“HE
WAS LOST AND HAS BEEN FOUND”
My Brothers in
Christ,
The
parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke is one of the most recognizable
stories in Sacred Scripture. It is a story of love, redemption,
family, and compassion. The story can be examined in so many
different ways and each has its own message that Christ is trying to
teach us. We are all encouraged to read this story often and it apply
it to our own lives and to situations that we all may be challenged
with when we interact with other people. Our faith is about love and
forgiveness. We cannot deny forgiveness and we cannot withhold our
love from anyone. That is not who we are. That is also not what God
wants us to do. This is very easy to say but it can be very
challenging. We all have been confronted with situations where we
find it difficult to forgive even when we have previously sought
forgiveness. There are many people who have wronged us in the past
and continue to do so. There are some individuals who do not ask for
forgiveness and our love. How do we approach them?
To understand our
faith we must never forget that its foundation is that of LOVE. It is
an unconditional love that first originated from God and fully
manifested itself in our creation and in the crucifixion of Our Lord
Jesus Christ. Remember, Jesus died for everyone regardless if they
asked for it or not. There were no preconditions before the
crucifixion. There were no expectations. Jesus offered everything so
that he could gain nothing while we we received all the benefits from
it. A selfless, beautiful act of total love for his creation. If he
did this for us then our forgiveness and love can be no less when we
are given the opportunity to exercise it. We cannot have our own
preconditions regarding forgiveness and love. We must look at every
situation and experience in our live as an opportunity to give to
others what Christ has given us.
It is very easy to
be like the eldest son in the parable. He becomes angered by his
father's generosity and the behavior of his brother. I feel that we
all can relate to him. All people tend to judge. It is part of our
fallen nature. It must be remembered what Jesus said about judging
and how he commanded us not to do it; that there was only one judge
and that is the Father. These are the worlds of our savior and our
God. They cannot be taken lightly or for granted. We will indeed be
judged with the same scrutiny that we exercise mercy. One of the most
memorable lines in the parable is when the father responds to the
angry son,
“My
son, you are here with me always; everything I have is yours. But now
we must celebrate and rejoice, because your brother was dead and has
come to life again; he was lost and has been found.”
We cannot be jealous
or judgmental. God loves us all. We must look upon those whose
behavior or actions fall short of expectations with pity, mercy, and
love. We must help them find their way home so they can become one
with our savior. We are commissioned to love everyone equally and
with the same compassion regardless of who they are. As Jesus reminds
us: it is easy to love a friend. It is much harder to love an enemy.
In the end, we have no enemies. There are only lost sheep waiting to
be found. And if they refuse to hear the shepherd's call, that does
not mean the calling ends. It only gets louder. It they wander
farther, then the shepherd looks for them with more earnest. Never
forget that we were Lost Sheep once and that at any time we could
become lost again. And if we do, isn't it comforting to know that our
father will be waiting on the hill for our return?
Deacon Tom
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