Prodigal Son
There is a collection of historic church manuscripts at my church when I shot it, and this is one of them. However it wasn't the manuscript that caught my eye, but rather the sermon in it.
For those that don't know the story, it is about a son who wants his inheritance now, parties it away, and then has nothing and is abandoned by hose he thought friends. Finally starving and alone her decides to go home even if it is just be a servant - instead his father runs to him and throws a party at his return.
I remember a favorite writer sharing this story in an Arabic culture similar to where it was first told, and then getting their impressions of it. They saw two things most of us westerners miss in the tale.
First, by asking for his inheritance now, the son was essentially insulting his father horribly; telling him, "I wish you were dead." Second, by his father running to meet him - well, rich and stately men don't do that. To these arab listeners, the storyteller was saying that the father made a fool of himself in his joy.
Prodigal Son
There is a collection of historic church manuscripts at my church when I shot it, and this is one of them. However it wasn't the manuscript that caught my eye, but rather the sermon in it.
For those that don't know the story, it is about a son who wants his inheritance now, parties it away, and then has nothing and is abandoned by hose he thought friends. Finally starving and alone her decides to go home even if it is just be a servant - instead his father runs to him and throws a party at his return.
I remember a favorite writer sharing this story in an Arabic culture similar to where it was first told, and then getting their impressions of it. They saw two things most of us westerners miss in the tale.
First, by asking for his inheritance now, the son was essentially insulting his father horribly; telling him, "I wish you were dead." Second, by his father running to meet him - well, rich and stately men don't do that. To these arab listeners, the storyteller was saying that the father made a fool of himself in his joy.