There is more to learn than a cursory reading of the parable might tell.....
The younger son had it all......living in a comfortable home, having good food to eat, and nice clothing as the son of a wealthy father, but restricted in what he could do by the rules of living in his father’s house. Patriarchal heads were the leaders of the clan in Israel. No sons were allowed to overstep his authority. To enjoy the benefits meant towing the line.
The son makes a decision that the rules are too restrictive, and he wants to have his freedom, paid for by an inheritance that was not rightfully his until his father’s death. But we see no pleading from the father and no hesitation to give his son his share of the inheritance to do with as he pleased.....He did not chase after him with protestations....he simply gave him his freedom, and what he asked for, and let him go.
Do we see the wisdom in this. He knew the boy and in his wisdom understood the need for some to learn by painful experience, rather than benefit by accepting the wisdom of his father’s rules.
The son squandered his whole inheritance on having a good time with so called friends who abandoned him once the money ran out....homeless and destitute, the only employment he could get was as a swine herder which meant that even his employer was not a fellow Israelite. Pigs were an unclean animal, and so were not kept by Israelites. Gentiles were under no obligation like their Jewish counterparts, to off assistance to one who was in need. He was so hungry that he was envying the pigs their carob pods and, hitting rock bottom, he thought of the life he left to end up like this. He determined to return to his father, not as an entitled son, but as a hired worker.....a mere employee...humble and contrite.
What was the father’s response? He saw his son, not when he knocked on the front door, but “afar off” and noting his downcast demeanour, knew that he had learned his lesson, even at considerable cost to his father. And he responded by running to meet him, even before he hit the front gate. As the boy repentantly requested employment as one not worthy to be called his son, the father embraced him and welcomed him back home, not as a hired worker but as the son he lost.......grateful that he had learned his lesson.
What did the father recognise about his son that prompted him to go out and meet him before he made it all the way home?
If he had returned home demanding to be let back in with no sign of remorse for his conduct, do we imagine the father responding the same way? The repentant attitude had to come first.....then the forgiveness could flow. This is what Jesus teaches us, that no forgiveness is possible without repentance.
And what about the older son, what was his problem?
It seems as if Jesus gave another parable to explain why he responded the way he did.
Matt 20:1-16....which is about hired workers in a vineyard agreeing to a day’s’ work for a denarius. Other workers came later in the day and got the same pay, and even at the last hour some worked and got the same wage....one of the early workers was furious thinking that they should have been paid more because they worked the whole day.
The owner said response....?
“Fellow, I do you no wrong. You agreed with me for a de·narʹi·us, did you not? 14 Take what is yours and go. I want to give to this last one the same as to you. 15 Do I not have the right to do what I want with my own things? Or is your eye envious because I am good?’ 16 In this way, the last ones will be first, and the first ones last.”
Was the brother going to lose some of his inheritance over what his brother took? Maybe....but the whole point was not the money, but the fact that what was lost was found and returned. The older brother lost sight of the real issue. His brothers life was worth more than any amount of money. And what is more, his faithful conduct caused his father no anxiety.
It also explains why some can work their whole lives in the service of the Lord, whilst others might come into the fold at the last moment, but all get the same reward....everlasting life.
There’s a lot more to these parables than meets the eye sometimes....
