Jesus Teachings - THE PRODIGAL SON. Today’s Aims – Explain how Jesus spread God’s message to his followers Understand the meaning of the story of The Prodigal Son

designed to illustrate Jesus teaching’s In order to spread the teachings of God to his followers, Jesus used PARABLES He would tell stories which people would remember and which had a special meaning designed to explain God’s message. Parable - a short story designed to illustrate or teach some truth, religious principle, or moral lesson. Write the meaning of the world parable into your jotter

Prodigal - a person who spends, or substance with wasteful or has spent, his or her money or substance with wasteful extravagance THE PRODIGAL SON. Jesus told this very famous story: A man had two sons, one of whom was very sensible but the other was “off the wall” and could not wait to get his hands on his half of his rich father’s money. He pestered his father until he handed over his share. Off he went and, sure enough, he blew the lot on gambling, alcohol and womanising. Obviously, he ended up “busted” and down and out. 3

THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL The boy’s one redeeming feature was that he at least realised what a fool he had been. He resolved to go back to his father, take whatever punishment his father decided on, and beg to be one of his slaves so that he could at least survive. 4

THE RETURN OF THE PRODIGAL Imagine his surprise when, instead of punishing and enslaving him, his father threw a great party, lavished him with gifts, and reinstated him. Imagine also his brother’s surprise since his father had never rewarded him despite his years of faithful, level headed service. Why do you think the father decided to do this?

THE EXPLANATION The father explained that he always knew that he could rely on his mature, sensible son but that he had been heartbroken when his wild son went completely off the rails. He asked his sensible son to try to understand his joy that, at last, his other son had learned his lesson. Task – Write a paragraph describing the tale of the Prodigal Son 6

The message of the story is: Jesus taught that the father in the story represents God, and that the sons represent different types of people- some never seem to do anything wrong and some, depending on circumstances, seem to go completely awry. God is pleased enough with “good” people but is especially gratified when people who have made wrong decisions come to their senses and see the error of their ways. The message of the story is: Even the “good” people do wrong occasionally because “sinning” is unavoidable. Jesus here encourages us to acknowledge our shortcomings and try to make up for them-don’t try to turn your failings into virtues by justifying them. Answer the following: In the story, who is represented by a) the father and b) the sons Explain when God is ‘especially gratified’ with people who have made wrong decisions What is the message of the story?