Finding Resilience, Joy, and Our Identity in Jesus Christ
Rhashell D. Hunter’s Horizons Bible Study
Lesson 4: The Prodigal Child, the Eldest Child and the Devoted Parent, Luke 15:11-32
It was an ordinary class about the Gospel of Luke.
We were in Chapter 15, where we encountered the three parables about lost things: a sheep, a coin and a child. When we read the Parable of the Prodigal Son, some class members were incensed, making comments like:
“It isn’t fair that the reprobate child gets a party. Where is the justice here?”
“The younger child doesn’t seem repentant. He only wants a way out of his poverty.”
“The father is playing favorites. The son is just a spoiled brat!”
The story taps into the sibling rivalry that often exists in our own families. We may have harbored resentments about siblings. We may have known being valued differently by our parents. The funny child or the studious child may have had first place in our parents’ evaluations. The quiet child might have been overlooked.
I identified with the prodigal child. In college, it was not that I was a party animal. Nor was I promiscuous and running through money quickly. But after graduation, I felt lost. What was I to do with my life? Did I matter? What did God want with me? I was working in a cheese shop, stocking and learning the differences between Parmesan, Camembert and Gouda. I read during the slow times and thought that there must be more to life than this.
One Sunday morning, the text was Luke 15:11-32, and the sermon engrossed me. When the preacher reached the part where the father ran out to greet the returning son, the pastor came down from the pulpit and rushed into the pews. At that moment, I felt claimed by God’s love. It changed my life.
The context for the parable is found in Luke 15:1. The religious leaders were probably raised with the proverbs, “Birds of a feather flock together” or, “You shall be known by the company you keep.” The leaders were shocked that Jesus would have disreputable people among those to whom he taught and with whom he ate. Jesus responds with the parable about the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost child. The lost are those separated from those to whom they belong. The sheep is far from the seeking shepherd. The coin is separated from the searching woman. The child is removed from the parents’ love. The parables use three images for the God figure: a shepherd, a woman and a parent. The response to finding that which is lost is joy in heaven. Jesus tells us that there is much rejoicing over even one sinner who repents.
In Fred Craddock’s Interpretation Series commentary on Luke, he writes, “Finding and restoring the lost gives pleasure to God as well as to all who are about God’s business. But this joy is also the offense of the gospel … Throwing a party for a reprobate? Would it not be better for him, a better witness to the neighbors, a better demonstration of the righteousness of God if he were taught a lesson he would never forget?”
The older child no doubt has the same feelings about justice. But he is just as lost as his brother and cannot see his parents’ love for him. When the inheritance was divided to give a third to the younger sibling and two-thirds to the older, as was customary, the parent was bestowing abundance. As the parent runs out to greet the wayward child, so too does the parent go out to the elder.
We tend to make the parable about who is worthy to be loved by the parents. But it is rather about the lavish goodness of God, who rejoices when the lost are found and embraced as family. When we are invited to the celebration of the Lord’s Supper, Jesus invites us to come as we are, not having earned a place at the table but simply welcomed by God’s abundant love.
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