THE PRODIGALS

In my 40 odd years in the Church I have sat in many Sunday School lessons and heard the Parable of the Prodigal Son as found in Luke 15 rehashed many times. I have seen it looked at from the good son's perspective, from the Father's perspective and from the prodigal's perspective but all the views have missed the bigger picture which helps us to understand more fully what this parable is really about - Christ and His redemptive power. To me this parable highlights the intellectual genius of the Saviour more than any other because in it He covertly speaks about himself. The parable tells of a father who had two sons. The younger son grew restless and pleaded with the Father to grant him his inheritance so he could make his own way in the world away from his family. The father complied and gave him the monetary value that equaled his share of the assets he would have inherited upon his father's death. The son made some very unwise decisions and spent his inheritance on riotous living until he had nothing left and was reduced to living with swine and sharing their husks to assuage his hunger. Upon much reflection, he made a smart decision for once, to return to his father and beg a position as his servant knowing full well he could not receive another inheritance. However, his father welcomed him back into the family with compassion and joy and reinstated him as his son. When the older brother saw the celebration upon his brother's return he was outraged because he immediately assumed he would have to share his inheritance with his erring brother. The father however, assured him that his inheritance was intact and all that the father had belonged to him.

The father of this parable can in every way be symbolic of our Father in Heaven who respects our free agency and welcomes back anyone who returns to him with compassion, forgiveness and immense joy. The younger son represents us, the prodigals. We are on daily basis, bit by bit,  spending our inheritance through the sins of mortality and some of us will in the end, stubbornly, spend it all. The oldest and good son at first glance represents the penitent, covenant children who remain faithful and will inherit all the Father has.  However, the good son was also the first son so in a wider sense he represents the First Born of the Father, the Saviour himself, but with a huge difference. Whereas the parable's good son was reluctant and fearful he would have to share his inheritance with his brother, the Saviour, from the beginning, propagated and promoted His willingness to share the inheritance with his erring younger siblings. But the loving kindness did not end there. He offered His power to bring us back to the Father as well. The parable's good son never sought him who was lost, despite the kinship, despite the brotherhood, despite the Father's sorrow over his loss. What does this tell us about Christ and His willingness to lay down His life so He can bring us back through His atoning blood? Because of his perfect nature and the purity of His love, meaning there was no motive for self-advancement within Him, He was able to say: I will not only make it possible for them to come back, I will also share with them all that I have.

I have been spiritually faithful all my life, carefully guarding my inheritance, and whilst recognising that I, like everybody else am not free from sin, I had not fully resonated with the prodigal son until I realised that I, like him have made unwise decisions in my life, not exercising the power of foresight when I made them. Because every decision carries with it consequences and repercussions I have suffered much over the years because of them. For more years than I care to admit, these decisions had exhausted my feelings of self-respect and damaged my self-esteem perpetuating my lack of self-forgiveness. But the Atonement is infinite. It covers all sin and all foibles of mortality and its ensuing suffering, even that of bad decisions. And where there is repentance, there is forgiveness. Our sins have already been suffered for and forgiveness extended, in advance, so that we would not suffer beyond our repentance. Our repentance must include self-forgiveness because if it doesn't, we are in essence affirming that we do not fully believe what Christ can do and we do not fully accept the gifts of His Atonement. The Atonement is not only cleansing but also consoling (See "The Infinite Atonement" by Tad R Callister, p 205). Like a salve to a wound, it relieves the pain and heals the once broken, the once torn, the once damaged, the once suffering. To this I testify. Its' restorative power makes us whole and justifies us when we are judged according to our mortality. To be spiritually justified means to be once again aligned with God. It means all our sins, our bad choices and our unwise decisions can be swept away. It means the prodigals can return. It means they can once again be safe, be loved and never be lost again.

From the forgiving heart of Joseph Smith:
"At one point Oliver Cowdery had disassociated himself from the Church. Joseph was anxious that he repent and return. He instructed his clerk: 'I wish you would write to Oliver Cowdery and ask him if he hasn't eaten husks long enough'." (Smith, "Doctrines of Salvation", 1:227)

THE GREAT ONES

I am tired of sailing my little boat

Far inside of the harbour bar;

I want to be out where the big ships float –

Out in the deep, where the great ones are!

And should my frail craft prove too slight

For storms that sweep those wide seas o’er,

Better go down in the stirring fight

Than drowse to death by the sheltered shore!

