The Prodigal Son
Luke 15 1 Then drew near unto him all the publicans and sinners for to hear him. 2 And the Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them. 3 And he spake this parable unto them, saying, 4 What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it? 5 And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. 7 I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance. 8 Either what woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it? 9 And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. 10 Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of G-d over one sinner that repenteth. 11 And he said, A certain man had two sons: 12 And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falleth to me. And he divided unto them his living. 13 And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 14 And when he had spent all, there arose a mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. 15 And he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him. 17 And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, 19 And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. 20 And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. 21 And the son said unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. 22 But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: 23 And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to be merry. 25 Now his elder son was in the field: and as he came and drew nigh to the house, he heard musick and dancing. 26 And he called one of the servants, and asked what these things meant. 27 And he said unto him, Thy brother is come; and thy father hath killed the fatted calf, because he hath received him safe and sound. 28 And he was angry, and would not go in: therefore came his father out, and intreated him. 29 And he answering said to his father, Lo, these many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends: 30 But as soon as this thy son was come, which hath devoured thy living with harlots, thou hast killed for him the fatted calf. 31 And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine. 32 It was meet that we should make merry, and be glad: for this thy brother was dead, and is alive again; and was lost, and is found. Text for today’s story is from Bible Gateway. Pictures are from “The Special Collections and Archives,Georgia State University Library”. Here is a commentary on The Power of Parable . This is a repost. Here is a discussion about this parable.
Chamblee54 
Christianity certainly has contorted itself in elaborate knots to avoid coping with the parables…
Not sure how you feel about that one; it’s one of my favorites…
Then again, in confirmation classes it was always a struggle for the priest to keep up with my precociousness…
https://chamblee54.wordpress.com/2012/09/29/the-parable-2/
This post is about a discussion I had about this parable.
I wrote a bunch of stuff after reading all that and looking at the guys blog.
Then deleted it.
Then wrote another bunch of stuff.
I guess I should just do my own damn blog, or write you directly, or not.
I don’t know. Whatever.
Maybe it’s best to just keep my thoughts and experiences to myself. Most people would just call me a liar, or worse, anyway.
[ Don’t post this if you don’t want to, it’s more to you personally ]
After looking at the originating post ( I try to be contextual, G*d knows I try )
I was struck by the Seinfeld remark in paragraph 3, and didn’t really feel it was worth reading any further.
The internet isn’t any of those things. Yet it is. It’s a dichotomy. It’s funny, but not really, not very. Not at all. Which is funny in itself. And a little bit like a sad clown.
And the characters on it – they can be just as contrived and shallow, but there’s no stupid ba-de-ba-de-ba-ba-de-de however that irritating Seinfeld music goes, I can’t remember if there was canned laughter too, I never liked the show, as I don’t like tv in general. Oh yeah, the characters are kind of like Seinfeld characters, in that their contrived, and there just to appeal to some really very common-ness about people, which I also don’t particularly care for either. At the same time, it (the interent) is NOT like THAT at ALL.
His analogy, it didn’t resonate with me. It kind of nauseated me, to be honest. I didn’t respect his intelligence. I tried to get past that, though, and trudged on, because once I start something, G*d damn it, I f*cking finish it…
The conversation, it wasn’t THAT difficult for me to follow. It didn’t strike me as Seinfeldesque as he might have thought. Or particularly chaotic. I know chaos. Ohhh, do I know chaos. He, clearly, has little experience with chaos. In that regard, I feel some pity for him. That’s a mighty small conceptual box to live in, but to each their own.
It also did not strike me as particularly interesting or clever – but I was in my Philosophy professors hand-picked extended learning class one summer (much to my surprise, having been a HS drop-out with a GED) Funny story about him, he used to always take a deep breath when you asked him a deep question, and slowly let it out with a slight whistle, than answer. He was always very measured. I don’t remember exactly WHAT I said in his office in private to him one day that set him off, but he exploded at me and almost yelled “Jesus Christ, you can’t just let every little psychic dart hit home”. Yes, it was VERY traumatic.
Back to the young reverend’s responses to your comments – he was pretty rude and dismissive – of you and the style of your blog, which is a real delight to me, but to him, probably difficult to grasp. Also, he doesn’t seem to have the capacity or patience to see or look for *connections* and the *inter-relatedness* of things. This is sad, but not at all uncommon. People live in conceptual boxes for a reason. Jung said it’s because the psychologies of people are distinct and fall into different categories, and that some people have a philosophers psychology. You can not impose your psychology onto someone that has a dissimilar one, because it will hurt them. The things it brings up, they are not equipped to deal with. It can be a disastrous thing. I know, I didn’t believe it for years either.
