The prodigal Son

 

“So he called one of the young men and asked him, ‘What means this?’ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he received it safe and sound.’” He was lost and would not go in.” (Luke 15:26-28)

I always stood before this proverb and wondered: Who is the lost person?

Is the lost person the one who left his father and went and spent his inheritance on his pleasures until he became poor and returned to his father? Or is he the one who lived under his father's care until his brother came to his senses, and then he became angry and lost, going so far as to describe that he did not want to enter?

The natural and automatic concept is that the lost person is the younger son, but the revelation described him as (he was lost and is found), meaning he was denied going astray later. As for the eldest son, after he spent his life serving his father, when the time of the test came, he went astray.

The strangest thing is that the story stopped at this point, and we did not find a continuation of it that tells, for example: (When the eldest son heard his father’s words, he was sad because he was angry and realized his mistake and immediately went in to celebrate the return of his brother who had gone astray.) No, this did not happen.

The story ended and was completed in the next chapter, with the Pharisees who heard him mocking his words. Was it really meant that the prodigal son was the youngest or the eldest son whose loyalty to his father was summed up in the image of someone waiting for a reward? He was not faithful to his father because he loved him or because he saw the extent of his younger brother’s mistake. Rather, most of his vision focused on what would become of him after the death of his father. Indeed, he was extremely angry when he learned that his inheritance was missing a fattened calf. Yes, the righteous son became angry in his own eyes when his father took away his possessions in his haste to rejoice at the return of his brother whom he thought was lost.

Who is more misguided, the repentant returnee or the angry one who refused to rejoice when the lost person returned from his misguidance?

We often see ourselves as righteous who do not need repentance or need advice. Rather, what is worse is that we seek comfort from sources that do not provide comfort. Sources that provide misery and fatigue. Sources that destroy the soul and kill joy. We then wonder and wonder where the mistake was?

The right thing is clear and it is better to follow it. Misguidance is also something we should avoid. But sometimes we see the wrong picture, just like our vision of the prodigal son