LISTEN: "By this time a lot of men and women of doubtful reputation were hanging around Jesus, listening intently. The Pharisees and religion scholars were not pleased, not at all pleased. They growled, “He takes in sinners and eats meals with them, treating them like old friends.” Jesus then goes on to tell this story Then he said, “There was once a man who had two sons. The younger said to his father, ‘Father, I want right now what’s coming to me.’
“So the father divided the property between them. It wasn’t long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any.
“That brought him to his senses. He said, ‘All those farmhands working for my father sit down to three meals a day, and here I am starving to death. I’m going back to my father. I’ll say to him, Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son. Take me on as a hired hand.’ He got right up and went home to his father.
“When he was still a long way off, his father saw him. His heart pounding, he ran out, embraced him, and kissed him. The son started his speech: ‘Father, I’ve sinned against God, I’ve sinned before you; I don’t deserve to be called your son ever again.’
“But the father wasn’t listening. He was calling to the servants, ‘Quick. Bring a clean set of clothes and dress him. Put the family ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Then get a grain-fed heifer and roast it. We’re going to feast! We’re going to have a wonderful time! My son is here—given up for dead and now alive! Given up for lost and now found!’ And they began to have a wonderful time.
“All this time his older son was out in the field. When the day’s work was done he came in. As he approached the house, he heard the music and dancing. Calling over one of the houseboys, he asked what was going on. He told him, ‘Your brother came home. Your father has ordered a feast—barbecued beef!—because he has him home safe and sound.’
“The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn’t listen. The son said, ‘Look how many years I’ve stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!’
“His father said, ‘Son, you don’t understand. You’re with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours—but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he’s alive! He was lost, and he’s found!’”
CONSIDER: I think this is one of the greatest short stories in the Bible, maybe even in world literature. It's because we are all in this story, whoever we are. It is our human story. We've left our home with God to do it ourselves, and now we're trying to get back home to God. As you read this story, try to discover who you are in the story. I'm going to guess we are all of the characters at one time or another in our life.
Neither son understood their loving father. The older one thought that he had earned his father's love by being an obedient son; doing the work of the family farm. Then there's the younger son who thought he had forever lost the love of his father by abandoning the family farm and living a different lifestyle. However. . . both sons are wrong.
SO WHAT: Neither one of the sons is loved because of what they do or don't do. They are both loved because they are the father's sons and ALWAYS will be. Whether we are sinners or saints, WE ARE LOVED BECAUSE WE ARE GOD'S CHILDREN. God loves us with an unconditional love. No matter who we are. No matter what we have done. We are loved. It's just the way God is. . . unconditional love. . . please hear this. . . there is NOTHING you can do to make God love you more and there is NOTHING you can do to make God love you less. No matter what the world tries to tell you. . . no matter what some other Christians may try to tell you. . . YOU are a beloved child of God, come home and celebrate!
PRAYER: Dear God, help me to read this wonderful story and to ask myself "who am I in this story?" And then help me to accept the unconditional love that can only come from God. Help me to know that I will always be welcome to come home to my God who loves me unconditionally, no matter who I am or what I've done, AMEN
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