Prodigal Son

Our theme at yesterdays VBS was forgiveness. The story read was an abridgment of the well-known parable, the Prodigal Son.

For those interested, the original can be found here.

Tim Keller does an excellent job of expounding it here.

One thing that he points out, that I missed for many years, is that this story is addressed to the Pharisees and not "lost" sinners. This parable is often cited as an example of Gods love to those who have left the fold, who have spent years in prodigious living. These things are true and are important truths to know. But what is often missed is that the target audience are those within the church, those who have been slaving, er living, by the rules and that the Father seeks them out as well.

It is also interesting that the story gives us resolution of the relationship between the Father and the younger son - but the resolution of the conflict between the Father and the older son is left open. It would seem as though Jesus wants us to write the ending to our own story.

Anyway, I just had to get this off my chest because I couldn't do so in our VBS with our 2-14 year olds.

Thanks.