Biblical reflections

702pm 14.9.8
Biblical reflections
So I'm re-reading the New Testament from front to back, and discovering many things I've never noticed before. Here are three examples of things I've found powerful, one from the story of the prodigal son, one about divisions, and one about swords and cloaks.

The Prodigal Son. Lk 15:11-32

First, my bible doesn't call it the story of the prodigal son, but the story of the Merciful Father. Which I actually find more appropriate.

You know the story; two sons, one father. One son says hey daddy, give me my inheritance. Dad says, okay I’ll give you what you ask. (And if anyone is a parent or responsible for another person, they know what kind of knowledge the father had and the discernment the father went through… “My wild child wants the money that would be his if I were dead… this can only end in disaster. But I love him, and he’s an adult so I have to trust God to take care of him.”) So the son goes off and parties, fornicating, drinking and indulging in gluttony. The son then wastes his inheritance, and realizes how horrible his life is without his father’s wisdom and protection. So he returns groveling as an unworthy slave. But the father, who has been watching and waiting for the Lord to put his son in his right mind, sees his son far off, runs to him, KISSES and HUGS him as his beloved son, IGNORES his son’s attempts to beg forgiveness and mercy, ORDERS his son to be given beautiful clothes and a ring (signifying sonship and a RENEWED share of the inheritance, as rings were wealth, and used to seal important documents and identify people/families). Then he orders a HUGE party, the likes of which hadn’t been seen.


And up to this point, is the most common understanding of the story. And rightly so, as this is the most immediate lesson we need to learn. God is abundant and OVERWHELMING in his love, which anticipates repentance (the father ran and kissed and hugged BEFORE the son repented) and is so BEYOND mercy that the son must have been overwhelmed by the gifts his father gave immediately after the son’s repentance. From this story, we learn that God is waiting for our very first decision to turn back to Him, at which point he doesn’t wait until we’re good or holy, he RUNS to us.

Now comes the second level that is revealed to us in our faith lives. And the second lesson that we typically learn.

Now the other son, who was WORKING in the field (for the father) is returning home. As he returns, he hears the party and calls a servant over to him, and asks him what is going on. (Note that the father didn’t see fit to tell the “good son” about the party). The servant tells him about the brother returning and the extravagant party. Then the son REFUSES to enter HIS FATHER’S house. The father comes out, and begs his son to come in, but the son feels shafted and tells his father “you throw a party for the WILD CHILD who wasted your money on parties and whores, disrespected you, me and our family name but you never let me throw a party, even tough I’ve been a good son and done everything as you asked.” The father in reply says “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again, he was lost and has been found.” (LK 15:31-32)

(Bitter gourd... a local vegetable)
Now from this, we learn about mercy. We learn that when we are good sons, we too need to be merciful as the father is merciful, and we too need to rejoice at the return of one who was lost. We have been given the reward we are promised, and we should be joyous when another receives their reward. And not be like the grumbling good son, who was dissatisfied with the mercy of his father. We may feel taken for granted, but why should we not accept the great gifts we have been promised? Our selfishness leads us to believe that we deserve more glory if we are good longer than someone else. We become like Pharisees who do good out of selfishness and the perceived promise of reward. Instead of realizing that our reward comes from God’s gratuitous love and is not in proportion to our works but from God’s love of us and our love of God (which naturally leads to good works).

And this is pretty much the extent of what I’ve meditated on this story until the other day, when lightening struck. Notice the second to last thing the father says to the son: “My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours.” It struck me that the FATHER did not take the SON for granted; the SON took the FATHER and his gifts for granted. The father says “everything I have is yours” if that is the case, then why did the son never take advantage of the gifts he was given, and throw a party? The fatted calf was as much his as it was his fathers, by his father’s words we know this! The good son could have, in fact, THROWN MANY PARTIES. And why should the son NOT rejoice with his own property? If the son had previously ASKED his father if he could throw a party, the father would have told him YES! “everything I have is yours”! But the son took for granted that his father was demanding, and that the father would not permit it. Not realizing that the father had already given him everything he could have asked for, all he had to do was ASK!

(Cow)
How many times in my life do I live a life surrounded by the blessings of God, but I fail to ASK to receive them? That I fail to recall that God loves me and wishes me to rejoice with him? I firmly believe that after the father would have granted the good son the party, had he asked for it, the father then would have given the son something that the bad son was not ready for yet. The father would have said to the good son, “you have asked for me to slaughter the fatted calf, and I do so willingly because all that I own I give to you, but let me give you something else that I have and that I want to be yours… let me teach you wisdom. Let me teach you how to use this fatted calf to bring home my lost son, let me teach you how to treat your brother when he comes back so that he will remain with us and he too will rejoice in my presence. Let us fatten this calf even more, and wait for the day when you brother returns, let us pray and do all we can so that when he returns, he will be overwhelmed with love and our gifts. Let us work for his salvation.” If the son had asked for a party, the father would have given him something more, lessons on wisdom, love, mercy and joy. How much would that son have rejoiced, when his brother returned! How joyous would that family have been! How much more love would the other son have felt; had both his father and brother ran to meet him with open arms!

I’ll post the other two reflections later… this one was a bit lengthy. :-)

(Coconuts)