In today’s language, this
parable would be the story of the two siblings, boys or girls, or one of each,
living in a small rural village where their widowed father owns half the town
and most of the farms around it. From a
young age the older child has been groomed to take over the family business and
the younger has been a bit of a rebel from little, although the father deeply,
deeply loves them both. The more responsible one just gets more
responsibility. The younger one
eventually says: “Dad, I want to get out of here and make a life for myself in
the city – I've got to get out of this place.
Can I have my part of the inheritance, and, you know I didn't go to
uni like my big sister, so I actually saved you thousands of
pounds in fees and residence costs, so it's only fair you give me that as well.”
And the Dad, who in a sense had
always known this moment was coming and had long ago realised that when the
moment came he would give her what would come her way when he died, because he
wouldn’t be able to live with himself if he didn’t, ... with a broken heart he
opens bank accounts in her name, some are savings accounts, others are
investment accounts, some 30 Day call, 90 Day call, etc. And she leaves
home……she leaves what has really been……Eden……escapes her father’s presence but
uses the life he has given her, and the gifts and qualities with which he has
shaped her……she uses these in the city to live a life which she kind of
believes has been denied her by living with her father. After 5, 10, maybe 15 years,
when the money and investments have dried up, and she’s moved from luxury to
comfort to struggle, she eventually finds herself on the street and all that that
entails.
Meantime, the older child has
stayed in the small village and, with his MBA, has grown the family business,.....in
fact it’s now a national business with export opportunities opening up. He’s always busy, often away; and there hasn’t
been time for relationships and marriage.
Dad’s really getting old, but in business everyone still thinks its
Dad’s business, even though Dad hasn’t been in the office for years. Sometimes the older brother has read about
his sister in the society pages of the Sunday papers, where he has read about
her alcohol and drug addictions and the various times that she’s spent in
rehabilitation clinics, the rumours of affairs with well-known people and abortions, and he’s
read about her fall from grace as her money has run out..............and he despises her. A private detective he hired had uncovered
that she had started advertising on the internet as an escort, but more
recently was working on the streets with no fixed address.
He hates her almost as much as
he hates the life that he has, running the family empire, but with no time for
himself. His exotic car collection
actually bores him to tears and the trips to France, Beijing and New York just leave him feeling he has no life, no time, no energy. People thought he lived in Eden, but his life
was hell, and for no real reason, he has drifted from his dad and has no real
relationship with him, even though they live on the same property, which now
also includes a luxury golf estate, one of seven that the older son had
developed almost as a sideline to the main family business. They hadn’t had a barbecue together for years,
even though their main business was now one of the biggest privately owned beef production
enterprises in England.
And one day the son, as he was
flying his private jet onto their private airfield, noticed that the whole
little town seemed to be gathered at the local football stadium, which their
company had built for the town, and there was what seemed like enough bulls on
spits to feed the whole town and its surrounds.
He asked the air traffic
controller what was going on and he said: “Your sister arrived yesterday, and
your dad is beside himself with happiness and has said there’s a party until he
says stop.”
The son in the plane was
so……angry.
The daughter in the stadium was
so……overwhelmed that her father had welcomed her.
And the father was even happier
as he heard the jet and looked forward to having his children reunited at a
special table in the centre of the stadium.
How does the story end if you
are the one flying the jet?
This parable is about the
separation between people, between one person and another person, between you
and the person who comes into your mind now.
It’s about the fact that you and I fall into the temptation of letting
other people’s behavior determine how we feel about them. You have betrayed me, you have mocked me, you
don’t appreciate me, etc, therefore I will be angry with you and resent you and
despise you.
OR: You are very nice to me and you appreciate
me, you understand me……therefore I will be nice to you, and respect you, love
you and be kind to you.
Believe me, you don’t want to be
in a family or workplace, a church or a nation, that lives by these
principles. Many of us, however, do find
ourselves in such families, workplaces, churches and nations. We, however, are called to be salt and light, we are
called to be different……Are we? ……Are you? …… Am I?
We are called to be like the
father: His attitude toward his children was not determined by their character,
but rather by his character. This of course, describes our
Heavenly Father’s attitude to us: it is determined by His character, not by our
character. Our Father loves us as we
are, not as we should be, since none
of us is as we should be. We are created
in His image, so we are created and called to love in the same way. A cocky person asked Jesus once: “and who is
my brother?” to which Jesus answered, again in parable form, every other person
created in God’s image.
Do we really think that we can
love the Father, but not love our imperfect brothers and sisters? In this parable, God places greater
importance on love and unity than on absolute obedience.
The key verse in this parable is
verse 19
" I will get up and go"
and in the context of love and forgiveness, in the context of thinking
about those who we are angry with, or who we resent, or who we refuse to “go
back to” …… We need to get up from whatever it is that separates us from
others, whether it be our sin, or their sin, and go.
Because to remain at that place of not returning, of remaining apart from others and therefore from God……is to die.
We cannot think that we can love
the Father, but not love our imperfect brothers and sisters.
We need to “get up” …… to get up
and return to the Father, to “get up” and return to all those whom our Father
loves.
To stay down and separated is to
die; to stand up and be re-united……is to live.
Choose to live.
