Prodigal Living
Prodigal - noun - someone who spends recklessly and wastefully.
The Prodigal Son...the parable told by Jesus "back in the day". The story on the surface seems simple. A man has 2 sons. One son (let's call him PG) decided that he wanted to live it up and away from Papa, so asked for "his" money and went and squandered it. Meanwhile, the other bro (let's call him P.See) was at home, supposedly doing everything as expected. PG ended up living with the pigs (literally), and then came to his senses. He said, "I can eat with the servants of my father and still eat better than this". So he went home. Now Papa saw PG a way off and hoisted his garment and ran to meet him. Papa didn't care that he had squandered his money...he was now home. So what better way to say "welcome back" than to celebrate! The fattened piggy and choicest moo-er didn't stand a chance! But it seems not everyone wanted to celebrate. Big bro said the ungrateful wretch abandoned them, and though he (P.See) was there slaving away and doing everything required, he got no such celebration or acknowledgement. *signal huffing and puffing and storming out*
But as a Christian matures from milk-drinking to meat-eating, so did my understanding and appreciation for how powerful and deep this parable was and still is. So the more profound (though incomplete) version.
A man (living in the West) had 2 sons. One, PG, decided it was time to leave home. It would be one thing to just leave and make it on your own. Instead, he insulted his father by asking for what would be his when his father "kicked the bucket". Disrespectful and insensitive much! Of all the responses Papa could have given, he may have shocked many by actually agreeing. After all, the son was expected to help with the building and growth of the family business. PG taking all that money and running would therefore leave the family in a worse position. In that society, that would be unheard of. Anyways, he lived it up, had a ball...and then the ball dropped. Money done. So to survive, the food of the pigs became his food also.
*Cue light bulb moment!* PG realised he could work for his Papa (a step down from the luxury he once enjoyed), and eat decent food. And while he was a way off, Papa saw him and ran to him. Why is this significant? It would not have occurred to any father in that culture to run after a son. Furthermore, the outfit would require him to "lift tail" (so to speak) and show his under-garment. Perhaps the most profound thing in this act was that the Papa took on the shame that would have been heaped on his son...abandoning his family and community by being the reckless, selfish persons he was, the son would have been considered an outcast by the community and probably stoned. The Papa didn't wait for that shame to be cast on PG...he took it on, showing under-garment and all. Then came celebration.
The welcome party was significant. Firstly, it was an opportunity to show the son that no matter how he shamed the family or how low he got, that Papa loved him. Secondly, it revealed the true colours of the older bro (P.See). Regarding the latter, P.See was not amused that he was at home doing everything his Papa asked, and still didn't get the recognition he "deserved". And then this wayward, good-for-nothing brother who left them less resourced, comes back broke and yet gets the royal treatment.
The truth of the matter is that, as one Pastor put it, PG did not break a law...he broke relationship. We are all like that. We have broken relationship with (Papa) God. We have sinned over and over again. But, from my experience as with the younger son (PG), God was always looking out and waiting for the return home, and to renew the relationship broken in the past. Many people may think like the older bro, and say that God should forgive some and not others. Perhaps some will say it's unfair that God should grant grace to the murders and adulterers, particularly the same grace that they have for years by paying their tithes and singing at church and helping the needy and speaking in tongues (i.e., following the letter of the law). God is unfair, some may say. But HE IS FATHER GOD! It was always His will for us to love through the "law", and not the law itself. He loves every one of us as His children, desiring that we seek after Him and reside in His presence. He desires that we who enjoy His favour and grace not get haughty and self-righteous as the Pharisees (or P.See...get it now?!).
The story of the Prodigal Son has profound meaning for me. It represents the kind of hope that only God can give. When we are at our lowest or feel like we have sinned so badly that the filth of the pigs will always remain on us, He is there looking and waiting with open arms. We're never too dirty that He can't clean us; never too far that He can't reach us; never too sinful that He can't forgive us. What a God!!
God's system is unfair by human standards. My advice: revel in it! You only stand to gain joy and peace and life everlasting. Ain't NO shame in that!
