11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on.27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 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. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 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.’”
Priest Brennan Manning said, “To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life story, the light side and the dark...In admitting my shadow side I learn who I am and what God's grace means.”...
And author Philip Yancey says, “Grace, like water, flows to the lowest part.”...
So grace seems to be much linked to the dark moments, the shadow side of our lives...Grace seeks those who are lost...We see this in the Prodigal son, and in his darker moments of life, when he was feeding the pigs...The son longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything...To the Prodigal son and to the Jewish community, pigs were unclean...The pigs, the young son was feeding meant the bad, the dark side of his life...And so grace seems to follow the times when we are down and out, wherever the least are and where there are meek and those mourning...And so grace seems to be there when we need it the most, if we come to our senses and realize this, as the Prodigal son realized...It is when we can see the Light of LOVE and understand that God LOVES us all and His Grace is there for all of us (whatever the times)...The Parable of the Prodigal Son is much more about LOVE, than it is about the wasteful ways and living of the young son...It is something the elder brother of the Prodigal Son watched, yet did not quite understand...The older son understood and wanted fairness...Because he had conformed morally all those years to his father...He had served his father all those years, and now what?...But the elder son did not yet understand LOVE, and the Power in LOVE that is much stronger than the wasting of material things...Life sometimes does not seem fair...If we rationalize things we can let resentment rule over LOVE...We can get an attitude over what we think is unfair...Yet, it is forgiveness and grace and mercy and LOVE that the world needs...
And I must admit, the first several times I read the Prodigal Son, I sided with the older son...I saw his point of view...But the father makes us realize, that we too are lost...“‘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.’”...The LOVE the Father has for the younger son is also always there, as He has for His older son, and all of us...