Hey everybody.
I continue my look at the parables of Luke 15, today, by looking at the one we often call the Prodigal Son. I am sure that you are familiar with the story. Like the two previous parables, this one begins with someone who loses something. This time it is a man with two sons. In a way, he loses both of them, but we mostly consider how he loses then regains his younger son.
The younger son makes a request of his father. He asks the father for his share of the inheritance. It is a bold request, as it be could be taken that he is saying to his father, “I wish you were dead.” (Bailey, 165.) Even if the son’s meaning is not quite that extreme, it is a terrible insult to the father and it is clear that the son is choosing to sever the relationship with his father. (Bock, 1310.)
The request in itself, is shocking, but what is even more shocking is that the father granted it. Luke records in verse 12 that the father divided τὸν βίον (ton bion) between his two sons. Βίον is a form of the Greek word βίο, which means ‘life.’ So the father divided his ‘life’ or his ‘livelihood’ between his two sons. Most fathers would just say ‘No’ to this request. I know I would. That the father would say ‘yes,’ to this is pretty amazing. Kenneth Bailey says this, “It is difficult to imagine a more dramatic illustration of the quality of love, which grants freedom, even to reject the lover.” (Bailey, Poet, 165.) This is true. God, as our eternal Father, loves us in ways that we cannot comprehend. He allows us the freedom to completely reject Him, and continues to love us, unconditionally.
The son converts all of his new assets into cash and leaves, undoubtedly ready to experience his newfound freedom, away from his father. He goes into a distant land and wastes all of his money. Two words in the Greek text tell us what we need to know about the young man’s plan. Διεσκόρπισεν (dieskorpisen) which means to ‘waste or squander', and ἀσώτως (asōtōs) which means “wild living.” I translated this “we wasted his money in wild and reckless living.” So the young man took his portion of the father’s estate and wasted it. Darrell Bock describes him as a “young man on a spending spree for things of no value.” (Bock, 1311.)
The young man eventually finds himself in a hopeless situation that is not entirely his own fault. Sure, he wastes all of his money, but the far away land that he ends up in is also hit with a severe famine. The same can be said for us. Many of our problems are of our own making, but the challenges of life that are beyond our control happen to us all. For the young man, these life challenges coupled with his own mistakes, led him to a very hopeless situation.
When the famine hit the land, the younger son, now broke, does the only thing he can do - he gets a job. Sadly, the job he gets is tending pigs. This would be a very dishonorable job for a Jew, due to the unclean nature of pigs. I would assume that he only took this job because it was the only one he could get. Bailey suggests that it was likely that the job was offered to the young man, assuming that he would refuse it, but that the pride of the prodigal was not completely broken yet. (Bailey, Poet, 170.) This job is not able to meet his needs. He is still hungry. So hungry, in fact, that wants to eat the food that he is feeding to pigs. It is difficult to imagine that his situation could get much worse.
When he finally hits rock bottom, the young man comes to his senses. He has lost everything and is desperate for even the most basic necessities of life. Unfortunately that is what it took for him to realize his mistake. He realizes that even the men that his father hires as day laborers (μίσθιοι - misthioi) have it better than he does. Μίσθιοι is not a slave or a servant, but a hired worker that would be hired on a day-to-day basis for a minimal salary. Bock says, “Whatever the merits of his current employment, his father is a better master.” (Bock, 1312.) Bock’s comment makes sense. Whatever issues he had with his father, working for him had to be better than this.
The young man decides that he will return home and ask his father to be one of his hired workers. His request would be that he no longer have the privileges of a son, but that he simply be allowed to work for his father for minimum wage. He had left home arrogant and entitled. He will be returning home humbled and willing to do whatever his father asks. He accepts the consequences of his actions, and recognizes that he is now dependent on his father’s mercy.
The son makes a plan. He formulates a speech that he will give his father, asking to be one of his hired laborers. It goes something like this. “Father, I have sinned against Heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” He recognizes his unworthiness. He also recognizes that he is better off with his father than he is in the world, no matter what humble position he is in. Working as a day laborer is better than longing to steal the food of pigs.
We will see that the son never really gets to give his rehearsed speech. He starts, but the father cuts him off with his incredible loving embrace. The father has waited for the son to return. The son, of course, has no idea that the father has waited for him like this. He has to be wondering if he would be rejected, the same way that he had rejected the father earlier.
The story of the younger son begins with total rejection and ends with total acceptance. The father has longed to embrace the son, no matter what he has done, no matter how wasteful he has been with his inheritance.
The son receives a response from the father than he could not have possibly anticipated. He was hoping the father would simply allow him to work for him, but the father restored him to sonship. The father did not want to be his employer, he wanted to be his father. The son arrives destitute, but the father soon has him dressed in the best clothing. He was likely barefoot, and the father had sandals put on him.
Like the two parables that precede this one, there is a celebration. The father rejoices over the return of his lost son. The father has the fattened calf slaughtered for the celebration of his son. Such an animal is fed a special diet to fatten it up and make it more flavorful. To slaughter and prepare such an animal indicates a very special celebration.
Three things that are lost, all end up being found, which leads to celebration. I will finish this up in my next post, Part 4, soon.
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