[139] World Scripture - Grace - 2. Grace for the Prodigal Son

[대태양/김현수]

World Scripture Ⅱ

Part Two - Sin and Salvation
Chapter 7 - Salvation, Liberation, Enlightenment
1) Grace

2. Grace for the Prodigal Son

World Scripture

There was a man who had two sons; and the younger of them said to his father, “Father, give me the share of 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. But 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 your son; treat me as one of your hired servants.’” 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 to the house, he heard music and dancing. And he called one of his servants 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 safe and sound.” 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 for him 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.” Luke 15.11-32: Parable of the Prodigal Son

It is like a youth who, on attaining manhood, leaves his father and runs away. For long he dwells in some other country, ten, or twenty, or fifty years. The older he grows, the more needy he becomes… From the first the father searched for his son but in vain, and meanwhile has settled in a certain city. His home becomes very rich… At this time, the poor son, wandering through village after village, and passing through countries and cities, at last reaches the city where his father has settled. Always has the father been thinking of his son, yet, though he has been parted from him over fifty years, he has never spoken of the matter to any one, only pondering over it within himself and cherishing regret in his heart, as he reflects, “Old and worn, I own much wealth—gold, silver, and jewels, granaries and treasuries overflowing; but I have no son. Some day my end will come and my wealth will be scattered and lost, for there is no one to whom I can leave it… If I could only get back my son and commit my wealth to him, how contented and happy should I be, with never a further anxiety!”

Meanwhile the poor son, hired for wages here and there, unexpectedly arrives at his father’s house… Seeing his father possessed of such great power, he was seized with fear, regretting that he had come to this place, and secretly reflects, “This must be a king, or someone of royal rank; it is no place for me to obtain anything for hire of my labor. I had better go to some poor hamlet, where there is a place for letting out my labor, and food and clothing are easier to get. If I tarry here long, I may suffer oppression and forced service.” Reflecting thus, he hastens away.

Meanwhile the rich elder on his lion-seat has recognized his son at first sight, and with great joy in his heart has also reflected, “Now I have some one to whom I may bequeath my treasuries of wealth. Always I have been thinking of this my son, with no means of seeing him; but suddenly he himself has come and my longing is satisfied. Though worn with years, I yearn for him as of old.”

Instantly he dispatches his attendants to pursue him quickly and fetch him back. Thereupon the messengers hasten forth to seize him. The poor son, surprised and scared, loudly cries his complaint, “I have committed no offense against you; why should I be arrested?” The messengers all the more hasten to lay hold of him and compel him to go back. Thereupon the poor son, thinking within himself that though he is innocent yet he will be imprisoned, and that now he will surely die, is all the more terrified, faints away and falls prostrate on the ground. The father, seeing this from afar, sends word to the messengers, “I have no need for this man.

Do not bring him by force. Sprinkle cold water on his face to restore him to consciousness and do not speak to him any further.” Wherefore? The father, knowing that his son’s disposition is inferior, knowing that his own lordly position has caused distress to his son, yet convinced that he is his son, tactfully does not say to others, “This is my son.”

A messenger says to the son, “I now set you free; go wherever you will.” The poor son is delighted, thus obtaining the unexpected. He rises from the ground and goes to a poor hamlet in search of food and clothing. Then the elder, desiring to attract his son, sets up a device.

Secretly he sends two men, doleful and shabby in appearance, saying, ‘You go and visit that place and gently say to the poor man, “There is a place for you to work here…we will hire you for scavenging, and we both also will work along with you.”’ Then the two messengers go in search of the poor son and, having found him, place before him the above proposal. Thereupon the poor son, having received his wages beforehand, joins with them in removing a refuse heap. His father, beholding the son, is struck with compassion for, and wonder at, him. Another day he sees at a distance, through a window, his son’s figure, gaunt, lean, and doleful, filthy and unclean with dirt and dust; thereupon he takes off his strings of jewels, his soft attire, and puts on a coarse, torn and dirty garment, smears his body with dust, takes a basket in his right hand, and with an appearance fear-inspiring says to the laborers, “Get on with your work, don’t be lazy.” By such a device he gets near to his son, to whom he afterwards says, “Ay, my man, you stay and work here, do not go again elsewhere; I will increase your wages; give whatever you need, bowls, utensils, rice, wheat-flour, salt, vinegar, and so on; have no hesitation; besides there is an old and worn-out servant whom you shall be given if you need him. Be at ease in your mind; I am, as it were, your father; do not be worried again. Wherefore? I am old and advanced in years, but you are young and vigorous; all the time you have been working, you have never been deceitful, lazy, angry or grumbling; I have never seen you, like the other laborers, with such vices as these. From this time forth you shall be as my own begotten son.”

Thereupon the elder gives him a new name and calls him a son. Then the poor son, though he rejoices at this happening, still thinks of himself as a humble hireling. For this reason, during twenty years he continues to be employed in scavenging. After this period, there grows mutual confidence between them, and he goes in and out and at his ease, though his abode is still in a small hut.

Then the elder becomes ill and, knowing that he will die before long, says to the poor son, “Now I possess abundance of gold, silver, and precious things, and my granaries and treasuries are full to overflowing. The quantities of these things, and the amounts which should be received and given, I want you to understand in detail. Such is my mind, and you must agree to this my wish. Wherefore? Because now I and you are of the same mind. Be increasingly careful so that there be no waste.”

