Today's Scripture Reading (December 5, 2020): Luke 15
Steve Maraboli, in "Life, the
Truth, and Being Free," writes that "the right thing to do and the
hard thing to do are usually the same."
Doing the right thing is never easy or something that we will stumble into and do
accidentally. We have to purposefully set our minds to do what is right,
planning each step of what we need to fulfill our responsibilities. And, often,
doing the right thing costs us something that is important to us.
The story of the Prodigal Son or the Lost Son is an
important one, a tale that most of us have heard several times throughout our
lifetimes. It is a story of forgiveness and grace, but it is also a story about
great pain. The father is in pain. He is separated from his child; he doesn't
know where his youngest son is or even how he is. He cannot celebrate the good
moments with his son or hold and console him during the tough times. He has been
cast aside by someone he loves, which always results in suffering. As a result
of that pain, the father gets up every day and finds time just to go out and
search the horizon for his son. It is a hope against hope, but the father's
pain demands the action.
But the lost son is also in pain. And the reality
that the son understands too well is that he is the cause, not just of his father's
suffering, but of his own personal pain.
The only character in the story that does not seem
to be in pain is the lost son's older brother. He is happy that his annoying
younger brother is gone and that the business now belongs to him. Everything
that the father has now belongs to him. He believes that his father will get
over the pain he is experiencing eventually. The problem with the older son's
reaction to the situation is that it is his responsibility to try to fix
whatever is causing his father's pain. It is not Dad's job to run to greet his
lost son. It is the older son's responsibility to do whatever is necessary to attempt
to repair the relationship, easing his father's pain. According to the cultural
demands, he should have gone out and searched for his brother and tried to
bring him home.
But instead, the older son does nothing. His inaction
is more comfortable, and it gets him precisely what he wants. But it is not the
right thing. It would be hard to find his brother, and at the beginning of the
story, possibly even harder to convince his younger brother, let's be honest, who
was a spoiled brat, that he needs to mend the relationship with Dad. But what
is hard is often what is right, and that is true in this story. And as the
younger son appears on the horizon, it should not have been dad who runs to
him, but rather the lost son's older brother, because he has been diligently searching
for him and trying to put right what had gone so awfully wrong.
Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Luke 16
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