Puddles of little inside ecclesiastical jokes – I don’t see the love of Jesus in that mess. Admittedly, that’s just me. The entire conversation, though, reminded me of a close friend that related an experience he had with some young men at a seminary years back. They were riding in a car and the other 4 people in the vehicle were talking about how this person or that was going to hell, and they were gloating and laughing about it. It had a big impact on my friend. He left the seminary soon after and became a garbage man. He still is.
Anyway, a parable IS an allegory, but not all allegories are parables – that’s just really basic freshman college english/philosophy. Maybe 2nd year for some people. Maybe never at a Baptist college, I wouldn’t know. So I don’t know where THAT remark stems from, or what it’s based on, it’s just wrong as far as I know. Again, though, I only have two semesters of college. So what do I know.
Now, the things I DO know, for certain… THAT is a topic I’d like to discuss with you some time – but those are experiences I’ve had, so it’s not so much a discussion, as it is a confession…
Maybe it is more than a parable. Maybe it is three units of bull.
[…] this facility published the text of Luke 15, also known as The Prodigal Son. The titular phrase does not appear in the King Jimmy text. The story is a parable, that is, a made […]
I don’t know if it’s three units of bull, or if it’s supposed to be a warning.
A really good parable is supposed to make you uneasy. It’s supposed to have layers that you peel-off and wonder about. It’s not supposed to be easy or simple or trite. Yeah, some religious people like to think they have it all figured out… People who have it all figured out I tend to find annoying. There’s no wonder or mystery or/of life in them. They’re always “right”. What good is always being “right” when you can’t see beyond your own conceptual box ? We’re perceptually limited creatures, after all.
Put it this way. You have had a life, experiences, that are unique to you. I find it interesting, and I enjoy when you choose to share those things. My conceptual box is small, but it grows larger when I get a peek inside someone else’s. It’s like opening a drawer in your parents bedroom when you’re a little kid and finding mommies little round container with the bitter little yellow pills in it. Mommy sure got mad when she found out I didn’t like her little bitter yellow candies !
What people DO with parables doesn’t render the parable useless or harm it or render it useless. Often what they DO with the parable just reveals to everyone else things about them they might not be aware of.
Paraphrasing : “But you’ve had your reward !” You did everything you thought you were supposed to do, you CHOSE to do it, to live that way. Nobody forced you to.
Just like the son that was thought forever lost did what he chose to do. Now he’s returned ! And I’m happy he’s returned ! I feel joy in his return ! I want to celebrate that he’s chosen to come back, he’s not lost forever anymore !
That some people would react by saying “fuck you, go away, what the hell are YOU doing back”, or worse – expect G*d to react that way – what does that say about them ?
Again, I don’t know. I’m agnostic. I don’t really know anything, but what I’ve experienced, and what I keep experiencing. Maybe someday I’ll know some more things for certain. Maybe not. It’s hard sometimes to admit. It makes people uncomfortable. So I keep it to myself usually.
Once upon a time, in the 90’s, after a particularly traumatic experience that landed me in a homeless shelter for 6 months, I read a book and decided I was an atheist. That lasted a few years. Then something happened I couldn’t explain. I still can’t explain it. I realized that I had foolishly picked a side in a fight I had no dog in. I decided I wasn’t an atheist after all. So I just admit, I don’t know. And what I do know, I don’t expect anyone to understand. I WISH I could MAKE people understand sometimes. I struggle with it. It’s mine. It’s personal. I’m not going to twist my discomfort and difficulty into a piece of cat poop on a stick and hold it up and say “respect the cat poop on a stick and BELIEVE me, BEEEEELIEEEEEVEEEE MEEEEEE”. I’m not looking to start a religion or sect, or convince someone of something just to make myself more confortable by shrinking my conceptual box. It’s not anyone else’s problem but mine. Maybe someday it won’t be a problem. It’ll probably be replaced with another problem. Such is life.
We really don’t know much about Jboi. I suspect much of what we have been told is greatly exaggerated, if not completely made up.
I once wrote this down. I am not interested in your opinions about G-d, the bible, Jesus, or life after death. My opinions about G-d, the bible, Jesus, and life after death, are none of your business.
A corollary of this involves the third commandment. This is the one about taking ” the name of the LORD in vain”. To me, that means preaching without trust. When you want to alter the beliefs of another person, you need to earn the trust of this person. When you preach without trust, you do so in vain. The third commandment is much more than G-d’s last name.
Sorry, I didn’t mean to volunteer an unwanted opinion.
[…] this facility published the text of Luke 15, also known as The Prodigal Son. The titular phrase does not appear in the King Jimmy text. The story is a parable, that is, a made […]