The Fourth Sunday of Lent - March 10, 2013
The Fourth Sunday of Lent
Luke 15:25 – 32
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Too often the victories I celebrate include the diminishment of others. And the things I refuse to celebrate are those things that bring joy and life to others, including those I consider my “enemies.”
Today I want to be mindful of those with whom I can celebrate. In what ways can I share joy with those who have longed for joy? Is there something for me to celebrate, even in the one with whom I am at odds? or with whom I disagree? or who has been one of my “difficult” people?
The very act of joining the joy of another person gets me out of myself, and puts me in a larger world that does not revolve around me. This is the larger world to which God invites me.
Luke 15:25 – 32
“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
Too often the victories I celebrate include the diminishment of others. And the things I refuse to celebrate are those things that bring joy and life to others, including those I consider my “enemies.”
Today I want to be mindful of those with whom I can celebrate. In what ways can I share joy with those who have longed for joy? Is there something for me to celebrate, even in the one with whom I am at odds? or with whom I disagree? or who has been one of my “difficult” people?
The very act of joining the joy of another person gets me out of myself, and puts me in a larger world that does not revolve around me. This is the larger world to which God invites me.
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