In Luke 15, the Pharisees and scribes are seething with suspicion and envy. The problem? Jesus is hanging out with sinners \u2013 welcoming them with kindness, dining with them, and curiously getting to know them. The Pharisees feel a conviction that those sinners need to know the truth! How can they stop sinning if we don\u2019t tell them clearly the difference between right and wrong?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus responds by telling them\nthree stories. God the Father seeks out the lost sheep, seeks out the lost\ncoin, and seeks out his lost sons. In each story God\u2019s desire is not to scold\nor to punish, but to pursue what had been lost, to embrace with delight, to\nreconcile, and to restore. In each story, God\u2019s deepest desire is to celebrate the\nheavenly wedding feast with all his scattered children. He wants all of us at\nthe table, where we can celebrate the one-flesh union between his own Son and\nall those human beings who dare to desire so much delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The younger son (the \u201cprodigal\u201d) comes to his senses and begins to tell the fuller truth to himself \u2013 not just about the legal rules he has violated, but about how much harm he has caused in his relationships. He has sinned against heaven. He has sinned against his good father. He rises and returns to the house of his father.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As much as the son desires to return, the father\u2019s desire is infinitely greater. He sees his son from afar, rushes out to meet him, and embraces him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Here is where the Pharisees and\nscribes have it so wrong. The Father\u2019s embrace comes first. In his eternal love\nand kindness, he eagerly seeks us out. He embraces us with delight \u2013 while we\nare yet sinners! Full conversion will come in due time \u2013 gradually, and always\nin a way that keeps inviting us to come further up and further into the infinite\nvastness and intensity of his delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we are not secure in the Father\u2019s embrace, there is no way we will keep choosing our journey of conversion. If we are like the younger son, we will (sooner or later) return to the familiar smallness and squalor of old and familiar behaviors that cause harm to self and others. If we believe ourselves to be unlovable, and to be lacking in dignity, it\u2019s only a matter of time before we start behaving that way!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If we are like the older son (or the Pharisees or the scribes), we will self-righteously cling to \u201cthe truth\u201d \u2013 which is really just a list of propositions that allow us to feel good enough about ourselves. If we can control and manage our behaviors, we can style ourselves to be “good” and not like those other people who disregard the truth. But what we are calling \u201cthe truth\u201d is only a very partial glimpse of the living God. Without the relationship, it becomes a caricature and a distortion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yes, morality matters. Yes, moral relativism is a problem and a threat. When each person gets to define for himself or herself what is true, good, or beautiful, then innocent people will indeed suffer! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the answer is not the answer\nof the scribes and Pharisees. It is not the answer of the elder son. They are\nfixating on the rules while ignoring the covenantal relationship that is the\nfoundation for all those rules! Jesus teaches us that every single law hinges\nupon the two great commandments of loving God and loving neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This past spring, I was chaplain\nat a priest retreat at the John Paul II Healing Center. Bob Schuchts asked us\nto consider what the experience of the younger son would have been like if he\nreturned home and was greeted, not with his father\u2019s embrace, but by his older\nbrother.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What a question! And it\u2019s not an\nabstract question. In our church families, heartbroken humans emerge, month\nafter month. Desire is awakening in their hearts, even though their lives are a\nmess. They are trying to find their way back to the house of the Father. And\nwhat do they encounter here? The Father\u2019s embrace and an invitation into deeper\nrelationship? Or a checklist of expectations for how they are to behave if they\nwant to belong to our club?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Truth-telling is important, but I find that many of us Christians today (like those Pharisees and scribes) are more interested in comparing, categorizing, and condemning. We want to tell \u201cthe truth\u201d about particular moral issues while ignoring the deeper and fuller truth about who God is and who we are as human beings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
God tells the truth with kindness, never with contempt. His pursuit of us and his embrace of us communicate to us the Truth of our dignity and our destiny. He reminds us of what we are capable, and emboldens us in our desire. THEN we begin to grow and mature and bear fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The contempt of the older son is a symptom of his underlying shame. I\u2019ve learned to watch for that connection. Whenever contempt for human poverty shows up \u2013 whether it\u2019s the poverty of \u201cthose people\u201d or my own poverty \u2013 it\u2019s a symptom of shame. It\u2019s a symptom of seeking to earn love by performance rather than receive it as gift. It\u2019s a symptom that we may not truly believe the amazing and foundational Truth of the Gospel \u2013 that God makes the first move, that he is always eager to embrace, and that he desires to share everything with us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We all desperately need to hear that Good News proclaimed to us \u2013 usually more than once. We are shattered by sin, and there are many shards of our heart that still don\u2019t know this Truth. The more fully we receive the Gospel, the more we grow and mature and bear fruit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The saints are those who keep\ngrowing into the Father\u2019s embrace. Their deepest suffering is an increasing\nrealization of the infinite gap between themselves and God. The more they grow, the more they realize how\nfar they are \u2013 no longer in shame or discouragement, but in a loving longing\nthat aches for union and realizes there will still be a wait before all\nfullness comes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As a result, authentic saints exhibit an incredible kindness to sinners – because they feel a kinship. The gap between God and the saint remains infinite. The gap between the saint and the sinner is miniscule. The saint begins to share in God\u2019s desire for every sinner to be embraced, reconciled, restored, and celebrated. The saint begins to share God\u2019s delight in human dignity, treating self and others with honor rather than contempt \u2013 especially when human poverty shows up. Here we find the truer and deeper meaning of “Love your neighbor as yourself” – to welcome human poverty in self and others and allow God the Father to embrace with honor and delight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Will we allow the Father\u2019s embrace to change our own hearts? Will we desire the same embrace for others \u2013 even those we dislike or despise? The Father desires them and us to come into the feast! His embrace is all-transforming. But he never pressures or forces. The decision is ours. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In Luke 15, the Pharisees and scribes are seething with suspicion and envy. The problem? Jesus is hanging out with sinners \u2013 welcoming them with kindness, dining with them, and curiously getting to know them. The Pharisees feel a conviction that those sinners need to know the truth! How can they stop sinning if we … <\/p>\n