Reflections for Youth - Grace for a Prodigal son.
The story of the Prodigal Son is probably one of the most well known of all the parables Jesus told. One of our scripture passages for the week, it's told in the Gospel of Luke as the last of three parables about loss and redemption.
(The parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Lost Coin the other two that are told before it.)
Jesus tell the parables after the Pharisees and other religious leaders are "giving him the business" for welcoming and eating with people they consider sinners.
Read Luke 15: 11-32
Here's my short version:
A father has two sons. The younger son asks the father for his inheritance, and the father gives it to him. The younger son than goes off and blows it all on parties and other "extravagant" things. He eventually has nothing left and has to take a job feeding pigs. He is broke, hungry, and decides that he wants to go back home but worries about what his father will do and if he would be welcome. He plans on begging his father to accept him back as a servant. He's mind pretty blown when he returns home and his father doesn't give him a hard time. The father is so happy and excited that his son has returned that he throws a party.
Enter the older brother. The older brother that has always played by the rules and spent his time and life serving his father. When he sees how his younger brother is being welcomed home he flips our and refuses to participate in the festivities. The story ends with the father reminding the older son that one day he will inherit everything. He reminds him that they should celebrate the younger brother's return because he was lost - but now is found.
This story for me is also an illustration of grace. The definition of grace is "an unmerited favor." The grace of God is that God gives us all the love and the forgiveness that we don't deserve. The father shows an example of this grace welcoming home the son - when he probably doesn't deserve it. I know that I am in need of God's grace single day.
Here are some things to think about this week?
(The parable of the Lost Sheep and the parable of the Lost Coin the other two that are told before it.)
Jesus tell the parables after the Pharisees and other religious leaders are "giving him the business" for welcoming and eating with people they consider sinners.
Read Luke 15: 11-32
Here's my short version:
A father has two sons. The younger son asks the father for his inheritance, and the father gives it to him. The younger son than goes off and blows it all on parties and other "extravagant" things. He eventually has nothing left and has to take a job feeding pigs. He is broke, hungry, and decides that he wants to go back home but worries about what his father will do and if he would be welcome. He plans on begging his father to accept him back as a servant. He's mind pretty blown when he returns home and his father doesn't give him a hard time. The father is so happy and excited that his son has returned that he throws a party.
Enter the older brother. The older brother that has always played by the rules and spent his time and life serving his father. When he sees how his younger brother is being welcomed home he flips our and refuses to participate in the festivities. The story ends with the father reminding the older son that one day he will inherit everything. He reminds him that they should celebrate the younger brother's return because he was lost - but now is found.
Where do you see yourself in this story?
When you read it, do you identify more strongly with one character than another?
When you read it, do you identify more strongly with one character than another?
The way we engage and understand this story is a matter of perspective. We all enter scripture from different points and I think this is one story I can say that at different times- I have felt like all the people in the story. I love that I am reminded of so many different messages from this one story. Jesus spent time with the “bad people” offering hope for all people to change and grow and make mistakes. This story reminds me that God’s forgiveness is ready and waiting and we are always welcomed home.
Scripture meets us where we are. Sometimes we are the younger son. Sometimes we are the father. Sometimes we are the frustrated brother.
The Harper Collins Bible commentary edited by James L. Mays says this:
“The father had two sons, loved two sons, went out to two sons. God is both/and, not an either/or God: to embrace sinners in not to reject Pharisees.”
Forgiveness is layered, hard, challenging, and all the things. I am so grateful that whether I am feeling like the younger son- or the brother - or the father- God’s love will always welcome me home. This story for me is also an illustration of grace. The definition of grace is "an unmerited favor." The grace of God is that God gives us all the love and the forgiveness that we don't deserve. The father shows an example of this grace welcoming home the son - when he probably doesn't deserve it. I know that I am in need of God's grace single day.
Here are some things to think about this week?
- How are the relationships in the story shaped by grace?
- How is God’s grace evident in your life?
- How does this grace shape your relationships?
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