One of my favorite
gospels is the story about the Prodigal Son. Remember that one? The teenager
cannot stand to stay another day with his family. He asks his father for his
inheritance ahead of schedule, and goes off to squanders every last penny on
wine, women and song. He hits rock bottom and comes crawling home to beg his
dad for a job as a laborer in the family business. The best part of the story
is how the father jumps up and down for joy when he sees his son approaching
the house and runs out to embrace him and welcome him home.
This
story, for me, embodies the core of Jesus’ message to us: unconditional love, unconditional
forgiveness. Jesus teaches us to never shut the door of our heart to another
person. Jesus teaches us to never let a relationship wither and die.
Now,
you’d probably find a few 21st century psychotherapists who would
look at the story of the father and his Prodigal Son and yell, ‘codependency!’ Who would label the relationship as
dysfunctional and call the father an enabler. Yet Jesus holds this relationship
up to us as the model of how we are to love and forgive each other.
How
many of us grieve over failed relationships in our own families. How many of us
have closed an emotional door on a hopeless relationship, one that has caused
us pain, one in which we have been hurt or have inflicted hurt. A relationship
may have died, a door slammed shut. A family that had the potential for wholeness,
a holy family, may have been aborted. And in place of that potential holy
family stands grieving, alienated, lonely individuals.
My
sisters and brothers, as disciples of Jesus we have the power to unlock those
emotional doors once again. Perhaps today is the day that we will take the
first step and reach out across the years, across the miles to heal
relationships that have been broken. Perhaps with the grace of our loving God
in our hearts, we can transform alienation and dysfunction into holiness.
……………………………………………………………………………………..
Readers
of this blog might enjoy these books by Deacon Lex. Both are available on
Amazon.com:
Just
to Follow My Friend: Experiencing God’s Presence in Everyday Life
Synchronicity
as the Work of the Holy Spirit: Jungian Insights for Spiritual Direction and
Pastoral Ministry
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