Self-Esteem
“Then He said: A certain man had two sons And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me’ So he divided to them his livelihood. And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living»(Luke 1 5: 1 1-1 3
Kenneth Bailey, a New Testament expert who has lived in the Middle East for many years, has repeatedly asked people what it would mean if a son asked his father for his inheritance. answer has always been the same: the meaning of this request is the same as saying, «Father, I wish you were dead!» Furthermore, the younger son had very little chance of receiving the inheritance, for most of it was received by the firstborn. Therefore, the request «give me the portion of goods that falls to me» represents a clear insolence.
But the young man did something even worse. The phrase «gathered all together» (sinagos) implies that he sold his inheritance and converted it to cash. Then, he left home to waste it. This represents a flagrant violation of the Jewish tradition. The Mishnah, a collection of Jewish oral legacy gathered over the centuries, points out that, when a parent decided to assign an inheritance to his son during his lifetime, the father could not sell it any longer since it had been handed over to the descendant. His son could not sell it either since it was still under the father’s control. Any sale was only allowed after the father’s death.
The rest of the story (vv. 14-24) is known: the prodigal son wasted it all, suffered from hunger and misery and ended up feeding swine. One day, he came to his senses and decided to go back to his father’s house, no longer as a son but as a servant. The father did not admonish his abominable behavior, but «when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him» (v. 20). He dressed him in fine clothes, sandals, and the ring of authority, holding a great feast to the delight of everyone.
The parable can apply to every one of us who, at some point, decided to walk away from our celestial Father and use His gifts for self-complacency. Maybe you drifted far away from God and you’re feeling unworthy of coming back to Him. The transgression of today’s story is colossal, but it wasn’t an obstacle for the father to accept his son back. God is willing to forgive you, run toward you, fall on your neck and kiss you, so you can enjoy your true condition: that of a beloved child.
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Taken from: Daily Devotions for Junior 2020
“A Cheerful Heart Is Good Medicine”
From: Julian Melgoza-Laura Fidanza
Colaboradores:Ricardo Vela & Emmanuel Tapia
