.
He said to the father:
“But as soon as this son of yours came…”
Luke 15:30
The father had restored him as a son.
The older brother continued defining him by his failures.
Unforgiveness often keeps people imprisoned in an identity God is trying to redeem.
We remember what they did.
The Father sees who they can become.
5. Resentment and Bitterness
The older brother declared:
“You never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends.”
Luke 15:29
His words revealed something deeper than anger about one celebration.
There were accumulated grievances in his heart.
Apparently, he had been keeping score.
Resentment often develops quietly. We continue serving. We continue showing up. We continue doing what is expected.
But underneath the activity can live an unresolved question:
What about me?
If it is not surrendered to God, disappointment can become resentment, and resentment can eventually distort how we interpret both the Father and other people.
6. Lack of Compassion and Mercy
The father and the older son looked at the same man and saw two very different things.
The father saw a son who had returned.
The older brother saw a sinner who deserved consequences.
The father said:
“For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.”
Luke 15:24
The Father’s heart prioritizes restoration.
That does not mean sin is insignificant. The younger son had to come to himself, acknowledge his condition, get up, and return.
But when genuine repentance brought him home, the father did not make humiliation the price of restoration.
He received him.
7. Orphan-Mindedness and a Servant Mentality
Perhaps one of the saddest realities in the parable is that the older brother lived in the father’s house without fully understanding what it meant to be a son.
Listen again to his language:
“These many years I have been serving you…”
Luke 15:29
He sounded more like an employee negotiating compensation than a son enjoying inheritance.
Yet his father told him:
“Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours.”
Luke 15:31
He was trying to earn what the father had already made available through relationship.
He lived in the house.
He served the father.
He had access to the inheritance.
But inwardly, he related to the father as though everything had to be earned.
The Father Went Out to Both Sons
There is another beautiful detail in this parable.
The father went out to meet both sons.
When the younger son was still a great way off, the father saw him, had compassion, ran to him, embraced him, and kissed him (Luke 15:20).
But when the older son became angry and refused to enter the celebration, the father also went out to him and pleaded with him (Luke 15:28).
One son needed restoration from obvious rebellion.
The other needed restoration from hidden rebellion.
The Father desired both sons.
That is the heart we are being invited to carry.
The Prodigals Are Returning
If we are going to pray for prodigals to return, we must also prepare our hearts to receive them.
Some will return with complicated histories.
Some will return after wasting years.
Some will return after making decisions we warned them not to make.
Some will return after hurting people.
Some may receive restoration that appears faster or more generous than we think is appropriate.
And in those moments, the question will not only be what happened in their hearts.
The question will be what is happening in ours.
Will spiritual pride keep us outside?
Will self-righteousness tell us they have not suffered enough?
Will jealousy make their restoration feel unfair?
Will unforgiveness continue calling them by their past?
Will bitterness make us question the goodness of the Father?
Or will we have the Father’s heart?
The prodigals are returning.
May we not stand outside the celebration.
May we have hearts prepared to receive what God restores.
May we rejoice when the lost are found.
May we extend mercy when the repentant return.
May we recognize sons and daughters where others only see failures.
May we share the Father’s heart when the broken are restored.
And when the music begins and the Father says, “It was right that we should make merry and be glad” (Luke 15:32), may we be found inside the house, celebrating with Him.
The prodigals are returning. May the Father prepare our hearts for their return.
