9-12-19 - Lost Boys

(You can listen to this reflection here.)

The gospel passage assigned for Sunday ends with the lost coin, but Jesus told one more “lost and found” tale in response to the grumbling about his dinner companion, this one set in the more complex realm of human relationships. We can only scratch the surface here, but let’s take a look.

The story may be familiar to you – a man had two sons. The younger, unlikely to inherit the property, decides it’s time to take off and make his fortune elsewhere. He needs some capital, and doesn’t want to wait for the old man to kick the bucket before he gets his nest egg, so he asks his father for his share now. Put another way,“If the timing were better, you’d already be dead, but you’re not – so give me my money; I’m out of here.” We might tell the young man to “Get lost!” Not this father. He loves him so much, he agrees, reducing his own assets considerably.

The younger son leaves, goes to a far country, squanders his inheritance living “high off the hog,” until that region is visited by famine. Once he’s out of cash, his party buddies abandon him, and he ends up living “low with the pigs,” as a swineherd, without so much as pig food to eat. In a beautiful phrase, Jesus says, “He came to himself,” and remembers where he came from, how even the servants in his father’s house had plenty to eat. He resolves to go home and ask for a job – he knows he has sinned, and forfeited his son-ship, but maybe he can be hired as a servant in his father's house.

Before he arrives, his father sees him coming, and rushes out to meet him on the road. The son cannot even get out his carefully rehearsed speech. The father kisses and embraces him, puts a robe around his shoulders, a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet – symbols of his restored status as a son and heir. He already got and lost his inheritance – now he’s an heir again. The father commands the servants to make a feast to celebrate his son’s return; soon music and the smell of roasting veal fill the air. That’s where the older brother comes into the story – we’ll get to him tomorrow.

Today, let’s find ourselves in the story of the younger son and the father. Have you ever had a time when you “wandered far in a land that is waste?,” as another translation puts it. 

What brought you back? (Are you back?)

Have you experienced the need for forgiveness, and found it? In a person? In God? Both? 

Some of us are still waiting to fully take in the forgiveness we know by faith is given us.

Forgiveness doesn’t come naturally, especially if we're used to a system of blaming and judging. To forgive means to “give for,” to pay ourselves what another owes us, what they already took. When we forgive, we release the debt owed to us. In a sense, we pay twice. Forgiveness is costly.

Jesus says: Look how lavish with his love God is! Though we wander off to things we believe will give us pleasure, or security, or power, or control, God greets us when we return, even before we get there. God extends us grace over and over and over again. This father in the story looks like a chump in certain lights – taken advantage of. But no. He gives with his eyes wide open, and will give again.

God gives with a heart wide open, offering us forgiveness, love and grace, unearned and unearnable, unmeasured and immeasurable. Can we say, "Yes" today?

To receive Water Daily by email each morning, subscribe here. Sunday’s readings are  here.