Parable of the Pordigal son
Jesus never gave titles to any of His parables, He would simply say "learn the parable" and start telling the story. Over the years, this parable has gotten diverse names e.g. the Pordigal Son, The Prodigal Sons, Loving Father, Lovesick Father. Whichever title we may regard as more appropriate than the other, we can surely agree on some if not most of the implications of this story.Ref Luke 15
We have 3 characters in the story, not a true story but rather given to the listeners to draw a conclusion. The story starts with the youngest member of the household making a rather rash decision. He goes to his father and asks to have a share of the inheritance while the dad is stil alive. From the beginning of the story we realize that some problems have already risen. First of all, why wouls a son make such a request to his father? It wouldn't be much different from of he were to say "I wish you were dead". We could say he figuratively killed his father, and as any parent would be his father was heartbroken.
Because the dad was still alive, the Jewish culture did not allow for the sons to take any of their shares. They were allowed to sell, but had to wait for the dad to die before taking full ownership. The sons would have go sell at lower price than what was worth, because the buyer would have to wait for the dad to die. This means that the young son had to settle for lower money than the worth of the estate he sold. The son, as soon as he sold his property, went off to a far country. He basically went as far as he could, so that he would do as he pleased.
He one day lost everything he had, and came to a realization that his father house was better, when he was the son. He missed his home and would have rather been taken back as servant, of his father should agree. He rehearsed the message in his mind. That "I will go to my father and say 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, make me one of your hired servants. I am no longer worthy to be called your son". If any story, the father may have agreed to have an extra servant, or have refused to have seen him, but that wasn't the case.
His father called him his son, repeatedly, he was not interested in the son's speech. All that mattered was that he had his son again. He had enough servants just not enough sons, it would seems he had not son. The younger one left him physically and in fellowship, the older one did not leave him physically but was not in fellowship with him as well. The younger son, openly acted as an outsider, he wanted to be a servant when his dad wanted a child. The older brother, was acting like a servant instead of a son.
The elder brother was working at his own house, expecting to be paid as if he was a servant. He also gladly took shares while his father was still alive, and because he was older, tradition suggests that he even got a bigger share than the younger one. The older brother was religious, he abode in the laws, not out of love but out of legalism. He looked religious from the outside, with his self righteous attitude, took his dad aside and questioned the righteousness of the father.
At some points in our lives, we have all acted like either of the sons, there are times we believe that God should treat us as we deserve. And there's times when we're glad that he doesn't do justice. We're more inclined to miss God's righteousness when we are full of ourselves, and it's only when we reach the point of the young son, that we begin to have a Connection with God. The Pharisees acted like the elder sons, and the Pharisees in us often show themselves every now and then.Jesus was also rather harsh on Pharisees, because of their self righteousness. They were a higher mountain to climb than those who saw their own unrightiousness.
While many proclaimed their own goodness, the ones who are justified are those who see God for who He is. The Pharisees in us, would make us believe that we're on God's side even when we are not and would gladly stand in the way of the person attempting to escape from the world. God wants us to see ourselves for who we really are, sinners in need of salvation. Who need to be justified even though we haven't been acting like his children
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