Saturday in the Second Week of Lent.

"Grant, most merciful Lord, to your faithful people pardon and peace, that they may be cleansed from all their sins, and serve you with a quiet mind; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen."


Psalm 103:1-12, Micah 7:14-15, 18-20, and Luke 15:11-32

As a firstborn child who has a terrible compulsion to be a rule-follower, I've always struggled with the story found in today's Gospel. I feel like I can relate to the anger and jealousy of the elder son, who always did what was expected of him. He dutifully tended the livestock and the fields of his father. He never missed a feeding for the animals, and he was always prepared when the time for the harvest arrived. If a son could be prepared to take over for his father at any moment, he was that son.

The second born child, though, is the one who did everything wrong, at least in the eyes of his brother. He took his inheritance early and spent it all on food, women, and material goods. He lost his whole fortune, a famine hit, and he was made to grovel for work. He thought he had brought shame upon himself and his father, and he went back to his father with his hat in his hand, prepared to ask for forgiveness and expected to receive a rebuke.

We know how this ends. The second-born is received back, and his arrival is celebrated. The firstborn child is jealous of his brother for being able to squander all that he was given and STILL be welcomed back into the arms of his father. Instead of sharing in his father's joy that his brother had returned home safely, the firstborn son was stuck with feelings of anger and bitterness. He was sure that all that he had ever done for his father was worth nothing if his brother could so easily be welcomed back.

What saddens me in this story is that the brother did all of his work so dutifully and out of a perceived obligation, and it was not until his brother came home that he realized how much his father appreciated all he had done. His needs to be right, dutiful, and dependable made it so that he was always unable to graciously receive the gifts that were already present in his life.

This story challenges our understandings of God and how we should live. If the person who spends and loses everything can be welcomed back into the arms of God just as easily as the person who has always done what is right and good, what's the point of living a right and good life if life lived otherwise can be excused with a simple, "I'm sorry"?

Not all of us are good at being like the prodigal son, and not all of us are good at being like the firstborn son. Either way we go, though, we can receive God's grace if we open ourselves up to it.