The Parable of the Prodigal Son... another angle

Also known as 'The Parable of the Lost Son'.... This parable is familiar to many of us... In a nutshell.

A father has 2 sons. He loved both of them. One day the younger son went up to the father and asked for his inheritance. To his elder brother's chagrin, the father gave him what he asked. Soon he packed up his inherintance and went away to a faraway land where he squandered every bit of this wealth on prostitutes and a life of debauchery. He had a hard life after that. He even had to tend the pigs for a living. At the lowest ebb of his life, his thoughts were brought back to his father's house. Even the servants had better food. So, he told himself that he would repent. He went back home. From far away, as he approached his father's estate, his father spotted him and came running to greet him. He told his servants to kill a fattened calf to celebrate the coming back of his son.

The parable goes on to describe about the elder son's reaction and his father reply...

Other Half were discussing this with me. It wasn't the main teachings in the parable that caught his attention... It was something more subtle, another angle. He asked me what I thought went on in the household between son and parents before the second son left, or why he asked for his inheritance even before his father was dead.

So, what do you think went on in the household prior to the son leaving? The second son must have been a young chap, hot headed, thought he knew everything or what was best for himself. He and his father must have had lots of arguments over this... his father must have tried to make him see the right way but this young man probably did not want to listen because he thought he knew better. He was angry at his father for not understanding him.

In one of those heated arguments... he must have demanded that his father gave him his share... in exasperation, his father did just that. I guess what went on in the father's mind then might have been this.... "well, since all I've tried to advise him and it has come to nothing, might as well let him learn it from the school of hard knocks"... The world is that school of hard knocks. (for those with teenagers, you know how stubborn they can be, or how self-sufficient they'd like to think of themselves to be)

And he gave him his inheritance as well, thinking and hoping that this boy of his might learn as he moved along; that he'll be responsible with his inheritance.

He was wrong. His son was not ready. In the early days, while he partied and had fun, the son must have thought how stupid his father was for not trusting him. He was doing the things he liked... But as his youth and folly finally brought him to destitution and his knees, and his pride took a beating... he learned his lesson. His father was right and he, wrong. It was a bitter pill he had to swallow, but he did it. He went home, realizing he had lost his honoured place as the prince of the family. But perhaps, deep down, he was also hoping that his father would forgive him.... which happened. But the penitence was real... the father had given him his inheritance (to which he had no right actually cos the wealth was not created by him but by his father).... and he squandered it all. He was a totally broken young man.

We talked some more and another theory emerged... perhaps father and son had separated on amicable terms... but had that happened, the son would not have suffered humility. After he had finished up his inheritance, his father would have probably given him some more to help him... but that did not happen. The son probably felt shameful to go back to his father whom he snubbed when he left home.

That's how it's like with young people... the marginal people as I refer to them. They think they know better; they think their parents are too strict... but sometimes I think the parents are just trying to ready them for the world... it's a harsh world out there. Face it with all your 'tools' in place, you'll do okay. Face it unequipped, life is a constant struggle; you will fall many times. That was what the father of the prodigal son was trying to teach him.... one of those things.

There are of course 'bigger lessons' in this parable such as God forgives us, we must repent from our sins, etc... but for now, this particular lesson strikes a chord in me too... and I hope for the young people. I think parents are the only people who truly and happily want us to be better than them with all their hearts, minds and souls. They rejoice when their children succeed more than them in life. And they sacrifice their comforts for their kids. As with God our Father... it's the same principle here...

Further reading can be found at Luke 15:11-32. It's one of those parables with the most number of verses dedicated to it.