Luke 15:25-28

a. While the house is filled with mirth, the elder son is at work. Here is the image of the Pharisee busied with his rites, while repentant sinners are rejoicing in the serene sunshine of grace. Every free and joyous impulse is abhorrent to the formal spirit of pharisaism. This repugnance is described in Luke 15:26. Rather than go straight into the house, the elder son begins by gathering information from a servant; he does not feel himself at home in the house (John 8:35). The servant in his answer substitutes for the expressions of the father: he was dead..., lost..., these simple words: he is come safe and sound. This is the fact, without the father's moral appreciation, which it is not fitting in him to appropriate. Everything in the slightest details of the picture breathes the most exquisite delicacy. The refusal to enter corresponds to the discontent of the Pharisees, who do not understand being saved in common with the vicious.