S10: E5 Prodigal Gospel: Getting Lost and Found Again in the Good News with Jonny Morrison

Theology on Mission

The good news is bigger and better than we imagined.

Is the gospel good news for us today? Many Christians—especially young Christians stepping into a world and a church devastated by division, scandal, and abuse—are asking this question and deciding it simply isn’t. For many, it seems like our faith has little to offer the world around us. Our gospel has become too small—it looks nothing like the Jesus who embodies good news in the flesh.

How do we recover this gospel? When we turn to the parable of the prodigal son—a story of elaborate parties, upside-down kingdoms, and reunited families—we can hear in Jesus’ own words a clear presentation of what he is doing, of a truth that is bigger and better than we’ve imagined. In these pages, author and pastor Jonny Morrison invites us on a journey to help us find ourselves and Jesus in the welcoming arms of this familiar parable, zooming out to show how this story shapes the entire story of Scripture. Along the way we discover the radically inclusive power of the gospel that upends religions, disrupts empires, heals the wounded, and empowers the marginalized. This is, after all, Jesus’ news to tell, and when we truly listen to him tell it, we can be found again in the surprising, disarming, challenging gospel that is truly good news.

Timestamps:

02:18 Johnny Morrison's Background

03:57 Discussing Prodigal Gospel

05:12 The Gospel and Its Implications

13:41 Challenges in Communicating the Gospel

15:25 The Need for an Entry Point

16:17 Metaphors for Articulating the Gospel

16:46 The Prodigal Son as a Gospel Metaphor

19:03 Personal Stories and the Gospel

23:34 Challenges and Reservations

26:10 Concluding Thoughts and Recommendations