When did you first hear the parable of the prodigal son? What did you think of it then, and has your understanding of it shifted or changed over the years?

Lost Sons

Luke 15:25-32

Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’ The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’

Where was the older son when his brother returned, and why is that an important detail in the story?

What do the older son’s words reveal about how he viewed himself? What do they reveal about how he viewed his father and his brother?

How do you imagine the older brother wanted his father to respond to his younger brother’s return?

Do you think the older brother would have felt differently if he had known that his brother returned repentant and willing to take the place of a servant?

When We Become Lost

Henri Nouwen, The Return of the Prodigal Son

The more I reflect on the elder son in me, the more I realize how deeply rooted this form of lostness really is and how hard it is to return home from there. Returning home from a lustful escapade seems so much easier than returning home from a cold anger that has rooted itself in the deepest corners of my being. My resentment is not something that can be easily distinguished and dealt with rationally. It is far more pernicious: something that has attached itself to the underside of my virtue. Isn’t it good to be obedient, dutiful, law-abiding, hardworking, and self-sacrificing? And still it seems that my resentments and complaints are mysteriously tied to such praiseworthy attitudes. This connection often makes me despair. At the very moment I want to speak or act out of my most generous self, I get caught in anger or resentment. And it seems that just as I want to be most selfless, I find myself obsessed about being loved. Just when I do my utmost to accomplish a task well, I find myself questioning why others do not give themselves as I do. Just when I think I am capable of overcoming my temptations, I feel envy toward those who gave in to theirs. It seems that wherever my virtuous self is, there also is the resentful complainer.

How does chasing pleasure, as the younger son did, create distance between us and God the Father?

How does earning approval through obedient duty create distance between us and God the Father?

How can practicing gratitude and generosity lessen that distance and open us up to our need for God’s grace and mercy?

When Others Become Lost

Luke 6:35-37

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful.

Anne Lamott, Hallelujah Anyway: Rediscovering Mercy

All it takes is one safe person to listen, to hear, to noodge us to start over and not give up.

 

How is God like the father in the Luke 15 parable?

Given the mercy and grace God’s offered us, why is it still so difficult to be merciful and gracious toward others when they wrong us?

What did Jesus promise to people who love their enemies? How is mercy the key to living as he commands in Luke 6:35-37?