My Bible reading for today dwelt on Luke 15, specifically referred to as The Parable of the Prodigal Son. I am currently in the mood to share with you, dear friends, my reflections on said passage.
So to all the men out there, let me sound this stern warning: this will be a man-to-man talk. In Filipino, usapang lalaki. To all the women out there, let me offer this equally admonishing note: it will rest upon you to let this transcend the level of girl’s talk. This is because this piece will talk about men. And a lot about women, too. To the women out there, this will speak about the characteristics that make up your ideal man. To all the men out there, the kind of man you simply wanted to be. To all of us, this will deal with the kind of person we simply wanted to become.
Luke 15, also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, has already become a very popular biblical story. In fact, we have now also grown so familiar with its message, that is, the forgiving love of the God. But please note that there are only a few characters in the story: the father, the prodigal son, the elder brother, the father’s servants, and the man who hired the prodigal son in his farm. I’d like to focus on these characters, try to examine each one of them and choose from them our own ideal man, our ideal person. In Filipino, ang tipo nating lalaki.
Let’s start with the prodigal son. To say the least, we can say that he is selfish. His selfishness leads him to demand his inheritance in advance of his elder brother in violation of prevailing custom. At the lowest point of his life, still guided by self-interest, he decides to return home.
What about his brother? We can say that the elder brother’s failure to appreciate the return of his prodigal brother is understandable from a certain point of view. His own obedience and loyalty, commendable in itself and never equally applauded, have dulled his appreciation of what family ties mean. Just like the Pharisees, he views the whole situation from the perspective of duties and obligations. He puts emphasis on law and conformity. And because of his exactitude and sense of justice, he also becomes self-righteous. He becomes no different from a rooster who believes his crows effect the rising of the sun, that he is the straw that stirs the drink.
Notice that oftentimes, we act like the elder brother. Perhaps because of our relatively exalted place in society, or perhaps because of false pride and hubris, or perhaps because we always like to think we know better than others, we already oftentimes think righteous enough like the elder brother. But it is precisely our exactitude and sense of justice that would oftentimes hurt our relationship with others. And to the ecclesiastics out there (this is the advantage of owning a blog Reverend Fathers: you’ll have no choice but to allow me to give the sermon), is it not regrettable that for so many people their first impression of the Church is of an organized, exacting and even harsh institution? Too much emphasis on law and conformity has often hurt the Church. Its better side, its Christ side, with real concern for people, does not leave the dominant impression.
What about the father’s servants? The father’s servants constitute the crowd, people who assume anonymous identities. They are passive, noncommittal and merely wait for and follow other people’s orders or examples. Soren Kierkegaard, the father of Existentialism, would call them the “herd.” They are people who could never be like the kites. Kites sail against, not with the winds. These kind of people sail with, not against the winds. Unfortunately, these people also constitute the majority. And who knows, by reflection, we may even find ourselves among their kind. Their role after all is the easiest one. They merely follow and obey and let other people direct their lives.
What about the man who hired the prodigal son in his farm? We can say that he took advantage of and abused the prodigal son, masquerading the situation in terms of a servant-employer relationship. He applies a lower form of quid-pro-quo standard of relationship, manipulates and abuses others. And again, his equivalent for today abounds in our present society. There are the profiteers, people who rejoice and make gains over the mistake and misfortune of others.
What about the father? What can we get from him? Well, let us try to consider this:
Have you ever experienced losing someone? Or at least, being separated from a loved one? It is painful, is it not? Separation is a kind of death. It is the death of the bond that ties the heart to its other half.
Have you ever experienced being betrayed or abandoned by a loved one? It is painful, is it not? Indeed, pain is most intense when caused by someone you love most.
But have you ever experienced forgiving and accepting back someone who has betrayed or abandoned you? How does it feel? Sadly, I believe that because we very seldom do it, we are not even very familiar with the way it feels. Forgiveness, because it opposed to pride, is not something we easily give away. Forgive, and you lose not only your face but also your wings which fly your ego to exalted heights.
The father in the parable, however, has undergone all these. He lost someone, was abandoned by a loved one, and was betrayed by his own son. But the pain of loss and betrayal notwithstanding, he still unconditionally forgave and accepted back his sinful son. This is the reason why the parable should instead be called the Parable of the Prodigal Father. For to refer it to the sinful son only fails to highlight the father as the central figure of the narrative. While the son was prodigal with material things, the father was prodigal with loftier things, with the things that really matter. The son was prodigal with money and material riches; the father was prodigal with his forgiving heart, with his love. The mean-spiritedness and selfishness of the prodigal son is the shadowy background for the bright hues of the father’s love. On the other hand, the exactitude and sense of justice of the older son only serves to accent the absence of parameters in the unquestioning embrace of the father. The prodigal son spent his riches and became poor; the prodigal father spent his own riches, the true riches, and gained more.
There is one person who best exemplifies the kind of love that the father showed in the parable. He died on the cross for his friends. He died for us, for you and for me. “Greater love than this no man has than one who lays down his life for his friends.”
Friends, I have thus tried to show you a number of role models as provided to us by the Parable of the Prodigal Father. Who is our ideal person here? In Filipino, sino ang tipo nating lalaki dito? As an old teevee commercial - yes, I am old enough to remember an old teevee commercial - relevantly asked, Sino and bestfriend natin doon? The prodigal father, the prodigal son, the elder brother, the father’s servants, or the man who hired the prodigal son in his farm?
The choice is yours.
P.S.: By the way, there is still one character in the parable. Which means we have yet another choice of role model in case we cannot decide on the role models we first mentioned, or just in case we find them simply not suited to our taste. And for sure, if we aren’t going to choose the prodigal father as our role model, we will soon find ourselves no different from them.
