Meditation on Mary McCleary's Prodigal Son

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 (Luke 15: 11-32)

A fact of life is

that ranchers 

are land rich and cash poor.

So when the 

baby boy asked

for his inheritance,

the Father had

to place a parcel 

of the homestead

on the market

to make it happen.

And after the sale,

the Law abiding brother

dutifully pulled 

the fence and barb wire

from the old property line

and started to place the new 

boundaries of the estate.

And with each post 

he pounded into place,

he imagined his 

departed brother

nailing someone 

in a distant land. 

(verse 30)

Angry Young Man

Luke 15:29:  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends.'

O 

poor child

of the Law!

There is no 

decree,

ordinance,

mandate

or rule

in your 

Book of Law

on how to

throw a party!

And  after

seeing how 

Grace celebrates,

you stormed up 

to your room

and started

to write

the absolute manifesto

on how to have fun.

GRACE

The grace of God means something like: 

Here is your life.  

You might never have been, 

but you are because the party

wouldn’t have been complete without you.  

Here is the world.  

Beautiful and terrible things will happen.  

Don’t be afraid.  

I am with you.  

Nothing can ever separate us.  

It’s for you I created the universe.  

I love you.  

There’s only one catch.  

Like any other gift, 

the gift of grace can be yours 

only if you reach out and take it.  

Maybe being able to reach and take it is a gift too. 

Frederick Buechner