Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Grace to you and peace\nfrom God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our\nGospel reading is one that many of you know well, but that is not to say that\nwe all agree on its meaning. To most of us it is known as the Parable of the Prodigal\nSon, but some would rather it be called the Parable of the Loving Father. For\nyou see, it is not the son\u2019s wasteful actions that stand out as something\nspecial, but rather the loving actions of the father. We all of us know stories\nof boys, girls, men and women who have wandered off from their homes with all\ntheir worth with them. Many of these people, after a time, find themselves\ndestitute and alone. Of these some of them are wrapped up in addictions (a growing\nand worrisome problem for our country today). Others got themselves pulled into\none scheme or another and some overestimate their abilities and so find the\nworld a much harder place than they expected. Many return home, not necessarily\nto stay, but to get a good meal, obtain further resources and go back out on\ntheir own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
think of those hooked on drugs, those\nentangled with the law, those addicted to gambling, those obsessed with their\nbelief that they know better than anyone else and those wrapped up in get rich quick\nschemes. Most of these boys,\ngirls, men and women are not bad or evil people, many are misguided, some are irresponsible\nand yet others may be a little self-obsessed, but not really evil. Though\naddicts often act in very bad ways seeking to feed their habits, their intent\nis not evil, the addiction I would say is. All of these people, are a lot like\nthe son who took a half of his father\u2019s assets and spent it all, or lost it all\nand so found himself hungry and doing one of the most degrading jobs, just to\nstay alive. Life is tough, even for those with the best of intentions and with\nthe most thought out plans, but for those who act impulsively and foolishly,\nlife is very, very difficult.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus,\nas a student of life and with the wisdom of God understood the pit-falls\nsuffered by God\u2019s children. But there was something else that he wanted us to\nlearn. What Jesus knew even better, was the love of God the Father. What Jesus\nwas explaining in the Parable of the Prodigal Son (as we call it) was that God,\nGod the Father is constantly reaching out to his children in love, no matter\nhow impetuous, no matter how foolish they are, just like the father in the\nparable. All throughout the history of Israel, when God\u2019s beloved people would\nfind themselves in trouble, whether by their own doing or by an outside evil,\nGod provided \u201cJudges\u201d (heroes like Samson and Deborah) to lead and save them and\nlater he provided them with kings (like Saul and David) to protect and rule\nthem and also prophets (like Elijah, and Isaiah) to lead Israel away from sin\nand back to God, back within God\u2019s protective and loving fold. God would reach\nout to his people before they were even aware of their wrong doing and their need\nfor God\u2019s help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus,\nhimself, was God\u2019s way, of again, reaching out to the People of God, and then\nalso to the world. Israel was no longer listening to God\u2019s prophets and\nIsrael\u2019s kings had ceased following God\u2019s will. God the Father was doing a new\nthing! Jesus, God\u2019s Son came into the world to speak as a prophet, to rule the\nhearts of those who would follow him like a king and to heroically give up his\nlife for the world, as did the judge Samson. But Jesus came not to provide things\nfor God\u2019s people, not to provide political freedom and prosperity, but to earn\nthe forgiveness of sins and the salvation for all who would believe. In Jesus,\nmuch as the Father of the parable ran to greet his son, got him a robe, a ring\nand some sandals, as the son was asking to be forgiven, Jesus came to us to\ngive us what we need most, forgiveness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In\nthe Parable of the Prodigal Son, it is the Father\u2019s love that stands out to us,\ngiving us joy but also causing feelings of injustice and anger for some. The\nolder brother, you will remember, was not happy with his father\u2019s generosity;\nhe felt it unjust; his younger brother did not deserve such love; he (the older\nbrother) deserved all of his father\u2019s love! People have not changed! In today\u2019s\nworld, those who recognize their sin, their acts of foolishness, their\ninsensitivity and selfishness, appreciate the love expressed by the father of\nthe parable, even if they feel they do not deserve it. On the other hand, those\nwho see their selves as righteous, who excuse in themselves for their own sin,\nfoolishness, insensitivity and their own selfishness, who see themselves as did\nthe older brother of the parable, see only injustice in the love and\nforgiveness of the father. Jesus\u2019 message is often lost by the self-assessed\nrighteous.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This\nparable is all about love, not law and justice. Jesus\u2019 purpose, like that of\nthe father in the parable, actually the purpose of our Father in heaven, is not\nthat of justice, but of love, self-sacrificing love. Jesus did not suffer and\ndie upon the cross for the purpose of justice. There was not the least amount\nof justice in that. God, the Father\u2019s love, Jesus\u2019 love alone can explain that\nkind of sacrifice. Is there a message for us? Are we asked to follow the\nfather\u2019s example of love? Neither the older brother who had such contempt for\nhis younger brother and anger for his father, or the younger brother who acted\nso irresponsibly, are to be seen as examples for us to follow. The Parable of\nthe Prodigal Son or the Parable of the Loving Father does not highlight for us\nthe acts of either son. Love\/forgiveness is the message for us to carry home. I\npray that we always prove ourselves generous in our forgiveness and love for\nour children, our siblings and all those around us. I pray that the Father\u2019s\nand Jesus\u2019 love serve as our examples for life.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luke 15:1-3, 11b-32 Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ Our Gospel reading is one that many of you know well, but that is not to say that we all agree on its meaning. To most of us it is known as the Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-225","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons-and-services"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=225"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":226,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/225\/revisions\/226"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=225"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=225"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stpeterschestersprings.org\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=225"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}