     - Daisy Rhinehart

I imagine this is what we would have been like in our pre-existence, not content to stay intelligences without form and purpose. We wanted godhood and we accepted the price we had to pay to get it. The sheltered shore is never enough for the ones that want to be great. The truly great ones want the storm and the stirring fight and the grandeur that comes with victory. The truly great ones wanted to risk everything in order to gain everything. They are formidable souls of men that did not flinch in battle with the opposing forces who wanted to keep us in the sheltered shore. They stood firm, believed and accepted when the Father said:

"All that I have I desire to give you - not only my wealth, but also my position and standing among men. That which I have I can easily give you, but that which I am you must obtain for yourself. You will qualify for your inheritance by learning what I have learned and by living as I have lived.  I will give you the laws and principles by which I have acquired my wisdom and stature. Follow my example, mastering as I have mastered, and you will become as I am, and all that I have will be yours." (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, The Challenge to Become, New Era Aug 2002)

In William Wordsworth's poetic words, we came to this earth 'trailing clouds of glory....from God who is our home' (Ode On Intimations of Immortality), leaving the memory of our greatness behind the veil, leaving all that we once held dear but determined to return ever triumphant and more glorious than when we left. Now in mortality we know very little of who we truly are because most of the time we do not seek to know our former selves. President Lorenzo Snow taught that we can come to know exactly who we are just as the Saviour did. He taught that "Jesus was a god before he came into the world and yet His knowledge was taken from Him. He did not know His former greatness, neither do we know what greatness we had attained to before we came here". He also taught that it was revealed to the Saviour who He was and 'for what purpose He was in the world. The glory and power He possessed before He came into the world was made known unto Him" (Conference Report, April 1901). We too can come to possess such knowledge and revelation for the Father can tell us all things through the power of His Spirit.

Consider Brigham Young's words on this subject : "I want to tell you, each and every one of you, that you are well acquainted with God our heavenly Father, or the great Elohim. You are all well acquainted with Him, for there is not a soul of you but what has lived in His house and dwelt with Him year after year; and yet you are seeking to become acquainted with Him, when the fact is, you have merely forgotten what you did know....There is not a person here today but what is a son or a daughter of that Being" (Journal of Discourses, 4:216). The fact is though that the veil is as thick or thin as we make it be. We are the ones that determine which way it will be for the Lord has promised: "If thou shalt ask, thou shalt receive revelation upon revelation, knowledge upon knowledge, that thou mayest know the mysteries and peaceable things - that which bringeth joy, that which bringeth life eternal." (D&C 42:61)

Now that we are here, some of us are struggling to remain great. President Harold B. Lee warned that 'there were many who were foreordained ...to a greater state than they have prepared themselves for here. Even though they might have been among the noble and great...they may fail of that calling here in mortality' (Ensign, January 1974, p 5) It would seem it all depends on whether we are converted. We might have a testimony and a conviction of the gospel but we might not be converted, meaning our basic nature is not changing to reflect that of a Christ like person. It is one thing to be convinced of the truthfulness of the gospel and another to hunger and thirst after righteousness and allow it to change our hearts and our nature. It is one thing to know the commandments and another to have them 'written in our hearts' (Mosiah 13:11). We are here not only to achieve but also to be true and even add to our greatness that we brought with us. The gospel of Jesus Christ is designed to help us become as gods, namely the Father and the Son in whom is all perfection. We are not here to merely make deposits into 'some heavenly account' by doing good deeds (Elder Dallin H. Oaks, The Challenge to Become, New Era Aug 2002). To be converted means to 'become'. With conversion comes the desire to live according to God's plan. It is then that all feelings of compulsion to choose the right flee and the path to eternal life becomes easier. Following King Benjamin's memorable sermon, his people ".....cried with one voice, saying: Yea, we believe all the words which thou hast spoken unto us; and also, we know of their surety and truth, because of the Spirit of the Lord Omnipotent, which has wrought a mighty change in us, or in our hearts, that we have no more disposition to do evil, but to do good continually." (Mosiah 5:2) This is true conversion. How much easier is it to live God's plan when you have no more disposition to do evil? The path to this conversion lies in yielding our hearts to God continually and being worthy of the Spirit which can sanctify us and change us. As we change and get closer to God, the veil thins and we become aligned with our true greatness. The aim is not to just return home but to return home being great. The Saviour of all mankind realised his greatness and has paved the way. May we walk in his footsteps for He is the light, the truth, the way.

