Luke 15:11-32 The father welcomes his son
Jesus said, "There was a man who had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.' So he divided his property between them. A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living. When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. But when he came to himself he said, 'How many of my father's hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands."' So he set off and went to his father. 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. Then the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 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!' And they began to celebrate.
"Now his elder son was in the field; and when he came and approached the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the slaves and asked what was going on. He replied, 'Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fatted calf, because he has got him back safe and sound.' Then he became angry and refused to go in. His father came out and began to plead with him. But he answered his father, 'Listen! For all these years I have been working like a slave for you, and I have never disobeyed your command; yet you have never given me even a young goat so that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours came back, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fatted calf for him!' Then the father said to him, 'Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.'"
2 comments:
This wonderful story comes while Jesus is on the way to Jerusalem and is criticized by religious authority for eating with sinners. It's not only a story about repenting and coming to God, but having come, taking God on the road for others, a way of life beautifully described by Fr. Anthony Coniaris: “Being completely present to people may be the greatest kind of love we can give them. For in a strange way, we are giving them our whole attention. Perhaps this is the most real way to value a person as a human being- to really be with him and take him seriously as he is. A single such contact may change the whole direction of a life. So, descend with the mind into the heart to be completely present not only to God but also to people. It is a great act of love."
"The capacity to engage voluntarily with the freedom of another i the exception not the rule in human experience. It is precisely when persons are present with one another in their freedom that the potency of destructive impulses are most powerful... It is precisely when people are oriented to one another in openness that they, if they are sensitive, experieince the most acute awareness of how their most well-intended actions, those they take for exercise of virtue, are frequently either ill-done or done to the other's harm. The closer people are to one another, the more need there is for forgiveness." The Silence of Jesus, James Breech
Post a Comment