the younger son said to his father,
‘Father give me the share of your estate that should come to me.’
Many of us may not or no longer recognize ourselves in the younger son, having walked with Jesus since we were young, or having spent many years with him since our conversion. Yet it seems at least probable that most of us still embody this transgression of the younger son in smaller and less obvious ways. We too sometimes seek the blessings of the Father without reference to our relationship with him. We desire benefits for ourselves, benefits that we can take, and consume, so we imagine, far from the sight of God.
After a few days, the younger son collected all his belongings
and set off to a distant country
where he squandered his inheritance on a life of dissipation.
We can recognize that we are falling into this trap, that we are squandering the blessings of the Father, by the way that doing so leaves us isolated and empty, having spent everything but still unfulfilled.
When he had freely spent everything,
a severe famine struck that country,
and he found himself in dire need.
What are those things in our lives which seem as though they should be good and positive, but which, by trying to keep them for us alone, we have exhausted, and by them been ourselves in turn exhausted? No blessing given by the Lord is meant to be carried into a distant land where we can have it all to ourselves. All is meant to be at the service of the family and made to contribute to the feast. Music, dancing, and the fattened calf all only have their meaning in the context of this celebration, together with all the members of God's family.
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.
I no longer deserve to be called your son;
treat me as you would treat one of your hired workers.”’
When we try to subvert the divine inheritance to our own purposes we become something less than we are meant to be. From royal sons we fall to the rank of merchants struggling to provide for ourselves, and as merchants quickly find ourselves bankrupt.
God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ,
not counting their trespasses against them
Fortunately the Father's heart is not hardened or vengeful by the ways in which we turn away from him. Rather, he decided to not count these trespasses against us so that he might reconcile us to himself in Christ. This is also the heart that characterizes the father of the prodigal, that moves him to ignore propriety and run to the son as soon as he sees him in the distance.
While he was still a long way off,
his father caught sight of him, and was filled with compassion.
He ran to his son, embraced him and kissed him.
When we are reconciled to the Father he immediately embraces us and restores our true identity as his royal sons and daughters. The baptismal robes that we have tarnished are restored and the ring of covenant fidelity is placed on our finger. This is the righteousness of Christ himself, given to us as a gift of mercy.
‘Quickly bring the finest robe and put it on him;
put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.
It was only because Christ was made to be sin for us that we are now so free to return to him after our transgressions. What we must recognize is how great is the invitation to be reconciled. It is not simply a matter of an acquittal in court. It is instead a full incorporation into the sonship of Christ, sharing in his royal identity and partaking of the feast he himself has provided for his family.
Take the fattened calf and slaughter it.
Then let us celebrate with a feast,
because this son of mine was dead, and has come to life again;
he was lost, and has been found.’
When we remember that our blessings come from God and are meant to be offered back to him in thanksgiving we learn to leave those distant lands where we have been trying to satisfy ourselves and to return to the family table as the ultimate source of our joy and fulfillment. This applies whether we have been wandering at a distance, but even also if we have remained close but closed to sharing a feast with our father.
‘My son, you are here with me always;
everything I have is yours.
Have we failed to recognize that everything that the Father has is already ours, that, for instance, the joy of a sinner returning to him can be our joy as well? Or are we instead like this older brother, close, but still desiring to have the blessings of the father but alone and apart from him? Whichever son we have embodied before, the invitation is clear. We can finally return from the desert to the promised land where produce is abundant. Let us return to the Father by the path Christ made available. Let us enter into the feast!
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
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