This beautiful parable is found only in Luke’s Gospel ((15:11-32). The Pharisees and Scribes condemned the Lord Jesus Christ because He welcomed sinners and ate with them. For this reason the Lord Jesus spoke this parable as well as a few preceding this one, parable of the lost sheep (Luke 15:1-7) and the parable of the lost drachma (Luke 15:8-10). These parables express the joy of one who found which was lost. In the parable of the Prodigal Son, the Lord compares the joy of God after the repentance of a sinner to the joy of a loving father to whom his profligate son has returned. “A certain man” had two sons. The man is God, while the sons are a sinner on the one hand, and so-called righteous men on the other, the Scribes and Pharisees on the other. The younger son asks for his share of his inheritance (1/3 according to (Deut 21:17). He goes off and lives a profligate life – as following God can be burdensome for some and they go off and live a licentious lifestyle. “There arose a famine in the land.” Sometimes God send us external calamities to those of us who are mired in a sinful life to force us to become sober. “And so he came to himself” – a very expressive phrase. The heavy consequence of sin and external calamities have a way of waking us up! “I will arise and go to my Father” – this is a decision of the sinner to leave his sin and repent. “I have sinned against heaven,” that is, before the holy place of God’s presence and the pure sinless spirit, “and before you,” by disdaining his loving Father, “and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” This is an expression of profound humility and a confession of his unworthiness both of which always accompany true repentance in a sinner. Listen carefully in the Gospel the reaction of the so called righteous son, the Scribes and Pharisees and how the Father deals with him.