Kenneth E. Bailey has written a marvelous book in
\nwhich he seeks to provide Middle Eastern insights into the understanding of the
\nstory of Prodigal Son. Bailey has worked in the Middle East most of his life.
\nHe understands its culture and has a grasp of the languages so that he has
\naccess to eastern attempts at understanding this parable over the course of
\nChristian\u2019s lives. His goal is to rediscover the original cultural assumptions
\nbehind this story. Today, I will share some of the insights from Bailey in
\norder to enhance the points of the messages and our understanding of the
\nProdigal Son story.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In the story, there are three main characters: the
\nfather, the elder son, and the younger son. It is a surprise in a Middle
\nEastern story that the younger son speaks first. He is out of his place
\nalready. What he speaks is even more astonishing. For his own reasons he makes
\nthe decision to leave his family and seek to build a new life for himself
\nelsewhere. And he asks for his share.
\nAll Eastern commentators on this story acknowledge
\nthat the son\u2019s request is totally inappropriate. It is an unthinkable request.
\nA father only gives the inheritance in death. Such a request would probably be
\nviewed as a disgraceful thing, an act that dishonored the father. The father
\nshould explode with anger at such an inappropriate request.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
However, he does not explode. He grants a request
\nthat was completely unimaginable in his time. Instead of refusing, the father
\ngives him his share of the inheritance. This is a very unusual father. He
\ndivided his life with his son.
\nAs we already know, the son promptly goes out and
\nsquanders his property in dissolute living. He soon began to be in deep need.
\nAccording to the insight from eastern commentators, returning home was not a
\nlikely option this point. Such a return would bring great shame on his father,
\non his brother, on his whole community, and himself as well. Shame is a
\npainful feeling of humiliation or distress caused by the consciousness of wrong
\nor foolish behavior. This shame was to be avoided at all costs in the culture
\nof the time.<\/p>\n
He sought pleasure but found pain. He sought freedom
\nbut got bondage. The son ends up doing things with pigs that were unthinkable
\nand deeply offensive to his family and community. At that time, a pig was
\nregarded as being unclean and gentile. Bailey, the scholar, suggests that what
\nis totally broken here is relationship with his family and community.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In verse 16, the prodigal son reaches the lowest point.
\nHe wishes he were a pig. At least the pigs had something to eat. It was then
\nthat this young man came to himself. We usually think of this as his moment of
\nrepentance. However, Bailey notes that Arabic translations of these words read
\nthat the prodigal gets smart. He gets smart in the sense that he now was ready
\nto look out for himself. Then, he made a plan to go back home, not as a son,
\nbut as a slave. He knows he can\u2019t go back as a son.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Now, let\u2019s take a look at the father in the story. <\/p>\n He alone can protect the boy from the hostility of Bailey calls this a costly demonstration of unexpected love<\/strong>. <\/p>\n We have the image here of the running God in public. The change of clothes is called for by the father. <\/p>\n The father proceeds to throw a banquet as an act of <\/p>\n Finally, there is the matter of the elder brother. He <\/p>\n In this story, the elder son has given no <\/p>\n The key realities are that both sons insult their (Buiding on Preaching Luke\u2019s Gospel<\/em> by Richard A. Jensen)<\/p>\n Let us pray, Kenneth E. Bailey has written a marvelous book in which he seeks to provide Middle Eastern insights into the understanding of the story of Prodigal Son. Bailey has worked in the Middle East most of his life. He understands its culture and has a grasp of the languages so that he has access to eastern […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-worship-and-teaching"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3418"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4012,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3418\/revisions\/4012"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chilmarkchurch.org\/service\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nWhat is he doing in the story? He has been watching the distant road. He knows
\nthat if his son returns, the village will treat him with contempt. He is
\ndetermined to reach the boy first. To reach the boy first.<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nthe town. When the father sees the boy coming, he has compassion and runs to
\nmeet him. You know what? No Middle Eastern gentlemen would ever run in public.
\nThis is the only story of its kind in the Gospels where a man runs in public.
\nIn order to run, a man had to gather up his robe and expose his legs. This was
\na great shame in this culture. That is, the father exposes himself to shame.
\nBailey notes that Arabic translations of this story refuse to translate this
\nrunning. They avoid this because it is clear that the father here is acting as
\nGod acts towards prodigals. Running in public is too humiliating to attribute
\nto a person who symbolizes God. The father symbolizing God wants to run to
\nreach the boy before the boy reaches the village.<\/p>\n
\nHe thinks of the father here as a suffering servant. He endures humility. His
\nlove is made visible in public. Bailey came to be convinced that at this point
\nJesus is talking about himself who will soon suffer and the meaning of his
\nsuffering.<\/p>\n
\nAdditionally, this image goes on in its development, the father kissing his son
\nin public, another way to expose himself to shame. No matter what the plan the
\nson has, the father simply gives him back his sonship as an act of grace. The
\nson is totally accepted.<\/p>\n
\nThe father wants no one to see him dressed so poorly. Rather, the prodigal gets
\nthe best robe, the father\u2019s robe, and a ring as a symbol that he is trusted and
\nsandals as well.<\/p>\n
\nformal reconciliation that involves the whole village, a banquet that is in
\nhonor of the father and the reconciliation that has been achieved. The prodigal
\nson is honored and reconciled with his father and the village.<\/p>\n
\nbrings shame on his father by refusing to attend the banquet of reconciliation.
\nHe prefers the righteousness of the Law. He says, \u201cI have never disobeyed your
\ncommand (v.29).\u201d He sounds just like the Pharisee fixating on the Law. However,
\nthe father\u2019s speech to the elder brother is most important to keep in our mind.
\n\u201cSon, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to
\ncelebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to
\nlife; he was lost and has been found.\u201d<\/p>\n
\naffirmative response, but it is possible that, out of love and respect for his
\nfather, he will be persuaded by his father\u2019s words.<\/p>\n
\nfather and break the relationship. The prodigal son represents the ones such as
\nthe tax collectors and sinners, while the elder brother represents the Pharisees
\nand Scribes. Through the story, one meaningful message is that the one who
\nbroke the law and the one who kept the law are under God\u2019s unconditional love
\nand grace and not to mention everyone is welcome only by the grace of God.
\nLet\u2019s wrap up today\u2019s sermon. In today\u2019s story, we
\ncan see an unconditional love from the father representing God. However, we
\ndon\u2019t know the story of their lives after the banquet. That is, the story of
\nthe Prodigal son is open-ended. We must finish the story. How do we respond to
\nthe father\u2019s invitation in this story? How can we continue our story as a
\nresponse to the invitation? God says to each and every one of us through this
\nstory: \u201cYou were lost and now you are found. You were alienated, but now you
\nare invited to the reconciliation banquet.\u201d This God of unconditional love and
\ngrace awaits the honor of our reply.<\/p>\n
\nLoving God, thank you for your inexhaustible love
\nand grace for all of us. Bless us to be the Christians who respond to your
\ninvitation for reconciliation every day.
\nIn your name, we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"