The Prodigal Son...the parable told by Jesus "back in the day". The story on the surface seems simple. A man has 2 sons. One son (let's call him PG) decided that he wanted to live it up and away from Papa, so asked for "his" money and went and squandered it. Meanwhile, the other bro (let's call him P.See) was at home, supposedly doing everything as expected. PG ended up living with the pigs (literally), and then came to his senses. He said, "I can eat with the servants of my father and still eat better than this". So he went home. Now Papa saw PG a way off and hoisted his garment and ran to meet him. Papa didn't care that he had squandered his money...he was now home. So what better way to say "welcome back" than to celebrate! The fattened piggy and choicest moo-er didn't stand a chance! But it seems not everyone wanted to celebrate. Big bro said the ungrateful wretch abandoned them, and though he (P.See) was there slaving away and doing everything required, he got no such celebration or acknowledgement. *signal huffing and puffing and storming out*
But as a Christian matures from milk-drinking to meat-eating, so did my understanding and appreciation for how powerful and deep this parable was and still is. So the more profound (though incomplete) version.
A man (living in the West) had 2 sons. One, PG, decided it was time to leave home. It would be one thing to just leave and make it on your own. Instead, he insulted his father by asking for what would be his when his father "kicked the bucket". Disrespectful and insensitive much! Of all the responses Papa could have given, he may have shocked many by actually agreeing. After all, the son was expected to help with the building and growth of the family business. PG taking all that money and running would therefore leave the family in a worse position. In that society, that would be unheard of. Anyways, he lived it up, had a ball...and then the ball dropped. Money done. So to survive, the food of the pigs became his food also.
*Cue light bulb moment!* PG realised he could work for his Papa (a step down from the luxury he once enjoyed), and eat decent food. And while he was a way off, Papa saw him and ran to him. Why is this significant? It would not have occurred to any father in that culture to run after a son. Furthermore, the outfit would require him to "lift tail" (so to speak) and show his under-garment. Perhaps the most profound thing in this act was that the Papa took on the shame that would have been heaped on his son...abandoning his family and community by being the reckless, selfish persons he was, the son would have been considered an outcast by the community and probably stoned. The Papa didn't wait for that shame to be cast on PG...he took it on, showing under-garment and all. Then came celebration.
The welcome party was significant. Firstly, it was an opportunity to show the son that no matter how he shamed the family or how low he got, that Papa loved him. Secondly, it revealed the true colours of the older bro (P.See). Regarding the latter, P.See was not amused that he was at home doing everything his Papa asked, and still didn't get the recognition he "deserved". And then this wayward, good-for-nothing brother who left them less resourced, comes back broke and yet gets the royal treatment.
The truth of the matter is that, as one Pastor put it, PG did not break a law...he broke relationship. We are all like that. We have broken relationship with (Papa) God. We have sinned over and over again. But, from my experience as with the younger son (PG), God was always looking out and waiting for the return home, and to renew the relationship broken in the past. Many people may think like the older bro, and say that God should forgive some and not others. Perhaps some will say it's unfair that God should grant grace to the murders and adulterers, particularly the same grace that they have for years by paying their tithes and singing at church and helping the needy and speaking in tongues (i.e., following the letter of the law). God is unfair, some may say. But HE IS FATHER GOD! It was always His will for us to love through the "law", and not the law itself. He loves every one of us as His children, desiring that we seek after Him and reside in His presence. He desires that we who enjoy His favour and grace not get haughty and self-righteous as the Pharisees (or P.See...get it now?!).
The story of the Prodigal Son has profound meaning for me. It represents the kind of hope that only God can give. When we are at our lowest or feel like we have sinned so badly that the filth of the pigs will always remain on us, He is there looking and waiting with open arms. We're never too dirty that He can't clean us; never too far that He can't reach us; never too sinful that He can't forgive us. What a God!!
God's system is unfair by human standards. My advice: revel in it! You only stand to gain joy and peace and life everlasting. Ain't NO shame in that!
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