In Luke 15:11–32, Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal son. This description only captures the first half of the parable (15:11–24), which will be the focus of this post. Charles Dicken reputedly called it “the greatest short story of all time. It is also referred to in Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and has inspired masterpieces such as Dickens’ Great Expectations, paintings such as Rembrandt’s Return of the Prodigal Son, and lyrics amongst artists as diverse as Everlast, Keith Green, the Rolling Stones, and U2.
Elements of the parable have entered our common language. Even Michael Scott from The Office, when reuniting with Jim, could say, “the prod . . . er . . . prodigal . . uh . . . my son returns,” with the assumption that his audience would understand the reference, however fumbled it was.
This is especially revealing. It demonstrates that for many the traditional description of this parable is still familiar to them without even knowing what it…
