The Prodigal Son

Finally the son realized that he was broke and did not have a penny to his name. He was to proud to go back to his family for help. He got himself into this situation and he was going to rely on himself to get out of it.

This is like the alcoholic. Most alcoholics feel that they can control their drinking problem. That they do not really have a problem with alcohol. They are the masters of the drink but really the drink is the master of them. They can overcome their drinking problem on their own. But this never works. People have to have help with overcoming alcoholism. When people admit that they have no control over the addiction can they start on the road to recovery?

So he went to work for a farmer that had pigs. To the son this was the worst job that any Jewish man could have. Swine were untouchable to Jews. He was validating the law of God as well as disgracing himself. It got so bad that he was even eating the food that the pigs ate.

Many times the road to God begins in a ditch. People have to hit rock bottom before they turn to God to rescue them. When the world caves in around them then they look to God to save them from the trouble they got themselves into. Everyone has a different bottom that they hit before searching for God.

The son felt like he would be better off at home as a servant to his father then a worker in the pig pit. So he planned his return and what he would say to his father. But he received a reaction that he could never have dreamed about. His father embraced him as a son and threw a huge party to celebrate his return. The son was ecstatic. Could not believe that his father would accept him back with open arms and still love him in the face of all the sins that he committed. He never knew how truly loving his father was. That his father killed the fattened calf in honor of his lost son that has returned.

The mind set of the brother.

But the other elder did not see this story the same way. He saw it through the eyes of the older brother. The brother was working all day for the father in the fields and then he comes home and hears this party going on that he was not even told about. They were celebrating and he was working. The brother has every right to get upset. He has worked and served the father for his whole life and the father never even gave him a goat to kill so he could party with his friends.

Now this brother that wasted his life away and wasted his father’s money is being rewarded for his sinful lifestyle. What type of example is the father giving by condoning this behavior? The son should be punished for his actions, not rewarded. Why should we honor the one who has done evil instead of honor the one who has always lived a righteous life? This seems totally unfair to the older brother. People need to know where the limits are.

Think about it. If a teenage is caught smoking drugs, the parents are not to reward him for stopping. He is to be punished for his actions. Say he stole from his parents money to buy drugs and was smoking them every weekend with his friends. Then the parents found out the truth about his actions. He was telling them that he was going out and playing video games with a friend on the nights he was smoking pot. The parents are not to reward him. To give him a present so that he could celebrate with his friends that he was catch smoking pot. This would be ridiculous.