Ordinary Time: Thursday, November 26, 2006

The blogging for the next few days will be a little spotty. My daughter has RSV, which is just a sickness for her, but could be very harmful for our two week old son. So, my wife and son have gone to stay with family for a few days, and Sarah and I get to hang out. That is to say that the devotional for the next few days instead of coming early in the morning will come when she is taking nap.

Gospel Lesson

Luke 15:1-2, 11-32

I heard a preacher say once if you can't preach on Easter, then you just can't preach. I think there's something to that. This is one of those parables that if you can't hear God speaking, then you just aren't listening.

We could talk about the fact that younger brother instead of helping his family takes from it. He basically tells his dad he wishes he was dead so that he could go ahead and have his part of the inheritance

We could talk about how the prodigal has to hit rock bottom before he comes to his senses and comes back home. Sometimes we have to go as low as we can before we realize that we need to come back home.

Or, we could talk about that fact that the older brother resents his father's grace in allowing this prodigal son to come home. After all, he had done all the work, he had been faithful, didn't he deserve more than this? Sometimes those of us that have been faithful to God for many years need to be careful not to resent God's grace to those that are new int eh faith.

But, I want to point out one thing that never caught my attention until I read What's So Amazing About Grace by Phillip Yancey. He read this story to folks that know the culture of Jesus day, and asks what stands out in this passages. They all, to man, replay, the fact the the father would run to the son. The said that in that culture, men did not run, it was seen as beneath them and embarrassing.

We serve a God that runs to us when we repent. He doesn't have to. He could justly make us crawl, groveling on our knees to Him. But, He does not. When we repent, He runs to embrace us. He is a God that humbled Himself, through Jesus Christ, to death, even death on a cross.

The irony is that God would be the one that has reason to be prideful, not us. Yet, it is God that humbles himself. Today, the only think keeping you from God is you. Your sins can be forgiven, you can be redeemed. If you will come. God longs to run towards you. The only thing stopping Him is you.