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Conflict in the story of the story of the prodigal son
The parable of the prodigal son essay
Conflict in the story of the story of the prodigal son
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As we all know Jesus the son of God was chosen by our Father to have a human being here on earth to spread his teachings. Throughout the short life of Jesus, he uses stories as we know them in the Bible as "parables." These stories are scared, meaningful stories that teach us morals to live life the right way, the way God wants us to live, which is a righteous life. These parables that our Lord taught was intended for everyone, even those who could not read or write. He wanted to assure himself that every person would understand these meaningful stories so we can obey and follow. Just like Elizabeth Bishop, a poem writer, who used Luke's parable in her poem called "The Prodigal" as she used key teachings of this parable in her own as a reflection …show more content…
In this story the father of the two sons symbolizes "God" the father of all humanity. As Luke states, "Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son" ( Luke 15). This text represents and proves that the son was going to repent and ask his father for forgiveness, showing that his father was a symbol of God. Furthermore, this "assured" man dispenses for his two sons in which one son wants all his endowment that belongs to him so he can splurge as he pleases. Therefore, this son represents the sinner who doesn't want to have any answerability with God and wants to be on his own. Luke writes, " Father, give me the share of the estate that falls to me"(Luke 15). This gives verification that this son really symbolizes the sinner. Lastly, the young son that left on his wandering, spends all his inheritance, therefore, he had to work feeding pigs to feed himself. He decides to go back home where his father receives him with a grand feast and accepts him with open hands. This symbolizes that the wrongdoer has reached out for his father, and his father represents God, likewise, he forgives him and loves him endlessly. This parable teaches us to repent, forgive and love. Similarity, the poem of Bishop uses this parable and rewrites it in her …show more content…
Jesus' teachings are so immense, that they impact the life of many who are in the wrong path. Both, the parable of Luke, and the poem of Bishop, teaches that anyone can be saved as long as we repent and allow ourselves to accept our Lord into our hearts. Both story and poem provide significance symbolism that allows the reader to reflect on our own lives, especially those who are living through difficult times. Symbolism can have a great impact and a true meaning to an individuals' life. Likewise, I truly believe that Jesus works in many ways to help those who are facing difficult times in there life, those who are lost without guidance, just like Bishop once did but the parable of "The Prodigal Son" gave her life hope and savior, therefore, allowing her to rewrite her own version through her own eyes and
This shows how the little boy looks at his father in complete awe and thinks that he can do no wrong. Christ is God-like too many people and the boy puts his father on the same level as Christ. The Brewery cops could only “watch in drunken disappointment,” could be viewed as all of the Christians who watched as Jesus was freed from the struggle which is known as life on Earth. The last line of the poem, “I searched my father’s hands / for a sign of the miracle” indicates that he looked for the wounds that Jesus was said to have had on his hands from being nailed to the cross. This connects to the theme of racism because the hole in the father's hands would have been the only thing that directly connected him to Christ. Which would have explained why the father was able to tolerate the unjust cruelty that he faced every day due to being a victim of racism because it is said that Jesus was able to get through any and every hardship thrown his way. In the second stanza, the narrator says, “in 1964, I had never tasted beer, / and no one told me about the picket signs.” This can be seen as
The book of Luke, found after the books Matthew and Mark, focuses on the ministry of Jesus Christ but it also gives us a look into His birth and growth in totality. In this chapter we see a historical account of some of the journeys that Christ experienced. It is important to keep in mind that the Bible and all of its books do serve as historical accounts but each book is unique in the fact that they incorporate a theological timeline. The Bible is, conceivably, the most important book that has ever been written. It gives the world eyewitness accounts to historical events that helped not only shaped a region of the world but the whole entire world. It is nearly impossible to go through some formal societal education and have never once read a part of the bible or have heard a story that adapts from the stories within the bible. The bible has helped formed institutions, associations and so much more. By reading the Gospel of Luke we are truly reading what is meant for us to read as Christians. The principal plot in the book of Luke is the life of Jesus Christ, his sacrifice, His ability to beat death and remain perfect as the son of GOD despite being human as well. Jesus is seen as the perfect savior for humans in the book of Luke. Luke not only gives multiple examples of the power of Jesus but also it gives us a look at The Lord’s triumph over temptation. Luke also depicts Jesus as a man/GOD who had a very deep concentration on people and relationships. The book of Luke gives Jesus a loving characteristic but doesn’t shy away from showing that at times Jesus got angry too. Jesus showed a great deal of compassion to the sick, those in pain, the poor, and unambiguously the sinful. Jesus had genuine love for everyone. Throughout this...