The poor man accepts his instruction and commands, and becomes acquainted with all the goods… but has no idea of expecting to inherit as much as a meal, while his abode is still the original place and he is yet unable to abandon his sense of inferiority.

After a short time has again passed, the father notices that his son’s ideas have gradually been enlarged, his aspirations developed, and that he despises his previous state of mind. On seeing that his own end is approaching, he commands his son to come, and gathers together his relatives, and the kings, ministers, warriors, and citizens. When they are all assembled, he addresses them saying, “Now, gentlemen, this is my son, begotten by me. It is over fifty years since, from a certain city, he left me and ran away to endure loneliness and misery. His former name was so-and-so and my name was so-and-so. At that time in that city I sought him sorrowfully. Suddenly in this place I met and regained him. This is really my son and I am really his father. Now all the wealth which I possess belongs entirely to my son, and all my previous disbursements and receipts are known by this son.”

When the poor son heard these words of his father, great was his joy at such unexpected news, and thus he thought, “Without any mind for, or effort on my part, these treasures now come of themselves to me.”

World-honored One! The very rich elder is the Tathagata, and we are all as the Buddha’s sons. The Buddha has always declared that we are his sons. But because of the three sufferings, in the midst of births-and-deaths we have borne all kinds of torments, being deluded and ignorant and enjoying our attachment to trifles.

Today the World-honored One has caused us to ponder over and remove the dirt of all diverting discussions of inferior things. In these we have hitherto been diligent to make progress and have got, as it were, a day’s pay for our effort to reach Nirvana. Obtaining this, we greatly rejoiced and were contented, saying to ourselves, “For our diligence and progress in the Buddha-law what we have received is ample”… The Buddha, knowing that our minds delighted in inferior things, by his tactfulness taught according to our capacity, but still we did not perceive that we are really Buddha’s sons… Therefore we say that though we had no mind to hope or expect it, yet now the Great Treasure of the King of the Law has of itself come to us, and such things that Buddha-sons should obtain, we have all obtained. Lotus Sutra 4: Parable of the Prodigal Son (Buddhism)

Teachings of Sun Myung Moon

Parents suffer deeply if their child commits a crime. If he is sent to jail, the parents would not say, “You deserve it!” Instead, they would forgive their child, sympathize with him and shed tears of compassion. Such is parental love. If their child were sentenced to death, the parents—especially the mothers—would wail. They would desperately search for some way to save their child’s life, even up until the last minute at the execution site. They would gladly trade their own life for his. That is the precious unchanging love of a parent.

If the heart of human parents moves in this way towards their children, then do you think that God, the Parent of humankind, would do any less? Never! God’s love is far greater than human love. Surely the love of God surpasses the love of any earthly parent. (91:148, February 6, 1977) God has been toiling to recover humankind, even though we deserve to die thousands of times in the realm of death. Never forget that when God comes to us in the realm of death, He bring us something more precious than anything in the world. Understand that when He saves us from the realm of death, He does so with anguish and a worried heart. To claim us from the realm of death, God is willing to sacrifice everything. (6:115-16, April 12, 1959)

No matter what happens in the human world, God is patient because He is who He is. He sees many tragic and heart-breaking things, yet He remains calm and composed, never losing His dignity. If God were to open His mouth and express His suffering, He could pour out tragic stories for millions of years, weeping all the while. Would God weep out of self-pity? No, God weeps only for humankind, His children. (124:60, 830123)

God is our Parent; that is why He loves us although He is high above us. We can draw an analogy to the parents of a disabled child, whose disability is so severe that he cannot recognize their love. The parents feel miserable, yet they cannot help but love their child. Even though their child is unable to appreciate even one one-hundredth of their love, and it grieves the parents to face that, they nevertheless love their child, giving all the time. They yearn to give love one hundred times more, and when they see that their child is unable to appreciate any of it, they experience grief and frustration one hundred times more. Parents yearn to love a child who can fully unite with their love, but parents of a child who cannot relate to their love experience only pain and sorrow. Truly there is no greater heartbreak… Now, can you imagine if it were not a matter of only one child’s lifetime, but forever? That is God’s miserable and heartbreaking situation, trying to love human beings… Where is the supreme relationship between Heaven and human beings, linking their deepest hearts? No matter how high we climb and search, since God is the Parent, we humans must seek the position of God’s children. Hence in Christianity, God is called Father and we are called God’s children.

What is the standard of that parent-child relationship? Is it below or above the line of the Human Fall? It cannot be below it. The standard should be above the level of the Fall. Even among fallen people today, whose love is below the line of the Fall, the parent-child relationship suffers when children are not dutiful. Imagine, then, how miserable it would be for parents who had never fallen. When we think about the difficult relationships between parents and children around us, we can fathom something of God’s situation.

God surely intended to love His children with a love above the line of the Fall. How strong would that love be? Yet since no one has ever stood above the line of the Fall, nobody knows. (62:20, September 10, 1972)

Heavenly Father has been searching for His lost children for six thousand biblical years, while enduring suffering upon suffering. However, if the children whom He finally found were weak and pathetic, how would He feel? It is conceivable that God might lament, “It would have been better had I not found them.” Are you confident that you are not children like that? (Blessing and Ideal Family 7.4.1)