Returning from a Long Trip

              Returning From A Long Trip
Luke 15.1-3, U-32 March 9, 1986
This is story is familiar to most of us. The prodigal son
takes his inheritance and leaves home. He goes to the city and
squanders it all leaving him with nothing but a job in a nearby pig
farm. From a moral, an economic, and a religious standpoint. He is
totally corrupted. It is precisely what every mother and father
knew would happen if their children moved to the city. Certainly
this story lends itself to the ideal of rural life over against the
seduction of the city.
Every possible nuance of interpretation has been foisted upon
this story. We have understood the parable as if it had only one
point, as Biblical scholars have urged. We have identified with the
young forlorn son who makes his way into a far country only to
end up in a pig sty. We have understood the elder brother who
remained faithful to his father and resented the treatment the
younger brother receives from his father. We have looked at the
father, and have praised his accepting and understanding attitudes.
Whatever our interpretation. There are some fundamental
elements to the story that remain constant. It was his decision to
do his thing. Though it must be said quickly it was a legitimate
decision. The father was obligated to do what he did even though
he knew that it was not in the best interests of the young man. He
had to let the young man "have his head". With that he gave his
young son what would have been his if his father had died at that
particular moment.
Giving children "their head", creating opportunities for them
to freely express themselves, to be exposed to the greatest number
of possibilities with the least amount of inhibition that a part of
the liberal upbringing that most parents want to give their
children. There are advantages to this, as well as certain risks.
Certainly this young man had every reason to make it on his own.
It is a natural and an important step to take. Dependency is not
something that we want to encourage. Whatever we are dependent
upon we become attached to, and either love or hate, or both. The
lyric of independence is something that sings within the human
soul.
Independence of mother and father, independence from teacher
and mentor are important steps into the maturation process. It is
not the objective of the mentor to keep him or her a student.
However, independence can take us so far and only so far. To be
independent of some things is to importune catastrophe. To be
independent of gravity, or to think that one can be is a grave
error of judgment. To be independent of the laws that govern the
chemistries of our bodies is to court illness and personal disaster.