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| THE FORGIVING FATHER. Image from stjohnrctamworthy.org.uk |
One of the most popular parables of the Lord Jesus Christ is the one we have come to know as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Though it has been entitled that way, it is actually a favorite story of those who wish to paint a picture of our loving and forgiving God. That is why many propose that it should instead be entitled as the Parable of the Forgiving Father. However, the choice of bannering the prodigal son in the title was probably intended to focus on the necessity of repentance and asking for forgiveness which the prodigal son manifested. Without these actions, the father's forgiveness would not have its effect.
Today let us reflect on some important characteristics of the Forgiving Father which makes him an image of our Merciful God.
We shall focus on these important points:
[1] The Father readily gave the younger son's share of his estate although he is still alive.
[2] The Father let the son leave.
[3] The Father waited for his son's return.
[3] The Father waited for his son's return.
[4] The Father reinstates the son to his place in the family with an accompanying feasting.
[5] The Father goes out to admonish the elder son.
The Giving of the Inheritance
The Parable is so peculiar because it was very inconsistent with the cultural atmosphere of the time: a son asking his father for a share in the inheritance while the father was still alive! Even today, children would be considered disrespectful if they do so. Parents would probably say, "Are you expecting us to die soon?" But of course, the parable was not about the worldly sharing of inheritance. Instead, through the parable the Lord once again teaches us an important lesson about the nature of God.
One of the things that we could perhaps reflect upon is that through the parable, the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to teach us about our Father providing us an important gift which we could use on earth to seek the right path towards Him without coercion. Like the prodigal son who has been given a share of the inheritance, we have been given our share of a very significant inheritance too. That inheritance is freedom. Freedom is an important gift of God to us for it allows us to function fully as a human being. It gives us the chance to use our rationality - our intellect and will. Without freedom, we would be like robots. But with freedom we can learn many things and then exercise the power of choice hence this inheritance is best manifested through what we call rights.
God gave us this gift because He wanted us to freely return the love that He has shared with us when He created us. St Augustine wrote, "Our hearts are made for you and they shall be restless until they rest in you!" So God by love created us in His image and likeness and part of our being His image and likeness is the capacity to love. That love would be the magnet that would lead us back to Him. Like love, freedom is also part and parcel of our being God's image and likeness. So now we see how great the inheritance that God has shared with us: much more than earthly treasures that are subject to corruption and ruin. Love and freedom alone are more than enough to make us truly human, fully alive!
But what do we do with these great gifts of God? We love but not love truly for we focus our attention on earthly goods which cannot satisfy us because they are not the perfect ends to which the desire of the heart, the purpose of love, points us to accomplish. We use - and even abuse - our freedom thinking that we could have it absolutely, disregarding the fact that it has its corresponding duty to respect the freedom of others, and most of all, to seek the source of that freedom: God!
And so we become like the prodigal son who after getting his share of the inheritance goes away to squander such inheritance in a far away land! In our situation, we try to enjoy absolutely our freedom, and have absolute enjoyment of our rights, going away from God and hoping to seek for what will satisfy us away from Him.
The Father allows the Younger Son to leave
Since it was not mentioned, we can just speculate that the father did not prohibit the son from leaving. His giving of the inheritance without question would also mean that he would not have barred the son from going away.
So what happened to the son? The son goes away to a foreign land spending all his money on vices until he had nothing else. He may have so much to spend but still, they won't last a lifetime if he only wasted the money on vices and fails to invest some to at least have something to expect after sometime. Worse, famine hits where he was and since he had nothing else to spend, he had to work but he probably was not accustomed to working being a son of wealthy family he probably got sick, etc. In short, his inheritance did not provide him enough security to live an extravagant life for long.
What we learn from this is that God has given us freedom and allowed us to exercise that freedom, our rights, in accordance with our wishes. However, since we are not God we cannot have an absolute exercise of freedom. Though we may think we can get away from God, we cannot free ourselves absolutely from other influences and incidences. We are free but our rights are limited by [1] the rights of others, [2] the laws of nature, and let us just summarize others as [3] other things and events beyond our control.
