Family injustice

不知道你们有没有经历过家庭“不公”？有没有怀疑过父母的初衷？父母真的就是我们所想象的那样偏心吗？

Most of us might experience family injustice in our daily life. Why could my younger sister/brother get presents she/he asked for? Why was he/she allowed to stay up later?... In fact, it’s an universal phenomenon even though it seems embarrassingly trivial from today’s perspective.

The question is whether our parents attach great importance on justice or not. And this question has lingered in my mind over years until I read the story of The Lost Son in Bible.

The story goes like this. A father divided his property to his two sons. The younger spoiled son fled to foreign countries and squanded his wealth with wild life while his elder brother worked diligently at home. In the end the younger son had to returned to his home    . Yet his father treated him with compassion and honor, which made his elder brother irritated and jealous.

How can we understand the father’s reaction to his younger brother? How can we interpret the elder son’s feeling? Some of you may think the elder son was treated unfairly for the dramatic difference between the two. It is insane that the bad was rewarded by large robe, shoes and fatted cows. Yet the father focus on his son’s redemption rather than his wrongdoing.

In reality, this father’s response also applies to our parents. Even if you behaved foolishly, your parents will cherish you when you redeem yourself. Justice is less important than reclamation. Justice means if you love your sheep, your coin, your son or your home, that’s tough-you’ ve got to face the consequences. Reclamation means you go beyond justice to a greater joy than the simple just can ever know.

读了圣经中这个故事我才明白了父母的爱是那样的深沉，那样的伟大。Love may be present where the blind don’t perceive it.