The Prodigal Son (Another Perspective)

 Growing up i was taught the parable of the prodigal son as was most people born into a Christian community In the story, a father has two sons. The younger son asks for inheritance from his father, who grants his son's request. This radical ungrateful son, however, is wasteful and extravagant, taking all his inheritance and left home and due to his inexperience squandered his fortune and  became broke had to suffer dire consequences of condescending even lower than the level his fathers servants just to survive. , he came to his senses and decided to return home intending to beg his father to accept him back as a servant. To the son's surprise, he is not scorned by his father but is welcomed back with celebration and a welcoming party. Envious, the older son refuses to participate in the festivities. The father tells the older son: "you are ever with me, and all that I have is yours, but thy younger brother was lost and now he is found." I was taught the parable shows the father's love in accepting him back even though he had been a foolish child who burnt all he bridges and ran away from home after collecting his inheritance.

The Parable taught me to not be negatively audacious, to have regards for my elders, to be willing to serve, to not run away from home, to not be full of myself, to not be wasteful, to be wary of fair-weather friends, to run to God and repent if i ever fall into sin cos he is willing always to forgive me. it taught me that God deeply loved me to a point i cant explain with words.

It is a wonderful parable that i love so much, but as is my current sequence of meditation i recently tried to view it from the son's perspective, i tried to imagine what scenario would make the son of such a wealthy and great man want to detach himself from his father so badly that he would even leave to a faraway country? and what could he have done better so as not to have ended up in that ditch he found himself? 

i wanted to see if i would have done the same thing if i were in his shoes. so let's look at it together (Disclaimer: since we are looking at it in retrospect we might feel his decisions were childish and immature so let's try to look at it as if we haven't read the story already). 

HIS PERSPECTIVE

Hello there, I'm PS(prodigal son) by name, many of you know me already or at least you know my father He is the big shot that owns literally half of our city... yeah the billboard on 24th street carries his face you say he's an awesome man right!! you are very correct... the thing is since i have come of age nobody seems to recognize me heck i don't even know what my life purpose is ... yes my father has made everything easy my life is set even if i don't lift a finger i would be alright, but i have this sinking feeling in my heart that i would regret not trying out all the stuff i want to try out i feel like i will live in my fathers shadows forever heck people don't even call me by my name they all call me chief's son like am i so useless as a person that my name doesn't even matter?!!! this is driving me nuts and no one seems to understand not even my brother who for some odd reason is content in slaving away under fathers shadow... maybe it's cause he's the first son and he would inherit everything fathers owns the corporation and all so he's just biding his time. i want to try out things i want to see what life is all about i'm tired of these restrictions... this is what i'll do i'll ask father for my share of his inheritance. i'll go to another city invest in some 21st century innovation tech companies and double my net worth maybe then people will respect me for me and not just for my father's name.

END OF PERSPECTIVE


you see if you view the prodigal son in this light he's not so different from the majority of youth in our generation, we find the guidance of the elders so restrictive the things they set in place to protect us from hurting ourselves we find them restrictive and hate them ... we hate the hedge that's supposed to protect us from the serpent's bite. so like him we decide to go all out and damn the consequences not cause we really have those trying to protect us or the system but because we seek space for expression we want to be free to do whatever we want (even though in my opinion the idea of being free from responsibility and consequence is an illusion).

This story was told by the Christ to show how God loves us so much that he would take us back no matter how deep we have fallen if we willingly come back home 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Godliness with Contentment

Godliness: is Respect, Reverence, Piety towards God, Living a holy life. Contentment:   is a perfect condition of life in which no aid or support is needed for basic functionality, where the person is able to provide for himself at least all the basic necessities of life, where the person has sufficient for his needs (and possibly wants). In the words of Dan Lok, it’s the state of F U Money. The person is in all human description Self Sufficient not necessarily needing human help to live & survive. The person is self-sufficient and man enough. Let’s be truthful it sucks when you are so spiritual even the devil knows your name but you need to beg your friends to eat. Your Godliness rapidly becomes a Shameful thing and before long you will definitely abandon the Godliness to find food. God never planned it like that, He as a matter of Truth wishes to see you prosper on both life and Godliness levels. For many years I actually thought contentment is simply accepting whatev...
Read more

The Whispers of the Heart: Exploring Focused, Inaudible Prayer

 Growing up in a vibrant prayer culture, I often observed a unique style of prayer among the elders. Their lips moved, their bodies sometimes swayed with emotion, yet their voices remained a near inaudible murmur, especially amidst the fervent shouts echoing through the church. For years, this silent intensity was a mystery. However, with time and personal experience, I've come to understand this as a profound form of prayer – a deeply focused and passionate communion with God. My first biblical glimpse into this method came from the story of Hannah in 1 Samuel 1:12-15. Amidst her profound sorrow and fervent desire for a child, Hannah's prayer was not a loud cry but a silent outpouring of her soul. Her lips moved, but no sound escaped. Eli, the priest, even mistook her for being drunk, highlighting the unusual nature of her quiet devotion. While many of us lift our voices in fervent supplication, there's a powerful place for this quiet, focused, contemplative, and meditativ...
Read more

Power

I have come to realize that power is a major desire of every man. It is the root of many things we do, it is the motive behind most of our actions. For instance:- We actually love money because it gives us power, it enables us do most of the things we want to do without stress that is why we love money… most of us that is. We lord It over people to prove and show how powerful we actually are. We even gather knowledge so as to become more powerful because we know knowledge is power. Look for example at most people that fornicate if well analysed we realize the reason they do it is not because they love the other women, they usually do it because the wife has stifled the power of the man, she second guesses many of his actions and limits what he is allowed and this behavior is completely against the nature of a man for man was created to dominate (Gen 1:28). This in fact is why God in the bible instructed the Christian wife to submit to her husband ( Ephesians 5:22 ; Colo...
Read more