The prodigal son is one of three lost-and-found parables told in a row, and the third has a twist the first two lack: an older brother who did everything right and will not come in. Jesus told it to critics who objected that he ate with the wrong people, which makes the elder brother the intended mirror, and the parable ends without resolution — the father is still outside pleading, and we never learn whether he enters. The younger son's speech is prepared and never finished; the father interrupts it with a robe.