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Home Luke 15:31-32 NRSVue

Luke 15:31-32 NRSVue

31Then the father said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. 32But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.’ ”

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition (NRSVUE)

“Copyright © 2021 National Council of Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.”

Some thoughts on this scripture

Reflection
The Pharisees gave the name People of the Land to Jews who did not keep the Law. They would not trust them, do business or eat with them. So they were scandalised that Jesus would spend time with such sinners.

Reflection
In reply Jesus challenges their picture of an intolerant, exclusive God, and substitutes the image of the shepherd: /When you meet him on some high moor, sleepless, far-sighted, weather-beaten, armed, leaning on his staff and looking out over his scattered sheep, you understand why Christ took him as the type of self-sacrifice./ This is the Lord I know, who never gives up hope in me.

Reflection
Notice the compassionate welcome of the father for the prodigal son; no condemnation, no long confession, just the joy at welcoming him home. The words to describe the father are mercy, compassion and joy. The same words describe God for you and for me, especially when we need strength or forgiveness when we feel we have let God down. God loves us most when we love ourselves least. God is nearest when we are most in need.

Reflection
Would you really leave your ninety-nine sheep to find one, and run the risk that the ninety-nine would be stolen? Would I leave ninety banknotes on the table to search for the one missing, and run the risk of losing everything? There's something about this story that Jesus loses himself in loving us, that God gives everything of the Divinity for us humans. God offers love in Jesus; and God is happy when we open our hearts in our love to God's knock of love on our door. Prayer is the opening of the door of our whole personalities in love to God.

Reflection
We probably know this story well. It has been called the best short story ever written. It is more about the love of the father than about the sin of the son. It is about the celebration of a loved one's return to God and love. Nowhere is he called to repentance or conversion - it's almost as if this will happen in the atmosphere of love and forgiveness.

Reflection
One of the most powerful ways to learn about love is in being loved, about forgiveness is in being forgiven.