Will the Real Prodigal Please Stand Up?
The Prodigal is a story that is probably the most recognized of all parables that Jesus taught. Charles Dickens and Ralph Waldo Emerson both considered this the greatest short story ever written. The influence of this parable on fiction is traced back to the 16th century. Shakespeare alludes to this parable more than to any other. Many other authors and poets have, through the years, made reference to this story as well.
Let’s look at it. We see it starts when a multitude of sinners and tax gatherers came to listen to Jesus. These would be the worst of the worst, the social outcasts in the life of Israel. They were rejected, displaced and unsynagogued.
The Jewish elite, the Pharisees also were in attendance, murmuring against this man wasting his time with this low life. They were the self appointed elite who did not associate with such people not even to bring near the law of God. Jesus answer to these whisperings was in the form of three parables in this chapter of Luke 15, the lost sheep, the lost coin and the lost son. The whole point in all three stories is that God’s joy is found in one sinner who repents.
As he starts into the story of the Lost Son we can only imagine the eye rolling and head shaking coming from the back of the crowd as the Pharisees could not believe their ears. This story is one big story of non stop shame and dishonor and to them is nothing but ridiculous and bizarre at best.
The story starts with the younger son asking for his inheritance. This would have been considered to a middle-eastern family a disrespectful and shameful request. It’s an outrage. This is totally out of order, out of rank and one of great disrespect for the father. It was like wishing his father dead. The son wants out. He has no regard for his family and he wants what the far country has to offer. To the Pharisees listening, this would have warranted a slap across the young man’s chops. No son would have dared to do such a thing. And to add insult to injury this Jewish father answers with an equally shameful answer. The father responds to being publicly embarrassed by his son does as his son requested and divides the inheritance. WHAT? What an outrage. No good Jewish man would do this. Are you kidding? It gets worse.
At this point the son very quickly we read (lust and sin works like that) takes his cash and leaves for a far away country. Sin does that. It takes us further than we want to go, costs us more than we want to spend and keeps us longer than we want to stay. The money in his pocket has nothing to do with his hard work or ability but all to do with his generous father. At this point a funeral would have been given as the son would have been considered dead to the family.
We know that he spent it on riotous living and harlots were involved. Perhaps he had met many fair weathered friends along the way. Whatever the case he was enjoying the good life for a while. Robin Williams said, “Cocaine is God’s way of saying you have too much money.” This parable could be God’s way of saying we have too little regard for love, family, and faith.
The silence of the elder brother speaks volumes. We hear his voice at the end of the parable but where is he now? His birth order puts him in the place of mediator of the family. He does nothing, he says nothing. He could have worked toward a reconciliation between his father and younger brother. His restraint shows both lack of love for both father and brother. We see contempt later.
In the far country the younger brother has hit skid row. A famine has hit and he’s desperate. He’s poor, hungry and destitute. Where are his friends now? The same place as his money; gone. It says in scripture “no man gave to him” so he attaches himself to a Gentile. Sometimes we get the impression that the world is our friend when all the while they are leading us into sin and away from God. The language here would be similar to a beggar in a third world country physically attaching himself to a stranger with hands in their pocket begging for money. This Gentile allows him to eat with his pigs if he can get there in time. Now this is lower than skid row. Eating with the pigs? At this point in the story every Jew present must have winced at the thought. This is horrifying. This is a sinner in desperation. Sin is rebellion against God and God allows us to freely choose this as far as we are willing to take it. At this point we see the son has no relationship with the one that gave him life, the one that can give him a future. He’s left that behind. Sin is a desire to run from God, to avoid all responsibility, to dishonor God and squander all the gifts he has for us. Sin looks for life outside of God and only comes up empty, hungry, and miserable.
Jesus putting him in this setting with a Gentile and pork signified a complete disavowal of faith, the ultimate disgrace. This is the ultimate sin Jesus has invented. Immorality to the max, violating all conformities, this is the pits. This is the bottom. This is the ultimate sinner. He never stopped being his father’s son even now. Throughout the whole story there was no doubt that he was a son. Looking from a distance you would probably not be able to tell the difference thinking he was a pig among the other pigs. But he was a son in trouble living with pigs. This is not about a sinner who gets saved but all about revealing the heart of the father who will take back a sinning son.
After a bit of this he wakes up to his circumstances. It says “he came to himself.” Sin had blinded him. Sin makes us see the world in a different light. We don’t see clearly when in sin. He started to reason and by using his brains he’s starting to make sense. This is the start of repentance. He realized what he had done and desires to make it right. He remembers his father fed his hired servants “more than enough” speaking well of the mercy and generosity of his father. These are the lowest of the low as far as servants are concerned. He’s beginning to trust in the father’s mercy.
He starts to memorize a speech. Once he scorned his father but now he recalls his mercy and goodness. He is thinking he needs to go back as a servant to earn back his place as a son. He’s going back to the Father’s house. He will have to go back and face his father, older brother and the scorn of the village not to mention working as a day laborer to pay back all he squandered. He knows what he has become. He now is even willing to be a servant in his father’s house. He’ll take the hard labor and the scorn that will come his way. He’s truly repentant, reconciliation at any cost. He realizes now he can only be happy in his father’s home no longer content to live as a pig. A pig would not be happy living in his father’s house. No, they would be content in staying in the pigpen. Now the elite are thinking this is the first thing that makes sense in the story. Finally someone who is making some sense here. This elder son is their man.
While a Christian can and does most certainly sin, he cannot stay and wallow in sin. Why? Because the father is always watching. He may allow us to wallow in the pigpen for a bit but then he reaches down, cleans us up and shows us that we were not meant to be there. We belong with him, back at the house. We do not have the nature of a pig. We have the nature of a son or daughter. “I have sinned” is acknowledging one’s personal responsibility for sin and is the first step toward reconciliation.
If we confess our sin HE is faithful and just to forgive us our sin and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 1 John 1:9