The Prodigal Son

In ancient times, Fables were very popular – they were fictional stories, usually with a twist ending, always ending with a moral. “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket,” or “Don’t count your chickens until they’ve hatched,” etc.

Aesop was, and is, the most popular person of ancient times to chronicle fables; in later centuries, fables waned in popularity, and perhaps the last person to chronicle fables of the past was Joel Chandler Harris, who popularized the African "Trickster" Rabbit tales of oral tradition in his Uncle Remus books. Walt Disney made a lovely film incorporating some of the stories called Song of the South, and an animated musical film about Brer Rabbit was released not too long ago...

Many fables from ancient times involved anthropomorphic animals – animals that could think, talk, and reason, and although some prophetic books of the Bible feature anthropomorphic imagery, and the Bible is filled with moralistic teaching, Jesus Christ never told fables. Jesus told Parables, and he never used anthropomorphic creatures in his parables, although he came close in the Parable of the Sewer of seeds, where the seeds become the focus of the story – however, the seeds never think, or speak, or reason…

Unlike Fables, Parables are Earthly stories with a Heavenly meaning. They’re dual-layered; they always have a double significance…there’s usually two sides, just as there are two sides to every coin…and one side is earth-based, but the other is firmly oriented in heavenly thought.

We English-readers of the Scriptures tend to lose sight of the fact that most of the spiritual and moralistic teachings of the Bible are two-sided, and whenever there is an admonition to do good, we sometimes forget that, on the other side of the equation, there’s a warning not to do evil…

In his book The Return of the Prodigal Son: The Story of a Homecoming, author Henri Nouwen writes of how studying the different characters in Rembrandt's painting of the Prodigal Son changed his perspective of the story, and brought him to the realization that forgiveness has to be unconditional, and it's the flip side of the story that we rarely really consider...

In order to be truly Christ-like, we must be like the Father in the story:

Luke 15:11-31

11Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13"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. 14After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17"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! 18I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21"The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22"But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. 25"Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28"The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31" 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' "

The story is a picture of Free Will in action. Note that the Father never pursues his son once he willfully leaves his house-hold. Note that circumstances and situations influence the boy and cause him to stray away from his normal mode of thought, and he has to come back to his senses, and willfully seek his father's forgiveness...

If we were to analyze this story - which character would we be? Which character should we be?