“And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends:”
King James Version (KJV)
15:29 Lo, so many years do I serve thee - So he was one of the instances mentioned #Lu 15:7|. How admirably therefore does this parable confirm that assertion! Yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends - Perhaps God does not usually give much joy to those who never felt the sorrows of repentance.
Lu 15:29 Neither transgressed I at any time. Here is the very spirit of Pharisaism, a self-righteous spirit. His charges show while nominally with the father, he was far away from him in spirit.