Christ is implemented in myriad texts as a source of light in a fallen world and to justify the plot that good shall ultimately triumph evil. Authors create a parallel between the character and Christ in hopes to deepen the sacrifices by emulating Christ 's actions and wisdom. The man represents Christ in many ways such as being in continuous agony. He is always coughing his lungs raw and taking care of the boy over himself. The man is wise and spouts many wise aphorisms such as “You forget what you want to remember and you remember what you want to forget (McCarthy 12).” McCarthy 's world is a disgusting dump with burnt corpses and it’s hard to forget what you have seen there. The man and the boy use a humble mode of transportation all the way up to the coast. Their mode of travel was on foot with a cart which parallels Christ traveling on foot with a pack donkey. Jesus Christ also calls himself the good shepherd, and his followers are his sheep. He does not drive his followers but leads them. The sheep depend on their shepherd for guidance just as the boy depends on his father for survival. The boy will always follow the man as the boy says, “I believe you. I always believe you. I have to (McCarthy 185).” The boy believes that the man will guide him and not abandon him just like how the sheep trust in their shepherd. The most
If we are after the intent of Jesus, we must seek to hear a parable as Jesus’ Palestinian hearers would have it.
Literature has been a medium for getting messages across for centuries. Various authors from Aesop to Shakespeare have used writing as a vehicle to get a message across to their audiences. All of these authors are widely respected and admired for their works. One author who transcends her peers and breaks away from traditional secular teaching is Flannery O’Connor. She is widely known for her usage of Christian themes to get across a message of our worlds need for a savior in Jesus Christ. Her style of writing is unique in that she conveys spiritual messages in everyday, fun-to-read stories. This is important as it creates a medium in which she can spread the gospel in a clever manner. Image books stated, “Her expert craftsmanship, her uncanny ability for characterization, the depth and intensity of her morality-combined in strict discipline-make her one of this generation’s most respected authors” (Books, Image 1). Flannery O’Connor uses various themes to get across a religious message, but the two that have a large impact are grace and suffering. The themes of grace and suffering can be seen in her short stories, “A Good Man Is Hard To Find”, “The River”, and “The Lame Shall Enter First”. The themes of grace and suffering in Flannery O’Connor’s short stories are used to represent Jesus Christ dying on the cross for our sins.
The father has a hard time following rule five, "Help others." The Biblical reasoning for this rule is, "And as ye would that men should do to you, do ye also to them likewise" (King James Version, Luke 6.31). The child continuously wishes to help all people that don’t seem to be bad guys. At one point the man and his son find a man that was struck by lightning the child questions, “Cant we help him? Papa?” (McCarthy 25). The father doesn’t want to give him any help. This conflict is exemplified when the child and father run into a man named "Ely." The man seems weary of the man as shown when it is said, "He looked up the road and down. If this is an ambush he goes first, he said." (McCarthy 83). The child follows the rules better than the man as shown whe...
how to get in to the Kingdom of God, what it is, and what it means to
Jesus was a phenomenal communicator. In fact, Jesus was the greatest communicator to ever live. He used strategies and techniques that were previously unheard of to get his point across in any situation, regardless of the circumstances. What is interesting is that his most common form of speaking was in parables. He would use these analogies to provide a way of application for the gospel in people lives. The parable about the workers in the vineyard is one of many, but is one of the few that were only told in the book of Matthew. Although there a many assumptions as to the reasoning for this, nobody can be sure of the reason why this parable is nowhere to be found in the other gospels. It is especially confusing because in this parable Jesus talks about end times and entrance into heaven; which would have been, and still is, an important subject to any believer.
Since Matthew and Luke are not modern day biographies, they do not follow the standard that we imagine. I think the explanation for the combination of similarities and differences comes from the fact that the Matthew and Luke are styled differently and also have different audiences. Since Matthew and Luke are interpreting history for a specific audience, this would explain why Matthew and Luke contains differing details. For example, Matthew tells of the Wise Men that came to visit Jesus in Matt.2:1-12 while Luke tells of shepherds that came to visit Jesus in Luke 2:8-20. Since Matthew is styled for a Jewish audience, perhaps it is considered more impactful and stunning that wise philosophers came to worship a child. On the other hand,
The Parable of the Unmerciful Servant is an important parable in terms of what Jesus was trying to teach us in the Gospels. Forgiving is one of the biggest and most important teachings of Christianity. Jesus could not have made the message of His parable clearer, that is: “As God has forgiven you, so should you also forgive others in the same way.”
