23 For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. 24 For,
“All people are like grass,
and all their glory is like the flowers of the field;
the grass withers and the flowers fall,
25 but the word of the Lord endures forever.”[a]
And this is the word that was preached to you.
Reflection
I was reminded of a story in the Bible that could be a good Hollywood movie, while I was walking in the woods. The story had a little bit of everything – wealth, greed, sex, jealousy – but most importantly love – true love, which our Bible verse says endures forever.
And that got me thinking about what the father said, in what I believe has been incorrectly labeled, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son”. In my Bible, the New International Version, it’s called “The Parable of the Lost Son.” A little better, but still wrong. It’s found in Luke 15. Jesus talked about lost things in Luke 15. The first is “The Parable of the Lost Sheep. And the second is “The Parable of the Lost Coin.” But I believe the third should be called “The Parable of the Loving Father.”
Their storylines were similar with great rejoicing after the owner found the sheep and the coin. Both tell the story of how the owners of those objects searched high and low for the sheep and the coin.
The third parable is a little different. The younger son was definitely lost. The father was very wealthy, and the young son asked for his share of his inheritance. The father complied with his son’s request. Soon he left for a distant land. While there, he lost everything. He spent his fortune on women and wild living. Making matters worse, a bad famine hit that country and he had nothing. He got a job feeding pigs. To the Jews, pigs were unclean animals. But he was so needy he longed to eat the pods he was feeding the pigs.
“But no one gave him anything,” Jesus said.
The younger son had hit rock bottom. Fortunately, he knew it. Jesus said he “came to his senses.” And when he did, he realized that his father’s servants had “food to spare.” So, he wrote an apology to his father in his mind, likely rehearsing as he made the long journey home.
While the father didn’t go searching for his son, he often looked for him. It’s not that the father wasn’t aware of the plight of his son, he was. The family had heard reports of his exploits. After the younger son returned the older son said to his father, “When this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!”
The older son was furious, but more on him later. The father had probably gone to a high point each day and scanned the horizon, longing for the day his younger son came to his senses and returned home. When he saw his son returning barefoot and in tattered clothes and quite defeated, he was filled with compassion, and he ran to him. Old men didn’t but it didn’t matter how undignified he looked; he wanted to be with his son.
The son wasn’t even able to complete his apology before the father hushed him and told the servant to put a ring on his finger, sandals on his feet and to prepare a great ceremony. The father accepted the son in full standing.
And that’s what irked the older son, who had been working in the fields. He heard the partying as he returned home and found out from a servant what had happened.
In many ways, the older son was as lost as the younger one. Probably more so. When his father came to bring him to the party he refused and said, “Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.” But your son went off to be with prostitutes.
Like the younger son, the older one probably never appreciated the relationship he had with his father.
How many in our churches today feel the same way? Dutiful and working out their religion but never really having a relationship with God. Just like the older son. But even here, the father reached out to pull him and us in.
We do have a loving father who goes to great lengths to show us his love, most importantly, the Resurrection.
God’s love endures forever.
by Rick Reed
For Pondering and Prayer
How do you feel about God’s love. Is it just duty or blessing? For the longest time I probably leaned on the side of duty. But I’m doing better. His love does endure forever.
Prayer: All loving God, did you have Jesus tell this parable just for me? Help me to learn all about your love, every minute of every day. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
