THE PRODICAL SON--BEHIND THE SCENES

A certain father had two sons. Adam, the younger son, was created from the dust of the earth and placed in the Garden of Eden with permission to eat of all the trees there except for one: the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. He was told explicitly: “If you eat of this tree you will surly die.”

One day Adam said in his heart, “My wife has already eaten of this tree. She’s not dead, matter of fact she says it is good . . . and I can’t live without her.” And so he ate and immediately died. Just like God said he would. Just like a flower that is cut and placed in a vase with water. Separated from its root, it is dead, even though it is still green for the moment.

And so the father watched as His youngest son lived in the pigpen of his choice, where there were murders and rapes and adulteries and drunkenness. Soon his heart was filled with adultery, hate, and fear. Anger became his way of living and one day he murdered another man and was sentenced to death. He was lost and undone, blind and crippled.

And unable to come back to the Father on his own.

But there was another Son, Emanuel, an elder brother who was from everlasting to everlasting. This Son was always with the Father and all things the Father had was His. He was one with the Father, the beginning and the end, the first and the last. He was a life giving Spirit, before all things and creator of all things. And because the Father so loved the youngest son, he sent Emanuel to the pigpen to talk some sense into the younger son, Adam:

“Adam, be washed from your filth and be clean. You must leave this place and return to your Father.”
“But I don’t know the way.”
“I am the way, the truth and the life,” Emanuel said. “It is only by me that you can return home to your Father.”
“But I’m guilty of murder . . . and I’m bankrupt . . . and I smell like a pig . . .”
“I will die in your place, but you must leave at once and never come back. You will find your Father waiting for you with open arms and a change of clothes . . . and clean water. Tell him that I will be home in three days.”

Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. ~John 14:6