What does Luke 15:12 mean?

Jesus begins the main body of the parable of the prodigal son. A man has two sons. The younger asks for his share of his father's estate. Because he is apparently unmarried, he is likely in his latter teens.

The first occurrence of "property" or "estate" is tēs ousias in Greek, which means wealth, not necessarily land. The second is ton bion which means "the life" or "the livelihood." The son is asking to be immediately given what he would have inherited when his father dies. In essence, he'd rather his father were dead so he could have the money instead. It would be an understatement to say this is a brutally callous, uncaring demand.

The actual amount the son seeks to gain is irrelevant to the story, and so it is not included in the text. Deuteronomy 21:17 indicates that if there are only two sons, the youngest can receive one-third of the total estate. Abraham lived before the Mosaic law, of course, but he "gave gifts" to Ishmael and his sons through Keturah, then sent them away from Isaac so they would not be rivals (Genesis 25:1–6). The younger son seems to want something similar. He takes the money and moves far away (Luke 15:13).

In the Roman Empire during Jesus' earthly ministry, nearly three-fourths of the population were slaves or servants of some kind. Even in Jewish territories, relatively few people owned land. This father, however, has servants, fields, cattle, and goats (Luke 15:22, 23, 25, 29). It appears he is quite wealthy and as a landowner would have a respected position in the community. Yet this teenager despises his family, preferring money, instead. He dishonors his father and shames him as the patriarch and a leader in society. And yet the father gives him what he asks for and lets him go.