Understanding the Parable of the Prodigal Son
( A critical analysis of the messages and theological lessons from the Parable of the Prodigal Son)
Do you believe that all people should be ensured an infinite amount of chances to be forgiven? Or are second chances nonexistent? More importantly, do you believe that even the worst of humankind can be humbled and learn from impediments and arduous situations in their lives? From the KING JAMES BIBLE LUKE 15: 11-32 from the Parable of the Prodigal Son pages 302-304 answers these prior questions and many more. This parable is about a reckless son who pretty much demands of his father his inheritance, and the son wastes his inheritance in a foreign country. After losing all of his money in that foreign country the prodigal son has to become a slave in order to survive there; soon he returns to his father's house and asks for forgiveness. Parables are stories in which a moral or religious lesson can be taught. Ultimately, there are three main lessons that can be drawn from the Parable of the Prodigal Son.
To start off, one of the main theological takeaways from this parable is that God rejoices every time one of his lost children returns to him and asks for genuine forgiveness. As stated in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son” (THE KING JAMES BIBLE Luke 15: 20-21). Afterwards, the father of the prodigal son tells his servants to get his son some fine clothes, a ring, and some shoes. Also, the father tells his servants to start a party in honor of his returning son. Isn’t it apparent that the father in this parable is portrayed as God. God is rejoicing for one of his lost children has returned to him, has asked for forgiveness, and is now welcome in the Kingdom of Heaven with open arms. The prodigal son was clearly confused, he thought that he would have to entreat to his father in order to even live in, or near his house. Never in a million years would he have thought that after he wasted his inheritance so recklessly, his
When looked at more closely, the younger brother and older brother show an unexpected similarity in their sins throughout the parable of the prodigal son. Keller states in his book The Prodigal God that the goal of this book is to lay the essentials of the gospel, and to either introduce or reassure the message of both this story and the gospel. This parable is thought of as one of the best readings in the Bible to help someone grasp the understanding of God’s
In today’s world people make a common mistake by making comparisons with the Bible and Aesop’s Fables. In the Bible it is important to which is emphasized more, law or grace. It is just as important to do the same in Aesop’s Fables. Very often a mistake is easily made in reading Jesus’s Parables. Understanding the emphasis of law and grace in both the Bible and Aesop’s Fables and realizing mistakes we make with reading Jesus’s parables can help with reading the parables
In Matthew 1-2, the infant stories are used to prepare the ground for the theme of Jesus; the new and perfect Moses, the great teacher and interpreter of God’s ways. A parallel can be drawn between the experiences of the infant Jesus and the experience of Moses. This can be seen in Matthew 2:16-18, where the slaying of innocent male Hebrew children occurred around the time of the birth of Jesus, and in Exodus 1:15-22, where Hebrew children were also murdered at the time of Moses’ birth. Just as Moses came out of Egypt, leading the people of God, so does Jesus. Following the infancy stories, the rest of Matthew’s Gospel is structured around five long discourses where Jesus teaches. On each occasion, the evangelist indicates that a great teacher has been at work (Maloney, 1988, p. 133-34).
In the Bible, the parable of the Lost Son tells the story of how a father’s son “got together all he had, set off for a distant country and [squandered his wealth in wild living]. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. (New International Version Luke 15: 11-32) With nothing to eat, he had no choice but to return to his father in shame. The son was fearful his reputation with his father was ruined, and that he would be forced to work as a slave to his father. However, the father was cheerful he had returned and celebrated with a party. The son’s reputation was not ruined and was instead restored with his
“The Prodigal Son”, “The Boy who Cried Wolf”, or “The Mouse and the Lion” are all stories that are commonly well-known, however few people recognize them as parables. The parable is a figure of speech characterized by a short narrative, in prose or verse, full of symbols, allegory, and analogy to convey a moral or religious message. The word ‘parable’ comes from the Greek language and means ‘comparison, illustration, analogy’. The two thousand years old Buddhist story “The Elephant in the Village of the Blind’ portraying simple story, demonstrating universal moral, and using symbols and analogy is the evident representative of the parable.
