A Request That Was an Insult
Asking for an inheritance while the father was still alive was, in that culture, close to saying "I wish you were already dead." Still, the father divides his property between his two sons without argument (Luke 15:12). Days later, the younger son leaves for a distant country and "squandered his wealth in wild living" (Luke 15:13).
The Father Who Was Already Watching
When the money runs out, he ends up feeding pigs, deeply degrading work for a Jewish man. It is there, at rock bottom, that he "came to his senses" (Luke 15:17) and decides to walk home, rehearsing a speech, expecting at best to be hired as a servant.
And then comes the most touching line of the parable: "while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son" (Luke 15:20). The father interrupts the rehearsed speech with orders for a feast: the best robe, a ring, sandals, the fattened calf.
If You Feel Far From Home
This parable is retold so often for a simple reason: almost everyone has felt, at some point, far from home. If you are walking back, the Father is already watching the road. And if you know someone who feels too far gone to return, perhaps your task is simply to tell them the feast is already being prepared.