PRODIGAL: The Journey Pt 2--The Introduction

Do you know what the word “prodigal” means?  My intent in my first message, to introduce the series, the passage, and the concept, was interrupted by a sudden and unrealized conclusion…I was laboring under a false assumption.

I always thought that the term “prodigal” was simply a synonym for “wayward”…I had never heard otherwise, (in hindsight I am contributing this mistake to Kerry Livgren, Robby Steinhardt, Rich Williams, and Steve Walsh aka the rock group Kansas for their unrelenting lyrics in the song “Carry On My Wayward Son” which to this day remains one of my ALL TIME favorite songs!)—I was hoping to prove that in some sense of the word we were ALL prodigals who had gone astray.  What I found out was that the term “prodigal” in the ancient world meant something like “extravagantly wasteful.” That began to change the rhyme and reasoning behind the messages.  While everyone can agree that they were wayward (at one time or another) I’m doubtful that everyone would concede that they were “extravagantly wasteful.”

At the same time, I was trying to be a good biblical interpreter and understand the context that this story was set into—trust me…IT MATTERS!

So I began to consider a MUCH wider scope of material. The story of the prodigal is set in Luke 15. It comes immediately after two other stories about things that are lost (a sheep, and a coin).  I read every possible English rendering of Luke 15 as well as doing my best to translate, word for word, from the Greek. This, in itself, was a truly informative exercise but the “context question” kept expanding.

Why is this story unique to the book of Luke? Does that make it less likely that Jesus ACTUALLY said it? Since Luke is supposed to be written by a Gentile doctor—what, if anything, does that have to do with how I understand this story?  Luke’s gospel, in general, shows a much more “relaxed” picture of Jesus—one of Luke’s favorite places for Jesus to hang out is (literally) “reclining at the table.”  While at the various tables in the book of Luke Jesus spends time with a variety of people…Luke seems to emphasize the poor (literally poor not spiritually poor like Matthew), the oppressed, and the societal outcasts. Does this have ANYTHING at all to do with the story of the prodigal son? The idea of a “kingdom” seems to pop up a lot in Luke’s writings (I’m assuming that Luke wrote both the gospel that bears his name and the ONLY book of history in the NT the book of Acts). Does the story of the prodigal son have anything to do with the concept of the kingdom or visa-versa? Clearly this was a BIGGER undertaking than I had imagined.

All the while the “immediate context” was becoming more important as well. Jesus is not just spouting words into the air as he speaks. There is a geographic, historical setting with REAL people who are interacting with Jesus.  Luke makes clear that there are two primary groups of people present when Jesus is speaking, I quickly scrawled out the following diagram (which I ended up using numerous times in the series):

I concluded that Jesus’ question, which is implied in all three stories, is simply “what would you do?”  Note WHO Jesus is asking the question to—the “grumblers” the Jewish leaders (Pharisees and teachers of the Law) who were grumbling because Jesus was eating with “tax collectors and sinners” (who I would later call “the grateful”).

It appeared to me that AT LEAST a partial key to understanding was to clarify how the people in the stories reacted to their circumstances…thus answering the question, “what would you do?”  I figured that once I understood how they reacted I should note how the “grumblers” and the “grateful” reacted and it would give me some helpful, practical, application. As Shakespeare would say, “ay there’s the rub…” we are not given the response by the “grumblers” or the “grateful” (these titles imply what the response might be from those hearing the stories). Jesus ends the first two stories by simply stating, “so I tell you…there is joy…for those who are repenting” (a pretty loose translation but it can work). So are these stories about joy, repenting, and the unrepentant? Are these stories about how people respond to God?

CLEARLY…there was more work to do, and I haven’t even gotten into the ACTUAL story of the “prodigal son.”

I believe, help me in my unbelief.