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is from the King James Bible in the book of Luke, Chapter 15 Verse’s 11-32. It is a story about a man with two sons in which the younger son asked his father for all of the goods that he would inherit. After getting what he would inherit, he travelled on a journey to a far country and completely wasted everything that his father had given to him. When he had spent everything and became poor, there arose a mighty famine in the land and he began to be in want. So he returned to his father and said to his father that he was no longer good enough to be considered one of his sons, he thought that he should now be considered a servant rather than one of his children. He claimed that he had sinned against heaven and
The Prodigal Son believed that he is “no longer worthy” (Luke 15:20) to be called his father's son after his actions. With this in mind, his father did the opposite of what the Prodigal Son thought that he would do and welcomed his son with open arms. Family love is shown through the actions of the Prodigal Son’s father as his father forgave his sons actions by welcoming him back into the family. Not only that, his father also offered everything he had. Although these two characters did not face the same situations, Sandra Cisneros and the Prodigal Son’s both showed examples of what family love was.
A great theologian—a St. Augustine, a St. Thomas Aquinas, or someone like that—could presumably make a powerful case for a religious interpretation of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. I am looking at it from a humanistic point of view. Either way, this tale is fundamentally about the relationship between the F/father and the son. If you underplay in your representation either of these figures you are depriving the story of its meaning and purpose. Now, I’m not interested in seeing the F/father dance all over the stage. In my original post I expressed strong skepticism that a truly successful ballet could be made about the subject. To the extent, however, that one views Balanchine’s ballet as not being about the Father, it points (in my opinion)
As a society, we have been ingrained to reinforce the shame, privilege, and stigmatization towards people of diverse backgrounds and sexual orientations. Kevin Jennings, author of Mama’s Boy, Preachers Son: A Memoir of Growing up, Coming Out, and Changing Americas Schools, directly connects the intersecting challenges of sexual orientation, religion, education, and poverty. Though the intersection of these social issues leaves one to internalize the ideology of inferiority, Jennings demonstrates the need for social justice, the understanding of the mechanisms of oppression, and conquers cultural competence by sharing his unique differences.
When Stephen began his journey to Johannesburg, he was looking for his lost son. John Kumalo would ask him "Have you found the prodigal" (Paton, 128) with reference to the Parable of the Prodigal Son in the Bible. In the Bible it states that a man with two sons lost one after he left to live on his own. After a couple of years, the lost son realizing his wrongdoing came back and was welcomed by his father with a feast to celebrate his return. This angered the other son who felt betrayed when his brother left. But the father did not care; he was so overjoyed to have gotten his son back. "'My son' the father said, 'you are always with
The illness that afflicted the nobleman’s son shows us how weak, frail and mortal we are. Jesus’ healing of the man’s son shows us that we can be healed of our sins but only through Him are we saved. He shows that we can have eternal life through Him.
All these parables seek to illustrate the reality and the attitude of the people of Israel, whom Jesus spoke to at that time. They partly reflect the love and sacrifice of God for humanity, and this is
In the King James Version of the Bible, there is a parable told called the Prodigal Son. As this story is told in Luke 15:11-32, we are told of a story where a wealthy man has two sons. One son stays behind and decides to work for his father and inherit a good life beside him. The younger son decides he will ask for money from his father, and leave him behind. As time goes on, this son goes out into the world and shortly after, loses all of his money he had received from his father. Because of this, he is ashamed and takes his time on his way back home. But when he eventually does make it home, he is welcomed with open arms to a loving father who could not be any happier to see his son. Although the father is happy to see
The Gospel of Luke thoroughly illustrates the themes of mercy and compassion in his use of literary devices such as symbols, stories and parables. Luke urges how significant it is to feel and deliver the ready willingness to help anyone in need in our society. The Gospel offers a model to live out these virtues through Jesus’ actions and his parables.
The Gospels of the New Testament contain 39 different parables told by Jesus (Phillips 2004, 18-19) and no doubt he spoke many more during his ministry. Jesus’ choice to use parables to teach his people is one that has intrigued many people throughout history. The aim of this essay is to get to discover why he chose to use those parables, and also what we can learn from this teaching method when evangelising today.