Today the Church invites us to meditate on the life of a loving father and his two sons, one of the longest parables of Jesus. It is rich in every word, and it is named as the parable of the prodigal son.
But we need to find out who the real prodigal son is in this
parable because all three characters are prodigal on their own level. The
youngest son is the first. He is asking his father for his inheritance. Usually,
a father’s inheritance would be given to his children on the point of his
death. But the youngest son is asking too early. Maybe for him, his father is already
dead in his heart.
Anyway, his loving father gave him his inheritance. Soon the
younger son gathered up all his possessions and went away to a far land. To live
outside the land of Israel is something serious to think about. In Jewish
agricultural society, when a son would come into his father’s inheritance, he
becomes the heir to the land and the property that were part of his family
inheritance. To have a piece of land in Israel is seen as the fulfilment of God’s
promise to his forefathers that God will give them the promised land. Going to
a faraway land means that he has completely abandoned that family relationship
and is rejecting God’s promise that you and your descendants will inherit the
promised land. Moreover, for the Jew who hears this parable, living in a
distant territory meant being in exile. Because whenever Israel disobeyed God’s
commandments, they went into exile and were enslaved.
But it reminds us of the changes that sin brings to a
person. It is alienating you from God and His family relationship. At the same
time, by sinning, we deliberately reject God’s promises. And finally, it leads
us into slavery.
So whenever we sin, we become this younger son. So the
youngest son symbolises any man who lives according to his will. The youngest
son represents those who deny the loving corrections or advice of the father in
a family and socio-religious values and advocates individual freedom, the right
for them to choose good and bad for themselves.
While he was in a distant land and spent everything there
aroused a famine. What does that mean? Material happiness will not last forever.
The man who always listened to his friends immersed himself in the momentary
pleasures of life and thought that everything was safe, but it was not. How
true the book of Proverbs says: “…riches do not last forever” (Prov27:24). Friends
who invited you to break bottles of liquor when you have wealth will not be
with you in poverty. This is a reminder that they all will be spectators in the
gallery in times of your trouble. So the younger son, who was so proud and thought
that he had total control of his life, fell at the feet of someone and cried at
least to the swineherd, the most demeaning job a Jew could imagine. He would
gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate, but no one gave him anything. That
means he is degraded to the level of animals. It is a lesson for us. In a world
without God, there is no mercy and everything functions on the logic of profit.
They do nothing that is not profitable to them.
Sin separates us from God, our brothers, gives us suffering
in life, enslaves us, takes us to the level of animals and gives us the sense
of being unclean and unworthy.
And now he realised his condition. The Famine, I think, was
no accident. Indeed, it was provident. For only such a catastrophe could have
brought about the prodigal son’s conversion. So understand that it is not God’s
punishments but God’s providence so that we do not ultimately die. So the man
prepares to return to his father. This is the most beautiful moment in the
parable. His words reveal his repentance: “I have sinned against heaven and
before you”. Every sin is against God and man. When we acknowledge, happens the
real repentance.
The father welcomed his returning son from a distance and
embraced him. Later, this father’s courtyard turns into a confessional.
What does the son receive upon being reconciled with his
father? The “best robe,” a ring for his hand, shoes for his feet, and a banquet
in his honour. The ring is the emblem of the covenant family to which the son
is restored. The robe is a sign of his share in his father’s authority. The
shoes are the distinctive mark of a free man. The slaves normally went about
barefoot. Thus restore the family bonds and is restored to sonship.
According to the father, his son was dead, and he is alive
now. Sin pushes us to spiritual death, confession leads us to spiritual resurrection.
Therefore, every confessional is the home of a father who is
waiting for the arrival of his beloved son. There we are again accepted into
His house, from slavery to sonship. Therefore, confessionals are sacred places
where heaven and earth rejoice together. These are the tents on which man rises
again to life. So any voice against confession is the voice of death. It is the
voice of the devil who wants to see man ultimately dead.
So here we see a father who is prodigal with his love. Yes,
our God is a loving Father.
Now there, happens something unexpected: The eldest son was
returning from the field. He heard the sound of the music and dancing from a distance.
He calls the servants and inquires. Mind you, the first thing to do is enquiring
from unworthy people. This man, who has all the freedom to ask his father, turns
to his servants. Servants tell him things that seem important to them. What
matters to them is that the fatted calf is killed.
Dear friends, to whom we should ask questions about our
family and the church? If we ask someone who does not belong to the family, we
will get what he thinks is important.
Second, the eldest son becomes a hard-hearted man who cannot
rejoice when he hear that his younger brother has returned. It is just as
important to be able to rejoice in the joys of others as it is to weep. We read
in the Bible: “Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.” It is
easy to weep with those who weep but to rejoice with those who joy. We are just
as angry as Cain when God was pleased with Abel’s sacrifice. An image of Saul,
who became furious when the Hebrew women sang, Saul killed thousands, and David
ten thousand, is also hidden in us. Yes, how much we have yet to grow to
rejoice with those who rejoice. The only factor that weakens humanity as a
society or family is that it does not rejoice with those who rejoice.
This angry son does not enter the house, and he looks at
himself just as a slave. He is the father’s son and heir. His lack of love
makes him feel like a slave in the family. In fact, he obeyed his father and
worked in the field for a reward. But not because of love. Although he lived
with his father, he still looks forward to celebrating with his friends. Even
his complaint is that he is not given even a lamb to celebrate with our
friends. The same is true in the church. Our Christian life, whether it is
priestly, religious or married life, if we practice it for some reward and not
out of love for Christ, then we are like the elder son we will also soon start
criticising our father and brothers and even creating flattery.
Look at the lie told by the eldest son: “This son of yours,
who devoured your living with harlots.” The story never says that he devoured
the property with harlots. But the eldest son says with a bit of zest and
sourness because he knows that such rumours are always the most popular. The
very expression ‘your son’ is a testament to how far the eldest son is from his
father and brother.
Dear friends, we may not be the younger son in a final
analysis. But even more terrifying is the presence of the hidden sinful eldest
son in us, who justifies himself, hates his brother and does not even hesitate
to flatter against him, who cannot rejoice with him and obeys his father for
his own reward. Finally, the gospel did not tell how this parable ends because
it is up to us to complete it with our lives. So “let us test and examine our
ways and return to the Lord”. (Lamentations 3:40)
May God bless you!
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