Pastor's Trumpet Blast
“…But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him and kissed him"
(Luke 15:20)
The season of Lent has had many hard or difficult teachings and texts; items that we might not want to hear but probably need to hear. This Sunday the 4th Sunday in Lent give us a bit of a reprieve by focusing on what is often call “the parable of the Prodigal Son.’ Part of the text is listed above from Luke 15. It is a very famous portion of Scripture that shows the compassionate heart of God. Just as in Advent, where we have the Sunday of Joy with the pink candle that helps us remember joy in the midst of our penitential preparation, half way through Lent we get a message that is a little softer with regard to this season of repentance.
Although the parable is often called the ‘parable of the Prodigal Son,’ it might actually be more appropriately entitled the ‘parable of the Prodigal Father.’ The word ‘prodigal’ means reckless. Even though we see the reckless acts of the son in the parable, the most reckless aspect is the reckless love of the father. The father runs, hugs and kisses the pig filth-stained face and neck of his son (pigs being an unclean animal to the Jews). A son who has run off and spent his portion of the inheritance and is basically telling his Dad that he can’t wait for his Dad to die, so give me my inheritance now. The father, who is an image of God’s love for us, not only kisses his filthy son, but has shoes, a robe and his signet ring given to the young man – when the boy returns home, he will appear as his father. Then the Dad throws a party for the son and kills the fatted calf.
The Pharisees of Jesus’ day told a similar story, but in their story, the father disowns the son. Jesus by telling this story is contrasting the Pharisee version and saying this is what my Dad is like. My Father in heaven has prodigal love – reckless love! My Father loves people who don’t deserve it. That the love of the Father is based on His magnanimous love and His goodness, and not the recipient. This is good news to us all! So may the text from Luke 15 remind you of God’s mighty love for you this Lenten season!
In His Love, Pastor Andy
