by Matthew W. Bassford<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/11\/prodigal-son-300x293.jpg\")
I know that one should not have high expectations of religious memes, but the one below grinds my gears. Every time I saw it, I rolled my eyes a little bit harder, until I knew that either I\u2019d have to write about it, or my eyes would get stuck that way permanently, just like my Communications teacher said they would.<\/p>\n
Certainly, the meme is in line with the pop-culture understanding of the parable, and even in line with the hymns we sing. I think \u201cLove for All\u201d is a moving hymn. Indeed, it makes a better hymn than a hymn about the actual point of the parable would!<\/p>\n
However, we need to be better Bible students than that. First, I don\u2019t think Jesus ever said anything to make \u201cone simple point\u201d. His teaching has so many layers to it that I think it\u2019s the most difficult thing in the Bible to understand fully. You can get the surface meaning pretty quickly, but the deeper aspects take years or decades (or never, this side of Jordan) to understand.<\/p>\n
Second, if the parable of the prodigal son has a simple point, \u201cJust come home,\u201d isn\u2019t it. I think you could make the argument that \u201cJust come home,\u201d is the point of Jesus\u2019 entire ministry (as per Luke 19:9), but He\u2019s doing something different here. Luke 15:1-3 tells the story:<\/p>\n
Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear Him. And the Pharisees and the scribes grumbled, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” So He told them this parable:<\/p>\n
Then, immediately following, you\u2019ve got the parable of the lost sheep, the parable of the lost coin, and the parable of the prodigal son.<\/p>\n
Notice that the context begins with the observation that the tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to listen to Jesus. There was no need to tell those prodigals to come home. They already were coming!<\/p>\n
The problem was that the religious elites who saw all this, rather than rejoicing, were grumbling because Jesus was associating with riff-raff, which they themselves surely would not have done! They are so obviously in need of a dramatic attitude adjustment that it is to the \u201crighteous\u201d, rather than to the sinners and tax collectors, that Jesus relates His trio of parables.<\/p>\n
First, He uses the parables of the sheep and the coin to show that even if the Pharisees aren\u2019t rejoicing over all the repentant sinners, all of heaven is. God has invited the angels to share in His celebration! Contextually, then, the point of the parable of the prodigal son is that if the Pharisees don\u2019t join in the rejoicing (as the older brother didn\u2019t), they will remove themselves from the household of the Father, refusing to come in, even as He begs them to do so.<\/p>\n
The parable of the prodigal son, then, isn\u2019t a lighthearted offer of reconciliation, complete with cute cartoon pigs. It\u2019s a sobering warning from Jesus to the Pharisees (and indeed to everyone who is \u201creligious\u201d) to check their hearts. We, not the sinners around us, are the ones who are in danger of ending up on the wrong end of the parable.<\/p>\n
The only people who are going to enter the kingdom of heaven are the ones who share the goals of the King of heaven. Even though sinners have grieved Him by their rebellion, He longs to be reconciled with them. We are His chosen instruments for doing exactly that.<\/p>\n
How do we feel about our work? Are we as zealous for the lost as God is? Or, instead, are we indifferent to them, or even actively hostile, like the Pharisees were? Are we the kind of Christians who, deep down, don\u2019t want messy people in our neat little church?<\/p>\n
Jesus wants us to understand that that spirit will leave us on the outside looking in too.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Matthew W. Bassford I know that one should not have high expectations of religious memes, but the one below grinds my gears. Every time I saw it, I rolled my eyes a little bit harder, until I knew that either I\u2019d have to write about it, or my eyes would get stuck that way…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[690,47,798],"class_list":["post-14879","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-luke","tag-salvation","tag-sincerity"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":23309,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-gender-neutral-god-in-hymns\/","url_meta":{"origin":14879,"position":0},"title":"A Gender-Neutral God in Hymns","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 11, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford The other day, I found myself going through some hymns of hope and comfort that a hymn blogger has been posting daily through the coronavirus pandemic. The style (organ plus choir) isn\u2019t my thing; from my perspective, you\u2019ve got a nasty instrument drowning out the good\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/father-and-son-194x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":46799,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-song-leaders-can-pick-good-hymns\/","url_meta":{"origin":14879,"position":1},"title":"How Song Leaders Can Pick Good Hymns","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 23, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford via\u00a0His Excellent Word Over the past month or two, I've heard from a few people who were wondering why I was writing so much about good and bad hymns. What's the take-home? What's the so-what? I have an extremely strong view of congregational autonomy, so I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53005,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/hymns-and-opportunity-cost\/","url_meta":{"origin":14879,"position":2},"title":"Hymns and Opportunity Cost","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"September 9, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Matthew W. Bassford As a rule, people have trouble understanding the importance of what they can't see. We prefer buying a big-screen TV to saving for retirement, so we benefit from ideas that help us to reckon with the unseen. Of these, one of my favorites is the concept\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":95080,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/when-words-are-pressed-too-far-understanding-poetic-language-in-scripture-and-song\/","url_meta":{"origin":14879,"position":3},"title":"When Words Are Pressed Too Far: Understanding Poetic Language In Scripture And Song","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"April 12, 2026","format":false,"excerpt":"by Becky Ren\u00e9 Why Over-Literal Interpretation Can Lead to Misunderstanding From time to time, concerns are raised about the wording of certain hymns. A particular line may be singled out and questioned on the grounds that it could give the wrong impression or, if taken at face value, appear to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":21780,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/does-the-bible-state-the-world-is-flat\/","url_meta":{"origin":14879,"position":4},"title":"Does the Bible state the world is flat?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 25, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: [This is the first point in an overly long document that was sent, purporting to prove there are errors in the Bible. This first point claims that the Bible states the world is flat. I'm not going to give space for false teaching, but I want to illustrate with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":64245,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/im-unsure-about-a-line-in-the-hymn-count-your-many-blessings\/","url_meta":{"origin":14879,"position":5},"title":"I’m unsure about a line in the hymn “Count Your Many Blessings”","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 23, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I'm unsure about the line: \"angels will attend, help and comfort give you to your journey's end\" in the song \"Count Your Many Blessings.\" Would it be unscriptural to sing that verse if we don't exactly know how angels are \"sent out to render service for the sake of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14879","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14879"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14879\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14879"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14879"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14879"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}