So I have been sick with the flu for the past couple of days, which means staying in bed, doing pretty much nothing. Now for those of you who know me, this isn't something I tend to do often, if at all. I'm a person who loves to constantly be doing things; organizing events, being with friends, doing things for others, so if someone tells me I'm sick, I'm gonna go crazy! Tonight I went over to my Catholic Campus Ministry on campus to have my weekly bible study with my amazing group of girls. I was still run down from having the flu so I hadn't been over there all day. When I walked in the door, all my friends greeted me with open arms (well as open as you want to embrace a sick person) and asked how I was doing, if I needed anything, and so on. I was greeted with notes, letters, and soup from some of my best friends. I had only been gone for a couple of days, yet I was received with such love and open arms, I wondered, why would I ever want to leave?
My bible study tonight looked over one of my all time favorite paraboles, the prodigial son (Luke 15:11-32). One of my greatest and funniest memories of this parabole goes back to when I was a junior in high school at my third workcamp. We went to North Carolina and the theme for the week was based on the story of the prodigial son. Every night at workcamp we had what was called program where we would all get together as a camp, do praise and worship and then listen to what the theme of the day was based on what the theme of the week was. So before we would listen to the Emcee talk about the theme, the camp would show videos to get all the workcampers excited to hear about the theme. This year they decided to have a fake reailty show called, "Meet the Prodigials" where they would have interviews with all the family members and follower them around and see what their reactions were. As cheesy as it was, it put the story in a way that we could physicaly see what was happening and really start to feel the impact of how the father loved his younger son, no matter how far he strayed.
When we read Luke 15:11-32 we find that Jesus is telling this story to the Phariesses, because they have asked Him why is He associating himself with sinners all the time. Jesus tells the parabole; a younger son goes to his father askes for his inheritance and then leaves to live a life of lavish sin. He then looses everything and lives with the pigs. The son finally comes to his senses and returns home to ask forgiveness of his father. The father sees his son in the distance and runs out to meet him. He greets him and welcomes him back with open arms, slaughters the best calf for him, and throws him a party because he was lost and know has been found. Meanwhile, the older son is jealous because in his eyes he has been nothing but a loyal servant to his father, having never once disobeyed him. The father then tells him that all that he has is his, but we must celebrate the return of the younger son. Then the parabole just ends.
I never thought of the ending before, how it just ends right there, nothing more. It's like one of our favorite tv shows that they leave you with a cliff hanger right as the seasons takes a break and the next episode won't be back for another two months. So why the ending? Think about who Jesus was comparing the the characters to in His story: the younger son is the sinner/tax collecters, the older son is the Pharisees, and the father is God/Jesus. While the younger son went off an sinned, he "came to his senese" and returned back to his father, who saw him in the distance, ran to him, and welcomed him home with a party. No matter how much we sin, when we finally cometo our senese, God will always be waiting for us with open arms to welcome us back to his kingdom. As for the older son, he was already in his father's good graces, having not disobeyed, but only saw himself as a servant, never as a son. The Pharisees let pride get in their way, that they know so much that they will never do wrong and are eagarly searching for their reward now. The father then addresses the older son as "My son" to emphasize that he is first and foremost his son, not his servant. Jesus then leaves the parabole ending open so the Pharisees will write their own ending to the story, so that they may grow closer to God, but on their own means.
What character are we in this story? Are we the younger son; one who has strayed from the church and are starting to realize that we are in the wrong, are we coming to our senses and are starting to come back whether it be by going to mass every week, giving 10 minutes a day to prayer, or saying the rosary more? Are we the older son; where we have a good relationship with God but we forget that we aren't servants, that we are brothers and sisters, sons and daughters and to not search for a reward, but to be selfless in our actions? Or are we the father; has someone we known gone astray from the church and we have to stand and wait to see them in the distance, and when they do will we open our arms and our hearts to openly and lovingly accept them into our lives and our faith?
I know I was so blessed to be welcomed back home into the ministry tonight by my bible study and my friends (who are also one in the same), and I hadn't even done anything wrong to them. While the story of the prodigial son is always focusing on the son, it's focus is really on the father, how God not only welcomes us back home with open arms when we sin, but we need to do as well when one of our own brothers or sisers comes home as well.
Just as God always welcomes us home, let us welcome each other home, from sin, sickness, and everything inbetween.
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