a beautiful mess

much has been made of the prodigal son. and even the prodigal God. sermons and devotionals and prayers have each been truly shaped by the power of this third, highly detailed parable amidst the party chapter of luke 15.

i am not going to reinvent the prodigal wheel.

this is not a comprehensive or exhaustive look into the parable.
this is not a high-level, thematic overview of the parable.
this is not a “stealing of the thunder” from someone else.
this is not a major-point review.
this may not even be all that and a bag of chips.
actually, i am quite certain no bag of chips will be provided at this time.

this is just a few (and sometimes fircenjistory (first-century-jewish-history)) little tidbits i must have either stolen from some wiser people than i or which GOD decided to throw my way because, well, he wanted to, i guess.

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v12. the younger one said to his father, ‘father, give me my share of the estate.’ so he divided his property between them.

the oft-sung high note here is the audacity of the son to ask for his inheritance before the father’s death! which, continues to shock me even to this day. you didn’t receive an inheritance (still much like today) unless someone has died. so, yes, to echo so many sages before me, the younger son is, in essence, saying, “i wish you would just keel over and die!”

perhaps equally baffling though, is the fact that it was never the younger son’s place to seek the inheritance – it was the elder.

but the pinnacle of shock has to be the next line, which in greek, uncovers a most revealing characteristic of the father: dielen autois ton bion // he divided to them the life. which is in essence, keeling over and dying! see, not only does he give the younger son what would be due him, but he also gave the elder son his inheritance – which would have been a double portion! by all accounts, the father gives up his livelihood, his income, his life to his sons – right from the start of this story.

v13. he (the younger son) squandered his wealth in wild living.

i remember kent dobson once saying the younger son ‘threw his life away.’ in greek we read, kai ekei dieskorpisen tên ousian // and he scattered/thew/wasted the goods/substance/what one has.

dang-son. so the father gave his bion up, his life away – where the younger son wasted his ousian, his goods, his substance.

v20. So 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.

obviously, one of the more commonly extracted verses – because it is DANG awesome. but i only add this here in order to set up a theme that we miss later on. just think: this is the father debasing himself in front of the town: this is the father pouring himself out before the son: this is mercy and grace. (“but i knew that” you say…)

v25 ff. Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’  The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.

there is a wealth of hidden beauty in this section. because it reveals a monster of a truth that so often gets passed over.

the older son heard music and dancing because it’s not just a house party – it’s a town party! notice the father has killed the fattened calf – a calf would feed a grip of people, especially considering it was accompanied by other foods, sides, wines, etc. haha. so there’s a good ole fashioned town party on the land and in the house of this father.

then, the older brother gets angry. and refuses to go in. this is astonishing to 1st century ears. you would absolutely not have refused to show up at party your own father was throwing! it was dishonoring.

what’s more is: the father comes outside and ‘pleaded’ with him (!*) – or in greek, parekalei, he begs him. also astonishing to first century ears…and eyes.

this is the second time, not the first and not the only time, when the father responds by casting off constraint and visibly debasing himself in front of others (remember, at least the servants were present for this little episode), and responding with mercy and grace! is this not amazing!? we usually only focus on the younger son’s return – but it’s always been about the mercy and grace of the father anyway – as demonstrated by this episode.

v29-30. But 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’.

oh boy. here comes the mopey little whine, right? well. yes and no. yes, he’s totally whining, going on calling himself a “slave” – lower than the servants…and how he never even got a “little goat”. i mean, come on dude, you got your DOUBLE PORTION of the inheritance! everything is yours. give me a break! and i love how he says, “i have never disobeyed your orders.” uh, except for this very time when i am refusing to go in to your own party…lol.

but, to be fair, he has made a judgment about his father. and he has been living his entire days based on this judgment: he believes his father to be a fair and strong father. you know, sort of black and white, this is the deal kind of guy. and all the sudden, his younger brother returns home and every rule appears to be thrown out in the interest of “he’s alive.”

the scene unfolding before us is speaking for the father, “but son, i have always been compassionate and merciful.”

and how about the prostitute bit? the text never drops any such word until this point. no one ever said anything about prostitutes. “wild living” doesn’t necessarily imply sexually immoral. the idea is riotous living, dissolutely – careless living. and i am not saying it didn’t include such nights with prostitutes: but the older son throws it out there without even having a conversation with his brother! some scholars suggest this is meant to reveal the degree of coldness within this older brother’s heart (much like his younger counterpart).

v31-32. ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’

in case we’ve not got the gist by now: this is a parable. perhaps a little of it would have been ‘based on a true story’ considering all the details…but that is not the point. the point is: it’s a parable: and this parable, like other parables: is about something else.

the older son would represent israel. the jewish people, GOD’s beloved.

the younger son would represent the gentiles. those ‘earnestly pressing in to the kingdom, and taking it with force…’ the yous and mes.

and the father, well, he’s always been compassionate and merciful. he gives us his very life.

this could just as easily be entitled, ‘the angry son’ as ‘the prodigal son’. but neither would be fully correct. the previous two parables (lost sheep, lost coin) are about something be simply lost, and simply found and the resulting celebrations. i think that theme fits equally well here. simply lost, simply found, simply celebratory!

Q/ are we simply celebratory over being simply found by the incredibly compassionate and merciful GOD of gods?