By Father Casey

This weekend we will hear again one of the most beloved of all of Jesus’ stories – the Parable of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32). It is one of the most enduring and important passages in Scripture, because it captures so poignantly the central claims of the Gospel. There is wideness in God’s mercy, as the old hymn says, and Jesus uses a fictional family saga to show just how wide.

Jesus ends the drama with a confrontation between the prodigal’s jealous brother and their father. It’s possible to interpret his tantrum as Jesus throwing shade on the self-righteous Pharisees, who whispered loudly about Jesus’ relationships with sinners. Which is to say, we could make this a story about how “other people” don’t understand the grace and mercy of God. But doing that would mean we’re letting ourselves off the hook too easily.

Right before he told this story, Jesus taught about seeking after lost things: shepherds who leave 99 sheep to seek one who is lost; women who turn their houses upside down to find a single lost coin.

Which has me wondering, what if the older brother’s mistake isn’t just his petty resentment of his repentant sibling…what if his mistake is that he never went looking for that sibling to help him find his way home?

Because the father was clearly desperate for his lost son. It’s not a stretch to imagine the father waiting by the front door day after day, always ready to make that mad dash down Main Street to gather him up. The older son no doubt saw his father’s grief and yearning, and yet, day after day, all that older son could do was worry about himself and nurse his grudge.

We all have a unique role to play in God’s economy of grace, and it is never to sit idly by, wondering why some people seem to be getting something we don’t, or why some people still haven’t yet figured out what we learned long ago. We are called to seek out and find those who are still wandering, or haven’t figured out how to get unlost, and bring them home. Because our families – the whole human family, the family of our church here at Transfiguration, and our own personal families – are not complete without them. God is desperate to find them, desperate for them resume their place at the table. And it may be up to us to do the seeking that will help lead them back.

Who are the lost sheep and coins in your life? Who are the ones who wandered away and haven’t yet found their way home? Rather than waiting for them to come to their senses, rather than quietly nursing old grudges and resentments, maybe it’s time to follow in Jesus’ footsteps and venture out to find them.

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