{"id":4747,"date":"2025-07-15T08:32:17","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:32:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/js1cd06kre.onrocket.site\/?p=4747"},"modified":"2025-07-15T08:32:17","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T12:32:17","slug":"the-generous-father","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/2025\/07\/15\/the-generous-father\/","title":{"rendered":"The Generous Father"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0<\/em>click here<\/a>

There\u2019s more than one way to sabotage a relationship with God.

Jesus\u2019 parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32) is the story of an irresponsible kid who utterly deep-sixes his connection with his father.

He arrogantly runs off with a huge chunk of the family\u2019s net worth.\u00a0

Basically the young man says, \u201cDad, you\u2019re no good to me alive.\u00a0So let\u2019s go ahead and pretend you\u2019re dead. I want my inheritance \u2013 right now<\/em>.\u201d A message like that would seriously wound any parent-child relationship in any culture. But in the ancient Middle East, where family was everything, this amounted to an unforgivable disgrace.

The kid promptly blows his entire stash. Suddenly, his VISA card is rejected.\u00a0He has no 401(k).\u00a0All of the props in his life are gone.

What can he do?\u00a0

He decides to stagger home.\u00a0No doubt he expects to receive the kind of public beating he richly deserves.\u00a0But at least his father might let him have access to a bunk in the barn.

That\u2019s when his dad (who represents God the Father) provides the ultimate surprise.\u00a0

Instead of drowning his son in a storm surge of shame, the father runs to embrace him.\u00a0He restores this child who is incapable of healing himself.\u00a0Then he announces, \u201cIt\u2019s party time, everyone.\u00a0Let\u2019s celebrate this good news!\u201d The dramatic reunion is captured above in Rembrandt\u2019s famous painting, The Return of the Prodigal, <\/em>which hangs in the Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia.

But who\u2019s that figure lurking in the background, just over the father\u2019s left shoulder?

That\u2019s the older brother. Many Bible commentators believe that Jesus\u2019 parable wasn\u2019t nearly so much about the irresponsible kid who ran away as about the hyper-responsible son who stayed home.

After the father lavishes grace on junior, he turns to his firstborn:\u00a0\u201cSomething wonderful is happening here, and you need to be part of it!\u201d\u00a0He beckons his older son to plunge into the family celebration.

But big brother is having none of it.

He snaps at his father, \u201cLook!\u00a0All these years I\u2019ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders\u201d (Luke 15:29).\u00a0 \u00a0

Like countless religious people over the past twenty centuries, he is proud of his spiritual track record.\u00a0He\u2019s not a screw-up.\u00a0Why should he welcome back his loser brother, who cost the family a fortune?\u00a0Speaking to his father in verse 30 he says, \u201cBut when this son of yours<\/u><\/em>\u2026\u201d In other words:\u00a0Dad, this kid belongs to you.\u00a0He\u2019s no relation or responsibility of mine.

In general terms, there are two ways to subvert a relationship with God. You can be \u201cvery bad,\u201d like the younger son. Or you can aim to be \u201cvery good,\u201d like his older brother. Both accomplish the tragedy of spiritual estrangement.

Church people have historically turned their guns on those who seem to be very bad. Sermons warn parishioners not to compromise their morals. We must not go off the deep end behaviorally. If a prodigal actually sticks his head back into the sanctuary, he or she should be greeted warily. Grace may be an interesting idea \u2013 theoretically, at least \u2013 but there\u2019s no need to go overboard.

It\u2019s easy to see why so many religious people side with the older brother. Churches turn out to be perfect hiding places for those who are committed to being \u201cgood.\u201d

You can sing in the choir, memorize Bible verses, and make sure your name never appears in the local police blotter \u2013 all the while sighing, \u201cGod has every reason to be proud of me,\u201d even while nurturing attitudes that are light years away from what God is actually thinking and feeling.

In verse 32, the father in Jesus\u2019 story gently turns the tables. He says to his older son, \u201cWe had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours<\/u><\/em> was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.\u201d\u00a0

That\u2019s God\u2019s call to each one of us.\u00a0

We need to claim each other.\u00a0We need to say, concerning other people \u2013 no matter what kind of mess they have made of their lives \u2013 \u201cthis sister of mine<\/u><\/em>; this brother of ours<\/u><\/em>.\u201d

It\u2019s clear in Jesus\u2019 parable that both brothers are in desperate need of the father\u2019s grace \u2013 not just the one who ran away, but the one who stayed home and clings to his Sunday School perfect attendance pin.

If we find ourselves thinking, \u201cI wonder which of these two sons I tend to be,\u201d the answer, clearly, is both.\u00a0

All of us flee God in matters both large and small.\u00a0And there is also (deeply ingrained within each of us) something twisted that makes us want to stand back and hope that while our names will appear on the guest list for God\u2019s heavenly feast, those other (undeserving) people will have to stay home and settle for TV dinners.

What\u2019s really interesting about Jesus\u2019 story is that it doesn\u2019t have an ending.\u00a0

It just hangs there in mid-air.\u00a0

The father is left standing outdoors, just beyond the music and laughter of the celebration, pleading with his older son to come join the party.\u00a0

It\u2019s as if Jesus himself is appealing directly to us:

\u201cMy Father is generous, more generous than you can possibly imagine.

\u201cSo how about you?\u00a0Will you choose to put on your<\/em> heart what my Father has on his<\/em> heart?\u201d

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To listen to today’s reflection as a podcast,\u00a0click here There\u2019s more than one way to sabotage a relationship with God. Jesus\u2019 parable of the lost son (Luke 15:11-32) is the story of an irresponsible kid who utterly deep-sixes his connection with his father. He arrogantly runs off with a huge chunk of the family\u2019s net worth.\u00a0 Basically the young man… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[101,177,472],"class_list":["post-4747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-grace","tag-parables","tag-prodigal-son"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4747"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4749,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4747\/revisions\/4749"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glennsreflections.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}