Reading 16
The son who came home
The reading
Luke 15:11-32
He said, “A certain man had two sons. The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of your property.’ He divided his livelihood between them. Not many days after, the younger son gathered all of this together and traveled into a far country. There he wasted his property with riotous living. When he had spent all of it, there arose a severe famine in that country, and he began to be in need. He went and joined himself to one of the citizens of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed pigs. He wanted to fill his belly with the husks that the pigs ate, but no one gave him any.
“But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many hired servants of my father’s have bread enough to spare, and I’m dying with hunger! I will get up and go to my father, and will tell him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no more worthy to be called your son. Make me as one of your hired servants.”’ He arose, and came to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him, and was moved with compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
“But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe, and put it on him. Put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. Bring the fattened calf, kill it, and let us eat, and celebrate; for this, my son, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’ They began to celebrate.
“Now his elder son was in the field. As he came near to the house, he heard music and dancing. He called one of the servants to him, and asked what was going on. He said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and healthy.’ But he was angry, and would not go in. Therefore his father came out, and begged him. But he answered his father, ‘Behold, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed a commandment of yours, but you never gave me a goat, that I might celebrate with my friends. But when this your son came, who has devoured your living with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’ He said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But it was appropriate to celebrate and be glad, for this, your brother, was dead, and is alive again. He was lost, and is found.’”
The companions
Psalm 51:1-12 (selected)
Have mercy on me, God, according to your loving kindness. According to the multitude of your tender mercies, blot out my transgressions. Wash me thoroughly from my iniquity. Cleanse me from my sin. For I know my transgressions. My sin is constantly before me. Purify me with hyssop, and I will be clean. Wash me, and I will be whiter than snow. Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a right spirit within me. Don’t throw me from your presence, and don’t take your holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation. Uphold me with a willing spirit.
Jeremiah 31:18-20 (selected)
I have surely heard Ephraim grieving thus, ‘You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as an untrained calf. Turn me, and I will be turned; for you are the LORD my God.’ Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a darling child? For as often as I speak against him, I still earnestly remember him. Therefore my heart yearns for him. I will surely have mercy on him, says the LORD.
The note
The son works on his speech the whole way home. Most people do. You draft the message, edit it, run it again in your head, and set the terms of your own demotion: make me a hired hand.
He never gets to finish it. The father is already running, which for a man of his standing in that place meant hauling up his robes in front of the whole village. The son gets out the first two lines. The father talks over the third.
Then the gifts, and each one cancels a clause he had prepared. The robe: the standing he thought was gone. The ring: the seal, authority to act in the family name. Shoes: what free men wore.
The story does not end there. The older son stands outside the music, counting years of service, and the father comes out to him too. We are not told whether he goes in.
This week
Notice the speech you are rehearsing. There is probably one — to a parent, an ex, a friend you went quiet on. Find the clause where you demote yourself in advance, the part that asks for less than you actually want.
Cut that clause and read what is left. If the message is sendable, send it this week. If it is not, at least stop rehearsing the version that has already accepted the worst answer.
Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible (public domain). The divine name is rendered “the LORD” in the prophet reading.
This page is made for paper too: print it and the reading prints clean, ready for the table.