Commentary
Luke 15: 1-32
“My Son”
The younger son first wants to
be away from his father. He does not
want to be a son. He gives up his sonship for material possessions.
When he returns, he is willing
to trade his sonship for food and becomes a hired worker.
To the father, however, no
matter what the younger son has done, he is always a son. Speaking to the servants, who for sure know
what the boy has done, the father refers to him as “this son of mine.”
Interestingly, the younger son
still addresses his father as father.
Yet, in the parable, the father never speaks directly to him.
The older son, on the other
hand, does not address the father as “father.”
He begins his complaint with the disrespectful command, “Look.” And he sees himself as a slave in his own house.
The father speaks directly to him, the
son who is actually more distant from him than the younger brother. And he begins with the endearing expression “my
son.” [1]
In our relationship with God, at
times, even often, we see ourselves as slaves, hired workers, or whatever else. But with God, we are always “my child, my
son, my daughter.”
And isn’t Jesus telling those
who question the mercy of God that the more distant we are from God, the dearer
we are to the loving Father?
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[1] In the original Greek, the
word used here is the endearing (“affectionate”) “τέκνον,” translated in the
English version as “my son.” In other places
throughout the parable, when the word “son” appears, it is the generic noun “υἱὸς.” This word “υἱὸς” is used even when the younger son says
to his father upon his return, “I no longer deserve to be called your son” (verses 19 & 21). (http://www.newadvent.org/bible/luk015.htm;
http://www.lectionarystudies.com/studyg/studyn/lent4cgn.html)
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