THE LOVING FATHER!

 

    Today, I want to reflect on the parable of the “Prodigal Son,” which I think of as the parable of the “Loving Father.”

      We join Jesus as he teaches a gathering of people about the ways of God. A father, Jesus said, had two sons. His first-born son was dedicated and responsible (as eldest siblings often are), but his youngest son was impatient, impulsive, and self-indulgent. Well, the younger son, it seems, was bored on the farm and demanded his share of the family estate right away. In Jesus’ time, a request to cash-in and settle-up early, was unthinkable, but for reasons of his own, the father gave this youngest son what he wanted, and the young man left the farm for far-away places, where he squandered his inheritance

on wine, women, and song. We aren’t given details… but we know that things went really bad for the youngest son because he ended up slopping hogs for a gentile master, who paid him next to nothing. We also know that  he was so hungry that the pods which were being fed to the pigs… looked good to him. In short, he had “hit bottom,” and the jolt of hitting bottom brought him to his “right mind.” So, he started toward home, hoping that his father would hire him as a hired hand!

      However, his father had been spending a lot of time waiting for the moment when he would see his son coming home, and when he saw him, he threw protocol to the side and ran to embrace his son! He ran as fast as he could and hugged his youngest son, without any form of judgment or hesitation. In fact, he showered his son with love and decided to throw a party in his honor. Indulgent and foolish young men are a dime a dozen, but unfettered forgiveness and new beginnings are not. Grace- radical grace and not just kindness- is rare and amazing! It is also irritating to rule-abiding and score-keeping people everywhere… and the loving father’s eldest son was no exception! When he arrived home from a day’s work in the field and learned that his father was throwing a party for his no-account brother, the eldest son was enraged! He had worked faithfully his entire life and never once complained. He had given everything he had to his father’s estate and his father had never thrown a party  for him.

      It was all terribly unfair and he refused to have any part in it! He would not attend the party! His father assured him that he loved him too. His His father told him that he had to celebrate because what was lost was found and what was gone had come back home!  Grace doesn’t make sense and it never will. Grace is unearned and it has to be!

      Grace is the only hope we have, but the question for us is this “would we attend the party?” Our son got out on parole early- will you come and celebrate with us? Our unwed daughter has given birth to an interracial baby. Will you come to her Baby Shower? Our son is getting married to a really nice man. We hope you will stop by and dance to the early morning hours.  Are we, pray tell, more like the loving father or the older brother? Amen!