The teaching of the parable in Christianity

The characters

In the Gospel the father represents God, the Ultimate Reality in Christianity, while the prodigal son is the individual living in sin who finally repents and returns to a personal relationship with God.

The prodigal son

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, "Father, give me my share of the estate." So he divided his property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. When he came to his senses, he said, "How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men." So he got up and went to his father.

The Christian meaning of the parable is clear: We all need to return to God in repentance and faith. He does not compel us, so it must be a personal decision. God's forgiveness is not gained through high spiritual performance but only by repentance. The price for our reconciliation with God was paid by Jesus Christ, through his death on the cross. There is nothing more to add.
The parable depicts God's amazing availability to forgive and restore us, his great love that accepts us independently of our status and past. It should give us courage to come to him in repentance and faith, without fear, and inherit personal communion with him in his everlasting kingdom. Halleluya !