The Challenge of the Prodigal Son

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Yesterday during our priests homily, he said that all 3 in the story of the Prodigal Son sinned. :eek: The youngest son for being with “loose” women and partying and such, the oldest son for being dis respective to the father when younger brother came home, and this is the part that really bothered me, the father SINNED by not being more supportive of the oldest son who never disobeyed. I always thought the father in this story was God? He left me confused to say the least.

He also mentioned the 4th person in the story whom most overlook and that is of the swine herder who gave a job to the youngest son. He said this herder represented satin because he had the youngest son do everything that went against his Jewish faith, such as tending for pigs. The son was desperate and satin took advantage of that by in effect, turning him further from his Jewish roots.

That part about the swine herder kinda makes sense, but the one about the father in the story sinning really did not sit well with me. Oh and I read the article you linked to and it was wonderful.
 
love4mary said:
Yesterday during our priests homily, he said that all 3 in the story of the Prodigal Son sinned. :eek: The youngest son for being with “loose” women and partying and such, the oldest son for being dis respective to the father when younger brother came home, and this is the part that really bothered me, the father SINNED by not being more supportive of the oldest son who never disobeyed. I always thought the father in this story was God? He left me confused to say the least.

He also mentioned the 4th person in the story whom most overlook and that is of the swine herder who gave a job to the youngest son. He said this herder represented satin because he had the youngest son do everything that went against his Jewish faith, such as tending for pigs. The son was desperate and satin took advantage of that by in effect, turning him further from his Jewish roots.

That part about the swine herder kinda makes sense, but the one about the father in the story sinning really did not sit well with me. Oh and I read the article you linked to and it was wonderful.
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Actually I am glad that your Priest said that as its something that I have always felt for a long time. I never considered that the “Father” in this represented God. But what really struck me was how this parable can apply to today. How often as kids when we were “good” were taken for granted by our parents and if we asked for something modest (like the goat) were denied it. The Father in this parable lied slightly when he said all that is his is the son’s as well as otherwise the older son would have had his “goat”.

For a while I thought that I was reading too much into the parable but when you mentioned what your Priest said, I know that I wasn’t!!
 
That is a very nice article.

“But when, by the grace of God, we become aware of how deeply we have offended and hurt God by our sins, He is there to welcome us home again. He does not desire that we perish in our sins.”

How wonderful it is to have such a loving God. It is overwelhming sometimes to think about how much God loves us and will forgive us…if we just come home again.
 
We had a wonderful homily on this reading. Father also focused on how we can avoid the temptations of the world and so not even start down the path of the prodigal!
 
I have always identified with the ‘good’ son in this story. I practically felt his indignation at the apparent ‘reward’ his brother got for stopping the behavior that the ‘good’ brother never even engaged in.

I had one of those cool moments during this reading though. You know the kind. Same reading I’ve heard a good 36 times before, but this time a light bulb went off. I get what was wrong with the good son. He never DID those things that the prodigal son did, but he secretly harbored the DESIRE to. Down inside lurks the suspicion that it must be a lot of FUN to squander the money, party all the time and so forth. This brother doesn’t realize that the sins committed by the prodigal caused him misery and wretchedness. Had he seen this event as the end of a long period of suffering and self-inflicted wounds for his brother, he would have shared his father’s joy. Instead his perspective (and mine) was “what the heck!? He got to go off and party and have a good time and the moment things got bad, he got to come back here and have MORE partying.”

“Here I have been good and done what I was supposed to all this time and NEVER get to party and have fun.”

What the good son doesn’t realize is that the life he has been living is the one with the true potential for a joyful life. He has just robbed himself of it by secretly wishing he could do the forbidden things!

It’s all about realizing that sin is INHERENTLY harmful to us and causes us misery. It’s not a guilty pleasure that got arbitrarily listed on a list of things forbidden. Sins are by definition things that destroy us.
 
Another perspective on the “good” son is that he, like all of us, became envious of his brother’s good fortune and began to challenge his father’s decision. It’s similar to the parable of the pious man who boastfully proclaims that he’s glad that he’s not a sinner like so many others. So it is for many of us. We try hard to live good lives, but when we see someone else who hasn’t, but then changes for the better and good things happen to him, we become jealous and complain to God that it isn’t fair. Then we become guilty of not appreciating God’s generosity to us. We fall into the trap of thinking that we’re owed something that is only ours because our Father gives it to us. I think that on Judgement Day there will be a lot of “good” brothers who get surprised by God’s decisions.
 
I liked the article, but I didn’t understand:
"If he did the same thing all over again, willingly hurting the father who has shown him great kindness and mercy, we would consider him an ungrateful wretch. One would like to think that the son resolved not to cause his father such pain ever again."
Because God would show mercy over and over and over again. I resolve every time I come out of the Reconciliation Room that I am a changed person, yet there I am back again.

I had a friend once argue with me at how stupid the father was for the same reason. I don’t think he got the parable at all.
 
The prodigal son story has puzzeled me for a long time, as I have not understood it my self but the priest acting as Father is the best idea yet.

I thought the father should have went after his son but Jesus did not chase after people they came to him as children.