Sunset and evening star,
And one clear call for me
And may there be no moaning of the bar,
When I put out to sea.
But such a tide as moving seems asleep,
Too full for sound and foam,
When that which drew from out the boundless deep
Turns again home.
Twilight and the evening bell,
And after that the dark!
And may there be no sadness of farewell,
When I embark:
For tho' from out of bourne of time and place
The flood may bear me far,
I hope to see my Pilot face to face
When I have crossed the bar.

-  Lord Alfred Tennyson

THE GUARDIANS OF HAPPINESS

"And ye shall dispossess the inhabitants of the land, and dwell therein: for I have given you the land to possess it....but if ye will not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you; then it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain of them shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell." (Numbers 33:53, 55)

Israel's conquest of the promised land was gradual and involved the takeover of specific cities rather than a broad swath of land. As their power to control and their ambitions shifted over the next generation, the territory of the tribes was in constant flux through the time period called "The Judges" (Lesson 19, "The Reign of the Judges", Meridian Magazine). In conquering the promised land, the Israelites made a grave mistake of not adhering to the Lord's directive 100%. Not only did they not follow the Lord's instructions with exactness to subdue the land thus ridding it of idol worshipers, they failed to conquer more than twenty cities that were on Joshua's itinerary. This failure to properly take possession of the land of their fathers cost the children of Israel dearly.  Because of this disobedience they failed to provide a spiritually conducive environment for their children who were not yet strong enough to resist the lure of false gods. Because of the bad choices of their fathers, the next generation of Israelites not only fell into bondage several times but continuously turned to idol worshiping: 

"And there arose another generation after them, which knew not the Lord, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.

"And they forsook the Lord God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the Lord to anger" (Judges 2:10,12)

This story stands as a classic example of bad parenting. Parents being entrusted with the spiritual welfare of their children have the responsibility of being guardians of their happiness, the only true happiness that comes from being obedient to one true and living God. Israelites of old failed to provide a safe environment for their children whereby they could continue to worship the God of Israel who would have granted them peace and plenty in the land he had promised them. 

When Joshua and the leaders of Israel who served under him died, the national spirit of Israel died with them. Tribal loyalty replaced national unity and each tribe began to look to its own resources integrating themselves into the Canaanite culture and lifestyle (Old Testament Student Manual p. 251,252). Thus Israelites' story comes to be one of continuous cycle of apostasy and repentance. In times of peace and plenty they would turn to worshiping Canaanite gods and turn only to the God of Israel as the last resort when deliverance from oppression could not be obtained any other way. Suffering under oppression and war, the people would cry to God and He in his unfailing mercy would raise a leader to deliver them (Judges 4:1-3, 6:1,6, 10:6,10, 13:1). His mercy in dealing with the House of Israel is extraordinary to say the least, His eagerness to bring them back to Him by doing for them what no dumb idol could do is spectacular. This can be seen in the story of Gideon who trusted in the Lord fully when called upon to rescue Israel from yet another bondage. His is one of the most intriguing and faith promoting stories of the Old Testament. Gideon started off with 32,000 soldiers in his army which was required to defeat a Midianite army of 130,000 (Judges 8:10). This suggests odds of 4-1. This alone would have sent fear through Gideon but things got worse. By a process of elimination the Lord reduced this army to 300, which made it odds of 450 to 1 (Ted Gibbons, OT Lesson 19, "The Reign of the Judges). What did the Lord intent to do with an army of 300 against 130,000? He showed the Israelites that with God all things are possible, that He is the only god that can be trusted and that possesses power and might but Israel was hard of heart and did not stay on the right track. This mistake led them into bondage to the Philistines for forty years (Judges 13:1). The Book of Judges is one of the most fascinating books in the Old Testament. The story of Gideon is found in chapters 7 and 8 and is similar to the taking of Jericho.

Turning to the false gods of Canaan, the Israelites  destroyed the spiritual and moral fibre of their nation. "Based on the fertility cults led by the god Baal, the Canaanite religion was an extraordinarily immoral form of paganism, including....prostitution, homosexuality, and other orgiastic rites" (Old Testament Student Manual, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, p.252). Salvation comes only in one way, through Jesus Christ, the Jehovah of the Old Testament. Worshiping other gods replaces that belief and suggests that salvation can come through other means: "A person's god is the thing or being in which he trusts and which he believes has the greatest power.  It is the thing to which he looks for whatever salvation he believes is available. The Lord has made it clear in all ages that whenever men place their full trust in such things as other men, nations, treaties, treasuries, precious minerals, armies or armaments, their actions are a form of idolatry because such actions reveal a lack of trust in Jehovah. To be totally free of idolatry one must put complete trust in the true God" (Old Testament Student Manual, p.247,245). 

