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Last updated 11.20pm Saturday 27 June 2026 (BAF).
Sunday 28 June 2026
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Sermon Notes
The Parables of Jesus – The Prodigal Son (or Not!) [Download]
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is well-known and historically and culturally significant! Charles Dickens said it was, ‘The greatest short story ever.’
Almost titled this sermon: ‘Everything you think you know about this parable is probably wrong!’ Not quite right, but likely not far off!
The typical misunderstanding lies with its familiar title: The Prodigal Son. Prodigal tends to refer to someone who is ‘wayward’ which is a post-parable understanding. The original use of the word is: recklessly spendthrift (to spend until you have nothing) which in some sense applies to both the youngest son and the father in the story!
The traditional title also draws our attention to the youngest Son, although Jesus starts his parable by saying, ‘There was a man who had two sons …’ (25:11) and therefore, some call this the Parable of the Two Lost Sons, who represent two different ways to be alienated from God. It could, probably should be argued that the central character in this parable is the father (representing God) who ‘welcomed both his sons to his feast’ (E. Clowney)
The parable is primarily concerned with the elder son. Jesus concludes the parable with the Father appealing to his older son to come in and join the celebration: ‘It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found’ (15:32)
Another contributing factor that contributes to our misunderstanding lies in the fact that it is such a good story! Therefore, it is easy to separate it from its setting in Luke and its historical context in which it was first told.
The context in Luke – Jesus is coming towards the conclusion of his earthly ministry; he has set his face toward Jerusalem (Luke 9:51) and all he now does occurs in the shadow of the cross.
As the climax of his earthly ministry draws closer, so does the rising hostility between the religious leaders and Jesus. This hostility provides the immediate setting for Jesus telling this parable.
Jesus’ audience – is made up of two groups:
1. Tax collectors and sinners – society’s outcasts who are desperate to come to Jesus and to listen to what he has to say
2. Pharisees and Scribes – society’s religious ruling class who are growing increasingly angry at what Jesus has to say
Luke 15 records Jesus’ three-fold response to a complaint from the Pharisees and Scribes: ‘And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them’ (15:2) – by doing so Jesus is welcoming and accepting them.
In response Jesus tells three parables with the same theme:
1. The lost sheep – ‘Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance’ (15:7)
2. The lost coin – ‘Just so, I tell you, there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents’ (15:10)
3. The Prodigal Son – ‘It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found’ (15:32)
Joy is the only appropriate response and stands in stark contrast to the ‘grumbling’ of the Pharisees and Scribes!
Jesus has already answered their complaint: ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance’ (5:31-32); ‘Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost’ (19:9-10) Jesus is on a mission to redeem sinners because the Father does.
This parable is often ‘romanticised’ and by doing so we miss the shocking nature of what Jesus said:
· The younger son’s request – disrespectful (wishes his father was dead) and disruptive (property and inheritance)
· The younger son’s fall – rapid (cashed in and cashed out) and severe (utterly estranged from his father’s house)
· The younger son’s desperation – a hired hand lives outside the father’s estate
· The father’s response – Jewish fathers don’t run! Dismisses the son’s unworthiness. Here the father carries the lost son as the shepherd carried the exhausted lost sheep
· The celebration – Joy kindled by the fire of the father’s love. Extravagant (fattened calf, best robe – the Father’s) – a picture of heaven’s celebration and the Prodigal God!
· The restoration – costly – reestablished as a son and heir, but, given freely by the father – Amazing Grace!
The father’s response was unthinkable to all of Jesus’ audience – everyone knows sinners are responsible for seeking to make amends and to earn God’s approval. Apparently, Jesus didn’t get the memo!
In contrast, once the elder brother discovers what’s going on (if he hasn’t already realised!) he refuses to enter the house and to join in the festivities, forcing his father to come to him. What follows is a litany of offences against his father that contradict the words coming from his lips! ‘The elder son is farther from home in the field than the prodigal who was in the pigpen’ (E. Clowney)
The father responds with a gentle rebuke to the elder son, but those listening to the parable are left wondering what happens next. Why? Because the Pharisees and Scribes who are represented by the elder brother are there before Jesus and the rebuke is for them.
Jesus, friend of sinners, stands before them as the elder brother who reveals how they are supposed to respond to lost who are found, with total joy! This is Father’s heart.
This parable does speak of and offer hope to the wayward – there is a Prodigal God who has spent everything to reconcile his lost children to him. But first and foremost, it addresses the church! It does so with an uncomfortable question: why is that those who flocked to Jesus – tax collectors and sinners – choose to avoid the church that bears his name?
This parable invites the:
· Younger sons (and daughters) to return to the Father in the knowledge that heaven will be filled with joy at their return
· Elder brothers to come into the house and join the celebration
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