Saturday in the Second Week

Micah 7:14-15, 18-20; Psalm 103:1-4(5-8)9-12; Luke 15:11-32

Oh, I need to hear this story this week - especially after yesterday’s Gospel.  But I know many people who hate this parable, because God is so “unfair.”  And it’s true: God is outrageously unfair.  Does God really love (insert your nemesis’ name here) as much as me?  Is God “especially fond” of my enemies, as the God of The Shack suggests?  Don’t right and wrong, good and bad, mean anything to God?

Notice that the father in this parable does not excuse the younger son’s behavior.  He forgives him.  Forgiving doesn’t make a bad act OK; it simply releases the parties from being locked in pain.  The older brother remains locked in pain, in the midst of a party, because he would rather be right than happy.

On another level, this parable continues to challenge me.  My story has been that I sinned, I turned away from God, but when I returned God took me back.  God is gracious and merciful - but doesn’t have to be.  God might turn into the God of wrath, and I might deserve it.  So I continue to crawl back and say, “I am not worthy,” so I never really take in God’s delight at my return.

But God has another story.  In that story, grace and mercy are just who God is.  The God of wrath is a human construction, mirroring our fears and (in many cases) our families of origin.  When we live with the story of the God of wrath we are tempted to hide, or conform from fear rather than transform through love.

God is beyond fair.  God is not in the counting game or the measuring game.  God is love.  God is waiting to save us from self-accusation, as well as the accusations we throw at others.  We are invited to a party, if we will only accept.

How do we reconcile this God with the God of yesterday’s parable?  

When we turn away from God, we experience “hell.”  Then, we blame God and God’s wrath for that separation.  Our egos say that God did this to us, cast us out, but the truth is that we cast ourselves out.  I believe that those who were “cast out” are still welcome if they will but return.  There is no expiration date on God’s love.  Neither life nor death can separate us from the love of God.  Only our stubborn refusal can do that.

Come to the party!