With regards to our freedom and rights being limited by the freedom and the rights of others, let us just picture a simple example. Two men each with his own car can freely drive their vehicles but they cannot drive along the same spot at the same time. One has to either be ahead or behind the other. Moreover, if they are going separate ways, they must stay on the lane proper to their direction or else they might collide.
With regards to our freedom and rights being limited by the laws of nature, we surely can't defy the law of gravity on our own. So if we wish to fly or go up with more ease, we would have to use technology which has found ways to use the other laws of nature in order to defy the law of gravity in order to become successful.
With regards to other things and events that limit our freedom and rights, let us just set commerce for example. We may have the right and freedom to drink softdrinks but we cannot freely get it without paying for it. We may be free and the right to eat hamburgers but we must spend for it. We may pass along a certain road freely on regular days but if the road is closed because of some important occasion, we'd probably be charged with the corresponding violation depending on the importance of the occasion or the people attending the occasion if we pass through without express or special permission that road during that event.
In short, our inheritance, the freedom that we have and the corresponding rights that we can enjoy, are not unlimited. The son left his father's house where he had no worry to think about since he was provided with all that he needed. But he goes away to a foreign land and there squandered his inheritance. It is like us trying to divorce ourselves from God and hoping to have unlimited enjoyment of our freedom and our rights with no respect or recourse to what God has established since the beginning of time and without concern as to what will be the effect of not following the divine plan for us on earth.
And like the prodigal son we get lost and become almost mad. But like him, are we going to see the light? Are we going to accept that finally it's time to return to the father's house?
The Father waits for His son's return
So the son realized that in his father's house, even the servants do not experience what he was going through in that foreign land. He decided to return but fully aware of what he did, he thought that it would be best to just ask the father to at least make him one of the servants: that would have been enough.
But let us first observe the father's action. While the son was still far off, he already saw him and even ran to meet him!
What do we learn from this? The father was hoping - perhaps even expecting - for his son's return. He didn't even have to wait for him to come closer and to identify him very well for this time the son would have been a lot different physically. But perhaps the father knew about what happened to that foreign land where his son went to. And maybe, just maybe, he had people watching over his son as to what will happen. Anyway, that's pure speculation but nonetheless not very far from what could have the father has done.
For God our God is like that. He has given us freedom and let us enjoy our rights but keep us from going into danger zones through various means. The Jews had Moses and the Prophets, we Christians have our Church. Yes, we might say that God has left us on our own but in reality, He is very much active in guiding our journey on earth. Many times people ask why God allow bad things to happen even to good people [calamities, wars, famine, etc] and yet we forget that it is precisely why we have been given freedom by God so that we could do provide ourselves the answer: we are God's hands, arms and feet on earth!
We forget that the freedom that God has given us is for us to return the love that He has shared to us during creation: love that could be best manifested by loving one another on earth. We have been too long away from the father's house that we ought to return already and see Him waiting for us, aside from providing us help through wonderful ways while we are away. God is always ready to embrace us upon our return.
Why does the son have to return on his own? Why didn't the father rescue him from his situation? Ask yourself. Ask if you would rather be coerced to go to confession than do it your own because you have realized that you have sinned and that it's time to return to God, to the Father's house? God has given us freedom, God provides us also with inspiration. He doesn't force us, He only motivates us. But He is always there, waiting so that at the first moment that He sees even just a small shade of our shadow perhaps, He would ran to embrace us because even if still far off, as long as we are already on track, He would be willing already to take us in. He does this because while still on our way, we might change our mind and turn back to the foreign land: God does not want any of us to be lost. So He goes off to welcome us and keep us safe from any other danger!
The Father reinstates the Son
The son had a short speech prepared to say to his father when they meet. A speech which he readily spoke when the father embraced him. But the father did not even bother to respond to the speech. Instead he called the servants to take care of the wayward son who returned, reinstates him by giving him a ring, and celebrates his return through the killing of the fattened calf and a feast.
