Editor in Chief: Moh. Reza Huwaida Friday, March 29th, 2024

Let’s Turn over a New Leaf

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Let’s Turn over a New Leaf

"The moral evil in the world is due to man’s alienation from the deepest truth, from the springs of spiritual life within himself, to his alienation from God. Those who realize this try desperately to persuade and enlighten their brothers. But we are in a radically different position….”

There is a famous parable about someone who is lost but then found, which is commonly called the Prodigal Son. It is actually two parables within one story – a parable about the wild rebellious younger son, and another about the self-righteous older son. The two sons are radically different yet both are alienated from their father. The younger son becomes alienated geographically, while the older son is alienated in the sense that he resents the father and has an unloving view of their relationship. In spite of the mistreatment by both sons, the father loves them both and desires that they repent and be restored to a loving relationship. It is the story about the passion of a caring father for his run away rebellious son and also for his self-righteous resentful son.

There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, “Father, give me my share of the estate.” So the father divided his property between them. The younger son took the money and left for a distant land like Las Vegas. He left singing a song, “I did it my way”. the son packed up his stuff and went to Vegas or somewhere like it, and bought himself a gaudy gold watch with diamonds, a couple of big gold chains, new loud clothes, and a Cadillac convertible. He entered the casino with a girl on each arm, and stayed in a big suite. He proceeded to gamble all his money away. For a short period of time, he was adored by all, welcomed everywhere, and strangers laughed at his jokes. He found out the truth of that saying “A fool and his money are welcome everywhere”.

Soon, two really bad things happened – he was broke, and there was a famine in the land. Because of the downturn, there were no jobs, so with no money and no job he had to take desperate measures. You would think that he had reached the bottom, and it could not get any worse, but not so fast. He became so desperate that he hired himself out to a gentile pig farmer - when this was the worst imaginable humiliation of feeding the swine. He was starving, cold, wet, dirty, humiliated, and rejected.

In his degraded condition, he came to his senses that not only was he way better off at home, but even the lowest servant in his father’s house had plenty to eat, and was well treated. His plan was to go home to his father in complete humility with no claim to be his son, and no feeling of entitlement or merit of any kind.

The son was expecting a stern lecture, a cold shoulder, and a kick in the rear, but the reception he got from the father was surprising. His father had not forgotten him, and his father was out on the road keeping watch for his return. The father went far beyond just forgiving him, he restored him to his former position in the family and he expressed his great love for his wayward son. This was followed by great rejoicing and instructions from the father to the servants to prepare for a great party to celebrate the son’s return.

During his brother’s return, the older brother was busy working hard in the field, so when he came in he was surprised at the celebration going on at home. After a servant explained about his younger brother’s return, he became angry and would not go into the party. He separated himself from his brother and his father by staying outside, and he had contempt for them. The father comes out seeking him just as he had gone seeking the younger brother. We can contrast the father’s response with the older brother’s response – the father forgave because he was filled with love, but the older brother refused to forgive out of selfish resentment.

“My son,” the father said, “you are always with me, and everything I have is yours.” The older son’s hardness of heart made him unaware of the riches available to him in his father’s house. This son complained that he had “slaved all these years.” He had no more love for the father than the younger son; nor did he avail himself of all the good things the father freely provided for him at all times.

The parable does not minimize the seriousness of sin. Sin always takes you farther than you want to go, keeps you longer than you want to stay, and costs you more than you want to pay. I think his condition represents the condition of the human race alienated from God. We can view the human race apart from God in three phases – pleasure and glory seekers, next you have the squandering of time, wealth, and resources, and thirdly in need, desperate, and dying. The estranged son was so desperate that he even ate with the pigs.

This parable states that there are just two kinds of people in the world, the wild rebellious people like the younger brother, and the self-righteous superior- feeling older brother.

Both sin and self-righteousness separate us from God. We all require God’s grace, His unearned, unmerited love for us. The father went out to the disgruntled older son. God is He who always continues to seek after us, regardless of the state we are in.

Hujjatullah Zia is an emerging writer of Daily Outlook Afghanistan. He can be reached at zia_hujjat@yahoo.com .

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