Vol.12 No.1

Return of the Prodigal Brothers
A Modern Allegory from an Old Parable
By Antonella Pedley

Prodigal # 1

Whose boys! Where are they? It’s almost midnight and they aren’t home. Probably hanging out with some girls.

Let me introduce myself and my family. My name is Leon. The “boys” are my two younger brothers, Steve and Alex.

We live at home with our father. Life isn’t easy under the same roof with those two rascals. But I mind my own business. I have a good job, working for Dad’s company, trying to walk in his footsteps, to prove myself worthy of becoming his—you know—when he—

Dad is nice, but he seems a bit strict. After all the years I have worked by his side, he could be more generous, with bonuses so I could go on a holiday somewhere nice with my pals. And I deserve it! I work hard, I’m a decent fellow. I don’t drink or smoke. I make regular donations to the Cancer Research Institute and volunteer time at the orphanage. Not that I’m boasting, because

I have my struggles. Like gambling a little at that secret place across town. I can’t believe I just told you that! It must be very late, and my tongue is getting a bit loose.

But where are those boys?

Prodigal # 2

Steve is the shame of the whole family. He’s bright, but it doesn’t do him any good with the way he conducts himself. He hardly finished college. Dad offered him a job, but he couldn’t hold it down. He showed up drunk at the office on Monday morning. I had to air out my office after he left.

After a few months Dad fired him. No money, so what does he do? He withdraws money from the bank accounts Dad set up for each of us to be used when we’re passed our 35th birthday. Don’t ask me where he spends his days—and nights! Sometimes he comes home and sleeps in the spare room in the basement. Dad hardly sees him.

Prodigal # 3

Alex is a different story. He’s a bright, easy-going senior in college. Likes to surf. If it weren’t for Steve, he would be all right. But this youngster is easily influenced and goes along to these places. I don’t think he does nasty stuff with the rest of them, but who knows? He’s a strange sort! Alex thinks Dad has no problem with what he and Steve do.  He feels Dad loves them too much to ever do anything drastic to them, like throw them out into the street. If I were Dad— What’s that noise from the basement?

ONE year later

It’s midnight, and I haven’t closed an eyelid. The boys have long been asleep, which reminds me of how much has happened since last year. Talk about changes!

One day Steve came home and had a long talk with Dad. I listened through the cracked door. Steve said he was sorry for his behavior and regretted having caused Dad so much grief; he asked for forgiveness. It was the first time Steve did this. Dad didn’t say anything. He just got up, with tears running down his cheeks, and threw his arms around Steve.

After that, life wasn’t the same. Dad threw a party, inviting all his friends, “In honor of my son.” You should have seen all the caterers and the exotic fruits and cakes. I hated every minute of it. “Smile, my son,” Dad whispered to me. How could I? The old man got duped. Steve probably just ran out of money. That rascal won’t just turn into a saint overnight.

But then, I could be wrong. Steve came back to work for Dad. His office is just across from mine, and the other night he offered to stay late and help me catch up with my paperwork. He talks gently and courteously to everyone in the office, and he seems to be smiling all the time, like he’s happy.

I asked him how he managed to change. “I’m far from perfect,” he confessed. He attributed it all to Dad and his influence. He says it helps him stay on track, so he doesn’t fall back into his old lifestyle. I watched all the time they spend together, walking, talking, working, but this relationship stuff isn’t for me. I prefer to just do it all myself, to flex my will power and put on some elbow grease.

As for Alex, I told you he’s a peculiar breed. He did apologize to Dad for not walking the narrow path, but I don’t think he’s changed that much. He picks on me, tells me to loosen up. Once he even called me fanatical. Me? A few weeks ago, he got his ear pierced. He knows Dad hates it.

Yesterday something terrible happened. Remember my little secret? Well, I wish I had never set foot in there, but it’s become an addiction. I try my best to stay away, but sometimes I give in. Yesterday was one of those times. As I was entering the place, I looked in all directions to make sure nobody recognized me. Then, out of nowhere, who comes driving along? My dear siblings. They even waved at me. I wished the ground had swallowed me up.

I had the worst night imaginable—remorse, guilt, frustration— you name it. I’m a failure, and now everybody knows it. I made sure

I got up late, hoping my brothers would be gone by the time I dawdled down. But Alex was waiting for me, a glass of orange juice in his hand. “Hey, don’t worry Leon. It’s all right. I haven’t told Dad, but even if he found out, he wouldn’t really mind.”

Steve had a different approach. He took me on a long walk after work. He said that what I was doing was wrong, but Dad would forgive me if I asked him, and Dad’s example and influence would help me overcome my vice.

So here we are, full circle. My returned prodigal brothers and I.

I wonder who really came back?

OLD PARABLE, NEW TWIST

In this modern-day allegory of the prodigal son, the father represents God. The three brothers symbolize three types of professed Christians who distinguish themselves by the way they regard the Father’s will, as expressed in His law. Leon is the legalist, Steve represents the saint who was once a sinner, and Alex is the antinomian. Here are some points, in which they differ:

Their belief about the way to salvation. The saint holds the biblical view that we are saved by God’s grace, through faith, and that good works in obedience to God’s law are naturally born of true faith. “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them” Ephesians 2:8-10. They are motivated to keep the Law because of their love for Christ.

“For the love of Christ constraineth us …” 2 Corinthians 5:14.

The legalist sees the Law as the basis of his salvation and tries to keep it accordingly. But “by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.” Galatians 2:16. While works are integral to the life of the converted Christian, it is never the basis or merit of salvation. The antinomian, on the other hand, believes that to strive to keep the Law is pharisaical and legalistic. The word antinomian comes from the Greek meaning “against the law.”

How they go about keeping the Law. The saint keeps the law the only way it can be truly kept—by the power of God living in his heart. “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.” Galatians 2:20. By cultivating continual communion with God, he receives power to overcome temptation and sin. On the other hand, the legalist strives to keep the Law in his own power, without surrendering his life to the power of Christ. And the antinomian sees no significance in keeping God’s Law. He believes that it is impossible.

Their attitude toward sin and sinners. The saint follows the principle of Christ—he hates sin, but loves the sinner. Jesus said to the woman caught in adultery: “… Neither do

I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.” John 8:11. The legalist tends to hate sin and the sinner, firing judgments toward the erring. On the other extreme, the antinomian claims to love the sinner, while condoning sin.

Their lives. Day by day, true Christians experience victory over sin in the power of Christ. However, they never claim perfection. There have been times in their lives when they have let go of their communion with God, and have fallen. Then they relied on the promise of 1 John 2:1: “My little children, these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

Romans, Chapter 7, describes the legalist’s experience: “For that which I do I allow not: for what I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.… For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do.” Verses 15, 19.

The antinomian’s experience is similar, yet greatly different. Like the legalist, he does not keep the Law, because he believes that the saints will continue to sin until Jesus comes.

Their quality of life. The saint has peace in his heart: “Great peace

have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.” Psalm 119:165.  But the legalist suffers with guilt, frustration, and failure. “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.” Proverbs 28:13. Antinomians on the other hand live in carnal security, the most dangerous of all conditions.

Their destiny. The saints shall inherit eternal life. They have been born again by God’s Spirit and have become like Christ in their characters through communion with God. “Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently: Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”1 Peter 1:22-23.

The legalist and the antinomian, so opposite in their views and lives, share the same destiny—eternal destruction. For “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.” Matthew 7:21.

Now, a most important question. Which son are you?