Friends, they are the PIGS.
So to all the men out there, let me sound this stern warning: this will be a man-to-man talk. In Filipino, usapang lalaki. To all the women out there, let me offer this equally admonishing note: it will rest upon you to let this transcend the level of girl’s talk. This is because this piece will talk about men. And a lot about women, too. To the women out there, this will speak about the characteristics that make up your ideal man. To all the men out there, the kind of man you simply wanted to be. To all of us, this will deal with the kind of person we simply wanted to become.
Luke 15, also known as the Parable of the Prodigal Son, has already become a very popular biblical story. In fact, we have now also grown so familiar with its message, that is, the forgiving love of the God. But please note that there are only a few characters in the story: the father, the prodigal son, the elder brother, the father’s servants, and the man who hired the prodigal son in his farm. I’d like to focus on these characters, try to examine each one of them and choose from them our own ideal man, our ideal person. In Filipino, ang tipo nating lalaki.
Let’s start with the prodigal son. To say the least, we can say that he is selfish. His selfishness leads him to demand his inheritance in advance of his elder brother in violation of prevailing custom. At the lowest point of his life, still guided by self-interest, he decides to return home.
What about his brother? We can say that the elder brother’s failure to appreciate the return of his prodigal brother is understandable from a certain point of view. His own obedience and loyalty, commendable in itself and never equally applauded, have dulled his appreciation of what family ties mean. Just like the Pharisees, he views the whole situation from the perspective of duties and obligations. He puts emphasis on law and conformity. And because of his exactitude and sense of justice, he also becomes self-righteous. He becomes no different from a rooster who believes his crows effect the rising of the sun, that he is the straw that stirs the drink.
Notice that oftentimes, we act like the elder brother. Perhaps because of our relatively exalted place in society, or perhaps because of false pride and hubris, or perhaps because we always like to think we know better than others, we already oftentimes think righteous enough like the elder brother. But it is precisely our exactitude and sense of justice that would oftentimes hurt our relationship with others. And to the ecclesiastics out there (this is the advantage of owning a blog Reverend Fathers: you’ll have no choice but to allow me to give the sermon), is it not regrettable that for so many people their first impression of the Church is of an organized, exacting and even harsh institution? Too much emphasis on law and conformity has often hurt the Church. Its better side, its Christ side, with real concern for people, does not leave the dominant impression.
What about the father’s servants? The father’s servants constitute the crowd, people who assume anonymous identities. They are passive, noncommittal and merely wait for and follow other people’s orders or examples. Soren Kierkegaard, the father of Existentialism, would call them the “herd.” They are people who could never be like the kites. Kites sail against, not with the winds. These kind of people sail with, not against the winds. Unfortunately, these people also constitute the majority. And who knows, by reflection, we may even find ourselves among their kind. Their role after all is the easiest one. They merely follow and obey and let other people direct their lives.
What about the man who hired the prodigal son in his farm? We can say that he took advantage of and abused the prodigal son, masquerading the situation in terms of a servant-employer relationship. He applies a lower form of quid-pro-quo standard of relationship, manipulates and abuses others. And again, his equivalent for today abounds in our present society. There are the profiteers, people who rejoice and make gains over the mistake and misfortune of others.
What about the father? What can we get from him? Well, let us try to consider this:
Have you ever experienced losing someone? Or at least, being separated from a loved one? It is painful, is it not? Separation is a kind of death. It is the death of the bond that ties the heart to its other half.
Have you ever experienced being betrayed or abandoned by a loved one? It is painful, is it not? Indeed, pain is most intense when caused by someone you love most.
But have you ever experienced forgiving and accepting back someone who has betrayed or abandoned you? How does it feel? Sadly, I believe that because we very seldom do it, we are not even very familiar with the way it feels. Forgiveness, because it opposed to pride, is not something we easily give away. Forgive, and you lose not only your face but also your wings which fly your ego to exalted heights.
The father in the parable, however, has undergone all these. He lost someone, was abandoned by a loved one, and was betrayed by his own son. But the pain of loss and betrayal notwithstanding, he still unconditionally forgave and accepted back his sinful son. This is the reason why the parable should instead be called the Parable of the Prodigal Father. For to refer it to the sinful son only fails to highlight the father as the central figure of the narrative. While the son was prodigal with material things, the father was prodigal with loftier things, with the things that really matter. The son was prodigal with money and material riches; the father was prodigal with his forgiving heart, with his love. The mean-spiritedness and selfishness of the prodigal son is the shadowy background for the bright hues of the father’s love. On the other hand, the exactitude and sense of justice of the older son only serves to accent the absence of parameters in the unquestioning embrace of the father. The prodigal son spent his riches and became poor; the prodigal father spent his own riches, the true riches, and gained more.
There is one person who best exemplifies the kind of love that the father showed in the parable. He died on the cross for his friends. He died for us, for you and for me. “Greater love than this no man has than one who lays down his life for his friends.”
Friends, I have thus tried to show you a number of role models as provided to us by the Parable of the Prodigal Father. Who is our ideal person here? In Filipino, sino ang tipo nating lalaki dito? As an old teevee commercial - yes, I am old enough to remember an old teevee commercial - relevantly asked, Sino and bestfriend natin doon? The prodigal father, the prodigal son, the elder brother, the father’s servants, or the man who hired the prodigal son in his farm?
The choice is yours.
P.S.: By the way, there is still one character in the parable. Which means we have yet another choice of role model in case we cannot decide on the role models we first mentioned, or just in case we find them simply not suited to our taste. And for sure, if we aren’t going to choose the prodigal father as our role model, we will soon find ourselves no different from them.
Friends, they are the PIGS.
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