And then he told them the parable. So, you’ve got sinners gathering around, you’ve got Pharisees muttering that Jesus is friends with them, so Jesus explains himself with this parable.
So, here’s the thing, this young boy demands his share of the inheritance leaves and spends it all on himself. He wanted all of the father’s goods, and didn’t want the Father. So if that’s how Jesus wants to depict a sinner, that means sinners are those who stake a claim on all of God’s things, and then spends them on themselves at a distance from God. We want all of creation and nothing to do with the Creator. And this is why so-called good people can still be sinners in Jesus’ eyes.
So, by his own confession, this older son adopts the stance of a slave to a master, not a son to a father. And I think Jesus’ point is that’s what religion does. It locks you up with rules, and as a result this son has a stunted grasp of the father’s mercy. He says, “you never even gave me a goat to celebrate,” when the reality was everything that the father had was his. That’s exactly what Jesus says, “‘my son, the father replied, you are always with me and everything I have is yours.’”
But here’s the point, this is what religion does, but it’s not what Jesus was about. Jesus was about inviting the wayward to experience forgiveness, love, celebration.
By John Dickson
English Language
Want to hear the rest of the episode?
Check out episode 131: “English Language”
