The Parable Of The Prodigal Son

“He had wanted to get rid of his father! He had felt that his father was growing weak, he had believed that the end was near and had sought this separation in order to get rid of the burden, to free himself from an encumbrance which could lessen his own chances of survival.”

The older brother feels his obedience should keep his father obligated to him. When his father offers the younger brother forgiveness and a feast, the older brother is angry because he has lost control over his father. The obedience the older brother kept for so many years seems to be futile. “It is impossible to forgive someone if you feel superior to him or her.”(63)

His mother treats him like a slave, giving him daily chores and unbelievably ruthless punishments. He has become inhuman to her as she refers to him as “It.” The only hope of survival relies on his dad, in God, or in a miracle. His story promotes the courageous human spirit and the determinate to survive.

The father knows that his dream of knowledge and university will never be fulfilled, and consequently, tries to accomplish this goal through his children. In doing so, he also sacrifices his relationship with his wife who despises him and his “room and all it stood for” (MacLeod 266). They both try to maintain a positive atmosphere in the house, regardless of their differences, by working hard to raise their children. As the only boy in the family, the narrator idolizes his father and eventually begins to believe that “it was very much braver to spend a life doing what you really do not want rather than selfishly following forever your own dreams and inclinations” (MacLeod 274). As a result, the narrator promises to help and protect his father until he dies, and the father, in return commits to the ultimate sacrifice of death to set his son free. The author is showing that true love goes beyond life itself and that no sacrifice is too great for a parent in order to give their children the chance of a better life. By implementing the seed of knowledge in his children, the father knew that his sacrifice is not in vain,

The first passage reveals the parallel suffering occurring in the lives of different members of the family, which emphasizes the echoes between the sufferings of the father and the narrator. The narrator’s father’s despair over having watched

The sons character is a symbol of hope to the father throughout the novel. In the father’s perspective the son is almost described as holy, “if he is not the word of god. god never

The son however is the ‘faith’ within the story. He is the hope for a better future. The son is more trusting towards others and therefore becomes upset and quiet when his father doesn’t agree with him. “I’m afraid for that little boy” – The son has never seen another young boy and is frightened for him but his father shrugs off his pleas to help him and says “I know but he’ll be alright”. Towards the end of the book it appears that the father and his son become distant to each other due to their diverse personalities. It could however be seen that the son is a lot more knowledgeable about dangers and therefore does not need his father as much.

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 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

Also, after walking past a village, the son claims to have seen a little boy and begs his father if they can go back and get him. The man then says “Stop it. We can’t[,]” (McCarthy 80) and thinks that his son sees things. Again, the selfish desire to survive prevents him from helping others. He does not want to go back because he does not want to do anything that will risk their lives. The thirst for survival becomes greater than his conscience. Hence it prevents him from giving into his son. Another time this occurs is when the man and his son are robbed by a stranger. The man catches him and takes back their stuff, along with the thief’s belongings. The son begs the father to show mercy on the criminal, but the father does not care and so “they set out along the road south with the boy crying and looking back at the nude and slat-like creature standing there… Shivering and hugging himself.” (McCarthy 229).

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)

Author of the book, Denis Johnson, generates themes within Jesus’ Son, such as loveless promiscuity, the abuse of drugs and alcohol, and the traumatic effects of neglect. The stories do not follow a specific chronological order but contain interesting situations that the main character goes through in order to develop revealing insights about his life. But the book’s odd structure also interferes our ability to recognize whether those insights are real or merely a fragment of his imagination. Although with the abuse of drugs, some situations are not legitimate, ultimately we can see that his epiphanies are real and

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.

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.