The Prodigal Son In Crosscurrents Magazine

he Prodigal Son is a parable told by Jesus, authored by Luke. It is an allegory about unconditional love. This love is known as an affection without limitations. In this parable, love is pushed to its limit by two brothers. It is tested with greed, disrespect, jealously and hate. Nevertheless, the true meaning of this tale is honor and shame. Phil Kershner writes an article about The Prodigal Son in CrossCurrents Magazine. Kershner, referring to first century Palestine, states, “to lose one's honor is to be shamed” (2). This is the case with all of the actors in this story. Each character in this tale must make the decision whether to choose unconditional love and gain honor or choose greed and gain shame.

The Prodigal Son is basically a story within a story. This allegorical tale was used as an instructional example for the Pharisees (religious leaders). Jesus used the
“In the biblical narrative, when the Prodigal was distressed, alone, and without, he addressed himself with both internal dialogues and internal rhetoric” (Polischuk). By using this in the story, Jesus wanted the Pharisees to realize that at some point there is good in everyone.

So why is there no ending to this story? I feel that the resolution of this is that unconditional love is never ending. The conclusion of the story converted back to the beginning. Again, a son decided to squander his father's love for material possessions, but the father again shows mercy and love for his son. “This honor/shame dynamic affects the actors in our story” (Kershner). The younger son's request brought not only shame on himself, but shame on his family. However, what dissipated the shame was the love from his father which restored