Systematically, the disabled citizens were excluded from religious affairs and functions by Jewish leaders and other religious leaders. Lepers were often required to separate themselves completely from the community at large . This is why so many parables and teachings of Christ focused on the sick and the poor; they were outcast by religion and the rich. Some believe that there are many parables that are like so many folktales and fables. Many fables, especially Greco-Roman Jewish fables are closely parallel with the gospel parables and that perhaps when Jesus spoke the parable he was pulling from the original Egyptian Fable about a rich man and a poor man . Fables typically have a moral to learn and usually end in irony. Mary Beavis states the ...
What are parables of Jesus Christ? The word parable in general may mean the placing of two or more artifacts together to make a comparison or explain an ideology. This same concept could be related to the parables of Jesus Christ the son of God. Some people may choose to define these in various meanings depending on their own understanding. However, in my opinion, a parable is basically an analogy consisting of human circumstances that is accompanied with a spiritual or biblical lesson. Altogether, there are thirty-two parables; which could be found in the books of Mathew, Mark and Luke. Out of all these parables, eighteen of them are found in Luke and ten in Mathew. The eighteen parables found in Luke include, the Lost Coin, the Lost Son, the Unrighteous Steward, the Rich Man and Lazarus, the Unprofitable Servants, the Unrighteous Judge, the Pharisee and Publican, the Pounds, the Two Debtors, the Good Samaritan, the Friend at Midnight, the Rich Fool, the Watchful Servants, the Barren Fig Tree, the Chief Seats, the Great Supper, the Rash Builder, and the Rash King. The ten in Mathew include, the Laborers in the Vineyard, the Two Sons, the Marriage of the King's Son, the Ten Virgins, the Talents, the Tares, the Hidden Treasure, the Pearl of Great Price, the Draw Net, and the Unmerciful Servant. Again, the parables of Jesus Christ could be compared to a class of students with a teacher in the front. Basically Jesus Christ was the teacher and the whole world would be considered as the students. Out of all the parables of Jesus Christ, the main ones I will be talking about will be the parable of the good samaritan, and the parable of the sower.
Regardless of the genre, writers craft is often deeply deeply influenced by parables. In life people are exposed to many choices. Robert Frost summed choices thus, Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference. Some of those differences may come with the company we meet as expressed by Ralph Waldo Emerson, “In my walks, every man I meet is my superior in some way, and in that I learn from him.” Regardless of the media or literature genre, parallel themes can be found within the subtext which are related to parables. Matthew (13:10-11 ESV) said, “And the disciples came and said to Him, ‘Why do You speak to them in parables? He answered and said to them, ‘Because it has been given to you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given.” Close reading techniques and complex life experiences can be used to decipher and interpret difficult parables. Parables are Jesus’ way to help people improve their understanding of abstract concepts. Parables heavily influence our literature and entertainment. However, learners must be cautious as they learn from parables. They preclude their bias from their interpretations in order that Christians learn from
It is about a son who abandons his family to “squander his wealth in wild living” (New International Version, Luke.15.13). After losing all his wealth he recognizes the importance of family and returns home. His father lovingly welcomes him because he will always love his son, regardless of the incident. God loves all His children; even the ones that abandon Him. All He asks of us is to repent from our sins and seek Him with all our hearts. This parable motivates believers to always repent because God is the most merciful and forgiving. Besides teaching about the good news, Jesus also performed miracles that caused many people to believe in his
The parable is about second chances, just as the gardener gave the fig tree a second chance, so is God giving us a second chance to join His Kingdom. This is the over-generosity nature of God’s mercy, and it is an important theme in Luke’s Gospel. The fig tree as being symbolic to humans, the fig tree may be given another year to demonstrate its ability to produce fruit, but if it fails to do so, it will be cut down. It has been supposed by some scholars that there is a concealed significance, that the Kingdom of God has still yet to come, and right now it is recruiting those who trust in the Lord and in