The scandal of God’s Mercy
2019년 3월 30일Jesus scandalized the religious leaders of his day by hanging out with prostitutes, tax collectors and other obvious sinners. The Pharisees were scandalized. Why bother following all the commandments if God loves us anyway? Jesus explained the sick need a physician, healthy people don’t. To make his point he told the famous parable of the Prodigal Son.
Prodigal means extravagant, or wasteful. Of course the younger son was wasteful with his share of his father’s inheritance. He gambled. He drank. He picked up hookers. His money ran out, and to make matters worse, a famine struck that land. He took the lowest of jobs: feeding pigs. He is forced to return to his father, not because he is sorry but because he is hungry!
The father is the true prodigal. He lavished his love on both his sons, but more so on the one who was lost. He didn’t care about any reasons or excuses. He was just glad his son came back. The elder son is incensed. What’s the purpose of staying home and serving the father if he’s going to be generous to his runaway son? The Pharisees are the elder son. But sometimes so are we. We begrudge God’s mercy toward those who are worse sinners than we are. But God loves everyone equally. Our prayers do not make God love us more, but the good news is that our sins don’t make God love us less.