Week 1: Introduction — The Parable

1.Keller opens by noting the original audience for this parable: tax collectors and sinners on one side, Pharisees and scribes on the other. Why does that original audience matter for how we interpret the story? Who in your own life or context maps onto those two groups?

2.Read Luke 15:1–32 aloud before your group discussion. What details stand out to you that you may have glossed over in previous readings of this parable?

3.Keller argues that the conventional title — 'the parable of the prodigal son' — has caused readers to focus almost entirely on the younger brother. Do you think that is fair? How have you personally tended to hear or apply this parable in the past?

4.The word 'prodigal' means recklessly extravagant or lavish. Keller applies it primarily not to the younger son's sin but to the father's grace. Does that reframing surprise you? What does it suggest about the kind of God Jesus is describing?

5.Keller says Jesus is addressing two groups simultaneously and that the parable has something to say to each. Which brother do you instinctively identify with more — the younger or the older — and why?

6.Keller frames the parable as Jesus' most comprehensive statement of the gospel. What would it mean for a single parable to contain the 'essential message' of Jesus? Does that claim seem overstated to you, or does the parable seem to carry that weight?

7.What do you hope to gain — personally, spiritually, or intellectually — from studying this book? Share one honest expectation or one honest fear about what you might find.