All of Israel's downfall could have been avoided had the parents walked up to their responsibility of being true guardians of their children's happiness. What can we take from this? We can ask ourselves if the spiritual fiber of our family is intact. Are our homes spiritual havens for our children? Are they places where the spirit can dwell and strengthen those who are in our care? Are we worshiping false gods and inadvertently passing on this false worship to our children? Are we showing our children that the one true, living God is the only one to be trusted? When we truly grasp the idea of trusting God we can understand why the Lord would issue an edict to ancient Israel to destroy all the people and their possessions in an idolatrous city. God did not want them to believe that this land of plenty cultivated by idol worshippers was their source of sustenance: "Not to destroy their goods would be to demonstrate a lack of faith that the Lord would provide. Similarly, if a Latter-day Saint will not tithe, is it not because he centers his trust in worldly things and the system that produces them instead of the providence of the Lord? In that sense, then, the things of the world become a god to him, for he trusts more in them than in God's power. Those who do not pay tithing would likely be shocked to think they were guilty of idolatry just as the ancient Israelites were guilty of idolatry. The form differs, but the sin is the same." (Old Testament Student Manual p. 247). Money is a system of the world. When you lack faith to pay tithing, you are inadvertently having faith in your money instead. Having faith in money therefore, means having faith in the world to provide for you instead of God, the true source of all abundance.

The other side of the coin of being guardians of happiness are children who, despite their righteous parents, squander their free agency. The perfect example of this is Samson, one of the judges in the time period under discussion. A judge during this generally apostate period of Israelite's history was more of a military hero who gave advice and rendered decisions rather than an officer of the judiciary. Samson, born of a barren woman in the tribe of Dan, had the potential to be one of the greatest leaders in Israel since Joshua. Foreordained and chosen by the Lord to be a Nazarite who would conquer Philistines and end Israel's 40 year bondage, his birth announced by an angel (Judges 13:4,5), Samson fell into the chosen category with Isaac, John the Baptist and Jesus himself. In Numbers 6 we learn that a Nazarite was someone who was separate (vss. 2,3,4,5), consecrated (vs 7) and holy (vss. 5,8). It was a covenant entered into with the Lord. A Nazarite could also never cut his hair for the length of his hair was indicative of the length of the vow (Ted Gibbons, OT Lesson #19). Samson was born with tremendous gifts, one of them being a gift of incredible strength. His courageous feats include slaying a young lion with his bare hands (Judges 14), killing 1,000 Philistines with jawbone of an ass (Judges 15), ripping away the doors and posts of Gaza's gate and carrying them 40 miles to Hebron and bringing down the temple of Philistines' god Dagon killing himself and 3000 Philistines (Judges 16). Samson had massive potential but his is a story of self-indulgence, immorality, selfish seeking for revenge and violation of the covenant. Instead of conquering Philistines, he repeatedly joined them and even married one of them. In twenty years of adulthood, Samson never attempted to organize the forces of Israel for their liberation thus failing miserably in fulfilling his life's calling (Judges 13:5).  His life ended up being one of the great tragedies of history. 

Short of physical death, there is no greater pain for a faithful parent than that of a spiritually wayward child. A parent who is on the path to eternal life feels keenly the responsibility of being the guardian of their child's happiness. Someone who is convinced that the ultimate happiness means salvation in God's kingdom wants the same for their offspring. Usually when that offspring rebels, the root of that pain is twofold: 1. the parents personalize the child's bad choices and blame themselves for their parenting skills or lack thereof; and 2. the fear that this child will be eternally lost becomes excruciating. It would not be hard to imagine what Samson's parents went through watching him trade his divine destiny for a 'mass of pottage'. No doubt they wondered where they had gone wrong. Letting go of control and respecting your children's agency to choose for themselves can be the hardest thing asked of parents. It is however, the greatest lesson one can learn and grow to accept, for the plan of salvation itself is based on this principle. Without it there is no growth into godhood. God the Father would give us everything He has, but He cannot give us who He is, that we have to earn for ourselves. Let go we must in our parenting, believing we have done what we could do and entrusting our children's salvation into their care, for the Father has done the same. Having made our salvation our responsibility He watches with great interest as the seeds of godhood take root and we grow into gods we are destined to be. And like a perfect parent, He has not left us alone. Always watchful, always caring and always forgiving and all this made possible because of His Son who died to save us all. May we never find the mass of pottage more enticing than the vow we had made to inherit all the Father has and may we be brought together at the last day to receive that inheritance.