Let me share with you perhaps the most meaningless part of Jim's sermon. I love it when preacher's show they're thinking about the current days we are living in. On the prodigal son returning home:
But then a crisis hits. Jesus doesn't use these actual words; but you'll see why I've chosen them in a moment. There was a GFC - a global financial crisis. Look at (Luke 15) verse 14 "And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need."
By the way, without Googling does anyone actually know what prodigal means? I don't think I've ever heard it in another context. I expect when I enquire of a dictionary it will say something like;
Prodigal: A description of the younger son in the parable of "The Prodigal Son".
And then when the description gives an example of a sentence.
E.g. The Prodigal Son.
Any ideas of it's meaning without consulting Professor Google?
Regardless of the meaning of prodigal, in light of the first two parables [Lost sheep, lost coin], surely a more apt description would be "The Lost Son" - or as Jim pointed out "The Two Lost Sons". Time for the subeditors to break with tradition I say.
Prodigal means something along the lines of "wasteful", doesn't it? In any case, I'm guessing that nowadays, it's used more to liken someone to the Prodigal Son at the end of the parable, as in "repentant and returning" (although that's a terrible description on my part). Sometimes just "returning".
ReplyDelete"Lost Son" certainly works a lot better, and these days, the word "prodigal" is barely used, so break the tradition, I say!
Yep, prodigal is "wasteful", so perhaps "profligate" would be a better option :)
ReplyDeleteInteresting isn't how at one time in history it was the proverb about the wasteful son - I wonder which one was wasteful in the end?
Helpful thoughts guys.
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