Journey to the Cross

Pause

“I don't think anyone, until their soul leaves their body, is past the point of no return.”

Tom Hiddleston, actor

Listen

“Now his older son was in the field. Coming in from the field, he approached the house and heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants and asked what was going on. The servant replied, ‘Your brother has arrived, and your father has slaughtered the fattened calf because he received his son back safe and sound.’ Then the older son was furious and didn’t want to enter in, but his father came out and begged him. He answered his father, ‘Look, I’ve served you all these years, and I never disobeyed your instruction. Yet you’ve never given me as much as a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours returned, after gobbling up your estate on prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him.’ Then his father said, ‘Son, 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. He was lost and is found.’”

Luke 15:25-32

Think

It’s hard to be taken for granted when others are sucking up all the love and attention in the room. In this passage I ache for the older brother who is pouting about his prodigal sibling’s return.

And then this line stops me in my tracks, “everything I have is yours.”

What I hear in those amazing words from a father celebrating a lost son’s return is this: there is enough for all of us. There is enough for me, for you, and for your sibling.

Jesus uses this parable to help us understand that we are all created in God’s image, are beloved children of God, and the most important celebrations are those that mark a return of one of God’s children to God’s family.

It’s not about who gets what and when we get it in terms of wealth on earth. It’s about God’s abundant love for each and every one of us. There is enough love for all of us.

Bronwyn Clark Skov

Pray

Loving God, I pray today that you will help me remember your love for me; that I may celebrate those who return to you, just as you celebrate me. Bless me with grace to share that love as Christ showed us. Amen.

Go

Return to me, says the Lord of heavenly forces, and I will return to you . . .

Zechariah 1:3