Jesus Chapter 15 Analysis

In the rest of chapter 15 Jesus tells the story of a man who has two sons. The younger son asks his father to give him his portion of the family estate as an early inheritance. Once the son gets his share, he goes to a distant land and begins to waste his fortune on worldly items. The money runs out, and a severe famine hits the country. The son finds himself in the lowly position of taking a job feeding pigs. In a state of despair, the boy recognizes his foolishness and decides to return home and ask his father for forgiveness. The entire time the son was gone, the father longs for him to return home. He sees his son from a long distance away, runs to him, falls on his neck, and kisses him. The father receives his son with open arms of compassion,

However, some differences are also evident. The parables of the lost lamb and the lost coin portray the owner putting everything aside to search for the missing item, while the lost son returns to his father on his own after coming to a point of repentance. This symbolizes that God reaches out to us in our time of need and draws us to Him, but there also comes a time when an individual must make the personal choice to follow God or remain lost. I consider the lamb and coin as innocent accidents. The lamb wanders away for a small amount of time, and the coin is like a careless sinner who doesn’t realize the depth of being lost. However, the son goes away with full knowledge of his father’s love and with full experience of the wonderful life his father provides. He knows what is right but in an act of rebellion leaves anyway. In addition, the parable of the prodigal son shows a greater depth and insight of God’s love for the lost. Just as the father willingly gave his son everything he requested, God is willing to do the same for us, but He wants us to love Him not only the wealth He provides. Furthermore, the father’s desire for his son to return represents God’s desire for us to repent, so He can forgive us and welcome us with open arms. Finally, an ironic twist is brought to the story when Jesus shares the negative and haughty reaction of the older brother. By doing this, Jesus gives insight on the actions of others, especially the Pharisees who resented Jesus being with tax collectors and sinners. This twist is not included in the parable of the lost coin or lost sheep, but it reveals to me that none of us are blameless and holy enough to judge or look down on others because God loves us all the