Josiah Queen - The Prodigal

Reflection

The prodigal son remains one of the most quietly radical parables Jesus told, not primarily because of the son's failure but because of the father's response, running to meet him while he was still far off, before any apology had even been fully spoken. It is easy to read the story and identify with either the wayward son or the resentful older brother, and harder to sit with the father's extravagance, a welcome that seems almost unreasonable measured against what was actually deserved. Songs that return to this parable are drawing on a story so familiar it risks losing its edge, yet the scandal at its centre, that grace runs ahead of repentance rather than waiting to be earned by it, has lost none of its power to unsettle comfortable assumptions about fairness. Anyone who has ever felt too far gone to be welcomed back somewhere would do well to remember who is doing the running in that story.

Questions to sit with

• Which character in the parable of the prodigal son do you find yourself identifying with most, and why?
• Does the father's extravagant welcome feel fair to you, and what does your answer reveal?
• Have you ever felt too far gone to be welcomed back somewhere, and what changed that feeling, if anything?