Parable of the Prodigal Son

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Image:ReturnOfTheProdigalSon-Batoni.jpg The Prodigal Son, also known as The Lost Son is one of the best known parables of Jesus.

The story is found in Luke 15:11-32 of the New Testament of The Bible, where it is the third and final member of a trilogy, being immediately preceded by The Lost Sheep and The Lost Coin. The Prodigal Son refers to a son who returns home after squandering his fortunes; and the term "prodigal son" has also passed into wider usage to mean a son or other dependent who does not live up to the expectations of those who have launched him or her into a life or career.

1 The story
2 Interpretations
3 The rebuttal to the Pharisees
4 In modern movies
5 External links

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The story

In the story told by Jesus, a man has two sons. The younger demands his share of his inheritance while his father is still living, and goes off to a distant country where he "wasted his substance with riotous living", and eventually has to take work as a Swineherd. There he comes to his senses, and determines to return home and throw himself on his father's mercy. But when he returns home, his father greets him with open arms, and does not even give him a chance to express his repentance; he kills a "fatted calf" to celebrate his return. The older brother becomes angry. But the father responds:

It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found.

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Interpretations

Although the story is traditionally referred to as "The Prodigal Son", this title is not found in the gospel, and many commentators have argued that it would be better called "The Lost Son", showing its parallels to the parables of the "Lost Sheep" and "Lost Coin" which immediately precede it in Luke 15. In all three, the theme is the concern of God for the repenting sinner, as opposed to strictly for the unfailingly righteous. Indeed, many people with no other acquaintance with the word "prodigal" mistakenly believe it means lost; it actually means extravagant (as in Charles Darwin's description in Origin of Species of nature as "prodigal in variety, though niggard in innovation"). Others have argued that the parable might be better called the story of "The Two Sons", to emphasise the role of the elder son, and the lesson against envy and low-mindedness that it contains.

The story is one of several very well known parables of Jesus that are only found in Luke's gospel; and like the others, it expresses Luke's distinctive theology of the inclusive love and grace of God. The forgiveness of the son is not conditional on good works, since he has plainly done nothing "good" throughout the story, other than to return home, symbolic of repentance; and although he formulates the intention of admitting his guilt to his father, his father accepts him even before he gets the chance to carry his intention out, although he indeed makes his prepared speech of confession in the end. Most Christian theologians note that the story demonstrates repentance: Jesus is suggesting that the recognition by the returning son that he had erred, and his demonstration by his return that he now recognized the error of his ways, was the key to him receiving the father's forgiveness. The correct understanding of repentance as it is used in the New Testament (and, indeed, in the Hebrew Bible) is a change in the direction of one's life—which the Prodigal Son literally demonstrates.

The Eastern Orthodox Church traditionally reads this story on the Sunday of the Prodigal Son, which in their liturgical year is the Sunday before Meatfare Sunday and about two weeks before the beginning of Great Lent. One common kontakion hymn of the occasion reads,

I have recklessly forgotten Your glory, O Father;

And among sinners I have scattered the riches which You gave to me.

And now I cry to You as the Prodigal:

I have sinned before You, O merciful Father;

Receive me as a penitent and make me as one of Your hired servants.

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The rebuttal to the Pharisees

Within the context of Luke 15, these three parables -- the Lost Sheep, the Lost Coin, and the Lost Son -- make up a rebuttal to the Pharisees' accusation to Jesus: "This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." They may have been referring obliquely to Psalm 1:1:

Blessed is the man

who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked

or stand in the way of sinners

or sit in the seat of mockers.

In each parable, Jesus illustrates that even nonreligious people make an extra effort to go after something or someone in peril: a sheep, a coin, or welcoming back a son. Since Jesus saw "sinners" as people in peril, it would be only natural that he spend time with them. Thus he not only rebuffs the Pharisee's accusations, but justifies his own actions as correct and natural.

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In modern movies

The Prodigal Son was also the title of a Hong Kong movie release (Bai ga jai) in 1982, starring Yuen Biao and Sammo Hung, released by Golden Harvest studios. It was also the title of an MGM film released in 1955 (The Prodigal) starring Lana Turner as the high priestess of Astarte, and Edmund Purdom as the Prodigal Son.

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