RTW 2024

 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him.”

Luke 15:20

When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days.
John 11:17

Many Jews believe that the soul remained near the body for three days after death in the hope of returning to it.

• Jesus was speaking to “tax collectors and sinners.” The Pharisees were muttering about Jesus welcoming and eating with sinners.
• The older son would receive a double portion of the inheritance, usually given at the time of his father’s death. To give a younger son his portion of the inheritance upon request was highly unusual.
• To feed pigs would have been the ultimate indignity for Jews.
• A long robe of distinction, a signet ring of authority, sandals like a son were signs of position and acceptance (slaves went barefoot). The father is refusing to receive him as a servant, but instead a son.
• Feasting was a huge part of Hebrew life, and for other people of the ancient Near East as well. The calf would be big enough to feed the whole village, so it would have been a large celebration. 
• It was not considered appropriate for an elderly Jewish man to run.
• The older brother refusing to come to the party would have been considered a grave insult and could have warranted discipline or being disinherited. The father instead humbly spoke to him. 
• “To ask one's father for one’s share of the inheritance early was unheard of in antiquity; in fact, one would thereby say, "Father, I wish you were already dead." Such a statement would not go over well even in the West today, and in a society stressing obedience to one's father it would be a serious act of rebellion for which the father could have beaten him or worse. A not unusual response would have been for the father to disinherit the son! That the father grants the request means that most of the hearers will not identify with the father in this parable; from the start, they would think of him as stupidly lax to pamper such an immoral son. Presumably most hearers do not realize at the beginning that Jesus is depicting God's mercy toward them!” The IVP Bible Background Commentary
• Jesus is comparing the Pharisees to the older son, who cared more about his deeds and service than about a relationship.
• We do need to turn from doing wrong in our life, but we don’t have to work our way toward being better or having it all together before we are accepted by Jesus. The father ran to the prodigal son before the son spoke a word.

Accept others as Jesus did.