In the Parable of the Prodigal Son (or the Lost Son) (Luke 15:1-31), Jesus talks about the father ordering his servants to slaughter a fat calf in order to hold a feast and celebrate the son’s return (Luke 15:23). Many flesh-greedy people, including Christian priests and preachers, frequently seize upon this verse to justify the killing of innocent creatures of God for food. However, there is good reason to believe that Jesus never intended to approve of flesh-eating by telling this parable.
Firstly, the command, “Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was…lost and is found” (Luke 15:23-24 NIV), is only a line uttered by the father as a character in the parable, not by Jesus nor by God. The father in the parable is just a father very caring about his son, but not necessarily a compassionate vegan caring about animals. In other words, he may be a symbol of God in a certain way but he is NOT the omni-benevolent God per se! And he certainly should not be confused with the storyteller Jesus Christ.
Secondly, consuming the “fattened calf” is simply a kind of metaphor standing for joyfulness and festivity that supposedly, Jesus’ audience was able to understand. This was a parable and no calf was in actuality murdered. Analogously, just because modern people employ idioms like “kill two birds with one stone” doesn’t necessarily mean that they condone such a cruel act (cf. Christian Vegetarian Association 2013)!
In conclusion, the moral lesson of this parable is purely this:- if we confess our mistakes, repent, and return to God’s way, we will be forgiven by Him. The carnivorous feast is merely a figure of speech to describe how warmly God will welcome repentant sinners returning to His bosom, and it should never be taken literally.
Article link: https://www.hkbnews.net/post/the-parable-of-the-prodigal-son-does-not-condone-killing-animals-for-food-by-dr-chapman-chen
References
Christian Vegetarian Association (2013). “Take Heart: Luke 15:23.” Christian Vegetarian.org, Apr. 12. https://christianveg.org/th-20130412-bible.htm
Comments