Have you ever felt that wonderful feeling of being freed from guilt after making a good confession? Even outside of the confessional box, when we tell someone about something that we did against him or her, we find it very liberating. Though being honest sometimes do not produce the good result that we expect for telling the truth, we still find ourselves at least feeling freed from the burden of keeping some lie or anything bad.
When God gave us freedom, it is not without the corresponding responsibility. It is like a two-way traffic road where cars travel to and fro. We enjoy being free but we also respect other people's enjoyment of their own freedom. The son was free to return to his father's house but he had to accept whatever the consequence of his wrongdoing upon his return. He realized it by saying that at least it would be enough to become one of his father's servants. He had the right to belong but since he did sin against the family, he knew he might not be that welcome anymore.
But the father's love cannot be denied. Instead of punishing the wayward son, he was reinstated to his place in the family by being given a ring, the symbol of his being a member of the family. His dirty clothes were also changed to clean robes. And the fattened calf, reserved for important occasions, have been slaughtered to honor his return. We didn't have the father's verbal reply to the son's short speech but surely the action that the father did was more than enough to say what words can't express.
God our Father did more than that. He did not only slaughter the fattened calf, He even gave us His only begotten Son. What a great manifestation of love. Though we failed to return His love, He made the initiative to lead us back to Him through His Son. And now we also have to do the same: by loving one another, we can show others the way to the Father.
Yes! We didn't even have to speak a word yet. Just the intention and the action to go with it, then later, we'd have some conversation. For now it is enough that we have the humility to accept our sinfulness, the sincerity to repent, and the willingness to accept the consequence of our wrongdoings. This is the great and true expression of freedom for it leads us back to God and return the love that He first gave us. Enjoy God's embrace and be grateful for the celebration for having returned to the Father's house the angels have one more reason to rejoice!
The Father goes out to talk to His Elder Son
It would have been a perfect day for the father if the elder son did act like the father - though I doubt it if the actuation of the elder son would have affected the father's disposition seeing his kind and generous attitude. But we see the difference between the father who loved so much and the son who fulfilled what he thought was enough to keep him the favorite. Favorite? But why did the father not even provide him with a young goat to feast on with his friends when we was ever loyal to the father? While the fattened calf was slaughtered because the son who squandered the father's money has returned? Perhaps the elder brother would have been more generous if the his little brother came home a billionaire!
Humanly speaking, big brother had so much to sulk about. We know what happened and we know how he "enslaved" himself to his father. He deserved all the respect that could be given as the loyal and faithful son! He should have been informed first and consulted as to what's the proper thing to do with his little brother who returned!
But the father must have been a Christian even before Christ preached and told the son that they have so much to celebrate for because his little brother was dead and has come back to life and was lost and now has been found! The father even had to go out and leave the feast in order to calm the elder son. Now, who wants to leave a party and go out to face trouble which could ruin one's happy day?
God so loved the world that He loved us first. He so loved us that He gave us freedom to find our way back to His house so that we could enjoy the fullness of His love. Though He cares so much for those who fail to walk along the right path, he doesn't disregard those who remain faithful. "Everything I have is yours!" the father tells the elder son. God has so much love we only have to enjoy them. The elder son could have invited his friends any time and have a feast of their own. But he was so busy trying to fulfill his obligations as a son that he became like a servant forgetting that he was a member of the family who has to enjoy the father's love!
There are many of us who forget that freedom is also misused when we focus too much on the fulfillment of our obligations just because we do not want to be considered wayward or bad children of the Father. Through this, we also forget the important part of being free: the celebration of the love of God, the enjoyment of His presence in our lives, and the experience of the gift of being in communion with Him. This mentality also block us from being generous with our own love, forgetting that we ought to love the unlovable and serve the least of our brethren.
