Thursday, November 14: “Pending Judgment”

Luke 15: 21, 29, 30: “The [younger] son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ … But [the older brother] answered and said to his father, ‘Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you have never given me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him.’”

Is God judgmental? In this parable the father did not judge his sons; their own words judged them. The father forgave the younger son when he repented, and threw him a party. But by the end of the story the older son had yet to even recognize his prideful, unloving attitude, much less seek forgiveness for it. For him, the father still awaits, and for him, the story continues …