Reflections on the Gospels from a Justice Perspective written for St. Andrew's Episcopal Church by members of the congregation

Friday, October 17, 2014

Luke 15:11-32 - The Prodigal Son

Luke 15: 11-32   The Prodigal Son

Would the prodigal son story sound different if the father in the story were a mother instead? The father’s response to his wastrel son is more than just forgiving; he welcomes his child back with open arms and a joyous heart, showing just how much he had hoped for this moment of reconciliation.This is how our culture tends to imagine mother-love, rather than father-love.It doesn’t seem to be about discipline, obedience or even justice but the irresistible love that ideally is part of both fathers’ and mothers’ relationships with their children. In our culture, such love is often viewed negatively as offering a “bleeding heart” of unearned sympathy for the “worth-less” wastrels of our society.

This is understandable, since such father/mother love is hard on the older brother, who has worked hard to earn respect, love and gratitude for his conscientiousness. He hasn’t broken any rules, hasn’t wasted any of the family’s money, hasn’t made bad choices. He’d like to know that his work matters, and rather than just wanting his share of father/mother love, he wants to see that his goodness makes a difference, that he gets more of this generous love. But he doesn’t. And as a result, his heart does not go out to his brother.

We are reminded here how our sense of righteousness can easily spill over into hard-heartedness toward those who have indeed made bad choices, gotten themselves in trouble, wasted what was freely given to them. Unless they are punished, how can we feel justly treated? Such hard-heartedness, some economists suggest, is what lies behind current austerity politics. Even though debt relief and stimulus spending would actually help economies and households out of the downward economic spiral (since cuts in your spending are cuts in my income and vice versa), many are unable to see such forgiveness and generosity as “fair.”Why should Germany “forgive” Greece or the federal government “forgive” Detroit or a bank rewrite a mortgage at a lower rate? When our own budgets are squeezed, how can we give more to anyone else?

“Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.”This translation of the Lord’s Prayer highlights the way that God’s justice is not “fair” but forgiving.We may feel rewarded for our righteousness if we see our wastrel brothers getting punished, but God reminds us that this perception is mistaken. “It is in giving that we receive and in pardoning that we are pardoned.”Even in the world economy there is a truth in generosity that our self-righteousness may make it hard to see.

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