1. That would be awfully insulting to ask for your share in the estate at that point in your life. It would be like wishing your parents were dead.
2. Fill in the blanks on what wild living looks like, but I would imagine that it was all about temporary pleasures and instant gratification. That gets kind of wild because you can’t ever really be satisfied from that stuff.
3. (Incidentally, this story is called the parable of the PRODIGAL son. A lot of people think that means “lost.” It actually means someone who blows through money.)
4. Could you imagine being a Jewish person having to work with pigs? They are considered unclean.
5. Have you ever seen pig food? This guy must have been desperate…
6. Even though this guy didn’t feel worthy to be his father’s son, he still remembered that his father was generous towards his servants. He figured that going back and asking to be that would be his best bet…
7. I love the fact that the father ran to meet his son. Two things here. One, he must have been waiting for him because he saw him from a long way away. Two, back in the day, you didn’t run toward someone inferior to you (it was considered beneath a person of high stature). This father risks embarrassment or looking like a pushover to embrace his son. Cool.
8. The son tried to get his “I”ll be a servant speech” out. He couldn’t finish. His dad was way too pumped for that. He had a speech of his own…
9. The father gave him articles of clothing that would secure his identity as his father’s SON, and he had a Hebrew throwdown.
10. The other brother’s attitude kills me. He’s asking what all the commotion is about, and the servant tells him HIS BROTHER is home. What is his response? Anger and a refusal to go into the party. We’ll find out why.
11. The father cares about this son, too, though. He goes out to talk to him, pleading for him to come inside and greet his brother.
12. Apparently, the other son thought he was the “hired hand.” He says that he was “slaving” for his father. Sons don’t slave. Sounds like his motivation is a little off. Why do you think that this son never got a party?
13. Notice that the brother calls him “this son of yours.” He doesn’t even acknowledge that he’s his brother.
14. Um…wild living…prostitutes. OK… I wonder if that’s actually what the son did or if the brother is assuming the worst about his brother…
15. What do you see in God’s heart from this story, assuming that the “father” is actually our “Father”?
16. Which son do you see yourself in? Why?
