Jesus told about 40 parables in the gospels, and the most well-known is the one about the prodigal son. It has a lot of meaning and is filled with symbols that are as important today as they were when Jesus told the story. In this paper, I will look at the parable in a few ways and bring out the information it contains, as well as how it fits in with other parables in the same chapter of Luke (15). I also will analyze what the parable means and look at other parables with the same message. (Note: For the gospel references, I will use "The New Oxford Annotated Bible".) 8 pgs. Bibliography lists 9 sources.