Luke 15:20 While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and
was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms
around him and kissed him.
The son in this story, often called the Prodigal Son, knew about rejection. He rejected everything his family stood for in order to explore life in not such healthy ways. By the time he was through with his rebellion and going through all of his resources, he knew he was worthy of rejection by his father and everyone else. He was ready for that when he came home... but where else would he go? There was at least food and someone who knew him.
But his father ran to him in love, relief, and thanksgiving that he was back. This is what redemption and reconciliation look like. This is an extreme example, but we do this exercise every day that we are in relationships with others.
We may be stuck in the rejection part as we go into judgement of our neighbor, our spouse, our parents, our children, our church friends, and co-workers. We slip into judgement so easily, we are probably not even aware when it first happens. But there is a difference in discerning what we should reject in our friends’ behaviors, and rejecting our friends for their behaviors. Too quickly they often become objects of our desire to feel some justification and need to be superior about ourselves.
But Jesus calls us out. What we see in others is more often than not who we are in some form or another. God tells us to look at the small thing that bothers us in others, and compare it to the huge thing that we know, openly or secretly, about ourselves. No goody-two shoes allowed.
But the wonderful thing is that God already knows about us. It is safe to face whatever small or large issues we have to face in our past or our today. We are already redeemed and can be reconciled now. Thanks be to God for God’s amazing love we can claim as our own.
The Rev. Fran Peel
Retired Minister
Presbyterian Church USA
The son in this story, often called the Prodigal Son, knew about rejection. He rejected everything his family stood for in order to explore life in not such healthy ways. By the time he was through with his rebellion and going through all of his resources, he knew he was worthy of rejection by his father and everyone else. He was ready for that when he came home... but where else would he go? There was at least food and someone who knew him.
But his father ran to him in love, relief, and thanksgiving that he was back. This is what redemption and reconciliation look like. This is an extreme example, but we do this exercise every day that we are in relationships with others.
We may be stuck in the rejection part as we go into judgement of our neighbor, our spouse, our parents, our children, our church friends, and co-workers. We slip into judgement so easily, we are probably not even aware when it first happens. But there is a difference in discerning what we should reject in our friends’ behaviors, and rejecting our friends for their behaviors. Too quickly they often become objects of our desire to feel some justification and need to be superior about ourselves.
But Jesus calls us out. What we see in others is more often than not who we are in some form or another. God tells us to look at the small thing that bothers us in others, and compare it to the huge thing that we know, openly or secretly, about ourselves. No goody-two shoes allowed.
But the wonderful thing is that God already knows about us. It is safe to face whatever small or large issues we have to face in our past or our today. We are already redeemed and can be reconciled now. Thanks be to God for God’s amazing love we can claim as our own.
The Rev. Fran Peel
Retired Minister
Presbyterian Church USA
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