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Trinity/After Pentecost · The Third Sunday after Trinity

Luke 15:11-32

A Father and Two Sons

June 21, 2026

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Pompeo Batoni
The Return of the Prodigal Son, Pompeo Batoni, 1773Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Batoni reduces the parable to two figures in a close embrace against a dark ground, with none of the household and none of the pigs.Romans 5 says that while we were still sinners Christ died for us, and the painting is that sentence with the arms around it.Pompeo BatoniThe leading painter in Rome in his generation, who made a living painting English aristocrats on the Grand Tour against classical ruins.Kunsthistorisches Museum, ViennaThe Habsburg collection, assembled over four centuries and housed in a purpose-built palace on the Ringstrasse since 1891.Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
Historic One-Year Lectionary
GospelLuke 15:1-10Lk 15:1-10Alt. GospelLuke 15:11-32Lk 15:11-32
Epistle1 Pet. 5:6-111 Pt 5:6-11Alt. Epistle1 Tim. 1:12-171 Tm 1:12-17
Old TestamentMic. 7:18-20Mi 7:18-20
PsalterPs. 103:1-13Ps 103:1-13

Overview & Insights

“This my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.” (Luke 15:24)

This is the third and longest of the parables Luke groups in chapter 15, all of them answers to the complaint of 15:1-2 that Jesus eats with sinners. The younger son’s request treats his father as already dead, and the word Luke uses for the property divided, bios, is also the word for life. The descent is measured in stages, famine, hired work for a gentile, and finally the pods fed to pigs, an ending that marks the loss of everything that made him recognizable as an Israelite. The father’s running is undignified for a man of standing, and it happens before any speech of repentance is completed. Then the parable turns, and the elder son’s protest puts the original audience back on stage; the story does not resolve it. It closes outside the house, with the father still pleading and the refrain of death and life repeated (v. 32).

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Take it further: Luke 15:11-32

Commentary

Luke 15 CommentaryLk 15 Commentary Enduring Word

Full chapter commentary on the parable of the prodigal son.

Commentary on Luke 15 by Matthew HenryCommentary on Lk 15 by Mt Henry Blue Letter Bible

Classic exposition of the three parables of the lost in this chapter.

Study Guide for Luke 15Study Guide for Lk 15 Blue Letter Bible (Guzik)

A distinct study guide on the parable of the two lost sons.

Background & Word Study

Luke 15:11 CommentariesLk 15:11 Commentaries BibleHub

Aggregates classic commentators on the opening of the prodigal son parable.

Luke Commentaries & SermonsLk Commentaries & Sermons Precept Austin

Collected verse-by-verse resources including this parable chapter.

Luke 15:11-32, The Prodigal SonLk 15:11-32, The Prodigal Son Enter the Bible

Seminary background essay on this exact parable.

The Church Fathers

Luke 15:11 Patristic CommentaryLk 15:11 Patristic Commentary Catena Bible

Fathers reading the opening of the parable.

Luke 15:20 Patristic CommentaryLk 15:20 Patristic Commentary Catena Bible

Fathers on the father running to meet the returning son.

Sermons & Reflections

Gospel: Luke 15:1-3, 11-32 (Lent 4: Series C)Gospel: Lk 15:1-3, 11-32 (Lent 4: Series C) 1517.org

A Lutheran preaching essay on this exact pericope.

The Prodigal Celebration (tag archive) Steadfast Lutherans

Includes a sermon preached directly on this parable.

Podcast

Prodigal Son (tag archive) Issues, Etc.

Lutheran radio episodes specifically on this parable.

Art & Music

The Return of the Prodigal Son, Rembrandt Web Gallery of Art

Rembrandt's famous painting of this exact parable's climax.

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