God wants to have an intimate, friendly and familial relationship with us. He made us not to become mere slaves. We are not here on earth to be His robots and do whatever He tells us without any reason at all. Fact is, whatever He tells us to do, it is because of love, because He wants us to enjoy His presence in heaven at the appointed time. But he doesn't want to force us, He only inspires us. That is why He provided us with freedom. The bad things that happen to us is due to our misuse and abuse of freedom, not because of His whim.
The forgiving father is truly an image of the merciful, loving God. Unless we recognize this, we shall never understand the proper use of freedom. But one thing is certain, outside of God's design, the improper use of freedom and too much concentration on one's rights without regard for the corresponding responsibilities would only lead us to doom and damnation. The prodigal son experienced it. It was good he had a forgiving father to welcome him back as a son once again!
[5] The Father goes out to admonish the elder son.
The Giving of the Inheritance
The Parable is so peculiar because it was very inconsistent with the cultural atmosphere of the time: a son asking his father for a share in the inheritance while the father was still alive! Even today, children would be considered disrespectful if they do so. Parents would probably say, "Are you expecting us to die soon?" But of course, the parable was not about the worldly sharing of inheritance. Instead, through the parable the Lord once again teaches us an important lesson about the nature of God.
One of the things that we could perhaps reflect upon is that through the parable, the Lord Jesus Christ wanted to teach us about our Father providing us an important gift which we could use on earth to seek the right path towards Him without coercion. Like the prodigal son who has been given a share of the inheritance, we have been given our share of a very significant inheritance too. That inheritance is freedom. Freedom is an important gift of God to us for it allows us to function fully as a human being. It gives us the chance to use our rationality - our intellect and will. Without freedom, we would be like robots. But with freedom we can learn many things and then exercise the power of choice hence this inheritance is best manifested through what we call rights.
God gave us this gift because He wanted us to freely return the love that He has shared with us when He created us. St Augustine wrote, "Our hearts are made for you and they shall be restless until they rest in you!" So God by love created us in His image and likeness and part of our being His image and likeness is the capacity to love. That love would be the magnet that would lead us back to Him. Like love, freedom is also part and parcel of our being God's image and likeness. So now we see how great the inheritance that God has shared with us: much more than earthly treasures that are subject to corruption and ruin. Love and freedom alone are more than enough to make us truly human, fully alive!
But what do we do with these great gifts of God? We love but not love truly for we focus our attention on earthly goods which cannot satisfy us because they are not the perfect ends to which the desire of the heart, the purpose of love, points us to accomplish. We use - and even abuse - our freedom thinking that we could have it absolutely, disregarding the fact that it has its corresponding duty to respect the freedom of others, and most of all, to seek the source of that freedom: God!
And so we become like the prodigal son who after getting his share of the inheritance goes away to squander such inheritance in a far away land! In our situation, we try to enjoy absolutely our freedom, and have absolute enjoyment of our rights, going away from God and hoping to seek for what will satisfy us away from Him.
The Father allows the Younger Son to leave
Since it was not mentioned, we can just speculate that the father did not prohibit the son from leaving. His giving of the inheritance without question would also mean that he would not have barred the son from going away.
So what happened to the son? The son goes away to a foreign land spending all his money on vices until he had nothing else. He may have so much to spend but still, they won't last a lifetime if he only wasted the money on vices and fails to invest some to at least have something to expect after sometime. Worse, famine hits where he was and since he had nothing else to spend, he had to work but he probably was not accustomed to working being a son of wealthy family he probably got sick, etc. In short, his inheritance did not provide him enough security to live an extravagant life for long.
With regards to our freedom and rights being limited by the freedom and the rights of others, let us just picture a simple example. Two men each with his own car can freely drive their vehicles but they cannot drive along the same spot at the same time. One has to either be ahead or behind the other. Moreover, if they are going separate ways, they must stay on the lane proper to their direction or else they might collide.
With regards to our freedom and rights being limited by the laws of nature, we surely can't defy the law of gravity on our own. So if we wish to fly or go up with more ease, we would have to use technology which has found ways to use the other laws of nature in order to defy the law of gravity in order to become successful.
