What does story of prodigal son mean?

Answer 1

In the story of the prodigal son , the son is man the father is God. And it means God. And God is waiting and watching from a long for man to repent and return. Please note the father hugged the son even when he was dirty and stinking. We to are like that with all our sin.

Answer:

When Jesus is talking to people some Pharisees and scribes are also there. They complain that Jesus is always with the common people.

Luke 15:1 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him.

Luke 15:2 And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them."

Luke 15:3 So He spoke this parable to them, saying: .........................

So Jesus tells the parable:

In the parable the father represents God, the youngest son represents Israel and the oldest son represents the scribes and Pharisees.

The youngest son leaves his father - Israel at this stage is far from the relationship that God intended then to have with Him.

Jesus is calling Israel back to the relationship God intended for them.

The oldest son is prejudiced towards the youngest son because the youngest son is treated well, given a lot of attention etc by the father.

In the gospels we can see Jesus paid a lot of attention to the ordinary people the scribes and Pharisees of the day were jealous because they thought they were the spiritual men of Israel. They were put out that Jesus "received sinners" they thought Jesus should have been spending time with them - they were the spiritual ones.

This is the direct interpretation of the parable but we can see that the father was waiting for the youngest son to return and so God waits for people to repent and turn to Him.

Answer 2

The parables of Jesus are usually concerned with spiritual truths rather than morals. Parables are a way of teaching spiritual truths. The spiritual truth is hidden in stories of everyday life - "an earthly story with a heavenly meaning." The real meaning of the parable is hidden to those who are not seeking spiritual truth or are not willing to think about the parable.

The parable of the prodigal son was told because of the attitudes of two groups of Israelites - the scribes and Pharisees. The Pharisees carefully carried out the rituals of the law while the scribe were the interpreters of the law. Both of these groups were self righteous and rejected Jesus. This parable along with the parables of the lost coin and the lost son, are rebukes to the scribes and Pharisees.

The first thing we can learn is that God (the father in the parable) was wanting to accept Israel (the youngest son) back into His family (but Israel rejected Jesus as the messiah).

Secondly the Scribes and Pharisees were just like the oldest son - self righteous.

Some people apply this parable to sinners coming to God but I think considering the context the primary interpretation of the parable is that the prodigal son represents Israel.