Jesus was being heavily criticized by the guardians of the ancestral traditions because he was celebrating the kingdom, not with the righteous and the religious elite, but with all and sundry - with the riff-raff, the nogoods, the down-and-outs. (Original Jesus, 41)
Today we see a sharp distinction between stories and reality. While to us, stories are illustrations for kids, first century Jews understood stories to be a way of getting to grips with reality. Jesus himself communicated through parables, through stories. Our need, then, is to make the historical effort to get back inside the minds of the original audience. One of Jesus’ most well known stories is the Parable of the Running Father found in Luke 15 (better known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son).
To Israel this story was much more shocking than we realize: A dignified father who runs? A disgraced prodigal comes home? Unheard of! Often we see this story in general terms as about God’s love for us, his prodigal children. But to Jesus’ first century Jewish audience, this was a story filled with much deeper significance: This was the story of Israel going into exile, and then at last coming back again! Further, the story resembles the way that Jesus had been throwing his dignity aside to celebrate the kingdom with the no-good “sinners.” He was bringing the kingdom of God, the real homecoming. Israel is being restored after exile.
The elder brother represents for the people who didn’t buy Jesus’ version of the kingdom-story, who wanted to hang on to their dignity. Jesus invited everyone– the riff-raff prodigals and the dignified grumblers– to the kingdom party. God’s new rule was going to turn the world upside down.
Biblical Text: Luke 15:1-2, 11-32
Embedded Questions:
- Why did Jesus speak in parables?
- What’s going to happen next in the story?
- What is the reason for the party? Who is invited?
- Who is cast in the roles of the younger brother, and the older brother (in original setting)?
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