We all can Relate to the Prodigal Son

It is in the Gospel of Luke where humankind can learn so much and reflect upon the story of the Prodigal Son. For many, this story hits home right away, however it has many messages as Jesus teaches us about the problems of pride, independence, and the fault of following the rules too closely. The younger son is given his inheritance and instead of being patient and listening to his father on how to manage this wealth he instead goes away to foreign lands, wastes all his money on prostitutes and empty pleasures. Eventually the youngest son has nothing left and has to fend for himself because he cannot go back to his Father, for he has too much pride and believes that even though he has been given great riches, he does not need to be dependent on his Father. Thus, the great pride clouds the young man's self being and he goes as low as working with pigs, something that is seen as a disgrace in the Jewish world. Not only does the young man work with the swine, he longs to eat of the slop which the pigs feed from because he himself has no food and the country he is in is suffering from famine. Certainly this young man hit rock bottom he was dead, yet he did not believe that he was dead. Finally the young man realized that he had to go home, he was sorry for his pride and ashamed of what he had done. He decided to go and tell his Father that He was no longer worthy to be called Son. Upon the young man's return home , as soon as his Father saw him he went to Son and kissed him, a sign of forgiveness and a symbol of the grace of life that was given back to the Son because he had returned. The Father decided to slaughter the fattened calf and clothed his son with the finest robe, providing a party for the Son and his friends. Some might ask why would a Father do this for his Son who squandered all his inheritance, committed sinful acts, and defamed the family name in the process by going as low as a Jewish man cold possibly go. Well, the Father was grateful that his Son had come back, from death to life, from being lost, to being once again found. Certainly, the Father represents God in this parable and the Son, we, the children of God. How often do we subside to temptations and things that we know we are not fit to do or should not partake in, but we do it anyway. The major problem that many of us have at one time or another during our lives is pride. When pride takes control of our hearts and we believe that we can be totally independent, we feel we no longer need God and this is extremely dangerous. However, we also must realize that God is continuously trying to reel us in, get us back on board and be arisen from the dead back to life, namely a relationship with Him, our Father. The grace that the young man received was a free gift given by his Father and presents the mercy, love, care, and investment that God has in all of us. Furthermore, this brings us to the second valuable point in this parable, that God does not care so much about the rules as He does the relationship we have with him. Certainly, the older son, the one who remained faithful to his Father and did not squander or even spend any of his inheritance but was a faithful servant all the while when his brother was gone, he missed the boat. Yes, the older son followed the rules, and yes it is good that we obey the ten commandments and statutes of the Church, but we must not get so concerned with the law to forget about the relationship that we must have with our Lord. The older Son did not have a close relationship to his Father and this was represented when he displayed jealousy and complained to his Father when his younger brother came back and received a party after squandering everything. What the older son failed to recognize was the transformation of his brother from death to life, from being a slave to sin to being freed to righteousness. What the older brother did not recognize was that all that was his Father's was his also, but he was too worried about things that did not concern his relationship with his Father. In addition, the older son represents all of us who at one time or another tend to focus on what other people are doing, whether or not they are following the rules. We at times can fall into this trap of judging others for their faults, while we ourselves are far from perfect and should be paying more attention toward fostering a better and closer relationship with Christ because with the Lord as our right hand man the rules will be taken care of. Codependence or interdependence is what we must focus on and be willing to live by, through Christ we are made complete and holy and righteous. For the Father invested so much in us, his creation. He sent his only begotten Son to die so that we may live, this is a huge commitment. Certainly God is not looking to catch us in the act of committing a sin to banish us from his Kingdom, this is a wrong idea. For our God is a God of compassion, love, and generosity. He is willing to work with us and for us, we must trust in Him and continuously foster a deep relationship through prayer, delving into the Word and living out the gospel through love. We are all prodigal sons and daughters at times in our lives and it is important for us to remember the lessons that both sons in this parable learned. We cannot go wrong with our Lord who is "The WAY, The TRUTH, and The LIFE." So lets celebrate that we are alive in Jesus Christ, we have life and by faith and grace have the promise that God our Father will make sin dead to us through the Cross and blood of the Lamb.