The Prodigal Father
One of Luke’s most famous stories is the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11 ff). To be prodigal means to be generous to the point of being a reckless spendthrift, to give without concern for whether what is given will be wasted – a term that obviously fits the Prodigal Son well. All his actions from the very beginning of the story are outrageous, and mark him out not only as wasteful of the family fortune, but utterly thoughtless as to the emotional impact on his family. Within his culture, to ask for his inheritance early was tantamount to wishing his father was already dead. It was also completely unfair on the older brother, for by dividing the family fortune in two, the younger brother simply walked away with his share in realized assets, leaving his father and brother to manage a vastly reduced estate. To make matters worse, having taken all that money out of the estate, he squandered it until he found himself flat broke, discovered that his friends were only fair-weather friends, and had to take the lowliest of jobs…
The bad behaviour and shocking wastefulness of the son is beyond doubt, but I think there’s a bit of a twist in the tale. I can’t help noticing that the son wastes his money by spending it all not just on himself, but on his wayward friends. Have you ever stopped to wonder where he learned to be quite so outrageously, unquestioningly openhanded? You could argue that his father should have been sterner, more intent on teaching his young son self-discipline; that instead of parting so easily with the inheritance he should have pulled his son into line. But the father himself is outrageously generous, and far more interested in building a relationship with his two sons than looking after the family wealth. Dividing the property for his son was in itself lavish to the point of recklessness. He was certainly infinitely wiser than his son, but surely this is where the son learned to be so generous.
The Prodigal Son is a story that sets off all sorts of associations, and irresponsibility with money is one of them. Worth pondering, then, that the first person in the story to throw the cash around was actually the Father, not the son…
(I wrote more about this in Giving It Up – see above right)
-
author musician theologian
Maggi has kept a blog since September 2003, writing about theology and faith, the arts and literature, and a little about life and random nonsense...
In an increasingly secularised society few people have a good working knowledge of the Bible. Yet a great deal of our culture is built on stories or ideas that come from the Bible. Literature, art, music, language and even the fabric of our society - such as our justice system - are built on Christian concepts and biblical references. The Writing on the Wall provides a fascinating introduction to the Bible's best-known, and most influential, stories. Each chapter gives some background to the text of the Bible, and shows how the stories have become enmeshed in Western culture. Adam and Eve, the ten plagues of Egypt, The Prodigal Son and Mary Magdalene all feature - along with how the Bible has influenced everyone from Shakespeare to Monty Python, and Caravaggio to Banksy. 
Giving It Up explores the Lenten idea of 'giving up', taking it beyond the traditional idea of simply abstaining from something, and suggesting instead that what we need to give up is our existing ideas about God. With a daily readings for each day of Lent, from Ash Wednesday to Easter Sunday, it follows the heroes of the Bible who had to give up their own too-small ideas about God.
This is Maggi’s bestselling book of daily readings for each day of Advent, Christmas and Epiphany. Advent is the beginning of the Church year, and marks the anticipation of the coming Messiah. These readings explore how beginnings and endings in our own lives are illuminated by the different Gospel narratives of Christ's coming.
-
Search
-
-
