Wasted Son

So today in church we learned about the prodigal son. I don't know what it is about this parable, but I absolutely love it and find so much meaning in it. Echoing my Bishop, I believe that at one point we are each the father, the prodigal son and the other son. We experience deep and profound forgiveness for others, we receive forgiveness from others and we are guilty of judging others when we believe that we are with out sin. That is quite possibly the worst sin there is and one that I know I am guilty of.

Luke 15:18-19, shows the ideals of how to be repentant, "I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants."

He gets the strength to call on his father, confess his sins, confess his unworthiness and asks for just a little more than he already has; he stays humble. This is probably the prime example as to how we approach our father when we need to make amends in our lives.

I love the next part. The father runs to his son. He doesn't wait for him; he doesn't prepare a lecture. He runs because of compassion. At Christ's time, this would be a very unconventional thing for a father to do; He treats his son as an equal and not as a son or a sinner. Yet every time forgiveness is granted, there are others who will find it wrong or stupid that the person forgave another.

And then the father takes it one step further and we understand our Heavenly Father so much better. He gives his son the best robes, rings, shoes, and a calf. These are things that the son probably had wasted away in prior years, yet it seems as if the father does not even realize that. To me he seems to be taking a huge risk giving this to the son that has failed him and has hurt him, yet because he has forgiven completely, he just gives it as he would someone that had never betrayed him. And that is what makes Christ's atonement so amazing. When it is forgiven, it is forgiven and he trusts us to have what we originally had. God is happy and wants to welcome back and give everything to those who had betrayed him

As humans, I want to argue that we too are to forgive completely, but perhaps, in some cases not forget because forgetting may put us in danger. What do you think?

I think this passage also teaches true charity. When the brother speaks, he uses the word 'I' countlessly, yet seems kind of miserable. When the father speaks, he speaks of joy and little of himself. We know at the end of the passage that the prodigal son is no longer prodigal but whole again, and that the father is happy. Yet the son who had been doing everything right becomes the tragedy; after doing the right thing, he becomes prideful and resenting and we don't know what happens afterwards. Of course, the reader almost becomes the other son after judging him for judging his brother and we learn how easy it is to fall short just as he did. The good news with all of this is that no matter what happens to the sons, they can always come back to a loving father who is willing to give to them entirely.