The Parable of the Prodigal Son is easily the most famous story Jesus ever told. It has inspired paintings, novels, symphonies, and countless sermons. Yet for all its familiarity, we often miss its radical edge. We reduce it to a morality tale about a wayward child who says sorry and a softhearted dad who offers a second chance. But Luke 15:11–24 is far more disruptive than that. It is a story about the architecture of desire, the bankruptcy of self-exile, and a love that operates outside the economy of merit. **The Request That Kills** The parable opens not with departure, but with a demand: "Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me" (v. 12). In the first-century world, this was not merely impolite; it was violent. By asking for his inheritance while his father still lived, the younger son is effectively saying, "I wish you were dead." He wants the benefits of sonship without the relationship. He wants the assets, not the father. This is th...
I share Father Barron's thoughts about it. I like the Beatles and I like most of their songs including this one until I thought about its lyrics and not just the melody of the song.
I couldn't imagine a world without God because it means that life becomes meaningless and just one big mistake. A product of a big accident of the cosmos.
The world just becomes a true rat race where me-first attitude is the only way. Why sacrifice for others? Just take care of yourself and no one else. Love becomes meaningless. Life becomes meaningless.
What do you think?
