Thursday, November 6, 2014

Luke 15:11-20a
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. 13 “Not long after that, the younger son got
together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living.  14 After he had spent everything, there was a
severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him:
Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’
20 So he got up and went to his father.


Reflection
Our scripture today is the last parable in this section and is the beginning of the story of the prodigal son. The truth is that there are three distinct stories or perspectives in this story, one of which is from the view of the prodigal son.  The youngest son thinks he could do better on his own and sets off into the world as many of us do, until he crashes to earth. But the key here is that by leaving his Father, he essentially removes his place as son and abandons all connection to the Father’s family. This is the experience of many Christians who at some point felt an emptiness or a feeling of being alone and unable to repair our sinfulness on our own. So we like the prodigal son return out of our hunger to the Father. Does the experience of the prodigal son speak to you? Have you felt that spiritual hunger in your life?