Tale of the Prodigal Son

Luke 15:10-20

¹¹ Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
¹³ “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. ¹⁴ After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
¹⁷ “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! ¹⁸ I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. ¹⁹ I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ ²⁰ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

Yesterday, I mentioned how the hysterical  behavior of a parishioner, over her sudden discovery of where she is in life, led to an utter breakdown because she was not getting her way and unknown to her - is on the cusp of discovering the  real God.....

And that is exactly what this story is really about - the Real God, whom Israel no longer knew.

God is shown to have two sons, two inheritors of his flocks and business.

The Younger demands his due - in other words, lets pretend you are dead - dad, now give me what is mine!  This was a scandalous situation and unheard of!  In fact, if you were to go back into the writings of Moses, he demands the death penalty for rebellious youth, just take them to the city gates and bring plenty of rocks....

So, father sells off the younger son's portion and sends the son on his way.

Of course, the father then turns over to the elder son all that is left- and important point here - the elder son took it!  A good son would have refused and kept the father running things and not taken ownership of what was his father's ....

Of course younger returns, father is overjoyed, elder throws a fit, etc.

The point is, the story was never about the younger son, other than to show the foolishness of living by our wits.  
It was never about the eldest son, other than to show our fickleness.

It was to show God as the Father, giving us what is His, which is not ours, giving us to the ability to destroy our own lives because of our own conceit in thinking we can do as we wish with what WE have.

And when we figure it out and learn, we can return - and our Father will rejoice.

And Judah, the elder son, received the inheritance of the land and blessing.  Israel the younger son, went its own way into sin and destruction in the world.

Of course, the reality of life is that both are long gone.  Is Israel today, yesterday's Judah?  Is yesterday's Israel, today's real Christians?  (few was they may be!)

I wonder ...  how long until the feast ... ?