In the language of the parable, the sun was striking the Father with crushing, killing,

blows, saying, you are evil, you are shameful, someone needs to end the shame and bring honor

to this family, and I will do it by ridding this family of such a shameful Father.

The novelist Charles Dickens called the parable of the prodigal son the greatest story ever written.

You may have known the story since your earliest Sunday school days, but even though this parable

is widely known and, frankly, a pretty simple narrative, it's one of the most misunderstood

passages in the Bible. How can that be? What's to misunderstand? Well, for starters, it's not just

a story about one son. It's really the tale of two sons. That's the title of John MacArthur's

lesson today here on Grace to You. It's part of his current series that's looking at the new

testament beginning to end, and now to explain what this parable is all about. Here's John.

The text before us is like so many texts, a very familiar text. Anybody who knows this story

knows the story that we call the story the prodigal son. Let's look at it.

Shameful request verse 11, three characters of Father and two sons. The younger of them said

to his Father, Father, that's very respectful, by the way. Give me the share of the estate that

falls to me. And at this point, they would step back. What? That's unthinkable. The younger son

is asking the Father for his share of an inheritance. He's at a rank. There's a pecking order.

If he's younger, somebody's older. This is not only out of rank. This is disrespectful. This is

selfish. You get the estate when the Father dies. This is like saying, Father, I wish you were

dead. You're in the way. I want what's mine and I want it now and I'm tired of waiting.

There is no precedent in Jewish society for this. This is an absolute outrage. This is a shameful

request. And shameful request, however, leads to a shameful response. I want you to see what the

Father did in verse 12. And He divided his wealth between them. What? What? The Father is supposed

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