The Prodigal Metaphor

IMHO this is the key point that so many Evangelicals miss. The key message of Christianity involves taking the focus off of ourselves and putting it on God. The way we put it on God is to embrace His attributes, (love, justice, mercy etc) and to reject hate, injustice, revenge etc.The idea of promoting the Christian faith by telling people that they will gain reward in the afterlife only succeeds in putting the focus back on the self. I believe that God desires that all of us embrace love for its own sake and not because of an anticipation of future reward.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

The act of contrition says we repent because we dread the loss of heaven and the pains of hell, but most of all because we have offended God. From this perspective, who was better of the brothers?The prodigal returned not for love of the father, but for fear of the 'hell' he was in. Is there any indication that the good brother stayed at home because of love? He worked for the father...and reaped his reward in the moment. To others he must have appeared faithful to the father. Why was he looking for more than a share in the father's life? Jewels in his crown?Is it at all significant that at the end of the parable the older son still has his inheritence? The inheritence here is obviously not 'salvation'. It is comething 'extra'. Something he obviously does not need at the moment while living under his father's care. I think that this inheritence is equality. We may squander our equality with God, our share in His life. We may lose it altogether in the end by being jealous of others. If this parable went on and the older son was obstinate in his anger, would he lose both the inheritence and the love, which is the true reward?I have met Christians who are 'angry'. Angry because they can't win converts, angry because they feel that they are not persuasive, hateful to those they can not persuade. Yes, for all the work they do for the father, they show their true colors in wanting more. I think Phat is right, they want to be special. They also fear...fear that their inability to convert another is a failure of God's message.

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Is it at all significant that at the end of the parable the older son still has his inheritence? The inheritence here is obviously not 'salvation'. It is comething 'extra'. Something he obviously does not need at the moment while living under his father's care. I think that this inheritence is equality. We may squander our equality with God, our share in His life. We may lose it altogether in the end by being jealous of others.

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This story is about having a right relationship with God, not salvation. We do what is right because we love God, not because we will be compensated.Many things can and have been read into this parable, but the bare bones of it are explained in these two verses.This verse pertains to the younger son: This verse pertains to the elder son: It's like a mother with two daughters. The older daughter has always been an excellent student and received good grades. For the younger daughter, good grades didn't come so easily.When the younger daugther finally brings home an A on her report card the mother wants to celebrate by cooking the younger daughter's favorite meal. The older daughter is jealous because she never got that kind of attention for her A's.Since the parable ends after the father explains his actions to his son, the conclusion is that the elder son understands; so both sons are on the road to a better relationship with their father.For some it is easy to love God and follow his commands. For others it is a struggle.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

I suppose we don't know for sure. I guess I am projecting my own fleshly feelings into the sons. The younger one was fed up with rebellion because he had experienced all that the alternatives to home life had to offer. The elder son, however, would have to humble himself in order to accept the celebration. His jealousy would have to be dealt with---by himself. Thats where I find myself sometimes. I expect privilege and balk when I am treated no better than anyone else. I don't know why I have this hang-up. Insecurity, perhaps?

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The younger one was fed up with rebellion because he had experienced all that the alternatives to home life had to offer.

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You're missing the point. It had nothing to do with him being out on his own and had everything to do with bad decisions and wrong behavior. The operative words being, squandered and loose living. Since he squandered his money he had to find work and ended up hired to feed pigs. It finally dawns on him that his father's hired help eat better than he is, so why not work for Dad. Yes the elder son needed to understand that there was no reason for him to be jealous.Maybe the parable of the lowest seat might help.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

We read the story of the Prodigal Son today as having a timeless truth to tell us about our relationship with God. The meaning according to NT Wright, (and I agree with him), that Jesus would have originally had is something altogether different.The return of the prodigal represented the return of the exile of Israel, and God re-establishing his kingdom. Jesus represented Yahweh returning in a way that did not conform with 1st century Jewish thinking. Their thinking was more along the lines of getting out from under the Romans, whereas Jesus was saying that God had a completely different plan in mind.The older brother represents the Pharisees and the lawyers of the day who weren't the least bit interested in having God establish his kingdom in this manner.It is interesting that now we can use the revolutionary political teachings of Jesus to find completely different and more timeless truths 2000 years later. IMHO it is evidence of the idea that there is divine inspiration in scripture.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.

The only problem is that it's a parable and not an analogy.

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"Peshat is what I say and derash is what you say." --Nehama Leibowitz

True, but it is a parable that meant something different to 1st century Jews than it does to us today.

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Everybody is entitled to my opinion.