The Good Samaritan and the lost son: parables on the road to Jerusalem
On his final journeys toward Jerusalem, Jesus told some of his best-known parables: the Samaritan who showed mercy to a wounded stranger, and the father who ran to welcome his lost son home.
“He arose and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion, and ran, fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
Luke 15:20 (World English Bible)
A lawyer asked, “Who is my neighbor?” Jesus answered with a story in which the hero was a Samaritan, the one his hearers least expected. When the Pharisees grumbled that he welcomed sinners, he told of a lost sheep, a lost coin, and a lost son, each ending in joy in heaven over one sinner who repents (Luke 15:7, 10).
Dating notes
Ussher places Luke's travel narrative (Luke 9:51–19:28) across the autumn of AD 32 and the early months of AD 33. The month shown is estimated from the order of events in Ussher's harmony, so that events of the same year appear in sequence.