The Father
In Jesus’ story of two lost and wasteful sons there is a character is who far more wasteful and who willingly loses whatever is necessary – the Father. In response to the rejection and rebellion of his sons, the father answers with extravagant self-sacrificing love for each of them. He is a father like no other. This is the father Jesus came to show us. He is the father we have always needed, the father in whom we are meant to find ourselves.
Discussion Questions
What was your relationship with your father like? What were the things your father did well? In what areas did your father fall short?
Read Luke 15:11-12. Why is the father able to respond to his son this way? What must true of him to receive such wounds and respond in love?
Read Luke 15:20-24 and Luke 15:28-32. Compare and contrast the response of the father to each of his sons. What does the comparison tell you.
Tim Keller argues that the true prodigal of Jesus’ story is the father. How is the father wasteful? Why is this wastefulness, not a waste?
The appropriate destiny of all sons to grow up to become fathers. How do we live with the father in such a way that we can also show his wasteful love to others?
What is one thing you could do that would be a costly and “wasteful” way to show the love of the father to someone?
The Older Son
The Parable of the Prodigal Son is a story of two sons. The older son is the son favored by tradition and culture. In Jesus’ time the older son would receive a larger inheritance and would be responsible to care for and uphold the family. In Jesus’ story the older son...
The Younger Son
The Parable of the Prodigal Son centers around the younger of two sons who turns his back on his father and his family to pursue his own freedom and happiness. His journey of rebellion, self-destruction, awakening, return, and redemption represents the very heart of...
Prodigal
This modern take on the Prodigal Son parable told by Jesus in Luke 15 was used as the sermon opener for the Prodigal series. Related Sermons