Charles Spurgeon Commentary Luke 15:28

"But he was angry, and would not go in: and his father came out, and entreated him." — Luke 15:28 (ASV)

Therefore came his father out, and intreated him.

He was worth fetching in. There was a good deal of solid worth in his character, and his father kindly came to ask him to come in and share the joy.

Therefore came his father out, and entreated him.

Oh, the goodness of the father, not only in receiving the returning prodigal, but in entreating this indignant and erring son, for he was greatly erring in this matter, and was not showing the true spirit of a son.

And would not go in:

He did not believe in revivals, so he would not attend them; he did not believe in many being converted, especially if they had been great sinners; he would have nothing to do with them.

And would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.

See the tenderness of this father; the same arms which embraced the sinning one were also ready to clasp the self-righteous one. I always feel great pity and great admiration for this dear, dear father.

What with a bad son and a good son, he had two bad sons, for this good son, you see, had gotten into a sulk, just as I have seen some real Christians get into a very un-Christian frame of mind. Well, they somehow do not like receiving into their company the women who have gone astray—the men who have lost their reputation.

He was angry, and would not go in, and now his father crowned his love. He ran to meet one son, and now he comes out to reason with another who is unnaturally and ungraciously angry with his father.

And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and entreated him.

I never know which to admire the more – the love of the father in going to meet the returning prodigal, or in going out to talk with this coldhearted elder brother. He was a son, but he did not have the true spirit of his father; he had fallen into a very wrong state of mind, just like certain Christians I know, who have always been very proper and have little sympathy for those who have been great sinners.

They seem as if they do not want to see such people as these brought to the Saviour. "Why!" they exclaim, "there are girls from the street, and men who have been burglars, and all sorts of rabble being brought into the church." I have heard such remarks, and I have seen the same sort of spirit displayed in the looks of others who have not liked to say what they thought. Yet they themselves were no better than others by nature, though grace has done much in restraining them from the sin into which others have fallen; and it was wrong for them to talk as if they were sheer legalists, as this Pharisaic elder brother did.