I thought the brother would have went after his brother if he really loved him to drag him back and make him stay.

In some families I see parents doing this both ways and bros and sisters chasing after thier siblings.

So when I feel a confrontation with a family member I check with my priest, confessor to see if my actions I did or am thinking of doing would help in the long run and try to make sure I am not going to hinder God but do what God wants.

I think they plenty talked with the P.son even maybe his bro talked day and night to not go maybe they even had a fight!,
You can tell I am married to one of them, luckily it was the oldest but he is a littl bit proud of being the good son:rolleyes:
the P.son did come home after 20 years:thumbsup:
but he still lacks good judgement or wisdom and nither are in the Catholic faith, but at least he listens better.

I had an older bro and he used to talk my ear off about getting into trouble and I am glad he did, and i listened a little and some not.😊
 
The story of the Prodigal Son is a parable that Jesus told, to teach the people about the mercy of God toward sinners.

Jesus told the story when he entered the house of Matthew, a tax collector, who was hated by the Jews.

In the story, Jesus shows how a father will rejoice over a son who returns home and asks for forgiveness. So much more will God the Father rejoice and welcome home a repentant sinner and we unlike the jealous brother in the story, should rejoice when a brother or sister comes home to the Lord, regardless of the type of life they lived.

Jim
 
I guess another way to describe my epiphany is to envision the prodigal as one who began using drugs, cutting himself, withdrew from all social interaction and rebuffed all who tried to reach out to him. Then one day, he came to his senses and asked for forgiveness and the chance to rejoin the family and be clean again.

What kind of brother in his right mind would be upset at a party for such a turn-around? And yet somehow I didn’t see the prodigal son’s self-destruction the same way since it involved the party lifestyle that our culture tells us is such naughty fun. When you understand it for what it is, you don’t want it anymore and aren’t jealous.
 
Here is a question on each of those parables

Who suffers more?

The sheep? or The shepherd?

The coin? or The woman?

The son? or The father?

We always look at the “lost” ones. But what about the one who lost?
This is God who lost each of us one way or another one time or another.
 
fellowChristian said:
Here is a question on each of those parables

Who suffers more?

The sheep? or The shepherd?

The coin? or The woman?

The son? or The father?

We always look at the “lost” ones. But what about the one who lost?
This is God who lost each of us one way or another one time or another.
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I listened and it was very enlightening as to how my FIL must have felt through his own son’s pain of being lost, he also suffered.

And we can understand how it was for our hevenly Father to give us his only begotten Son
and see Him suffer and die for us.
 
Lovemyfaith said:
I liked the article, but I didn’t understand:
"If he did the same thing all over again, willingly hurting the father who has shown him great kindness and mercy, we would consider him an ungrateful wretch. One would like to think that the son resolved not to cause his father such pain ever again."
Because God would show mercy over and over and over again. I resolve every time I come out of the Reconciliation Room that I am a changed person, yet there I am back again.

I had a friend once argue with me at how stupid the father was for the same reason. I don’t think he got the parable at all.
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But in a historical sense, which is also a layer of meaning that the Fathers see (the two sons are the Jews and Gentiles, respectively), God can only forgive so many times before the one son will be incurable.

the Fathers, from what I understand, would see the return of the younger son as the FIRST conversion of the Gentiles (i.e., the victory of the Church over pagan Rome.). But this doesn’t make sense when we consider the analogy that one son is OLDER than the other. For what would it mean to say the one son was born first and the other later except that being “born” means entering God’s family, which is by COVENANT. Hence, the first son is born in the calling of Abraham, the second son is then BORN at Pentecost, and comes of age in Catholic Christendom of the Middle Ages. Therefore, the younger son’s falling away must refer to a falling away from the New Covenant, AFTER the Gentiles were already Catholic, hence, it must refer to a departure from Catholicism AFTER a first conversion of the world. Therefore, the fall of pagan Rome and the uprising of Catholic Christendom can only mean the son gradually growing up. When he leaves the father, that journey would seem to be beginning with Protestantism, moving farther and farther away from him. The squandering of wealthw would then be the Modern Minor Apostasy, the famine and job with the pigs would be the Minor Chastisement, and the return to the Father would be RESTORATION of Catholic Christendom in the mystics’ age of peace, not the initial formation of Catholic Christendom, which is what the Fathers seem to think.

So then, as it is prophesied by the mystics, even after the Gentiles apostatize a first time, and the world almost comes to an end, but they are reconciled back to the Father, even still, the elder Son, the Jews will stand outside and complain, “All these years we have obeyed you, and you never did anything for us.”

But behold, “Everything I have is yours.”

hence, the assumed sequel to the story is this: the younger son will in fact disown the father again, but there is no more lesson to learn historically. For even though we can sin many times and come back, to pass through an apocalyptic ***-whipping and almost destroy the world and then be restored for a great feast is really all that God can do. So then the second time the younger son leaves, he departs forever, and then, as it is prophesied in Scripture, when the wild and unnatural branches are plucked, the original branches will be grafted back in, so that, in fact, what the Gentiles had thrown away finally, the inheritance shall pass to the older son, and hence, truly, “What the father has is ultimately given to the older son.”
 
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