The Road Home

The parable of the Prodigal Son, also known as the parable of the Two Sons or the parable of the Father, tells the story of two sons who make different choices. One son asks for his inheritance now and leaves the house of his Father to squander his inheritance in a "distant country." After he has exhausted his wealth, he is reduced to poverty and so returns home whereupon his Father runs out to embrace him.

This parable is often given as an example of how anyone, who has lived apart from God or fallen away, can turn back, repent and be welcomed back by God in a loving embrace. It is a good message, but there is so much more here. The Church Fathers interpreted "distant country" to be symbolic of man's condition after the Fall, which distanced us from the presence of God. And the prodigal son represents all of us who in this distant country decide to journey back home, back towards the Father.

I notice that the repentance, the turning back to God, is not immediately rewarded. In a world without airplanes or automobiles, it takes a long time to travel to a distant country. The son's journey away from God may have been faster because when he departed he could afford camels to carry him. But on his journey back, he is destitute and therefore must journey on foot. The journey home, to Israel, likely requires the crossing of deserts, sleepless nights with a hungry stomach, and the physical pains that accompany such a journey like blisters, sunburns and soreness.

This journey of the son is analogous to the journey of Israel itself through the desert after they had thrown off the slavery of Egypt and set off towards the promised land. The Israelites faced many hardships, but God traveled with them. Not only did the Israelites travel toward God but they also traveled with God and God provided for them, most notably in the form of manna. Manna is the bread that God gave his children to sustain them in their travel to the Promised Land. Likewise, God sustains us on our journey home through the desert with the new manna - the body of Christ (the Eucharist), so that we travel towards God with God.

Going to Church

There are a lot of reasons to go to a church. One might go because the doctrine and theology of the church is appealing. One might go because the music is good or the pastor preaches well. One might go to meet people or because of family ties. One might go out of a perceived duty or obligation.

He [Jesus] went to Nazareth, where he had been brought up, and on the Sabbath day he went into the synagogue, as was his custom. -Luke 4:16

Why did Jesus go?

Choosing Hell

Hell is something that most people don't talk about but when they do they typically fall into three camps: people who believe that a loving God will not send anyone to hell, people who believe that God allows people to choose hell, and people who believe that God condemns people to hell. The distinction between the latter two appears at first to just be spin. After all, who would choose to be tortured? It is like saying that criminals choose jail by committing a crime. Most prisoners would jump at the chance for freedom but have been condemned to prison and must be guarded so they don't escape.

I don't think "choosing hell" is meant in the same way as a prisoner "choosing jail." One doesn't have to look to far to find lots of people who choose of their own free to be chained and tormented. These people don't need to be guarded; they don't want to escape. Living long enough in this world makes it easy to convince me that in the next world, Hell will have no walls or guards.

The Pessimistic Christ

Now while he was in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, many people saw the miraculous signs he was doing and believed in his name. But Jesus would not entrust himself to them, for he knew all men. He did not need man's testimony about man, for he knew what was in a man. --John 2:23-25

Jesus loved us to the extent of dying for us and there is no greater love than that. But He also saw things as they really are. The same Christ that taught us to love men also taught us to beware of them.

Contradictions

For some reason today I remembered a particular evening when I was dining with a group mostly consisting of strangers. I don't remember much about the conversion aside from a conversation which I overhead parts of but that I wasn't involved in. Toward the beginning of the evening, before the food had been brought out, a man was talking to several women about how Christians aren't bright enough to see the contradiction that a loving God would send people to hell. What kind of Father would torture his children for anything that they did wrong no matter how wicked? Everyone seemed to agree that this was plainly unbelievable.

Then out came food and I stopped listening in on the conversation. After the meal had completed and the dishes had been cleared, I heard the same man talking again to the same group of ladies. This time he was talking about another silly Christian belief. He was saying that Christians believe that if Hitler genuinely repented in his heart on his deathbed he could be in heaven right now. How can God be just and yet allow a single act of contrition to erase an entire lifetime of evil? Everyone again seemed to agree with his point.

Christianity is paradoxical in many ways but it is not contradictory like atheism. An atheist can despise God before dinner for sending anyone to hell and then despise God after dinner for not sending enough people to hell.

Needs

If anyone asks you, 'Why are you doing this?' tell him, 'The Lord needs it and will send it back here shortly.' " -Mark 11:3

I find it absolutely amazing that Jesus Christ, God incarnate, could need anything, much less a donkey. Moreover, the donkey was even prophesied about hundreds of years in advance. If a donkey can play such a role in God's plan for the salvation of the world, what plans might he have for us?

Mercy, Judgment, Redemption

I'm fascinated at the way God handles sin. There seems to be three phases and I'll use Adam and Eve as an example. The first phase is the mercy phase. After Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit the only change was that their eyes were opened to evil. But they were not expelled from the garden and they did not "surely die." The only thing that happened to them was a change in their character. The second phase is the judgment phase. After God confronts Adam and Eve and they refuse to acknowledge their sin they are expelled from the garden and cursed. The third phase is redemption. We all know how that came about.

I see similar phases with me and lots of people I've known. First God allows us to sin with apparently no consequences whatsoever. Then, after a time, judgment comes. Finally after suffering enough we find redemption by turning back to God.