As Easter weekend is upon us, I wanted to tell you about my favorite passage in the bible that tells the story of the prodigal son. Obviously, the scriptures regarding salvation are the most important but this story tells of the grace of God unlike (in my opinion) any other passage.

A summary – the story is about a father that had two sons. The younger son wanted to take his half of his father’s inheritance and go live his life on his own terms. The father gave this son his share of the inheritance and watched with his heart hurting as the son walked away from him. Not long after, the son had squandered his wealth with a lavish lifestyle and once the money was gone, he found himself hungry, destitute and alone. One day the son was so lost, he decided that he would rather go back and become a hired employee to his father (since he already had spent his inheritance) than continue living a destitute life.

The son comes up with his sales pitch and thinks to himself, “I will say father, I have sinned against heaven and against you and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Please make me like one of your hired servants.” With that plan and sales pitch, he sets off to go home. As the story goes, the bible says the father saw him from a long way off and was filled with compassion and ran TO his son and threw his arms around him and kissed him. The son starts his sales pitch but the father cuts him off and says to his servants, Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him and put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found.

You do understand that this parable is a metaphor for the actual gospel message? Right?

The story goes on a bit longer but what I want you to see in the story is that the father, regardless of the way the son treated him, never stopped searching, waiting and looking for him. It said he saw him a far way off and instead of waiting for him, he got up and ran toward the son. This story is told because it is a metaphor of God the father and how he loves you. I don’t know what you have done and where you have been and how lost you may have become. Know this, your father in heaven is still looking and waiting for you to come back home. Happy Easter. KT