Parables of Jesus

The Prodigal Son
Loss and Redemption

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The Parable of the Prodigal Son (a.k.a the Two Brothers, Lost Son or Loving Father, is one of the parables of Jesus tells to a group of Pharisees and religious leaders who criticized him for welcoming and eating with tax collectors and others seen as sinners. The Prodigal Son is the third and final parable of a group of three on redemption, following the parables of the Lost Sheep and the Lost Coin.

The parable describes a wealthy man who had two sons, the younger of whom asks for his share of the man's estate. Upon receiving it, the younger son travels to a distant country, where he squanders his wealth through reckless living and runs out of money, at which time, he finally comes to his senses. The son starts his rehearsed speech, admitting his sins, and declaring himself unworthy of being his father's son, but does not even finish before his father accepts him back without hesitation.

While some see the request of the younger son for his share of the inheritance as "brash, even insolent," as though wishing that the father was dead, but Jewish sources give no support to the idea that the prodigal wishes his father dead. Upon the son's return, his father treats him with a generosity he has ltittle right to expect. The Jewish philosopher Philo observed:

"Parents often do not lose thought for their wastrel (asoton) children [...] In the same way, God too [...] takes thought also for those who live a misspent life, thereby giving them time for reformation, and also keeping within the bounds His own merciful nature."

The older son, in contrast, seems to think in terms of law, merit, and reward, rather than "love and graciousness, and may represent the Pharisees who were criticizing Jesus.

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Parable Art

"The Prodigal Son"

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