“While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with pity. He ran to the boy, clasped him in his arms and kissed him tenderly. Then his son said, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I no longer deserve to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring out the best robe and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. Bring the calf we have been fattening, and kill it; we are going to have a feast, a celebration, because this son of mine was dead and has come back to life; he was lost and is found.’” – Luke 15:21-24
How moving is the moment when the prodigal son, expecting only for his father to be disappointed in him, is met with his father delighted to see him and caring about one thing: my son, my beloved son, is home.
But I’m also moved that the father then walks home with him, as he does for each of us. And his delight in having his son in his arms is no less when they get back to the house.
While he was still a long way off, the father came out to meet him. As I’ve prayed with this Scripture, it has stood out to me that not only does Jesus do this for us, but this is what we are invited to do for the people in our lives too. To be the one to cross the gap for the other person. And that’s hard. But perhaps even harder is the walk home. Because there’s a staying to that. The prodigal son still has all the qualities that make him hard to live with, that we want to fix, that we would use as easy excuses to keep a safe distance. But to walk home with him as the father does is to stay close, still looking at him with that fresh love that carries him all the way home. That love that sees straight to the heart of his son, and delights in what he sees, so that he has to keep him in this embrace.
This is what the walk home can be, deep down, for each of us. And how intimate we get to be with Jesus when we come into that embrace with him for the person in front of us.
