Sin Reexamined: The Prosperous Prodigal
by Stanley Inouye

Have you ever tried to share the gospel with non-Christian relatives and friends whose lives appear outwardly impeccable? Are their hard-working, self-sacrificing, law-abiding and self-sufficient qualities so admirable they overshadow your own? Do you tell them they are sinners in need of repentance and forgiveness? Or do you keep silent, questioning their need to hear such a message or your right and credibility to share it?

Perhaps our hesitation to talk about the gospel stems from our limited view of sin. By looking at the "Parable of the Prodigal Son," and making some interpretations, maybe we can bring new meaning to the word sin, and to our own salvation. In doing so, we may be better able to introduce others to our Lord.

In Luke 15:11-32, we have an account of the story Jesus told about a father who had two sons. The second son asked his father for what would have been his inheritance, and with the request granted, went off to a far country. There, he squandered his money.

When a famine struck, the second son was forced to beg and seek the most menial jobs. His pride restrained him from returning to his father until starvation left him no alternative. He devised a plan whereby he could earn back his dignity and repay his debt - he would return home and seek to become one of his father's hired servants.

However, the son met with a surprise. His father, who had been ever watchful for his missing son, raced down the road to meet him before he entered the village. Instead of rebuking and punishing his son, the father embraced him. He also placed the best robe he had on his son's shoulders and put a ring on his finger. By doing these things the father was communicating to him and the entire community that he was forgiving and reinstating him as his son. So when the two entered the village, no one would publicly put to shame his son for the things he had done.

The village probably reacted with confusion over the father's behavior. Believing he acted shamefully in dealing with his son, they likely turned their criticism and rebuke toward the father. The father allowed the shame due his son to become his own.

When the elder son came home after supervising work in the fields, he heard the music and laughter of the feast. He asked one of the young boys what was happening. When he heard the reply, he was incensed. His father was lavishing on his spendthrift brother what he believed was rightfully his.

The father, anxious that his first-born also enjoy the homecoming, left his guests to entreat him to join the festivities. The father did so at the risk of appearing rude to his guests and being accused again of shameful behavior. But his love and concern for his elder son, just as with his younger, overshadowed any fear of rebuke. He seemed to choose to act "shamefully" rather than embarrass his elder son publicly by calling him inside in front of all the guests. Unfortunately, the elder son, like the others, did not understand the father's behavior. He continued to be angry, not only toward his younger brother but his father as well.

In understanding this parable, those from guilt-oriented cultures have traditionally identified more with the second son rather than the first. The younger son is seen as the "prodigal" or "sinner" in need of repentance and forgiveness. The older son appears righteously indignant. However, when Christ told this parable, he was addressing the outwardly impeccable Pharisees. They were expected to identify with the elder son.

Like the Pharisees, many from shame-dominated backgrounds might better identify with that elder son. So fearful of the reproach of others and of losing what they have, many of Japanese ancestry, for example, have led publicly spotless lives. They haven't lied or stolen anything, let alone committed murder or adultery. What need have they for forgiveness? What's more, they have studied and worked hard, obeyed their parents, been good parents themselves, saved and judiciously invested, taken good care to maintain all that is theirs and are indebted to no one. Of what do they need to be ashamed?

According to Jesus, quite a bit. Jesus' point was that the sin of the elder son was the same in nature and as great, if not greater, as the sin of the younger. The sin of both sons was that they had reduced their relationship with their father to personal gain, whether property, position or power. Their actual sin was not an issue of law but one of love, not behavior but relationship. They had both rejected their father's love and failed to be motivated by love in return. Even though the eldest son obeyed his father and stayed home, he was as estranged from his father as his younger brother. Neither appreciated nor enjoyed the greatest treasure they owed their father - his love and the lives he gave them. Their sin is the pain of rejected love they caused their father to suffer.

In the same way, the sin of many Japanese is similar to that of the elder son. Their self-righteousness and self-sufficiency impede them from realizing their need for forgiveness and their indebtedness to the heavenly Father. Their sin lies not in what they have done, but in what they have failed to do. They have failed to recognize the life and love they owe their Creator.

To even more accurately describe the nature of sin prevalent among the Japanese, a third son could be added to the parable. Like the second-born, this third son goes to a distant land. However, unlike the second and more like the first, his behavior is upright and responsible. He wisely invests his inheritance, marries and becomes a good husband and father, becomes involved in community affairs and is loved and respected by many. There is no catastrophe he cannot handle on his own. In fact, with each victory over adversity, the third son becomes more self-confident and proud. By adding to his inheritance a lot of persistence and hard work, the third son prospers in that distant land. His success and sense of self-sufficiency lead this third-born to forget what he owes his father. He sees no need for him. In fact, for the most part, he even forgets he has a father.

Of the three sons, which is the most to be pitied? Revelation 3:17-18 tells us:

"You say, 'I am rich; I have acquired wealth and do not need a thing.' But you do not realize that you are wretched, pitiful, poor, blind and naked. I counsel you to buy from me gold refined in the fire, so you can become rich; and white clothes to wear, so you can cover your shameful nakedness; and salve to put on your eyes, so you can see."

The third son may be the most to be pitied because he does not even realize his true state. While the other two sons may have abused the relationship they had with their father, at least they had a relationship with him. The third son's shame lies in not even recognizing his father's existence, making him the most lost of them all. He cannot experience the wealth to which Jesus refers until he asks forgiveness for not acknowledging he has a father and for his failure to love that father in return.

When Jesus tells us to purchase from him specific things to make our lives complete, he is asking us to let go of that which we think is important to take hold of things of eternal value. And the price of what the Lord offers is the same as required by the father in the parable - earnest repentance.

Christ, as the father in his own parable, absorbs the shame and pain due us. He does not overtly ridicule or directly punish us but the love he demonstrates through his actions proves to be the severest form of discipline. Such love lays bare the base nature of our sin, not our lack of good behavior and obedience, but our failure to love in return. When we realize that, we can earnestly repent.

The cross of Christ is like the father's run to embrace his second-born son and the entreating of the first-born to join the celebration. It symbolizes the extent of his love as he bears our shame.

Christ does not want us to be his hired servants with expectations of redeeming ourselves. He simply wants us to embrace him in return. This is what the second son did when he was overwhelmed by his father's love. As his father hugged and kissed him, he abandoned his plan for self-redemption and simply thrust himself into his father's arms. How much more joyful the father would have been if his elder son had also "come home." And if the third son whom we added to the parable would ask forgiveness of his father, the father's joy most certainly would be complete - for this son is the one who causes the father the most anguish and sense of loss.

Just as the sons in the parable, each of us must respond to the love Christ has shown us. How do we answer the outstretched arms of our Lord on the cross? If we overcome our pride and run to embrace him in return, he invites us to be the honored guests at our own homecoming celebration.

This is the message that we can share with our relatives and friends. And this is the message that many of us Christians need to hear if we have failed to realize the true nature of our own sin. For until we do, we cannot fully appreciate how much we have been forgiven.

As the Bible tells us, "But he who has been forgiven little, loves little" (Luke 7:47). If we Christians aren't convicted by our own sin and the overwhelming love and forgiveness Christ extends to us in spite of it, we will not be motivated or have the words or experience to share with non-Christians.

However, if we truly possess Him and are possessed by Him, we can sincerely love because we realize how much we are loved. Having experienced the warm embrace of our Father, we can proclaim with confidence and heartfelt conviction the Great News to others.

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