Martha: the Prodigal son

I’ve read this story a thousand times, it’s a popular one in church because everyone thinks they can relate to it in some way, everyone likes the ending and it isn’t hard to understand. GOD is the FATHER, we’re the kid that runs away and HE takes us back no questions asked. Great story right, I got to look at it a different way this summer. And when I came back I saw more of the first son, the one who stays where he’s supposed to, does what’s expected of him, and then gets pissed when his younger brother gets accepted back. We’ve all been there, we do what we’re supposed to do, other people don’t and not only do they get away with it they get rewarded for it, accepted back, where they should have failed they succeed, and it pisses us off for a reason. Everyone likes thinking about that first kid, they want to be that first kid, but to be him, you have to actually walk away and fail and then come back willing to be nothing, and most people aren’t willing to go there because they’re afraid of what it could or will do to their reputation, instead their willing to sulk in the field. This relates to communication not because it’s about communication, but because it’s the purest form of non communication, misunderstanding, I say one thing, you hear another. It probably isn’t your fault, but I may get mad at you for it, even if you don’t deserve that. Communication is clear not in this story, but it’s a parable, a message, and if you misunderstand it than you’ve missed the whole point. When Jesus was talking everyone listened, not just the people who represented the younger son, prostitutes, tax collectors, and sinners, but elder sons, priests, scholars, men who did well in society. And as much as we like to think we’ve changed, we really don’t.