Without a Middle Eastern Perspective, Jesus' Message is Missed
In The Prodigal Son parable, it is often said that the turning point is when the younger son “comes to his senses,” confesses his sin, and returns home a repentant sinner—BUT THIS IS NOT WHAT JESUS IS SAYING. And the difference between this popular interpretation and what Jesus is saying is the difference between a God who is "just" and a God whose love is as far as the East is from the West.
Jesus explains, in part, why he needed to die on the cross, “The father’s suffering at the beginning of the story has no effect on the prodigal son. The son isn't even aware of it. The son must first witness a demonstration of the father's suffering. WITHOUT WITNESSING this demonstration, the callous son will NEVER understand that he is the cause of the broken relationship. Without the father's visible demonstration of suffering, the prodigal will return to the house as a servant. He will—quite likely—take on more and more of the characteristics of his older brother. Without this visible demonstration of costly love, there can be no reconciliation. Isn’t this the story of the way God deals with the sin of the world on the cross?” writes Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey in The Cross & the Prodigal.
Bailey points out, from a Middle Eastern perspective, that when the son requests his inheritrance prior to his father's death he is wishing his father dead. The father's expected response to such a request is to—in anger—slap his son in the face with the back-side of his left-hand. This is more degrading in the Middle East than the right-hand or open palm. Unexpectedly, however, the father grants his son's request dissipating land holdings and enduring community shame. In hast, the son leaves with a great sum of money, likely one-third of the estate. In the distant country, the son spends it in extravagant living. Sometime later, when his money has run out, a severe famine strikes. In desperation, the prodigal takes a job no self-respecting Jew would—feeding pigs. Yet even with this lowly job, he faces starvation.
It is at this point that he remembers even the servants have enough to eat at home. Yet he knows he is barred from going home. He knows he will face the Kezazah ceremony on trying to re-enter his village. For anyone who leaves his village and losses his money among foreigners (the pigs provide proof that he was in a foreign land) must be cut-off from the community permanently. A broken clay jar with burnt beans will be smashed at his feet, and he will be banished. With this outcome facing him, the son CRAFTS A PLAN that he will present to his father, his only hope. The son will ask to be a hired servant—NOT A SLAVE—so that he can start to pay back the money and fill his empty stomach. The prodigal thinks he must restore himself.
With this plan in mind, he fearfully heads back home. The son is starving and mostly naked. He knows when he reaches his village, he must walk through the narrow village street where he will be mocked and taunted by the villagers. He must make it to his father. Yet even when the son is at a far distance and before the son says a word, the father sees the son and runs to him. He kisses and hugs him. It is at this point—AND ONLY AT THIS POINT—that the son sees his father's love for him. Now the son sees how he had broken his father's heart. He sees how his father ran to him which in the Middle East is a shameful act. He sees how undeservedly he is being restored in love. NOW PLEASE DO NOT MISS THIS POINT: Had the father not been willing to show a costly demonstration of unexpected love, the son would not know the father's heart. And there would be no right-relationship.
The Joyful Shepherd Image?
Interestingly, the early church didn’t use the symbol of the cross for Christianity but instead used, among other things, the image of a joyful shepherd carrying the sheep back to its fold. You can see more in the parable of the lost sheep.
Jesus talked about the heart of God in the picture of a joyful shepherd carrying his lost and terrified sheep back to the fold. For some, it's difficult to see how Jesus' death on the cross saves. In fact, some see God as brutal BECAUSE of the cross. For these, the Good Shepherd may more clearly show the heart of God and better explain the need for the cross—a picture that weds both a good and joyful shepherd (God) and a previously terrified sheep (us) WRAPPED around his shoulders as he JOYFULLY goes about his mission of restoring his sheep.
Personal Note
20 years ago, I providentially picked up The Cross & the Prodigal when the foundation of my world had crumbled and my marriage was destroyed. Now 20 years later, my wife and I celebrate again the restoration of our marriage. As for this website, it is dedicated to Dr. Bailey. And it is an attempt to share some of his work—as I understand it.
I know of no better teacher than Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey to provide an analysis of the parable of The Prodigal Son. Bailey's quest is to uncover the original words and original meaning of Jesus. Not only is Bailey a scholar but he has spent the majority of his life, now in his 70s, in the Middle East studying and teaching.
Luke 15: 11 – 32, The Prodigal Son Parable
And he [Jesus] said, “There was a man who had two sons.” And the younger of them said to his father, “Father give me the share of the property that falls to me.” And he divided his living between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took his journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in loose living.
And when he had spent everything, a great famine arose in that country, and he began to be in want. So he went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed swine. And he would gladly have fed on the pods that the swine ate: and no one gave him anything.
When he came to himself, he said, “How many of my father’s hired servants have bread enough and to spare, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called you son; treat me as one of your skilled craftsman.’”
And he arose and came to his father. But while he was yet at a distance, his father saw him and had compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
But the father said to his servants, “Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. “ And they began to make merry.
Now his elder son was in the field; and as he came and drew near the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of the young boys and asked what this meant. And he said to him, “Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has received him with peace.” But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him.
But he answered his father, “Lo, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command; yet you never gave me a kid that I might make merry with my friends. But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your living with harlots, you killed the fatted calf!”
And he said to him, “Son you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.”