With regards to other things and events that limit our freedom and rights, let us just set commerce for example. We may have the right and freedom to drink softdrinks but we cannot freely get it without paying for it. We may be free and the right to eat hamburgers but we must spend for it. We may pass along a certain road freely on regular days but if the road is closed because of some important occasion, we'd probably be charged with the corresponding violation depending on the importance of the occasion or the people attending the occasion if we pass through without express or special permission that road during that event.
In short, our inheritance, the freedom that we have and the corresponding rights that we can enjoy, are not unlimited. The son left his father's house where he had no worry to think about since he was provided with all that he needed. But he goes away to a foreign land and there squandered his inheritance. It is like us trying to divorce ourselves from God and hoping to have unlimited enjoyment of our freedom and our rights with no respect or recourse to what God has established since the beginning of time and without concern as to what will be the effect of not following the divine plan for us on earth.
And like the prodigal son we get lost and become almost mad. But like him, are we going to see the light? Are we going to accept that finally it's time to return to the father's house?
The Father waits for His son's return
So the son realized that in his father's house, even the servants do not experience what he was going through in that foreign land. He decided to return but fully aware of what he did, he thought that it would be best to just ask the father to at least make him one of the servants: that would have been enough.
But let us first observe the father's action. While the son was still far off, he already saw him and even ran to meet him!
What do we learn from this? The father was hoping - perhaps even expecting - for his son's return. He didn't even have to wait for him to come closer and to identify him very well for this time the son would have been a lot different physically. But perhaps the father knew about what happened to that foreign land where his son went to. And maybe, just maybe, he had people watching over his son as to what will happen. Anyway, that's pure speculation but nonetheless not very far from what could have the father has done.
For God our God is like that. He has given us freedom and let us enjoy our rights but keep us from going into danger zones through various means. The Jews had Moses and the Prophets, we Christians have our Church. Yes, we might say that God has left us on our own but in reality, He is very much active in guiding our journey on earth. Many times people ask why God allow bad things to happen even to good people [calamities, wars, famine, etc] and yet we forget that it is precisely why we have been given freedom by God so that we could do provide ourselves the answer: we are God's hands, arms and feet on earth!
We forget that the freedom that God has given us is for us to return the love that He has shared to us during creation: love that could be best manifested by loving one another on earth. We have been too long away from the father's house that we ought to return already and see Him waiting for us, aside from providing us help through wonderful ways while we are away. God is always ready to embrace us upon our return.
Why does the son have to return on his own? Why didn't the father rescue him from his situation? Ask yourself. Ask if you would rather be coerced to go to confession than do it your own because you have realized that you have sinned and that it's time to return to God, to the Father's house? God has given us freedom, God provides us also with inspiration. He doesn't force us, He only motivates us. But He is always there, waiting so that at the first moment that He sees even just a small shade of our shadow perhaps, He would ran to embrace us because even if still far off, as long as we are already on track, He would be willing already to take us in. He does this because while still on our way, we might change our mind and turn back to the foreign land: God does not want any of us to be lost. So He goes off to welcome us and keep us safe from any other danger!
The Father reinstates the Son
The son had a short speech prepared to say to his father when they meet. A speech which he readily spoke when the father embraced him. But the father did not even bother to respond to the speech. Instead he called the servants to take care of the wayward son who returned, reinstates him by giving him a ring, and celebrates his return through the killing of the fattened calf and a feast.
Have you ever felt that wonderful feeling of being freed from guilt after making a good confession? Even outside of the confessional box, when we tell someone about something that we did against him or her, we find it very liberating. Though being honest sometimes do not produce the good result that we expect for telling the truth, we still find ourselves at least feeling freed from the burden of keeping some lie or anything bad.
When God gave us freedom, it is not without the corresponding responsibility. It is like a two-way traffic road where cars travel to and fro. We enjoy being free but we also respect other people's enjoyment of their own freedom. The son was free to return to his father's house but he had to accept whatever the consequence of his wrongdoing upon his return. He realized it by saying that at least it would be enough to become one of his father's servants. He had the right to belong but since he did sin against the family, he knew he might not be that welcome anymore.
