When the younger son returns from his shameful life and the older son refuses to come to the party for his brother, the father chooses not to reject his sons, but instead bears their shameful actions upon himself so that they can be reconciled to him. The father in this parable is a picture of what Jesus does for us through the cross in his bearing of our sin to restore us to God the Father.

Image: Pompeo Batoni, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Image location: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Pompeo_Batoni_003.jpg