“Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.”
– Jesus, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:13)
Jesus’ dramatic parable continues with the younger son converting his newly-obtained property into cash. He doesn’t simply vanish from the community; he stays around a couple more days to auction off the father’s possessions that have just been handed down to him. As he sells at discount his inheritance to make cash, he is publicly putting his father to shame.
An event of this magnitude was sure to rock a Middle Eastern village where people were closely connected. The boy had to act quickly, because the community’s hate was gathering against him. Not only had the younger son insulted his father, he then began selling off the work of his hands at low prices. When the disgraceful deed is done, the prodigal heads off to the far country. Here again Jesus has painted a picture of Israel – the people who so often rejected God and His prophets and later were forced into exile.
Sin leads to the cheapening of God’s gifts. Mankind constantly abuses God’s blessings. Consider how society cheapens the God-ordained institution of marriage, glamorizing selfish divorces and fighting for same-sex or polygamous unions. Take sexuality for example – a beautiful gift intended from the outset of creation for the reproduction of humanity that has been degraded so much that now pornography floods our airwaves and streets. The same can be said about the environment – God’s glorious creation entrusted to our care, raped and polluted by human insolence. We benefit from His gifts in every way possible without ever thinking about how God wants us to preserve them. We have discounted God’s gifts as junk.
We all have gone off into the far country of exile. After abusing God’s blessings, we squander our lives away in short-term thrills that bring lifelong misery. Still, the Father stands waiting for our return, calling us home.
written by Trevin Wax © 2007 Kingdom People blog
