The Prodigal's Redemption; Luke 15:20-24

Delivered during the Sunday Morning Worship Service, 6/23/2024. In our study of the parable of a loving father and his two wayward sons, we have reached the end of the second scene when the recalcitrant but now repentant son returns home to his father. In perhaps the most beloved scene in all of Jesus' parables, the boy is stunned when his father sees him from afar and runs to embrace him, kiss him, shower him with gifts, restore him to the family, and joyfully celebrate his return. The young man's faulty understanding of repentance is overwhelmed by his father's compassionate forgiveness, restoration and grace. We will find tremendous significance in the various elements of the scene, including the willingness of the father to cover the boy's shame with his own and the eschatological imagery of the gifts. Ultimately we will explore the reason the father did not follow his son into the far country to "seek" after him and how this relates to the prodigal's redemption and the evangelistic outreach of the church.