Luke 15:11-32 (The Prodigal Son) - Universal Perspective

The parable of the prodigal son (better: "the waiting father") reveals God's scandalous grace toward sinners and challenges religious pride. The father's response—running, embracing, restoring—pictures God's heart. The elder brother's resentment mirrors the Pharisees.

INTERPRETIVE NOTES: The parable is third in Luke 15's trilogy (lost sheep, lost coin, lost sons). Kenneth Bailey's Middle Eastern cultural insights illuminate the father's shocking actions: running, kissing, robing—all culturally humiliating for a patriarch.

PREACHING ANGLES: The father runs—God pursues, The prodigal expected servanthood; the father gave sonship, The elder brother was lost at home

SHOW DON'T TELL:\n Before: The father welcomed the returning son with forgiveness

After: See the old man scanning the horizon every evening—then one day, a silhouette. And against all custom, dignity abandoned, robes hiked up, he RUNS. Neighbors gape. The village whispers. But he doesn't care because his boy, his dead boy, is ALIVE

IMAGERY ELEMENTS: father running, ring and robe, pig sty, feast prepared, elder brother outside

CAUTIONS: Don't moralize into earning grace, The elder brother is also lost—include him