The Tale of the Prodigal Son (Interpretation)

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We shall not cease exploring And the end of our exploration Shall be to return to the place where we started And know it for the first time. -- T.S. Eliot

The story of the Prodigal Son is the story of each of us. It is your story and mine. The prodigal son is heir to a great estate, along with his brother. He asks for his share, gets it, and goes wandering off from his father’s rich estate. Eventually, the prodigal son runs out of money and returns home. His father throws a banquet for him, much to the consternation of the other brother, who has been at his father’s estate, tending to the land, the whole time. The father declares his love for both brothers. It has been said that you can’t step in the same river twice. This is because the river continually flows, and by the time you step in again, even at the same spot, the water is different. The water you stepped in before has flowed downstream. So it is with returning home. We all play a game, in effect. It is a little like a game of baseball. You begin at a place called home, then you go on a journey with the ultimate objective of returning home. But when we do, the water has flowed downstream. God’s love for us is new each moment. We cannot repeat the experience, only enjoy the banquet newly laid out for us, for “It is the Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.” In this way, each of us is the Prodigal Son. We believe we have left the Kingdom, only to return home to abundance and love. But in reality, it is not possible to separate ourselves from God. God is Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Omnipresent. Like the diffraction of white light when it passes through a prism, we are a rainbow of faces of God. That is why the banquet table is spread, in honor of our recognition of the Truth of who we really are, expressions of the Life of God, each unique and individual, yet each connected and part of the whole Universe, which is the body of God. When we try to wander away from God’s house, we get lost and we bring ourselves trouble – strife, disease, and other forms of misery. It is only by returning to attunement, to recognition of the fact that we live always in the house of the Father, that we claim our rightful abundance and the feast is laid before us. It is then that we most fully live in god’s grace. It is then that we most fully please God, for by recognizing our Oneness with God, claiming our power, and declaring our word that I can fulfill the purpose for which god chose to express as me. And that is what I am here to do.