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Father, how can I be like the prodigal son?” asked Ethan.
“What do you mean?”
“Yesterday, I did something bad and I was tempted to lie to my dad, but I told him the truth anyway.”
“That’s very cool and courageous of you, Ethan!”
“Yeah, but I still got punished!” he complained.
“You do understand that it’s meant to help you patch up whatever wrong you may have done,” I explained.
“But the prodigal son wasn’t punished!”
“Well,” I scratched my head, “I don’t think the parable of Jesus wanted to focus on that.”
“What do you mean, Father?”
“Jesus wanted to underline His mercy and forgiveness for our sins.”
“But the father gave his son a new ring, cloak and sandals!”
“These reveal that God never revokes his gifts to us. They are only lost if we choose to sadly give them away when we stray away from God.”
“Then why can’t we treat everyone like God does so no one gets punished?”
“God can do this because His love and goodness are perfectly holy. But man, because of his wounded nature, has to address certain wrongs by repairing the damage resulting from them. And we call this justice.”
“I thought the Bible said that God is also just?”
“Yes, but Jesus may have wanted to stress more His mercy in the parable and in others His justice.”
“Life is unfair!” Ethan concluded.
“On a second thought, I believe the parable already contains has some idea of justice.”
“In what way, Father?”
“When the prodigal son was on his way home, he was already determined to accept some form of punishment for being an ungrateful son.”
“Really?”
“Yes. He was repeating to himself what to tell his father when he returned home: ‘I have sinned against heaven and you, make me one of your hired servants.’ He was ready to take on whatever to make up for his sins.”
“And even though he no longer felt worthy to be his father’s son, his father did not revoke his sonship. Instead, he wanted to reveal that there is no sin that can outdo God’s mercy and forgiveness.”
“And that’s it?”
“At least from the parable. But if we were going to continue the story a bit more, then from being a prodigal son he would have become a practical son.”
“How so?”
“His time away from home had taught him what he was missing out on, and more likely, upon returning, he would have made himself more useful and grateful to his father and brother.”
“In what way?”
“Doing chores, fixing his bed, being on time for meals, etc.”
“I get it!” Ethan said. “By being useful by serving.”
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