Luke 15 · a question people ask
Did the elder son go in to the celebration?
The story doesn't say. "But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him." (15:28). The elder son answers his father (15:29-30), and the father says, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found." (15:31-32). The WEB closes Jesus's words at the end of 15:32, and the story tells nothing more of the elder son. These notes say no more of him than 15:25-32 says, and give him no verdict beyond his father's words to him.
The verses
“But he was angry and would not go in. Therefore his father came out and begged him. But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ “He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’””