Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ So he told them this parable:
Then Jesus said, ‘There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.” So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and travelled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, “How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.’ ” So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. Then the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.” But the father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.
‘Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.” Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, “Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!” Then the father said to him, “Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.” ’
Luke 15:1-3,11b-32
The Gospel reading for this Sunday is one of the longest and most familiar of Jesus’ parables. It’s usually called “The Prodigal Son” but could also be appropriately named “the two brothers,” or “the loving father.” Which title would you give it? There’s some familiar patterns in this story: the over-responsible elder sibling and the favoured and under-responsible younger child. From the extravagance of the father’s response I’m wondering if the younger son was favoured because he was the one most like his father.
How people react to the story depends a lot on their own experiences. We hear this story quite differently depending on where we come in our family of origin – youngest children tend to side with the son who goes off on an adventure, falls on hard times, and is welcomed home by his loving father, eldest children get angry on behalf of the elder son and find it unfair that the one who kept the rules and tried hard to be responsible, to be a good person, has to put up with the massive party for the kid brother.
This illustrates how we read the Bible in the intersection of three worlds. We have the world of the text – what’s actually written there, what happens in terms of things like character, plot, location, and overall style. Then the world behind the text, its context – the cultural world of the time it was written, aspects like social relationships, hierarchy, gender roles, values, customs, and beliefs. That’s where we realise how shocking it was for Jesus’ original audience that the father sees the younger son coming from a distance and runs to greet him and welcome him home; in that society dignified men didn’t run. And then there’s the world in front of the text – who are we, and how are we reading this? We don’t read in a vacuum. When we encounter a parable like this we bring to it so much of our life experience, and that influences what we take from it.
As so often with Jesus’ parables, it’s open ended: we don’t know what happens next. Was there a new beginning for this family? Did the elder son go in and join the party? Did the youngest son learn from his experiences and acquire some sense of responsibility? Did the father learn to treat his two sons not equally but in terms of what each most needed from him? We simply don’t know.
Maybe it helps to remember the introduction, when the Pharisees and the scribes (the good, religious, responsible, types) couldn’t accept that Jesus was wanting to hang out with tax collectors and sinners. Because all of us are trying hard to be good people, and all of us are sinners. Perhaps, no matter where we come in our family, we’re both sons.
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