PARABLE OF THE PRODIGAL SON

 Exod 32:7-11.13-14; Luke 15:1-32

1. Father:

Today’s gospel story is a famous story called “prodigal son”, but in actual situations it has to be called prodigal father because the whole story is centered on the incredible love of the father for his son.

This Father lost everything for his son; not only property but also his name and fame. Younger son is asking for his portion… According to the prescriptions of Torah, the son can request their property only at the death of the father. The son is asking as if putting his life at risk. Today most of the parents want to have their own will, written down carefully while they are still strong and alive so as to avoid many legal problems when they pass away. They want their children’s future to be secured. Asking his property as in this case, was a big offense to the father’s own existence. Nevertheless, he shows his paternity in 3 ways;

The Father loves younger son in freedom. He respected his freedom and agrees to divide the property. Although the father knew ahead the danger that was going to happen, he knew well about his future lavishing,  he let him go. This gives us an insight about God’s love: for love to be true, it must be freely given; it cannot be forced. True love cannot put many conditions and it respects freedom. People who are possessive, controlling cannot offer true love. As children grow older, the parents must give greater freedom, including the freedom to make mistakes.

God asks from Moses the characteristic behaviour of the Father “Go down to your people whom you brought from the land of Egypt”. Go down from your position, state and identity. In all the parables of the gospel, it is revealed through careful and diligent search; for the only one sheep, the shepherd has to leave the sheepfold, the woman bends down and searches for the only one coin. In this case, the father does not go and search; but his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He went down from the palace, ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. We need to take steps in order to go down and meet him. A parent thinks about the children all the time, and works hard to save money for them. But no! That's not enough. We should be able to understand their situation, and put ourselves into their shoes.

An unknown author said, the younger son would go out of the house because there was no mother in the story. Still, there is a presence of maternity inside the figure of the father. “While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. The original language for having compassion, comes from the love of the womb. This maternal characteristic of Yahweh is quoted very often in the book of the Prophet Isaiah. The center of the whole parable is the maternal love of a father for his sinful son.

There is a beautiful legend in which someone has pictured the “Last Day” in Heaven. It’s the last day that the gate of heaven is open. Everyone is celebrating, dancing, and singing, grateful that they have made it to God’s eternal home. Everyone except Jesus. He is standing very quietly in the shadows near the gate. Someone asks Him what He is doing, amidst all the celebration. He replies, “I am still waiting here for Judas.” Meaning, the Lord is still giving Judas Iscariot a last chance to turn himself in. The story symbolizes the infinite quality of God’s forgiving love. But it’s up to Judas to use his free will to accept or reject Jesus’ offer.

2.   Younger Son:

What are the accusations on the younger son? He spent all the money lavishly, drunkard, selfish, womanizer, lazy, but only one is true; he did not realize the love of the Father. That is absolutely equal to a sin. He faced three kinds of humiliations;

He works under the gentile; he hired himself out to one of the local citizens. A Jew can have 10 gentiles as slaves. But a Jew should not work under a gentile. Hunger and thirst are not humiliation for a Jew. Lowering oneself under a gentile is a big humiliation.

He was asked to take care of the pigs; which is one of the degrading jobs. The occupation was forbidden for the Jews, because pigs were considered unclean animals.

He eagers to eat the pods given to swines, but nobody would give him any. For the Jews who are forbidden to eat pork, to feed swine and eat the “husks the pigs ate,” means they have reached the lowest level of their social status. Jews give great importance to the rituals before eating and they can consume only kosher food, so this was unthinkable for an orthodox Jew.

After these three humiliations, there comes the realization of his own state and state in front of God. Then the young man came to his senses. The moment the son realizes the sins against our neighbor, he recognizes his state before God, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.” Suffering is a way for the realization of God. Ramana Maharishi, “Suffering is a mother of God’s realization”. 

3.   The elder Son:

For me, this parable could also be called the “unforgiving brother.” This elder brother was supposed to be the good guy in the story. He did not protest; he did not make father suffer. When the father divides the property, two thirds of the property go to the elder son. But he didn't receive it. It seemed he was not interested in the money.

The elder son is the symbol of Jews themselves. They believed that they were pious and clean; and faithful to the law, so they were the ones who had the right to inherit all the properties of the Father. They cannot accept the fact that this younger “prodigal brother” will be accepted back again to the community as part of the children of God. They cannot reconcile with the fact that the father accepts the younger son who in their eyes has become a gentile.

 At the end of the parable, the father became upset with the elder son who was angry at receiving the younger son. For God, the sin is not the heaviest thing to be considered. But disunity is much more than sin. He cannot accept that. Going to a foreign country is not a problem for the father, but being in the same house, and still staying outside is a discredit to the father. House is a symbol of heaven. The elder stayed outside, not because he was not accepting to enter but because he refused to enter. He thinks he was the only one who was good, and therefore he was the only one who deserved to be in his father’s house. The gate of the father’s house is always open to those who want to come back and humbly say sorry. Nothing has to be deserved, but is graciously given. 

We need to return to the father’s house: We are all sinners. Whether your sins are more visible like those of the younger son or more hidden like those of the elder son, the message for us today is that we all need to repent and return to the father’s house. The younger son needs to turn back from his frivolous lifestyle and return to the father’s house and be a responsible and obedient son. The elder son needs to turn back from anger and resentment and learn to share the house with the apparently undeserving younger brother.

After teaching her Sunday school kids about the Parable of the Prodigal Son, a religion  teacher asked them: “Now tell me: Who suffered the most in the story?” A child raised her hand and answered, “the fatted cow.” Absolutely! Next to the fatted calf comes the elder son who remained outside while the party went on inside. He did not even taste the fatted calf that he had helped to raise. All because he stuck to his own ideas of fairness and justice and failed to see that the father’s ways are not our ways. They cannot accept the fact that the father would even offer the “fatted calf” (the Messiah) to celebrate sinners’ return to the Father.

For those who do not leave or who think they are always at the father’s side, please be careful of self-righteousness and/or spiritual pride. Let us never lose sight of or belittle the power of grace in our lives. Sinners or saints, we all must anchor our lives on God’s grace, mercy, and love.