Pastor Karen Witt’s Fathers Day sermon on the well-known story of the prodigal son is a good reminder of the value of historical context to our appreciation of the richness and deep meaning of the biblical text. Sunday’s gospel lesson was the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32), with Pastor Karen focusing her message on the father. To gain an understanding of the father’s shameless compassion and radical forgiveness of his son (and to learn about the ancient Jewish tradition of kezazah, in which the community shamed and rejected one like the prodigal who had frittered away his inheritance) listen to Karen’s sermon at the following link. The amazing application of the story for our own lives will become crystal clear from hearing and contemplating her message.
