The Prodigal Son
Lukas 15:11–32lost-and-foundmercyrepentance
A younger son squanders his inheritance, comes home in shame, and is run to and embraced by his father — while the older son refuses to come in.
The father runs. That is the scandal — Middle Eastern fathers do not run. He runs because the son is far off and shame would tear him to pieces in the village; the father absorbs the shame himself. The older son's refusal is the harder lostness — slaving in the field with no joy, resentful of mercy. The Father pleads with both kinds of lost children. Come in.
- Hoshea 14:1–4Return, O Yisrael — I will heal their backsliding
- Yirmeyahu 31:20Ephraim, my dear son — my heart yearns for him