Though parable of prodigal son is superlative in quality as it graphically picturizes the scientific Law of Cause and Consequence, its conclusion defames God. When the prodigal son returned repentant, his father showed his delight saying: Let us celebrate this by killing a “fattened calf.” (Luke 15:23) Such a concept (let us rejoice by giving maximum pain to another innocent living being) seems to be interpolation for the following reason:
1) Jesus knows every life is precious and every living being cherishes their lives (Mathew 9:13)
2) In the previous chapter, Jesus had already said one can break the Law of Sabbath to save a cow that has fallen into a pit on Sabbath (Luke 14:5).
3) Above all, father in the parable represents God himself who would not say “let us celebrate this by killing a fattened calf” as He had already made it clear ‘killing a bull is equal to killing a man, and is nothing but abomination’ (the root of which carries the notion of terror, horror, repugnance, disgust).—Isaiah 66:3.
On the contrary, when a village girl offered rice pudding to Buddha, he enjoyed it so much that he realized the noble middle path—proper food properly cooked gives energy to one’s brain and solace to his tortured soul—especially so if it is prepared love towards the prospective eater. You may have heard some saying: “the food my mother cooks carries a special taste, and is a delight to my heart’ If one really enjoys the taste and aroma of food while eating it slowly with proper chewing and relishing it, and taking it silently with the person being immersed in the experience, then it allows the other senses to kick in and provides the wholeness of experience, and helps focus the attention on the eating experience—something that forms the part of even the true worship (Compare Mark 12:30). Hence in some cultures eating is considered as part of worship!
Various foods have varying effects on body. Soldiers say certain foods help them to remain in fighting mood. Interestingly, we even have a branch of nutritional genomics—Nutrigenomics—that looks at how different foods may interact with specific genes to modify the risk of certain common diseases. (http://www.nutritionandgenetics.org/). Conversely, certain food can interact with specific genes to strengthen our health—physical and spiritual!
So ignoring all these aspects, how could Jesus put into the mouth of the father in the parable: ‘Let us celebrate this by killing a fattened calf (Luke 15:23)?
