Tuesday, March 14, 2017
Luke 15:12 (NRSV)
12The younger of them said to his
father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So
he divided his property between them.
This is part of the story of the
Prodigal Son, and the commentaries that I have available to me note that it was
not unheard of to divide an estate before death, but the son who wants his
share is not showing much respect for his parents and family. The precedent for that in the Hebrew
Scriptures is Deuteronomy 21:7, and soon after that (Deuteronomy 21:18-23) the
death penalty is imposed on a "willful, rebellious and disrespectful son
who refused to change". I wonder if
the father in this story could have gotten his younger son in serious trouble
if he wanted to do so. As the passage in
Deuteronomy continues, the penalty for such behavior in a son is that he was to
be stoned and hung on a tree. Paul, in
Galatians 3:13, wrote that Jesus took the curse of the Law for us when he was
hung on a tree. There's a connection
between the cross of our Lord Jesus and the story of the Prodigal Son. The prodigal is us-you and me-but he is treated
with restraint, and later great grace, because Jesus was hung on a "tree"
and cursed for us. Such grace is offered
freely, but purchased at immeasurable price.
