The Cross and the Prodigal

by
Randy Felton

shalom2@home.com
With Thanks to Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey
In Luke 15:11-32, we find the story of the prodigal son. With our western cultural understanding, we only grasp
a portion of the story. Dr. Bailey lived in a peasant village in Lebanon for a period of ten years. He was trying to
go back to the understanding of the first century and this was as close as is possible today. Many of the customs
and attitudes are the same. As Dr. Bailey was accepted, he discovered that the villagers laughed and got upset at
all the wrong parts of this story. It seemed he was missing something. Time went by and, little by little, the
villagers opened up to Dr. Bailey, sharing some thought provoking insight. We shall take up at the beginning of
the story.
Luke 15:11-12. The story begins...A man had two sons...both sons are in the story from the beginning. In verse
12, the younger son demands his inheritance. In a village society, this can mean only one thing - he wants his
father dead. His inheritance is to pass only upon death and this younger son can't wait. The father's proper
response should be to beat the ingrate. Through the demand and the response of the father and the older brother,
we learn several things to consider.
Younger Son
a. His initial demand is rebellion. b. His attitude is "Me First - and the devil take the rest of you." c. The law
(Halakah) is not broken, rather a relationship. He has just broken his father's heart. d. There is no concern for
anyone else's hardship or suffering. e. The boy is ungrateful. f. He is untrusting, wanting to take his destiny into
his own hands. g. He wants the privilege of his goods without the responsibility. h. He cuts himself off from his
own roots. He has forfeited any future inheritance and his security in the village. i. He is no longer an owner, in
partnership with his father. j. In contrast to #7, he is now responsible for whatever should happen to him.
Older son:
a. The older son is aware of what is happening. The entire village will know by sundown. b. He refuses his
responsibility to mediate. The village demands that he intervene as mediator. He is to step in at once to reconcile
his brother to his father, but he is silent. c. The arrogance regarding his position in line of the inheritance may
have precipitated the younger brother's actions. d. Because of the estrangement that has just occurred, the father
cannot bid his son farewell, the older son will not because of his attitude.
The father:
a. His response is expected to be refusal and punishment, but he grants the request. b.He still remains his father.
Three actions have just been played out in the drama. We now know:
a.The younger son by what he asks. b. The older son by what he does not do. c. The father by what he does. d.
And so he divides his property between them...then in verse 13, the younger son got together all he had. This
means he turned everything to cash, quickly.
The entire community would have scorned him for acting so hastily in his hurry to liquidate his belongings. He
has, in fact, burned his bridges behind him. The Greek phase translated "set off for a distant country" literally
means that he traveled away from his own people. He squandered his wealth in wild living. The supreme virtue
is generosity, therefore, he would have held large banquets and given expensive gifts to make a name for
himself and thereby be accepted in a strange community. This still happens today when village men go to the
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city, the natural inclination is to go home once all the money is gone. Our prodigal does not do this. He knows
his father would not reject him, but his brother is another matter. The older brother would scorn him and he
would then have to live off his brother's inheritance. If he was unbearable before, he would be far worse now.
There is also the village - he is despised and just getting through the village would be difficult, if not dangerous.
In verse 14, we find that the prodigal "hired" himself out. Since there was a famine, it is more than likely he was
not wanted as an employee. The job allowed him was one not expected to be taken by a Jew - herding swine.
The term "hired" is derogatory, especially for someone who had position. A hired person had no set wage and he
had to accept what was offered to him. Even at this, there was no assurance of work the next day. It is hopeless,
all alternatives are gone now, he must starve or go home. The prodigal knew that in his father's house, the hired
servants had enough to eat, so "he came to himself." "He came to himself" is a Hebraic expression of repentance.
With this new attitude, he determined that he would arise and go and say ..."I have sinned." Our prodigal
composes a confession, but it is lacking.
The prodigal's confession...
a.He does not expect to live in the family home, rather a village with the servants. They are not trusted in the
family's house. b. He hopes to make up for what he has lost by his servitude. He will attempt to redeem himself.
c. He has hopes of a servant/master relationship. He does not seek or even understand sonship. d. He does not
recognize that he has broken a relationship instead of a law. e. He is not seeking reconciliation, only something
to eat. He is still in rebellion without understanding sonship.
