Context Matters: New Testament BackgroundsSampel

Topic 4: The parable of the prodigal son

The parables of Jesus are some of the best-known stories in the Bible. Parables like the Parable of the Good Samaritan or the Parable of the Prodigal Son are so familiar that aspects of them have become part of our culture (there are quite a few Good Samaritan hospitals in the U.S., for example). Even so, there are elements in these parables that we miss that would have been obvious to those who were listening to Jesus tell them.

In the Parable of the Prodigal Son, when the younger son asks for his inheritance early, he would essentially be saying, “Father, I wish you were dead.” The fact that the father grants his request would have been shocking to Jesus’s audience!

Many of them likely expected the story to end after the son squandered his wealth and hired himself out to feed pigs—unclean animals. At that point, it would have a clear moral message: dishonor your parents and live foolishly and you will suffer the consequences.

However, Jesus had an entirely different point in mind. When the son returns home hoping to merely work for his father, the father instead clothes him with the best robe—probably his own—provides him with a family signet ring, and gives him sandals, which were not typically worn by servants. With these actions, the father is saying, “I won’t receive you as a servant. I’ll restore you as a son.”

The father throws a large party—a fattened calf would be enough to feed the whole village—to celebrate the return of his son. Again, at this point, the parable could end. The story would illustrate God’s amazing grace and forgiveness. Again, however, this isn’t Jesus’s ultimate point.

Jesus began this section of parables after the religious leaders of the day complained about him eating with sinners, and the Parable of the Prodigal Son is especially directed toward them. It concludes not with the return of the younger son, but with the complaint of the older son.

Instead of celebrating with his father, he confronts his father, self-righteously highlighting all the work he had done for him. The father pleads with the older son to celebrate and be glad for the restored younger brother—a warning against the self-righteousness of the Pharisees.

Learn more about this parable and others in the video below.