New clothing, no more flithy rags

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Isaiah 64: 6 But we are all as an unclean [thing], and all our righteousnesses [are] as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

St. Luke 15: 11 Then he said, “A man had two sons, 12 and the younger son said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’ So the father divided the property between them. 13 After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings and set off to a distant country where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation. 14 When he had freely spent everything, a severe famine
struck that country, and he found himself in dire need. 15 So he hired himself out to one of the local citizens who sent him to his farm to tend the swine. 16 And he longed to eat his fill of the pods on which the swine fed, but nobody gave him any. 17 Coming to his senses he thought, ‘How many of my father’s hired workers have more than enough food to eat, but here am I, dying from hunger. 18 I shall get up and go to my father and I shall say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I no longer deserve to be called your son; treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’ 20 So he got up and went back to his father. While he was still a long way off, his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion. He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him. 21 His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you; I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ 22 But his father ordered his servants, ‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Take the fattened calf and slaughter it. Then let us celebrate with a feast, 24 because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again; he was lost, and has been found.’ Then the celebration began. 25 Now the older son had been out in the field and, on his way back, as he neared the house, he heard the sound of music and dancing. 26 He called one of the servants and asked what this might mean. 27 The servant said to him, ‘Your brother has returned and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ 28 He became angry, and when he refused to enter the house, his father came out and pleaded with him. 29 He said to his father in reply, ‘Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. 30 But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.’ 31 He said to him, ‘My son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. 32 But now we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has come to life again; he was lost and has been found.’”

St Matthew 9:16 No one patches an old cloak with a piece of unshrunken cloth, for its fullness pulls away from the cloak and the tear gets worse.

We now have new clothing. Our old rags have been replaced.
 
🙂

In a way, yes, but the parable of the prodigal son is not all Joy.
We did not witness the purgatory which the story indicates must happen. If not for the prodigal son, at least for the elder son.

Notice the ring on the younger son’s finger which gifts him with a certain amount of authority over the servants. He, then, is to help with the management of the house. But, in what way? For the father says to the elder son – everything I have is yours.

As a matter of law, the younger son owns nothing – his rightful inheritance is squandered. The elder brother owns all. There is only left the duty of the older brother to insure the life of his younger brother which is why the elder is granted a “double” portion. There is still a reckoning between brothers to be hashed out, a rebuilding with precious gems where the younger son had been building with straw and mud morally. There is work to be done – although in dignity, not oppression.

But, the son who came home out of desperation is still “far off” when the father greets him. His repentance only just begun internally. He recognizes the damage he has done, and his dire need. And beyond justice, the father has granted forgiveness in the degree that it is his to give!

Not because the son deserves it – but because he is his SON.

And now the son actually has to work out his place in the family in hopes of someday restoring a fraction of what he wrecked. Yes, what a wise homecoming – new clothes, a ring, recognition in the father of the danger that making a slave of his son – his own image – would be. How the hired servants and slaves would see the master as no better than his son. How they would view the father through his relationship to his son.

The elder son’s justice was not like unclean rags in the parable. To him the father must be saying – be angry, but do not sin. To him the father must wipe away the angry tears and remind him that his good is also for the sake of his brother.

But the father recognizes that he has no right, in the parable, to demand that the older brother totally trust the younger without proof. The relationship is still to be worked out.

The younger son must still bear fruit.
Clean and holy, he might still be empty.

Peace, Jim.
 
What about Revelation 19:8? “She was allowed to wear a bright, clean linen garment. (The linen represents the righteous deeds of the holy ones.)”

(The “she” refers to Christ’s bride, the church.)
 
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