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Church Of The Good Shepherd |
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Priest’s Sermon |
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Church Of The Good Shepherd |
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Fr. Merritt Harrison, Priest Cell phone 1-617-512-2894 |
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The Parable of the Loving Father Today’s parable is the longest in the Bible – and the most quoted. More popularly named the parable of the prodigal son, it has preoccupied and perplexed the thoughts and works of countless religious and secular scholars, writers, and even artists. Why? It doesn’t seem so complex. The meaning doesn’t seem so obscure on the face of it. The domestic scene it describes may even be familiar to some of us: the return to the fold of a beloved family member who has wandered off for a while. His family greets him with conflicting emotions. Some feel joy at his return; some feel relief that he is safe; some feel jealousy that all seems forgiven and even forgotten; some harshly judge his profligate ways; some feel it is unfair that they are not celebrated for staying and remaining faithful to their family obligations. But as you can expect, this parable is not quite so simple. There is more to be considered. The eldest son’s error was in judging his brother’s return and his father’s reaction of pure joy – no reproaches, no recriminations for the trouble and grief the younger son had caused. Who among us would not take that same very human point of view when confronted with a similar situation that seems so obviously unfair? Somehow the Prodigal Son’s return to his father’s favor is just too easy. It is hard for us to accept that the consequences for behaving badly should be so apparently light. We believe that a forgiving nature is one which we are called to cultivate in a life of faith and to demonstrate in our relationships with others. But somehow we can’t help but feel that the situation described in this parable smacks of what we might call “cheap grace.” It conflicts with our definitely all-too-human notion that we need to earn good fortune, and certainly in some measure deserve God’s favor. (1) |