DOES , with full knowledge, full control, and deliberate willfulness, everything possible and conceivable to destroy his relationship with family and father. We spent two weeks in a row on this passage some months ago. The return of the prodigal son is pictured in wonderful, warm detail. A broken, shame-filled son. A father s face rich in compassion.
Hands spread in protecting, embracing way over the slumped, ragged shoulders.
Bystanders not quite sure what to make of the whole thing. Because, here too, it doesn t add up. This morning the words of Jesus issue an invitation to us. An invitation to put away our calculators and balance sheets by which we measure the value of so much in life ourselves included. An invitation to a different way of living.