Parable of the Prodigal Son

Jesus was and is the perfect teaching. He would tell parables to challenge people's thinking. He preform miracles to teach important lessons. He even gave direct messages (think Sermon on the Mount) to conform and inform people what it mean to be His followers. But Jesus was always going about redefining what people thought about God, sin, salvation, and religion.

Jesus parable of the prodigal son is one instance of his teaching that redefined important truths. Jesus taught this parable to both sinners around him and Pharisees challenging him. But when Jesus taught this parable he was redefining, for all of his listeners, 3 important truths.

What is redefined? 

First, Jesus redefines God. All of the sinners and the religious leaders would have understood that Jesus was showing God as the father. But God as a father was a new concept. God as an extravagant celebratory joyful father would have been totally radical. Yet, there is Jesus, God in the flesh, showing that God is a father. We have a father who is God. We can approach him like a father. We can love him like a father. God is the perfect father. And Jesus wants us to see, understand, and be impacted by his definition of God as a prodigal father.

Second, Jesus redefines sin. Whether it is the use of the father for one’s own gain, the true nature of what sin is and its rejection of God, or the fact that those closest to the Father could be the most lost, sin is redefined by the Savior. We, like the first time listener think that sin is something that is far from God or a selfish grievous act committed against God. Jesus shows that the great sinner is the sin done by those closest to the Father. The fact that sin can be done by those who appear the most good and righteous. As I said before, sin can even be done when good and right acts are done. And Jesus makes it clear sin can take place anywhere and by anyone and if we do not realize, recognize, and humble ourselves in it, it will lead to our destruction and loss of the love of the Father.

Third Jesus redefines Salvation. We think we have salvation figured out. We might even think like the older brother we are saved. But just like the older brother we will miss it, even in our goodness. The older brothers miss the generosity of God’s grace and the true conversion of salvation. See older brothers miss salvation because they miss the fact they are really the younger son, in fact we are all the younger son every day. But in the goodness, rightness, and self-righteousness the older brothers miss the entire fact of salvation. The older brother need to see it like the younger brothers when he sees 3 things that Jesus redefines as salvation. First we need the love of God for salvation. Then we need a right repentance and frame of the heart. And last, we need to melt, move, and be humbled in our response to God…as Jesus shows in this story there are 2 ways that we can be our own savior, breaking all the moral laws and setting our own course or by keeping all the moral laws and being very, very good. Both of these ways show his redefinition of sin and salvation and the true nature of the prodigal father with his two lost sons.