In verse 20, the prodigal finds things are not as he supposes. He fully expects to have to trudge through the
village enduring taunts, sticks, stones, even fists, just to reach his father's house. Once there, he expects to wait
outside for a long while until his father condescends to see him. Then there would most surely be punishment
meted out. But...the father sees him afar off and runs to greet him. No one over the age of 30 ever runs - for
ANYTHING. Older men, especially those of some position in the village, walk very slowly and deliberately.
Your position in the community is often gauged by your gait. In order to run, this father must gather the front
corners of his robe and expose his legs and undergarments. This is shameful for him, but he knows what awaits
his son in the village. He intends to spare his son the humiliation by taking it himself. No one will attempt to
touch the boy for fear of hitting the father; out of respect, they will restrain themselves.
The father goes to the son, greets him and accepts him. His servants, as well as the village, have followed him.
In verse 22, the scripture says, He says to his servants... This is not a private conversation - everyone hears. This
is done by design and the father restores the son to the community by this act.
Through this, the son sees the suffering and humiliation of his father. He now has the chance to understand the
agony of rejected love. The son now does the only thing he can do. He places himself completely at the mercy
of the father. Quick, bring the best robe. This instruction will cause the servants to go immediately and retrieve
the father's best robe, one the village has seen him wear at important events. The significance of this act is
portrayed in the book of Esther. The son will attend the banquet in his father's best robe for all to see. The ring
that is placed on the son's finger is most assuredly a signet ring. This is an indication that the son now has
certain authority in family matters; this would be particularly galling to the older brother. The servants then put
sandals on his feet. Slaves went barefoot, a son wore shoes. The servants are instructed to dress him. This is not
done for another servant, only a family member or an esteemed guest. This is also done in public, for all to see.
This act by the loving father restores the son to village life.
Now we come to the fatted calf. This is a grain fed animal, kept for special occasions. The highest honor you
can show someone is to kill the fatted calf for them. The older son is in the field, supervising the laborers. After
paying out the day's wages, he returned home to hear music. He immediately knows something is up. Rather
than go on in to see what is happening, he calls a servant. The response is Your father... rather than "my master"
indicating that it may be a young boy rather than an actual servant. In verse 28 we are told that the older brother
becomes angry and now refuses to go in at all.
It is now important for us to understand that the father has given the older son the right of possession, but not the
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right of disposition regarding this inheritance. Therefore, the father is using the older son's stuff to celebrate the
return of the younger son. During a banquet, the older son is expected to stand and serve the guests on behalf of
the father as a symbol of honor. This is always done by the eldest son. It is his duty to offer the guest the choice
pieces of meat, but the honored guest is his brother and he will not serve him. He refuses to go in, even to show
common courtesy to the invited guests and, in so doing, he intentionally insults his father publicly. The older
son is now in rebellion just as seriously as the younger son was, but he doesn't know it. So now, twice in the
same day, the father goes against convention, willing to endure shame and self-emptying in order to attempt to
reconcile his older son. The father leaves his guests, humiliates himself before all present and goes out to the
older son.
He chooses to give of himself equally for both, irrespective of response. In verses 29 and 30, we see the
dialogue. The older son is in rebellion and insults his father by omitting any title when speaking to him. He then
refers to his brother as "your son." He is in rebellion and has surely broken fellowship with his father without
even knowing what he has done. The older son now accuses his brother of living with harlots, he has not talked
to him and may be accusing him out of his own desire. He tells his father that the younger brother has spent
"your" living, not his own and, in fact, is denying his younger brother the right to his inheritance while
demanding his own. The father overlooks all of this and replies with "my son," an affectionate term. In the end,
we are left with the father explaining his actions to the older son, but we do not see any reconciliation. It is left
unfinished.
Taken from the book The Cross and the Prodigal by Kenneth E. Bailey, Concordia Publishing House, 1973
Used by permission of the author
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