The Prodigal God Sermon Series

Sermon series based on The Prodigal God

January 9  -  February 14

"There was a man who had two sons…”  Does that sound familiar to you? Does it sound like a story you’ve heard before?

The familiar words begin the Parable of the Prodigal Son as it’s told by Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. Or, is it more accurate to refer to it as the Parable of the Prodigal God? Timothy Keller, author of The Prodigal God: Recovering the Heart of the Christian Faith, believes it’s the latter, and beginning the weekend of January 9 and 10 we invite you to learn why.

Most interpretations of Jesus’ parable focus on the thankless, runaway younger brother - the prodigal son - and his eventual return to his Father’s home. Timothy Keller believes that such a focus misses the crux of Jesus’ story and misses out on the story’s radical potential to proclaim the Gospel. After all, Keller notes, the word ‘prodigal’ does not exclusively mean ‘wayward;’ it also means ‘extravagant.’ Jesus’ parable, in other words, is not about one son’s departure and return. It’s about the sons’ Father and the reckless lengths to which he’ll go to love them without condition.

In Keller’s reading, then, the Father of the parable shows us how God loves us while the two sons in the parable reveal two very different but common ways we alienate ourselves from God’s love.