You likely know the story. The elder brother comes in from the back forty where he doubtless had been working. See his farmer’s tan and callouses on his hands. He may have awakened early that morning to tend the stock, found some fodder for them, did some plowing in a field in the hot sun. To his surprise he hears music and dancing -- the Greek text has choreography and symphony. He inquires from a servant the cause of the commotion and is told that his father had killed the fattened calf because his younger son had come home. Don’t you imagine that the father’s house was rocking with the clatter of dancing feet? They were not singing some boring song.

The older son turns savagely indignant, coldly repellent. He refused to go on into the house and greet his brother. He protests the party in a picket line of one. He does a slow burn. He pouts. See him turn his back on the joyful proceedings bristling with hostility. He seems swollen with resentment and anger. He became a walking bad mood. (Some people organize their lives around resentment and wonder why they are not happy) He was imprisoned in self rejection. The party in the house was as impossible to ignore as a flaming Porsche on the side of the road.

The father goes out to him (v. 28b). Perhaps a servant tactfully called the father’s attention to the family friction. Since the older boy refused to come in, the father would go out to him. He will not write off his other son. The Greek εξελθçv (exelthon) literally means “going outside.” The father had been inside enjoying the music and the dancing and fellowship with his younger son, but he left the feel good stuff out of genuine interest in his other son conspicuous by his absence. Once again this exceptional father takes the initiative as he did when he ran down the road to greet his younger child. Do you suppose that the father’s hand touches the shoulder of his older child? What if you and I started calling this the parable of the outgoing father?

He pleads continuously with him. The Greek word παρακαλει (parakalei) means request, urge, comfort. It is an important word for speaking and influencing. Here it expresses a personal, emphatic concern, a request with manifest urgency. We are not told exactly what he said at first. Come into the party, give up your mad and welcome your brother home we suspect. I find it significant that we have few if any paintings of the father reaching out to the older son! Calling all artists. . . .

The Response of the Elder Son to the Pleading of the Father (vv. 29-30). The Greek word for his response suggests “retort,” a reply in contrast to what precedes it, a reaction. Indeed, it was. We would call it defensive. He casts aspersions on the father, criticizes his brother and stages a pity party for himself. “I have worked like a dog around here, and I have never broken your commandments. And what do you do? You killed the fattened calf and threw a party for your younger son. What did he do? He devoured your inheritance living it up with prostitutes. He has been as irresponsible as all get out. In my recollection after all these years of doing my duty I have no memory of you ever killing a fattened calf for me and my friends so we could party.”