# The Difficult Parables

Вячеслав Александрович Яцко

Some thoughts about the Parables of Jesus that occurred to me when I created songs that represent their content.

A few months ago, in some unthinkable moment, it occurred to me that I should create songs that illustrate the Parables of Jesus. The idea seemed to me good and easy to realized - at that time. "The Parables have been known for almost 2,000 years. Their content is as clear as a baby's tear. Just make rhymes, compose music and sing", - I thought.

Now I understand that I blundered, being as naïve as a newly born lamb. Each parable tells a story, each parable has some idea, each parable teaches a lesson. No problem to represent the content of a story in song lyrics, but it will be empty of content if it doesn't express the idea, if it is not edifying. And here the main problem lies, it turned out difficult to determine the idea, to reveal their edifying character.

Consider the Parable of the Prodigal Son, one of the most well-known parables. The idea it expresses seems simple and straightforward: the God rewards repentant sinners; the younger son repented his sins and was rewarded.

But on reading the parable I found two disputable points. The first one is doubtful sincerity of Prodigal's repentance. All commentators believe that the man's repentance was genuine, but I can't agree with them. The repentance was formal and false. This fact became obvious for me when I analyzed the Prodigal's thoughts and how he decided to return home.

"How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants".

My conclusions are as follows.

1) If the prodigal hadn't fallen into poverty, he wouldn't have repented.

2) He decided to return to his father to get better living conditions.

3) He never thought about the other relatives, about the elder brother who is mentioned in the parable. He thought only about the father because it was he who could improve the Prodigal's living conditions.

4) His repentance was formal and false. Nevertheless, he reached his goal as the father was lad to see him and rewarded him ordering to give him "finest robe and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet and to slaughter the "fatted calf" for a celebratory meal".

Another disputable point is the elder son's behavior who had lived a righteous life, assisting his father, and who had never been properly rewarded. He was angry and outraged.

"These many years do I serve thee, neither transgressed I at any time thy commandment: and yet thou never gavest me a kid, that I might make merry with my friends".

The man's outrage is natural and understandable. He lived obeying all the rules and norms while the younger brother enjoyed himself spending time with harlots, wasting money on delicious food. And when he returns, he gets much greater reward. Apparently, it was unfair to the older son.

The commentators explain that with his outrage this son displayed haughtiness inappropriate for a righteous person. I agree, and can add that he displayed envy, one of the seven deadly sins. The older son was also a sinner, in no way better than his brother.

For me, there are no good characters in the parable. Both sons are sinners, and the father is naïve and confiding. But is that possible? Many commentators think that the father personifies the God. Apparently, The God Almighty and All-Seeing cannot be naïve and confiding.

To account for this fact it is worth remembering that the notion of sin is the cornerstone of Christianity. If there were no sinners there would be no righteous persons, there would be no the God. The God's main function is to reward the righteous and repentant sinners, and to punish the sinners who won't repent. Actually, The God is interested in having repentant sinners to exercise his powers.

These ideas I tried to express in the song that is available for free listening at https://viatcheslavyatsko.bandcamp.com