✨WEB · Luke 15:19
What does Luke 15:19 mean?
"I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’"
— Luke 15:19 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger!
I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight.
I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’
“He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.
The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet.
Explanation
Luke 15:19 captures the words the younger son rehearses to himself as he decides to return home after squandering his inheritance in a distant land. Having hit rock bottom—broke, hungry, feeding pigs, and utterly humiliated—he resolves to go back to his father and confess his failure. In this verse, he plans to say that he no longer deserves to be treated as a son; instead, he will ask to be taken on merely as a hired servant, someone who works for wages and has no family claim on the household. It is a statement of deep humility and repentance, an acknowledgment that he has forfeited any right to sonship through his own selfish choices.
The context is Luke 15, where Jesus tells three parables—the lost sheep, the lost coin, and the lost (or "prodigal") son—in response to the Pharisees and scribes grumbling that he welcomes sinners and eats with them. Jesus is illustrating the character of God the Father, who rejoices over the return of those who were lost. The parable would have been told to a Jewish audience familiar with inheritance customs, family honor, and the shame that leaving home and squandering wealth would bring. The younger son's demand for his inheritance early, his descent into poverty among Gentiles (feeding pigs, an unclean animal for Jews), and his willingness to return in shame all underscore how far he has fallen and how radical his change of heart is.
Theologically, this verse reflects true repentance
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