“But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him….  But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one – and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.  And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’” – Luke 15: 20, 22-24

The parable Jesus tells in Luke 15: 11-32, is most widely known as the Prodigal Son.   Remember the young son who asks for his inheritance before his father has died and then squanders it in “dissolute living” in a distant country?  You know the story: after blowing all his money, suffering amongst the pigs during a famine, he finally decides to go home to offer to be a servant of his father instead of a son. 

I have always focused on the behavior of the sons.  There is the young son who thought he deserved his father’s wealth, but then realizes he doesn’t even deserve the love of his father.  And then there is the older son who agrees that the younger son does not deserve the love of the father, because he is the responsible one who truly deserves the love and wealth of the father.  (I’d like to pretend I am like the younger son, but really I am just like the older son – I am first born after all).

 Prodigal = recklessly extravagant, lavishly abundant

 They are both wrong, of course.  You cannot deserve or earn the free gift of love and compassion!  You cannot deserve or earn grace, mercy, or forgiveness!  This isn’t a story about a Prodigal son, but about a Prodigal father, who is recklessly extravagant in his love and compassion, lavishly abundant in giving grace, mercy, and forgiveness to his children, both sons and daughters!

 We do not deserve, we cannot earn the love of God given to us through the suffering and death of His only Son, Jesus Christ, on the cross.  We can only receive the gift of the Good News with trembling wonder and thanksgiving, and rejoice, joining in the celebration when God’s sons and daughters return to be embraced by the reckless and costly love of God in Jesus Christ.