Two Lost Sons

This Sunday we heard the story of the prodigal son from Father Tony Harvey, who came back to celebrate Eucharist for us. His message was that there are two lost sons, and not just one.

The reconciliation between the father and his youngest son is the clearest instance of forgiveness in the story. He led a life of debauchery, realized it, felt sorry for it, and returned in humility. He was lost but now is found, was dead, but now alive.

During Saturday's Bible study, Stéphane talked about the price the father had to pay in forgiving his son. He was humiliated in his community when the son asked for his property, and again when he accepted back the son who had challenged his patriarchy. Giving forgiveness came at a high cost, but he did it anyway, without hesitating. How much greater is the price paid for us! God so loved the world that he gave His only Son, that through faith in him we may have eternal life!

In the story of this younger son, it's easy for us to see a parable of extraordinary conversion and forgiveness -- by experiencing God, people's entire lives are radically changed. It's what we envision when we think about receiving Jesus' unfailing love in the sacrifice on the Cross.

But the firstborn son is equally lost, even though he's done the right thing all his life. He is angry that his father forgives his brother -- angry that his father gives things to his brother he feels he hasn't received.

The firstborn son has forgotten that everything his father has is his: he's forgotten that he's already received the lion's share. He, too, needs to be reconciled with the father.

Most of us are like the firstborn son: we haven't done anything spectacularly wrong, and we can remind ourselves of everything we've done right. And this is what makes it so dangerous for us -- it's hard to see ourselves as needing forgiveness when our separation from God is invisible; it's hard to accept forgiveness if we don't know how to admit we've done anything wrong.

We all need to experience God's healing love and accept that love in our hearts. This, of course, is easier said than done. It's difficult because we have to admit to ourselves, to God, and to one another that we are separated from God by sin.

By his death on the Cross, Jesus paid our overwhelming debt. The same debt is owed by each and every one of us, regardless of who we are or the lives we have led. And that same Cross is our reconciliation with God, if we have the courage to embrace it.

How do you think we as a community can best exercises a ministry of reconciliation?