adminA Theological reflection: By Reverend Togara Bobo
The Gospel of Luke is believed to have been written by Luke who was probably a gentile by birth, well educated in Greek culture, a physician by profession and a companion of Paul. The Gospel was presented in an inclusive manner which makes it more accommodative, even to the gentle world. The audience of this Gospel addressed as Theophilus denotes all believers including gentiles and the major purpose was to strengthen all Christians and to answer the attacks of unbelievers.The word “Parable” is derived from two Greek words that is “para” which means “side by side” and “bole” which means “to throw”. Thus the word Parable denotes throwing two things alongside or parallel to each other. Our Lord Jesus Christ earned himself the title “Rabbi” because of the way how he taught. He effectively illustrated his teachings with Parables so much that his audience could easily comprehend his message. This is an analysis of one of his common and powerful parables.
The parable presents a man who had two sons with the younger one being at the center of the whole story. He started sinning against his father while he was still at his homestead. This implies that people can be in the presence of God but can still choose to be sinful. This becomes the first degree of sinfulness. The second one is rooted in the Jewish tradition.
Although this phenomenon was typical of Roman law at that time, it was not acceptable for a Jew to ask for his share of inheritance while his father is still alive. It follows that by such a request this young man was going against the Jewish tradition. The father might divide the inheritance but retain the income from it until his death. For him to give a younger son his portion of the inheritance upon request was highly unusual. It reflects that the Father could not stand firm to defend a very important principle of the Jewish tradition, hence ended up exposing his son to a sinful lifestyle.
Parents are invited through this presentation to uphold important principles of life in order to render proper parental guidance which is in tandem with our Christian and cultural ethics. It means that, if a child requests something from a parent, it is wiser to always consider the rationale behind the request before granting it. Probably if the younger man was denied his portion of inheritance he could not have gone astray. In which case therefore, our children must accept that a request turned down does not mean lack of love and care, but may mean exactly the opposite.When the young son got all he was given, he set off for a distant country. This is the third degree of sinfulness. The gesture of moving to a distant country meant distancing oneself from the love, care and protection of the father. This brought about unwarranted freedom and exposed him to sin. The kind of independence he embarked on left him vulnerable to defilement of his religious and cultural integrity. If he had stayed at his father’s homestead probably he could have maintained his integrity.
Going to a distant country may mean moving away from the father’s will, teachings and laws. On the other hand it may literally mean refusal to be controlled by one’s parent, move away from the parent’s reach. We have often heard about people who ran away from their parents because they thought they had enough material basis to sustain themselves.Looking at it from a religious point of view, people may come to church to ask for material benefits and afterwards they just disappeared to different distant countries. Some people who were supported by different church related institutions to be who they are today are becoming inconsiderate so much that they don’t appreciate what they got from the church.
When the young man reached the distant country he squandered his wealth. This becomes the fourth degree of sinfulness. It is not good to squander everything that one has without considering one’s future. There are people who are destitute today because they squandered everything that they had. Now they don’t have food, shelter, clothes, medical aid and even a funeral policy. “Aah tisadaro vanhu wee, maimbova mhene imimi.” (Don’t do that, you were great people.) The fifth degree of sinfulness is derived from the fact that the young man longed to feel his stomach with pods that the pigs were eating. According to the Jewish culture it was a taboo to touch a pig let alone to share food and to stay with pigs. This is the reason why his father regarded him as one who was “dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found”. (Luke 15 verse 24) it implies that in a given society we may have some people who think they are alive when others are regarding them as dead because of their life style.
Considering the nature and message of this parable from a broader perspective one can probably conclude that Jesus actually addressed the aspect of the Universal law. This parable can be universally applicable, even in our context where the African culture does not condone such a wayward behavior from a child. The positive thing in the parable is that, eventually the young man came to his senses, and came back home to experience the Father’s love and restoration. May l urge all those who are at any degree of sinfulness in their real life to come to their senses and go back home where there is a banquet. Come to your senses and go back to God’s love in the name of Jesus.
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