This is the opening line of one of the most famous stories Jesus ever told, commonly called the Parable of the Lost Son or the Prodigal Son. Jesus told this story in direct response to religious leaders who were publicly criticizing him for spending time with people they considered sinners and outcasts. The full story involves a younger son who asks his father for his share of the inheritance while the father is still living — in the culture of that time, this was a shocking act of disrespect, essentially treating the father as already dead. The son then wastes everything, hits rock bottom, and returns home expecting to be hired as a servant — only to be met with extravagant, embarrassing celebration. The story also features an older son who stayed home, behaved perfectly, and is quietly furious about the welcome his brother receives.
Father, I come to this story knowing I have been both sons — the one who ran and wasted, and the one who stayed and resented. Remind me that your arms opened for both of them without hesitation. Help me receive grace as freely as you give it, and want it just as badly for the people I have already given up on. Amen.
Seven words. That is all this is: "There was a man who had two sons." But in a crowd of first-century listeners, those words would have caused people to lean forward. Everyone knew the cultural code — a younger son, an inheritance, a story about to get messy. They were right. What Jesus does with the next thirty verses dismantles every assumption his audience carried about who God keeps score on and who gets to come home. But notice what Jesus does not say at the start. He does not say "there was a good son and a bad son." He says there were *two sons* — and leaves it open. One will run straight toward every wrong thing. One will stay home and perform every right thing, and end up hollow and furious about it. Most of us, if we are being ruthlessly honest, have been both. The same story that covers the absolute wreckage of your worst choices also reaches into the tight-chested resentment of your most careful behavior. Before you have read another word, Jesus is already saying: this one is for you.
Why do you think Jesus opens this parable with such a spare, simple setup — just 'a man who had two sons' — without any extra drama or explanation?
Which of the two sons do you identify with most in this season of your life — the one who ran toward every wrong thing, or the one who stayed home and simmered? Be honest about why.
Jesus told this story specifically to religious people who were judging him for welcoming outsiders. How does knowing that audience change the way you read the parable — and which character were they meant to see themselves in?
The father in the story welcomes both sons with the same open posture. How does that image of a father with two very different children reshape how you picture God's relationship with people who make radically different choices?
Is there someone in your life you have mentally written off as too far gone, or someone whose 'good behavior' you have quietly resented? What might this story be inviting you to do about that?
And when he was come into the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came unto him as he was teaching, and said, By what authority doest thou these things? and who gave thee this authority?
Matthew 21:23
But what think ye? A certain man had two sons; and he came to the first, and said, Son, go work to day in my vineyard.
Matthew 21:28
Whether of them twain did the will of his father? They say unto him, The first. Jesus saith unto them, Verily I say unto you, That the publicans and the harlots go into the kingdom of God before you.
Matthew 21:31
Then He said, "A certain man had two sons.
AMP
And he said, “There was a man who had two sons.
ESV
And He said, 'A man had two sons.
NASB
The Parable of the Lost Son Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons.
NIV
Then He said: “A certain man had two sons.
NKJV
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons.
NLT
Then he said, "There was once a man who had two sons.
MSG