The Expositor’s Bible Commentary calls it “the crown and flower of all the parables.”11 As we read the account, we can’t help but be captured by the story of a father’s love. And, like everything Jesus taught, it carried even deeper meaning when understood in the context of first-century Palestine. Keep in mind that Jesus told this story to Pharisees and scribes who derided Jesus for being too approachable. They murmured: “This man receives sinners and eats with them.”12 They can’t get over the fact