This is a parable everyone knows as “The Prodigal Son”. My Bible, has changed that to be the parable of “The Forgiving Father”. Either way it is a scandalous parable about how far God will go to love us, and how far some of us will go to avoid being loved and accepted by God. I call it the parable of “The empty chair” or “A series of rehearsed speeches”.
I picture this all happening on a prosperous Canadian farm at the end of a long driveway. The younger son wants to play fast and loose with the rules of inheritance and propriety and get out of town with some serious cash. He is bored and annoyed with the life he lives. He rehearses his speech as all children do when they need to convince a wise parent to act against their better judgment. His father knows his son well, and even though he knows it’s a bad idea, he also knows that this boy only learns by making mistakes. The Father gives him the cash and the boy leaves and his chair at the family table is empty.
Exactly what the Father expects to happen, happens. And the younger son blows all the money and is reduced to tending pigs and eating their food. But the younger son hatches a plot that might just pull the wool over dear old dad’s eyes again...and he rehearses a speech about how he has sinned and made a terrible mistake...and hopes that the Father will let him weasel back into a more comfortable life than he currently spends...he will offer to be a slave to his father and then at least he will have three square meals a day. Having rehearsed his speech, he heads for home.
This whole time the Father has been worried sick and been heart-broken. I imagine he has taken the younger sons chair from the table to the end of the driveway to wait for the inevitable return of this stupid boy who doesn’t know better. One day, in the distance, he sees the boy coming and runs to him to lavish forgiveness and love on him. The younger son tries to say his rehearsed speech but the father interrupts him. He is not interested in the boy being a slave or a servant...he has those...he wants his son back and here he is. Picking up the dining room chair they walk back to the farmhouse and begin the party.
But there is still another empty chair at the table. The eldest will not come in. He is angry at the waste of money and the quick and easy forgiveness of this boy. When the father seeks him out he explodes with anger in his long rehearsed speech about working like a slave and feeling unappreciated. But the Father reminds him of the same thing he told the younger son. I imagine him saying “I have slaves, I need a son, and you have always been that to me. Come and rejoice that your brother is home!”
We don’t get told if he will come into the party. It is a warning to us. If we refuse to break bread at the table with the repentant one returned, because of their sin, we will end up braking communion with the Father who has welcomed them home.
God probably isn’t interested in the rehearsed speeches where we explain why we are right about things and someone else is wrong. Like the Father in the parable, I doubt God is that interested in the list of sins we need to confess, so much as he is interested in our desire to confess them and forgive them. Most of all I think God is interested in filling the empty chairs at his table. No more hiding from God’s love thinking you’re the lowest sinner of all. At the same time you might need to let go of your sense that God owes you for all your faithfulness and esteemed services to the kingdom.
The only rehearsed speech we need to remember from this story is the father’s “You are with me always and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found.”
Yours faithfully, Bishop William G. Cliff
XIII Bishop of Ontario
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