Charles Ellicott Commentary Luke 15:32

"But it was meet to make merry and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive [again]; and [was] lost, and is found." — Luke 15:32 (ASV)

It was meet that we should make merry.—The Greek expresses moral necessity rather than mere fitness. “We truly had to rejoice;” it could not be otherwise. The repetition of the same words that had been used before, “he was dead . . .” is exceptionally emphatic. This, and nothing more or less than this, was the true account of the change that had passed over the wanderer; and this ought to be a source of joy to all his family. There is, perhaps, a touch of tenderness as well as reproof in the way in which the scornful “this thy son” is met by “this thy brother.” The elder son had forgotten that fact, and had almost disclaimed his own sonship in his scorn for the offender.