Thus, on one occasion Jesus tells a story which is so lifelike in every
touch that we may accept it, without doubt, as less a parable than an
incident. A father has two sons, one of whom is industrious and
dutiful, the other wayward and rebellious. The wayward son finally
casts off all pretense of filial obedience, goes into a far country,
and wastes his substance in riotous living. Here we have one of the
saddest of all problems in human relationship, for presently the
disgraced son comes home a beggar. The elder brother who represents
the average social view, has no doubt whatever as to what should be
done. He is offended that the disgraced son should come home at all;
he would have thought better of him if he had hidden his shame in the
country that had witnessed it. Probably his sense of pride and
respectability is offended more than his love of virtue, though he
characteristically gives his jealous anger the illusion of morality.
This, I say, is the average social view. There are few things more
cruel than affronted respectability. The elder brother is an eminently
respectable person, totally unacquainted with wayward passions, and his
only feeling for his brother is disdain.
Jesus tells the story, however, in such a way as to discredit the
average social view.
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