The Fatted Calf and Love of the Father

In the parable of the prodigal son, when the son came to himself and returned, the father was filled with joy and treated his son’s return as an occasion to rejoice.  He said to his servants, “Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring hither the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:22).  The father in the story could surely be a representation of our Heavenly Father, who is filled with love towards us and anxiously awaiting our return to Him.  I heard yesterday someone suggest that the fatted calf could then represent the Savior.  The father in the story killed one of his prized possessions as part of his wayward son’s rescue and redemption, and perhaps the slaying of this animal was meant to remind us of the sacrifice of the Father’s beloved Son, who died for the redemption of us all.  We know that in the law of Moses, the sacrifice of animals was indeed meant to represent the great atoning sacrifice of the Savior.  The angel told Adam concerning animal sacrifices, “This thing is a similitude of the sacrifice of the Only Begotten of the Father, which is full of grace and truth” (Moses 5:7).  The sacrficie of the father of the prodigal son to slay a young cow (which could have presumably produced him much more if kept alive) points us to the great love of the Father who “gave his only begotten Son” (John 3:16).

               One of the themes then of this story is the willingness of the father to forgive and be generous towards his sons.  In addition to being an example of our Father in Heaven and how He has great love and mercy towards the children of men, perhaps it is also meant to teach fathers and mothers how we should look upon and love our children.  The generous heart of this father who did not condone sin but readily forgave it when his son came home reminds us of another passage of Luke: “Give, and it shall be given unto you; good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over” (Luke 6:38).  The father gave of his forgiveness and love to both his sons generously, not strictly meted out but in an overflowing manner.  To the first son it was through the immediate love he showed on his return: “But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20).  To the second son, it was the way that he persistently sought to help him forgive and rejoice with the family: “Therefore came his father out, and entreated him….  And he said unto him, Son, thou art ever with me, and all that I have is thine” (Luke 15:28, 31).  The word entreated here perhaps denotes a consistent show of love and yearning for this second son, more than just a one time conversation with him.  He sought to help that second son see of his great love for him too with a heart just as compassionate and concerned as he showed for the first son.  As parents as we seek to raise children, surely this man can be our guide of how to forgive, how to seek reconciliation, how to help our children love and live in harmony one with another.  Too often we measure our forgiveness out too stingily, unwilling to be too accepting and forgiving not unlike that second son.  The father of the prodigal son made no pretense that sin was okay, but his overpowering message was one of love and forgiveness, not condemnation.  As the Savior said, “For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17).  When we teach our own children surely that is the example we are to follow: they must hear our love, and not condemnation, above all else.