The prodigal and his brother

         My mission is to at least publish a blog once a week with a chapter/ verse of the catholic bible. This isn’t going to be a bible study with me as a teacher, but more like me putting my thought process out there. I want to show my journey to the world and hopefully inspire others to join me and pick up the Bible that has been collecting dust in their drawer. The Bible isn’t something that one person can read once and done, it’s a series of complex scriptures and parables that are up to several different types of interpretations, and I believe that if I put my interpretation out there then other people would do the same, and together we could make a unified interpretation of these scriptures. We might agree on somethings, we might learn things that we didn’t catch the first time reading, and we might be in disagreement for some things, but what better way to learn and grow than with a community of multiple thought processes and opinions. Now, there are multiple ways on starting the Bible, so many different stories and books in the Bible that one gets overwhelmed and doesn’t know where to start. I am going with the most common method of just starting at the beginning and working my way through, but before that, I do think it’s important to read just one parable before starting off at Genesis. Most of us are coming from a path of sin where we feel guilty and unworthy of being with God. You feel like you don’t belong with him because of the countless times you pushed yourself away from him. I think it’s important to know that God loves us no matter what we did to him in the past. You don’t need to trust my word over it, if you open the Bible to the book of Luke 15:1-32, you can find 3 parables that Jesus told during a dinner party to all the sinners who surrounded him.

        The first parable was about the lost sheep. In this parable he talks about how when a pastor loses one of their one-hundred sheep, they would be willing to leave the ninety-nine sheep alone in the wilderness in order to find the one lost sheep. When that lost sheep is found, they lay it on their shoulders and take it back home, where they would tell their friends and neighbors to rejoice with him for his sheep who was once lost is found once more. Jesus then states that there will be more joy in heaven when one single sinner repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need to repent over anything. 

        The second parable we hear after that is the one of the lost coin. When a women who has ten silver coins loses one of her coins, she would do whatever it takes to find that lost coin. She turns on every lamp, sweeps the whole house, and searches really carefully until she finds the coin, and when she does, she calls all her friends and neighbors saying, “rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost.” Jesus ends this parable by saying that there is joy in all the angels of God when one sinner repents. 

        The third parable is the longest one of the three. This parable talks about a man who had two sons. The youngest son asked for his share of the property and with that he left home to live his “dream” life in a distant country. There he lived a life of luxury, while it didn’t specify what exactly he spend his money on, I can only imagine he spent it on women and parties and alcohol, all sorts of worldly pleasures. Then he came to a point where he didn’t have any more money, and a huge famine passed through the country. This son who spent all his money living a “perfect” life now found himself down in the dumps. To the point where he sold himself to a citizen as a slave and was tasked with the job of feeding the pigs, it got to the point where he would look at the pig food and all he could think about was feasting on all that food to sustain his hunger. This is when he snapped out of his trance, he thought about the servants back home, who had food to eat, who lived in comfort, he threw it all away to live this “perfect” life of his. That is when he decided to go back home and ask his dad to take him in as a servant. The son didn’t feel worthy of being called a son after what he did to this dad, he thought that at least as a servant he could get back on his feet and live a more sustainable life. He set off to go to his father and when he was within eye sight his father ran to his lost son with open arms. That’s when the son said to his father, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called you son.” Expecting that his father would disown him or send him away, saying that he didn’t belong here anymore, his father said to his slaves, “Quickly, bring out a robe-the best one-and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!” Isn’t it beautiful how the father completely ignored all the wrong his son did to him, I wouldn’t say he forgot about the past, but instead forgave the past and celebrated the good news of his son returning home. The parable doesn’t end there, as we know the father had two sons. The older son was at the field when his brother returned, and when he got back home he asked a slave what the celebration was about. When the older son found out that his brother returned and they were all celebrating the good news, the older son got furious and refused to go inside. The father had to come outside and plead to him to come inside to celebrate. The eldest son justified his anger by stating that he has worked as a slave for his father, he never disobeyed his commands, and yet, was never given even a young goat to kill and celebrate with his friends, why should the traitor of the family have a huge party, he doesn’t deserve any of it! This is when his father reminds him that he has always been at his side, and because of that all that belongs to the father also belongs to the older son. He always has a special place in the heart of the father, but right now, his dead brother has come back to life, the lost son has found his way back home, is that not a reason to celebrate. 

        To anyone reading this, don’t be afraid to make your way towards God. You may feel unworthy and guilty for all the sin you have done. You might not comprehend how anyone can forgive you after all the pain that you put them through, but we need to remember that God isn’t like us humans. He is loving and caring, he is way above jealousy or holding grudges. All God cares about is his lost sheep, the coin that was missing, that his son who got lost in this dark path of sin, finds his way back home, and repents for all the pain that he has done. Isn’t that reassuring to hear? Thank you for reading, I hope these parables inspired you to take one step closer to God. Have a blessed week.