The Party We Refuse

Or Why We Always Get the Prodigal Son Wrong

I love the parable of the Prodigal son. You love the parable of the Prodigal son. It’s a good parable. I get it. But I do think we sometimes miss the larger context of why Jesus tells this particular parable as the climax of his trilogy in Luke 15.

There Jesus weaves three famous stories of lostness: a lost sheep, a lost coin, and finally, a lost son. The trick is that these aren’t three parables but one larger story about the nature of our lostness.

We probably already know the major contours of the prodigal son. He demands his inheritance before his father’s death. Squanders it on wild living and then makes his home to an unexpected welcome. It’s there Jesus presents his twist ending but there are some neat moments along the way.

For one, just before the son hits the bottom of his spiral, Jesus describes this moment:

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