But the father's love cannot be denied. Instead of punishing the wayward son, he was reinstated to his place in the family by being given a ring, the symbol of his being a member of the family. His dirty clothes were also changed to clean robes. And the fattened calf, reserved for important occasions, have been slaughtered to honor his return. We didn't have the father's verbal reply to the son's short speech but surely the action that the father did was more than enough to say what words can't express.
God our Father did more than that. He did not only slaughter the fattened calf, He even gave us His only begotten Son. What a great manifestation of love. Though we failed to return His love, He made the initiative to lead us back to Him through His Son. And now we also have to do the same: by loving one another, we can show others the way to the Father.
Yes! We didn't even have to speak a word yet. Just the intention and the action to go with it, then later, we'd have some conversation. For now it is enough that we have the humility to accept our sinfulness, the sincerity to repent, and the willingness to accept the consequence of our wrongdoings. This is the great and true expression of freedom for it leads us back to God and return the love that He first gave us. Enjoy God's embrace and be grateful for the celebration for having returned to the Father's house the angels have one more reason to rejoice!
The Father goes out to talk to His Elder Son
It would have been a perfect day for the father if the elder son did act like the father - though I doubt it if the actuation of the elder son would have affected the father's disposition seeing his kind and generous attitude. But we see the difference between the father who loved so much and the son who fulfilled what he thought was enough to keep him the favorite. Favorite? But why did the father not even provide him with a young goat to feast on with his friends when we was ever loyal to the father? While the fattened calf was slaughtered because the son who squandered the father's money has returned? Perhaps the elder brother would have been more generous if the his little brother came home a billionaire!
Humanly speaking, big brother had so much to sulk about. We know what happened and we know how he "enslaved" himself to his father. He deserved all the respect that could be given as the loyal and faithful son! He should have been informed first and consulted as to what's the proper thing to do with his little brother who returned!
But the father must have been a Christian even before Christ preached and told the son that they have so much to celebrate for because his little brother was dead and has come back to life and was lost and now has been found! The father even had to go out and leave the feast in order to calm the elder son. Now, who wants to leave a party and go out to face trouble which could ruin one's happy day?
God so loved the world that He loved us first. He so loved us that He gave us freedom to find our way back to His house so that we could enjoy the fullness of His love. Though He cares so much for those who fail to walk along the right path, he doesn't disregard those who remain faithful. "Everything I have is yours!" the father tells the elder son. God has so much love we only have to enjoy them. The elder son could have invited his friends any time and have a feast of their own. But he was so busy trying to fulfill his obligations as a son that he became like a servant forgetting that he was a member of the family who has to enjoy the father's love!
There are many of us who forget that freedom is also misused when we focus too much on the fulfillment of our obligations just because we do not want to be considered wayward or bad children of the Father. Through this, we also forget the important part of being free: the celebration of the love of God, the enjoyment of His presence in our lives, and the experience of the gift of being in communion with Him. This mentality also block us from being generous with our own love, forgetting that we ought to love the unlovable and serve the least of our brethren.
God wants to have an intimate, friendly and familial relationship with us. He made us not to become mere slaves. We are not here on earth to be His robots and do whatever He tells us without any reason at all. Fact is, whatever He tells us to do, it is because of love, because He wants us to enjoy His presence in heaven at the appointed time. But he doesn't want to force us, He only inspires us. That is why He provided us with freedom. The bad things that happen to us is due to our misuse and abuse of freedom, not because of His whim.
The forgiving father is truly an image of the merciful, loving God. Unless we recognize this, we shall never understand the proper use of freedom. But one thing is certain, outside of God's design, the improper use of freedom and too much concentration on one's rights without regard for the corresponding responsibilities would only lead us to doom and damnation. The prodigal son experienced it. It was good he had a forgiving father to welcome him back as a son once again!
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