Father of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32)
- In verse 12, the younger son asks his father for his share of the estate. Basically telling the father he wished him dead. How does the father respond? How do you react/identify to this response?
- Verse 14 tells us of the younger son working in a pigsty after he squandered his share of the family fortune. Verse 16 says the younger son is ‘longing to be fed with what the pigs ate’. Pigs were seen as unclean and filthy animals by Jewish custom. The people hearing Jesus tell this story would most likely hate the character of the younger son.
- The younger son decides to return home and beg his father for forgiveness. He has his explanation ready – probably rehearsed over and over on his journey home. Verse 20 says that while he was still a long way off the father sees the younger son and runs to embrace him. In Jewish custom it was viewed undignified for an older man to lift up his robes and run – especially to an estranged son who has squandered half of the family fortune. At this point the crowd Jesus is speaking to is grossly offended by the younger brother and father’s actions. The concept of the father’s reckless grace is often times seen as offensive even by our culture. How do you react when someone is shown this type of grace, when you may be playing the character of the older son? What about in a worldly setting? How does the father’s reaction relate to the Gospel?
- The father decides to throw a blowout party as celebration of the younger son’s return. This party is offensive to the older son, as he feels slighted by the father’s behavior. The older son feels entitled to preferred treatment based off his loyalty to the father. What are your thoughts on the older son’s frustrations and the father’s response? Think about times when you have been younger son, and times when you have been the older son. Do you identify more with the younger or the older?
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