Reflections on the Prodigal Son: Part I

I was thinking the other day about the Prodigal Son Parable in Luke 15, 11-32. Jesus tells us about a father and his two sons. One lived a good life, doing the right thing. The other son strayed away and eventually begs to come home. While his brother’s arms aren’t open wide to his lost brother, the father warmly welcomes his son back home. God is like the father in the parable who, no matter our actions, will always wait for us to return to Him.

Soichi Watanabe

When reading the parable, we tend to analyze the son and the love of the father. Some people stop at the father embracing the son. But what what about the other son? What were his thoughts and motives? Who does he represent? Could the good son be an indictment on the church folk who are unable to accept others who have strayed? Could he represent Christians who can’t see past the mistakes of others, to love them despite these mistakes?

For the next few postings, I want to explore this. With these Reflections, I want us to think about which character in the story we most represent. I think at different points in our lives, we have played all three roles: we have forgiven, we have been forgiven and we have held resentment in our hearts towards others. I think we can be any one of these characters at any point depending on the thoughts we believe, the choices we make and our resulting action.

I look forward to discussing more with you.