Bible moment
The Bible moment
In Luke 15:11–32, Jesus tells a parable about a father and his two sons. The younger son leaves home after receiving his share of the property, wastes it in reckless living, and becomes needy during a famine. He returns planning to confess his wrongdoing and ask to be treated as a hired servant. His father welcomes him with compassion and celebrates his return. The older son becomes angry and refuses to go into the celebration. The father comes out and explains that the older son is always with him and that everything the father has is his. He also says that celebrating is fitting because the younger brother was lost and has been found, and was described as dead and alive again. This language expresses restored relationship in the parable; it does not describe a literal death or resurrection. The passage ends with the father’s appeal, without telling us what the older son decides.
