The Prodigal Son and the Importance of Authenticity

"to be authentic means that an individual's actions are consistent with their beliefs and desires in spite of external pressure"

In his book “Blink,” Malcom Gladwell recounts the story of the “Getty Kouros.”

In 1984 the J.Paul Getty museum unveiled its latest acquisition, a two thousand year old marble statue of a pattern known as “Kouros.” A Kouros depicts a young man, probably an athlete, standing straight up, one foot forward and his arms hanging at his sides. When the museum was approached to purchase the statue in 1983, an exhaustive 14 month investigation and examination was launched to determine its authenticity.

Finally the statue was deemed authentic and the Getty paid nearly 10 million dollars to purchase the antiquity. It was unveiled in 1984 with great flourish. The New York Times even featured it with a front page story.

Then the problems started. Experts in the field took one look at the statue and felt something was off. They couldn't quite articulate what it was, it just didn't feel right. As more and more experts weighed in, the preponderance of opinion was that the statue was a fake. The provenance the seller provided to the museum began to unravel. Postmarks, dates, stamps, and bank accounts didn't line up with historical records. Ultimately it was determined that the statue most closely resembled the work of a known forger working in Rome in the early 1980s. The statue was beautiful but it was not authentic.

We hear the term “authentic” quite a bit these days. In the new digital age of marketing, people are wary of things, and people, being too slick and polished. What we crave is for people to be authentic, genuine and original.

In philosophical terms to be authentic means that an individual's actions are consistent with their beliefs and desires in spite of external pressure.

In the parable of the prodigal son we are told of the younger heir and his wasteful spending of his inheritance. The word prodigal means to be recklessly extravagant, and the younger son is certainly that. He squanders his fortune and almost looses his life before finally realizing that he would be better off as the least of his father’s servants, and decides to return home.

Perhaps the younger son had lost the sense of his own authenticity. He was too much swayed by a popular idea of what a young man-of-means should be and how he should act. He had forgotten who he was.

God never ceases to call us to discover who we truly are. Each of us has a personal, unique vocation. If we fail to live up to it, if we fail to be “authentic” that vocation will be lost to the world. Are we too much worried about what the world expects us to be, all the while ignoring who God expects us to be? Like the father in the parable, God is always there waiting and hoping for our return to Him. And when we do, when we realize that our lives are meaningless without Him, He is there to welcome us back with kisses and embraces, to robe us with grace and shod us in sandals that betoken our status as His adopted children.

Pax Vobiscum
4th Sunday in Lent

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© Lawrence Klimecki

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Deacon Lawrence draws on ancient Christian tradition to create new contemporary art that seeks to connect the physical and the spiritual.. For more information on original art, prints and commissions, Please visit www.DeaconLawrence.org 

Lawrence Klimecki, MSA, is a deacon in the Diocese of Sacramento. He is a public speaker, writer, and artist, reflecting on the intersection of art and faith