From The Pulpit Of Dumc

This week we conclude our series on Jesus’ parable of the father who had two lost sons. We’ve noted who was gathered that day listening to Jesus teach – both people of questionable reputation, people on the margins of faith and life, and the Pharisees and religion scholars, and everyone in between. We saw how Jesus directed much of what he had to say at those who were considered the good, moral, religious people of the day. We noted that, while it doesn’t appear in the story, the word prodigal means recklessly extravagant, which means that what Jesus is doing in this story is telling two very different groups of people a story about God, and how “God’s reckless, extravagant, prodigal love is our greatest hope.” (Keller, XV) We listened in as Jesus redefined sin as missing the mark of the father’s love, rather than a simplistic list of do’s and don’ts, and what Jesus hopes we’ll see, is that both sons are caught in their own sin and brokenness, all of us are. The elder brother is just as lost as the young