I’m Just So Glad That You Are Home

The central story of today’s scriptures is referred to as the “Prodigal Son.” People were mumbling about Jesus “eating with tax collectors and sinners” and so he tells what is, perhaps, his most famous parable. It’s the story of a father with two sons. The younger son asks for his inheritance and takes off for a few years of reckless living. When the party ends, the young man “comes to his senses” and comes home. His dad runs to greet him and welcomes him home with open arms. The other brother, who has been at his father’s side all this time, hears all the ruckus about his brother’s return. He refuses to be part of the celebration – feeling cheated somehow because he sacrificed so much for his dad and got no fanfare for doing so.

It is such a rich and nuanced story, and books have been written about it. Maybe the best I can do here is highlight a few things that stand out for me that might connect with our lives.

In the story, when the younger son asks for his share of the inheritance, it is such an insult to his father. Imagine saying to a respected, elder relative, “I know you’re going to die someday, and I want my money before you’re dead.” Besides the entitlement and presumptuousness, this is also saying that the person’s material possessions – and not their personhood – is all that matters.

The younger son is reckless and bottoms out. The story doesn’t really indicate that he’s truly sorry, just that the party is over. He has finally sobered up, sees that all of his so-called ‘friends’ have disappeared and now realizes the dire-ness of his circumstances. So he heads home. And while he offers an apology of sorts, he hasn’t taken any other steps to make amends for what he did to his father.

The father is said to have run to greet his son. In the time of Jesus, a person of higher status (like the father) would NEVER run to greet a person of lower status (like the son). The father is willing to endure even more public embarrassment in order to make the son feel welcomed home.

The older son who has been ‘obedient’ all his life also harbors deep resentment in his heart. While he’s done everything that he’s been asked, he has certainly not done it freely or with a spirit of joy. I also can’t imagine that he has no feelings of joy that his brother has returned – alive. But he has buried any other emotions under his current anger. He seemingly hates his brother who looks to be getting off the hook (probably wanting to see him punished and publicly humiliated for his actions) and likely resents the father for not doing that.

Meanwhile, the father has given ‘everything’ to the eldest son and offers him the same love, forgiveness and generosity of spirit that he has given his younger son. The older son, however, doesn’t see it this way.

What do you take away from this story? What stands out to you? Which character do you relate to (or can you see yourself in all 3)?

As I have also mentioned in the past, I always imagine a 4th character in this story – the mother. I think about her process when the son leaves – watching her son go towards a life that she knew is trouble but was not able to stop them. I think about her waiting for word on whether her son is OK or not. I wonder what it was like for her to not have a voice or a say in the conversations that were taking place. I wonder if she was the one who told her husband, “He is coming, run to him!” Or maybe she said to her husband, “Go and talk to our older son!” Maybe she was the one who worked to mediate all of the complex relational dynamics that were evolving. And maybe this is a character that you can relate to as well.

The upshot of this profound story is that God’s love and forgiveness are bigger than we can imagine. Pretty much any line we draw and think it’s ‘inclusive,’ God’s drawn a line that goes further. And there’s no litmus test. If you return, you’re in. And God’s not going to rest until everybody’s in. Period.

This was just too much for some people to accept in Jesus’ day because they could not see how God would even want to spend time with “tax collectors and sinners” let alone welcome them into the kin-dom. To this day, it’s still to much for many folks. and, if we’re honest, at times it may even be too much for us.

For me today’s readings ask deep questions of us about how willing we are to love and forgive and what limits or conditions we might put on it.

Perhaps we want people to ‘really show that they are sorry’ before we forgive them and harbor resentment when they don’t do all of what we think they should do to demonstrate contrition.

Or maybe it challenges us to come clean that we might want an exclusive God (at least some times) who wants to punish and reject all of the people that we can’t stand or see the value in. (Of course I think about Anne Lamott’s famous quote, “’You can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.”

Or perhaps we might want God to reward us somehow for ‘good behavior’ because we’ve obeyed all the rules and done everything right. As if God’s kin-dom were run on merit and not on grace.

Or maybe it challenges us to think about how God has been running towards us to welcome us back and we’ve been the ones not willing to embrace God – unable to believe that God could be that generous or loving.

Just sit with this incredible story today. Let it speak to your heart. Let it shape your actions. Let it change you. Let it welcome you home.