Please Respond...With Grace!
When Jesus tells the parable of the Prodigal Son I am deeply moved. I think that it is easy to be moved by this parable because of the many points of entry it has for us. We are able to read these words of Christ and find ourselves in it. Or rather we are able to find the parable in our own life. Like many things Jesus says and does, our lives are part of the story.
The parable of the Prodigal Son begins with one son that lets his desires guide his decisions. This leads him to disrespectfully request a premature portion of an inheritance from his father. His father grants this request only for the son to squander it on raucous and reckless living. He soon finds himself in a deep and dark valley of life. The Prodigal Son is distant both physically and spiritually. He has turned his back on everything good in his life, including God.
It is at this point that the Prodigal Son makes a turn from his destructive lifestyle towards a path of reconciliation. Scripture marks this point in his life when it says the Prodigal Son, “came to himself” (Luke 15:17). For me, and I think it may be the same for some of you, this is a profound point at which we enter the parable. At some point in our lives we were journeying down a path and we “came to” ourselves and realized Jesus and all that is good and Holy in the world was in the opposite direction. Yet we “came to” ourselves, just as the Prodigal Son did, and took a first step out of that dark valley and began to walk towards the light of Christ.
Expecting to be received back at home with shame and resentment, the Prodigal Son begins his journey home. As he approaches his familial home he expects anger and bitterness, however that is not what he sees off in the distance. To his surprise there appears to be open arms and rejoicing. Instead of ridicule and disgrace, there is celebration and thanksgiving. The son that disrespected his father returns to find his father with open and loving arms. A feast and celebration is prepared because a son they once thought was dead is alive and has returned home.
The parable of the Prodigal Son speaks to us so deeply because it is easy to find ourselves within it. Perhaps we have been the Prodigal Son at a point in our life. We took what was not rightfully our own or lived life in a way that dishonored God and family. Yet when we “came to” ourselves and turned towards the path of righteousness, grace and love was shown to us.
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In this parable we learn that God receives us with grace and love. Just as the father welcomed home his son with grace and love, so too God is waiting for and prepared to receive us in the same way.
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Maybe we identify with the older brother who responds with jealousy at his younger brother’s jubilant reception. Perhaps we too make good and holy decisions, but our life is still difficult and unrewarded. Or we may find ourselves in the story looking through the eyes of the father. Even when others do us wrong, we can still respond with grace and love. Whatever the case may be we experience the parable of the Prodigal Son because it is a story about life that we are all familiar with in some way.
Since this is a parable that Jesus taught, we know that there is a lesson meant to shape our lives as Christian disciples. It is also literature that teaches us something about God. In this parable we learn that God receives us with grace and love. Just as the father welcomed home his son with grace and love, so too God is waiting for and prepared to receive us in the same way. Even when we have turned away and intentionally followed a path away from God and everything else that is good and Holy in the world, when we come to and take a step on the path headed in the right direction, God is ready and waiting to receive us with open arms of love and grace.
As disciples of Jesus Christ, we ought to go and do likewise. When we respond with grace and love we are living into the example Christ gave us. May grace and love be our foundation and response so that it may be on earth as it is in heaven.
