Which group is Jesus speaking to in the parable?

Questions

1. What are the two kinds of people?

2. What is the reaction of the two kinds of people to Jesus?

3. Which group is Jesus speaking to in the parable?

4. How Is Keller’s interpretation different from what you were taught about the parable, and do you agree with his assessment?

5. Why do some people like Jesus but not the Church?

Summary Chapter 2 The Two Lost Sons

Instead of being called “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” this parable is better understood as “The Parable of the Two Lost Sons.” The parable begins with a shocking request: the younger son wants his inheritance now before his father’s death. Which is the equivalent of saying that he wished his father was dead, because he prefers his father’s things to his father himself. Since most of his wealth would have been tied to his land, the father would have sold part of his property. In the ancient world, land was far more significant than just an asset — it was a part of yourself. Such a request in a patriarchal society would have been met with physical blows and rebuke, but in the parable, the father does what his son has requested. The younger son takes the money and goes far away where he squanders it in wild living. He literally ends up in a pigsty and decides to go home and plead to be accepted as a worker so that he can start paying back his debt. But his father runs to him, embraces him, restores him to the family, and throws a feast for him. The younger son is immediately restored to the full privilege of the family: something he could never have earned and could never repay is provided for him because of his father’s heart. Yet the parable is not finished. The elder brother refuses to join the party, publicly disgracing his father. His father goes out to him, and the elder brother lectures the father with great disrespect. Again, in a patriarchal culture a father could have disowned his son on the spot for talking to him this way.

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