First, let's get this one out of the way.
Prodigal:
- extravagant: recklessly wasteful; "prodigal in their expenditures"
- a recklessly extravagant consumer
wordnet.princeton.edu/perl/webwn - A prodigal person, a spendthrift; wastefully extravagant; someone yielding profusely, lavish; profuse, lavishly abundant
en.wiktionary.org/wiki/prodigal - recklessly extravagant: characterized by wasteful expenditure: lavish: yielding abundantly: luxuriant: profuse
www.terran-associates.com/nz-business-defs.php
(courtesy google definitions)
The young reckless son no longer had any claim to his inheritance. Once the prodigal cashed out, 100% of the increase went directly to the other son. Even after the prodigal son returned.
Maybe sin is more costly than we think. Maybe as we turn away from God, we loose countless blessings that are reserved only for the faithful. Previously Jesus had explained how the Angels of God will rejoice over the sinner that repents, but this parable might give the context for the celebration. In the parable they rejoice when the son "repents" but all of the increase is given to the faithful son, and the son who fell away has to start over--alone.
2 comments:
Marky, this is the kind of blog I like to read. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. My favorite part of your mission letters was always the scripture you used to sum up your letter.
Mark, why is the prodigal alone? Mom. P,S, I really liked your thought about us missing out on blessings, I hadn't thought about it in that way, but I want to hear more. Mom
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