The Prodigal Son

This is similar to my last post. On Saturday I heard a talk on The Prodigal Son. I have heard a lot of talks on the Prodigal Son, like you probably have. This time I realised this same issue of time is involved. The original teaching of this was given to Pharisaical Jews. People who were expecting the father to be outraged at the son's attitude.

This has been taught many times, this idea of how the original audience would have reacted. But what made it special on Saturday was that they read from the Old Testament where uncontrollable children could be stoned to death! This audience reation wasn't just a bunch of miseries, it was a croud who thought they were doing God's will.

We live in a culture that is partly developed on the teachings of Jesus. Most parents have an attitude of, "Be there when they fall!" Our attitudes have been shaped by his teachings. So to most of us the prodical son doesn't have the impact it originally had. The important part for me is not how the original audience would have reacted, but how we react. I have been told time and time again how the original audience would have been telling the story in their own minds and when the son comes back they would be imagining ahead of Jesus how the father would react! However, then Jesus gives his ending. Not just the fathers reaction to the younger son but also to the older son. The reaction to both sons is a shocker.

But that is a history lesson. Who cares how they reacted! They have been dead for 2,000 years. If we get stuck on that we will come out of church thinking, "How ignorant were people 2,000 years ago?" But they weren't ignorant, they were taught, they were just taught wrong! Are we any different today? We are not ignorant. We are taught. Are we taught right?

Let's have a political analogy. People want their children to get a good job, so they send them to a good school that achieves high exam results. But the experts in education know this isn't "a good education." This is a political football. People getting exams makes the governement look good. But is it education? A lot of experts say that children are being taught to pass exams but are not actually receiving an education. I have had driving instructors who have said to me, "I can teach you to pass the test or I can teach you to drive." There is a minimal amount of facts needed to pass a test. The more exams there are the less room there is to learn anything other than what you need to pass the exams. Therefore the person with 12 GCSEs has probably learnt less about the subject than what is needed to pass the exam than the person with 8 GCSEs.

In the same way, we know thae story of the Prodigal Son. We have been taught it several times. We know how the early audience reacted. We could pass an exam on it. But God doesn't want us to pass exams, He wants us to "get the point." We are not to judge those who come to God. It doesn't matter how badly or how many times a person falls, God is still waiting with open arms for them to come back. For those of us who are with God, everything He has is ours. Our attitude, not knowledge, needs to be love towards those who fall, ralationship towards our Father and use of the things that God has.

One of the greatest pictures is that the older son complains that the father hasn't done anything for him. But the father replies that everything he has is the oldest son's. Notice, the older son is waiting for the father to do it, but the father is waiting for the son to do it! Are we waiting for God to do it? God is waiting for us to do it!