Rev. Dr. S. Philip Sudhakar
The parable of the prodigal son, also known as the parable of the lost son, is a story in the Bible found in the Gospel of Luke (Luke 15:11–32). The story teaches several lessons that are relevant to people of all ages and backgrounds. Here are some of the key lessons from the story:
1. The importance of forgiveness: The father in the story forgives his son for squandering his inheritance and welcomes him back with open arms. Similarly, God is always willing to forgive us when we repent and turn back to Him.
2. The dangers of materialism: The prodigal son wasted his inheritance on a life of pleasure and excess. This is a cautionary tale about the dangers of materialism.
3. The power of repentance: The prodigal son realizes his mistakes and decides to return to his father. This act of repentance ultimately leads to his reconciliation with his father and his restoration to the family.
4. The unconditional love of God: Like the father in this story, God is always waiting for us with open arms, ready to welcome us back into His family.
5. The danger of envy and resentment: The elder brother in the story resents the attention and forgiveness that his younger brother receives from their father. This is a warning about the dangers of envy and resentment, which can lead us to lose sight of the love and grace of God.
Overall, the story of the prodigal son is a powerful reminder of the love, forgiveness, and grace that God offers to all of us, regardless of our past mistakes or failures.
Forgiving, accepting and understanding each other is a challenge that we have to undertake in today’s era. If we want to mention it in Christian terms, it can be called second birth or second baptism. This is our way of life.
How many times do we need to forgive someone in our life? Seven times means unconditional forgiveness. Indefinite forgiveness. Endless forgiveness is what our Lord expects from everyone.
We have become shadow people. There is a lack of understanding towards others in us. In the modern age, this self centred world view is ingrained in us. Just as we understand ourselves we must show the same understanding towards others in the society. Only then will we learn to accept and forgive others.
In this story, the life of the younger son is one of returning home with a renewed heart. We don’t have to think of it as a story that happened somewhere in another time. It is also the story of us.
Forgiveness is a gift that we have been receiving for years. If God says I forgive you, then you must also forgive others. This is what God expects of us. To live a life of kindness and generosity.
One other lesson to be learned here is that the father shares everything equally between his sons in contrast to the Jewish custom of the eldest son inheriting everything. Just as Jesus changes the ancient customs here, we must let go of traditions that are unjust and cruel.
We must realize that this younger son comes back as a self-realized person. Only when we extend acceptance towards change do we have the potential to make a real difference.
How many of us have the courage to fail in our life? We all opt for success. We never like to fail but we often fail. We fail in our relationships. We fail in our business.
It’s time to relearn everything. Every mistake is a great opportunity to relearn. We should share our failures with others. Amidst failures we learn.
Failures are important to personal growth. Failure is bad but giving up is much much worse. We must treat failure as an opportunity to remake ourselves rather than as an end to our self growth.
Our religious worship is meant not only to be symbolic or liturgical. It is also meant to identify a lifestyle characterized by an awareness of what happens within our life. Our worship should make us share our food, water, and other resources with others, especially with the poor and the needy.
The Eucharist should take us to the contemporary issues of hunger and poverty. It’s a reminder that the resources of the earth are shared equally The bread and the wine is a symbol of the food for the journey of hope, peace. justice, and freedom. If we are fed by God. then we must make sure that no one else go hungry.
Sharing of food is the basis of justice and living religiously. It is a mockery of the Eucharist to eat at the table in church and exclude people who go hungry .
The early Church in the first and second century was a standing witness to the way of the life of Jesus. To the early Christians, life was not a ritual. The real life was celebrated. “see how those Christians love one another-there are no poor among them”.
Worship is not what we do in church on a Sunday morning. Worship is what we do with our lives, our time, our money, our priorities, our excess and our resources every day of our lives.
God cares not that we go to Church regularly but God does care whether or not we show the same respect to the bodies/lives of all the children of God in the world. Matthew 25 reminds us that “whatsoever we do to the least of our brothers and sisters we do to God . . . and whatsoever we refuse to do, or ignore that the least of our brothers and sisters needs, we ignore and refuse to God.” This is the core teaching of Jesus. Religion is not the recitation of rituals, but a tool for growth: both in ourselves and what we do for the world.
(Rev. Dr. S. Philip Sudhakar, Director of the Youth Commission for the diocese of Dindigul. He has a Ph.D. in development communication. He has been a media animator since 1995. He was the diocesan Secretary to the Madha TV from 2011to 2016. At present, he is working as the secretary to the Labour and youth commissions of the diocese. He conducts social awareness programs for the youth and children in schools, colleges, and parishes. He was invited two twice for the 16th and 17th AMIC annual conferences held respectively in Singapore and Malaysia to present research papers titled, “Cyber Atrocities, Digital Catastrophy, and the Meaning of Living in the Electronic Age’ and “Empowering the Marginalized in the Age of Communication” in 2014 and 2015. He was invited by Indonesia SIGNIS to present the paper titled “New Ways of Thinking about Development in the Post-modern world of Communication” in 2016. He was awarded by the Singapore Government and Amokya Public Library for pioneering contributions to the body of knowledge on media and communication research. He has written many books. Tamil Panpattu Marapukal ( Tamil Cultural Traditions) is the latest one published by Kaavya, Chennai.)
