Perspective: Good Enough

I share these thoughts, hoping they are of help to someone else.

Good Enough

Scripture:

The older brother stalked off in an angry sulk and refused to join in. His father came out and tried to talk to him, but he wouldn't listen. The son said, "Look how many years I've stayed here serving you, never giving you one moment of grief, but have you ever thrown a party for me and my friends? Then this son of yours who has thrown away your money on whores shows up and you go all out with a feast!"

His father said, "Son, you don't understand. You're with me all the time, and everything that is mine is yours - but this is a wonderful time, and we had to celebrate. This brother of yours was dead, and he's alive! He was lost, and he's found!"

Luke 15:28-32 (The Message)

Why are you striving these days?
Why are you trying to earn grace?
Why are you crying?
Let Me lift up your face
Just don't turn away

Why are you looking for love?
Why are you still searching as if I'm not enough?
To where will you go child?
Tell Me, where will you run?
To where will you run?

From "By Your Side" by 10th Avenue North

Jesus once told a story about a wealthy man who has two sons. The older son always follows the house rules and works hard for his father. The younger son has a rebellious streak and cannot wait to move out and live on his own terms. One day, the younger son confronts his father, tells him that he is going to move out, and demands his share of the family fortune. The father gives the younger son his inheritance, and then the son moves far away.

Out on his own, the younger son uses his new-found wealth to do everything he was not allowed to do at home. He develops a destructive hedonistic lifestyle, and he eventually spends all of his inheritance. To make matters worse, the economy goes downhill, and he finds himself without the means to buy food. At the end of his rope, he takes a job feeding pigs.¹ He is so hungry, he finds himself envying the pigs he is feeding. At that time, he remembers his father and how well he treats his servants. He then decides to go back home and to ask his father to hire him as part of the domestic staff.

As the son approaches his former home, his father sees him from a distance and runs out to embrace him. The father is so happy to have his son back home with him, he does not even give him time to explain or apologize but instead takes him in and throws him a welcome-home party.

The older son is out working in the field when he hears the party going on. He learns from one of the servants that his younger brother has come home and that his father is throwing him a party. The older son then becomes indignant, feeling like the proverbial "chopped liver." Why shouldn't he be upset? His younger brother disrespected their father, left home, and wasted all of his money doing God knows what, and now his father is celebrating his return! The older son always followed his father's rules and even worked hard for him. He was the good son. Where was his party?

The older son confronts his father about this injustice, and his father replies, "Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found."² The father has always loved and appreciated his older son, but he has thrown the party because he is overjoyed that his estranged son has come home.³

The story of the Prodigal Son is, in my opinion, one of Jesus' most powerful parables because it shows us how amazing God's love for us truly is. No matter what we do, no matter how far we stray, no matter how badly we mess up our lives, God is always waiting with His arms wide open, ready for us to return to Him. This story teaches us about God's love, mercy, and forgiveness, but I believe that there is still more to the story. I believe that this story is also meant to teach us about the nature of grace.

This story is multifaceted, hence the inclusion of two sons, neither of whom have a right relationship with his father. One son rebels against his father but eventually returns to him. The other son becomes angry because of his father's mercy, thinking that he deserves better than his younger brother. When he confronts his father, he even reminds him that he never gave him any trouble and has worked very hard for him.

The older son apparently feels as though he has earned a celebration because of his good behavior, his hard work, and his dedication. This leads me to question his motives. Perhaps I am reading too much into this story, but I wonder if the older son has been spending his whole life trying to earn his father's love and respect. If this is true, the older son has been spending his life trying to earn something that he already has. The father's reminder, "All that is mine is yours," and the father's happiness that his wayward son has returned shows that his love and respect for both of his sons is unconditional.

I think that many of us can relate to either of the two sons. Some of us are like the younger son: we run away from God, trying to do things our own way, only to end up returning to God and receiving a second chance to do what is right. Others of us are more like the older brother: we have spent our lives trying to stay on God's good side and even trying to earn a heavenly reward. While it is good that the latter group does what is right, the former group has probably come to understand God a little better.

God does not operate on a merit system. God's business is grace. Grace is, by definition, something that is freely given, and something that is freely given cannot be earned. No amount of following rules or doing good deeds can ever earn us God's favor, God's forgiveness, or God's love, because God already offers these things to us freely and abundantly. When the father in the story says to his older son, "All that is mine is yours," I feel as though God is saying to us, "My grace has been available to you the whole time."

This does not mean that we should be like the younger son. We should try to live according to God's commandments, because God only wants what is best for us. We should also seek to do all the good deeds we can, because we should love others as God loves us. We should want to do all of these things, but, if we are doing what is right so that we can receive God's grace, we have "put the cart before the horse." Actually, we need to receive God's grace so that we are better able to do what is right.

As the theologian John Wesley once said, "Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as ever you can." Do good, knowing that God's grace has always been available to you freely and abundantly.


Notes:
1 - In Jewish culture, pigs were unclean and untouchable, so such a job would be considered unacceptable. Taking such a job shows how desperate the younger son was.
2 - Luke 15:31-32 (NRSV)
3 - For the entire Parable of the Prodigal Son, see Luke 15:11-32.


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