Prodigal

   I think I finally get the story of the Prodigal Son.

   You're probably thinking . . . how does one not get the story of the Prodigal Son? Well, I've been wondering that for years.

   I'm sure you know the story. There's a dad and two brothers. One brother is the kind of kid you'd think every parent would dream of - super responsible, always getting things done, follows all the rules. And then there's the other brother who doesn't really care about that stuff. He leaves the family to go off on his own, the dad gets upset, the son comes back, the dad is overjoyed and has a big celebration. The responsible brother then gets all upset because the dad never celebrated him. The moral of the story is supposed to be that dads (namely, our Heavenly Father) have unconditional love for their children and that the older brother was no better than the younger brother.

   Here's what I've always thought about it: I understood that the older brother was supposed to represent a person trying to obtain salvation through works alone. I understood that he thought he was better than his brother for what he had done, and this was wrong. And I understood that it was wrong for him to be jealous of the celebration for his brother coming home. But I felt for the older brother.  I thought that it was no wonder that the older brother was upset, clearly the father didn't love him as much as the younger brother. Here the dad was throwing this huge feast for the younger brother and the story never mentions any kind of love poured out onto the older brother. I'd be upset!

   So, I always sort of thought the story was flawed, but it seemed like everyone else was so willing to accept it that I must be wrong. Maybe we were supposed to assume that the father had thrown parties for the older son before? And that the older son was just jealous because he didn't think the younger brother deserved them as much as he did? But I don't like to assume things.

   On Sunday I think I finally understood. It's not that the father didn't love the older son, but that the older son wasn't accepting the father's love. The son asks, "Why don't you celebrate me?" and the father says, "Everything I have is yours." The father wanted to share everything with the older son, including his love, but the older son just wanted something superficial - like a party. The son performed a bunch of superficial gestures to earn his father's love, all the while never really loving his father, and then he wanted superficial rewards in return. 

   "Everything I have is yours" is what our Heavenly Father tells each and every one of us. Do we just want a big party thrown in our honor instead of his love? Do we want him to give us a big house or an expensive car or a family or a prestigious job so that we can love those things instead of God? Do we want to do a thousand good deeds in his name so that people will believe certain things about us? Do we choose to believe in God's existence and do only what we feel we have to in order to procure life after death?

   That doesn't seem right, does it?

   I know that a lot of people think it's hokey or cult-like or whatever to pursue "a relationship" with God, as opposed to just belief and reverence. But it's not. This parable is Biblical and it's proof that there is more to being a Christian than just what we think we can get out of that title. It is about a relationship - a genuine, loving relationship.

   The Father wants to share his love with his older children, but we have to be willing to accept it for that to work.
   
   
- Courtney

(Sorry this isn't about the Old Testament . . .)