Both the irreligious and the religious are spiritually lost – Tim Keller
I’ve learned a lot about music over the last nine years of being married to an artist. Still, there are moments when Cameron starts speaking in full-on audio engineer mode—and I’m completely lost.
That’s when he usually shifts to cooking analogies, because that’s language I can understand. 🤪
For example, the other day he tried to explain to me the importance of mixing and mastering. He goes, “You know how when you’re cooking butter chicken and you can’t really tell how it will taste until you put the chicken and the gravy together in the very end and garnish it? That’s the same with a song until it has been mixed and mastered.”
The point is that if you want to communicate something clearly, you have to know your audience and speak in a way they’ll understand.
To truly understand Jesus’ message in the parable of the Prodigal Son, we must examine the audience He was addressing.
At the start of chapter 15, Luke observes that:
The tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.” – Luke 15:1-2
We can divide Jesus’ audience into two groups:
- Tax collectors and sinners = Outcasts
- Pharisees and teachers of the law = Religious Elite
The two main characters in Jesus’ story, the two brothers, correspond directly with the two groups in His audience.
The Outcasts relate to the younger brother. They don’t follow the rules and live “wild” lives, full of sin.
The older brother represents the Religious Elite; they lived by the book and worked hard to obey the law.
Just like the older brother in the story who was outraged when their father welcomed his rebellious younger sibling back, the Religious Elite also complain, “This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.”
Which group do you identify with the most?
