Yesterday we began to look into the parables Jesus gave one day, nearly two thousand years ago. We discussed the first two parables in part one of this series. Now we will continue our deep dive as we go onto the parable of the prodigal son:
Luke 15:11 – To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. 12 The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. 13 “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. 14 About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. 15 He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. 16 The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. 17 “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! 18 I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, 19 and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ 20 “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ 22 “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. 23 And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, 24 for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began. 25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the fields working. When he returned home, he heard music and dancing in the house, 26 and he asked one of the servants what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother is back,’ he was told, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf. We are celebrating because of his safe return.’ 28 “The older brother was angry and wouldn’t go in. His father came out and begged him, 29 but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to. And in all that time you never gave me even one young goat for a feast with my friends. 30 Yet when this son of yours comes back after squandering your money on prostitutes, you celebrate by killing the fattened calf!’ 31 “His father said to him, ‘Look, dear son, you have always stayed by me, and everything I have is yours. 32 We had to celebrate this happy day. For your brother was dead and has come back to life! He was lost, but now he is found!’”
Let’s look at this parable in more detail. Our first stop in this deep dive. The demands of the younger son, which is where we will starts. For the son went to the father and did not ask, but told his father. In the KJV it is “said,” but still it was not “asked his father.”
There is a couple of ways to approach just this one sentence. From the main standpoint of this particular teaching we should look at it this way. All of humanity are the children of God. The mere denial of accepting God not only as “God,” but as their creator and Father is a type of demand. That they are their own person. That they are in control and have full say-so in how they wish to live their lives. You see this in most that deny the very existence of God. However, in the other way you can look at it. It is the way those that have asked Christ to be their Savior behave as well. Many still choosing to be the ones in control of their own lives and see the Bible more as a book of suggestions instead of actual laws that demand requirements to be maintained and followed. These two aspects that tie right back into the previous two parables that Jesus had just spoken.
Here is another facet that must be noted. The demand for his rewards now. Again we come to those that are like the lost coin and the lost sheep. In both examples those that turn away from God and His Son seek after their rewards here in this temporal realm we all now exists within.
Matthew 6:19 “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. 21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
How does the father, God, respond to His child’s demands? Without question or debate, the father gave to the child what he demanded. This too is how God responses to all His children, which is all of humanity, be they Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, or whatever religion they follow. God loves all His children, but He knows that if their heart is hardened unto the truth there is no way to reach them and cause them to accept Him as who He really is.
This is one reason He has made a type of loophole in the Great White Throne Judgment, for those that have led a righteous life. But this loophole is not a guarantee of eternal life. There is only one way, and that is through the acceptance of Jesus Christ as your personal Savior. God wishes all to come into the eternal life we are all promised. However, he knows that due to free-will most will reject the truth, for all of humanity due to the actions of Adam and Eve, is sinful and the source of their own corruption.
Mark 7:20 – And then he added, “It is what comes from inside that defiles you. 21 For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, 22 adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness. 23 All these vile things come from within; they are what defile you.”
This also goes directly into why Jesus was telling this parable. For it was the desires of the child that drove him to want his inheritance. We will continue this in the next part of this series.