In the fifteenth chapter of Saint Luke’s Gospel, we read of the Prodigal Son. A young man who, like Adam in the Garden of Eden, rebelled against his father. The “far country” the rebellious young man traveled to is representative of a life in exile from God. After riotous living and “free will” gone wild, famine strikes the far land and the young Jewish man is so destitute that he “joined himself to a citizen of that country” who then sent him “into his fields to feed swine.” Considering the Jewish revulsion at having any contact with swine, this could rightly be called “Jewish Skid Row.”
Once the young man comes to his senses, he returns to his father’s land and home. Before he even has the opportunity to admit his sin and to be treated as one of his father’s servants, the lad’s father “ran” while his son “was still a great way off.” Such a display on the part of the father was considered “unseemly” in Jewish culture (an older man running). Yet, the father was so taken with love for his son that, unseemly or not, he ran to his son.
This is what God does with each one of us whenever we are willing to repent and turn back to God the Father.
Unfortunately, we live in an age where God is the furthest thing from many people’s minds and certainly in their actions toward others. In Wisconsin this past week, teachers and other public servants were protesting changes that their employers want made — and their employers are the residents of Wisconsin who pay the taxes that employ the public “servants.” In their perverted outcry, the union members have gone so far as to insist that collective bargaining is a “basic human right.”
Not only does the Bible fail to address this assertion by the union, but there is absolutely nothing in our Declaration of Independence or Constitution that could be construed in such a far-fetched manner. Thus, we see the perverseness of this present age played out once again. Compounding the affront to the citizens in Wisconsin (and elsewhere) is the clear violations of the seventh and eighth Commandments of God. Not only have the public servants wasted time at work (they didn’t show up, thereby “stealing” from the taxpayers), they have gone so far as to distribute “fake” sick notes, thereby bearing false witness. That we entrust our children to such debased individuals is a frightening thought indeed.
The unethical and ungodly conduct of Wisconsin’s public servants should give us a basis for a renewed fervor in praying for those who are so far from God they don’t even realize that their actions have consequences. Their actions sow seeds of rebellion in our children, promote greedy attitudes, and are selfish and self-centered. States with collective bargaining civil servants are on the verge of bankruptcy. Yet, despite the millions of unemployed and underemployed Americans, the “servants” are demanding the status quo of holding a gun to the taxpayers’ heads via strikes, threats, intimidation, defiance of God and a hateful attitude toward their “employers.” And if you think these “civil” servants are in any way acting “civil,” then you need to look at the protest pictures that no mainstream media will cover — not even Fox News (Warning: Graphic Language).
So what will Wisconsin do? Hopefully the governor and the Republicans will remain stalwart in their drive to curtail collective bargaining (not “end,” as the protesters duplicitously allege). Otherwise the taxpayers of Wisconsin will be feeding greedy “swine-like” public servants for years to come.
