What was Jesus trying to teach us when he gave us the parable of the prodigal son? He was trying to teach us what happens to the wicked and the righteous in the next life. Lets start at the very beginning--a very good place to start. First, the younger son asks for his inheritance and goes off to a far country. Some people think that means that he left the preexistence and went to earth. That interpretation doesnt work because the older son doesnt go, but we all have to pass through mortality. When the Savior says that he took his inheritance and went into a far country, what he was saying was that he left the presence of his father by his wicked actions. When we are wicked, we lose the spirit of God and in that sense, we are no longer in the presence of God. The older son continued to serve his father and therefore never lost the spirit of God was continually in His presence. The younger son lost the spirit of God by his riotous living and therefore was no longer in the presence of the Father. From mortality, the parable quickly moves to the next life. The key is the phrase, wasted his inheritance. When have we wasted our inheritance? As long as we are in mortality we can always repent and gain an inheritance from our Father. The only time when we have wasted our inheritance is if we die in our sins without repenting. If we die in our sins without repenting, that is when we have wasted our inheritance and can no longer inherit all that our Father hath. Thus, we are now talking about the next life. The younger son died in his sins, without repenting, and what happens to the prodigal son? He was given a job feeding swine, and it says that he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat. This is symbolic of hell. Under the law of Moses, swine were considered unclean and the ancient Jews could not have imagined a worse situation. This can only represent hell. So, the prodigal son has to pass through hell, but he doesnt have to stay there forever. It eventually dawns on him that he would be better off as a servant in his fathers house than living as he was with the swine. When he decides to go and ask his father for a job as a servant in his house it is not with any hope that he can ever again get another inheritance. He knows that is impossible. His only hope is that his father will give him a job as a servant, which would be a better situation than the one that he was in. Thus, we learn that the wicked will not dwell in hell forever but they will eventually get out, when they realize that they would be better off being ministering angels to their Father, than suffering forever in hell. As the Prophet Joseph Smith said, But when he consents to obey the gospel, whether here or in the world of spirits, he is saved. . . . All will suffer until they obey Christ himself. (Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 357) We know that the prodigal son is only accepted into his Fathers house as a servant because he tells his older son, all that I have is thine. That means that the younger son will get none of it. It would not be fair or just for the Father to take some of the inheritance from the older son and give it to the younger son who had wasted his inheritance, and God is perfectly fair and just. Thus, we learn that the righteous inherit all that the Father hath, while the wicked will have to pass through hell before they finally end up as ministering angels in the Fathers kingdom. The figure of the righteous son is made to do double duty. He represents both the righteous and the Pharisees. Why? Because Jesus knew that the Pharisees would identify themselves with the figure of the righteous son, so he took that opportunity to use the figure of the righteous son to take a poke at the Pharisees. He was saying, do you want to know how small minded and mean spirited you guys are? You are so low-down, small-minded, and mean spirited that you would not want the Father to allow the wicked back into heaven, even as servants. Thats how low-down, small-minded, and mean-spirited you people are. Thats what the parable of the prodigal is all about. The end.
Posted on: Sun, 02 Feb 2014 18:16:13 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015