Unconditional love

by Maurice Pujol
Published September 14, 2006

The story of the prodigal son, which appears only in Luke’s gospel, has probably been the subject of sermons for many centuries.

I know that I have heard sermons and homilies on this passage dozens of times in my life. Almost every time, there has been a new insight, a different angle on the story. It’s such a rich, powerful parable that I suppose this will always be true.

It’s all the more powerful when one understands some of the details in the story that today’s readers may not catch. In Biblical times, the firstborn son had special rights and was in line to receive the lion’s share of his father’s estate.

Younger sons always took a back seat to the eldest, even after a father’s death. The firstborn essentially replaced the father as owner and head of household. Moreover, no distribution of assets in this land-based culture ever took place until after a father died.

So, the younger son in this story wasn’t just being bold in his request to get his piece of the pie early. He was essentially telling his father, “I wish you were already dead. But since you’re not, let’s pretend you are, and you give me what little I have coming to me.”

This is a story about unconditional love, and the father’s first expression of it was to go along with this outlandish request. In spite of the great insult he had just committed, the younger son got his way.

How many times in our lives have we in fact insulted God, knowingly or unknowingly, just because we wanted something we knew we weren’t supposed to have? The root of all sin is pride, which basically means asserting one’s own will over and above all else, including God’s will.

What happens next is no surprise. The son takes off with his newfound wealth and squanders it all in sinful living. He resorts to the lowest of low jobs for a good Jewish boy, taking care of pigs. Pigs were considered unclean animals, not fitting to eat, and no respectable person would even go near one.

Like many a lost sinner, the prodigal son had to hit rock bottom before he came to his senses. He probably realized how offensive he had been to his father and understood that he was reaping what he had sown. He also remembered that his father’s hired hands lived much better than he was and certainly had better food.

So, he decided to go back home and to beg for a job as one of the hands. He knew he had basically spit in the face of his family and given up whatever birthright he had. His desperation overcame any reluctance to take the browbeating he expected from dad, so he returned home.

The next example of unconditional love in this story is its constancy. Like the father in the parable, God’s love never changes and never stops looking for ways to reach us. The father saw his wandering son long before he got close to home. This means the father was probably out every day, looking up and down the road, hoping to see his son returning.

By the time the son reached home, the party was already starting. Instead of chewing him out, the father made him guest of honor at a big celebration. The lost son was cleaned up, given the best clothes and even a ring, the symbol of his father’s authority. This is the third example of the father’s unconditional love.

It was as though he had never left.

But then comes the older son, the one who always did what he was supposed to, returning from working in the fields. He was angry. He was jealous. He had kept his nose to the grindstone all those years, while his little brother went off and partied his life away. And now the bad boy was being treated like a king.

Have you ever identified with the older son? Have you ever felt that he was justified in his anger? Before you answer, let’s ask another question.

After all your years of going to church, how have you reacted when some notorious sinner walks in, goes to the altar and asks God’s forgiveness? Do you consider this an occasion for celebration, or is it an opportunity to gossip? Do you think this person deserves less from God than you, since you have been so faithful for all those years?

Remember, God loves us unconditionally, which means He loves all of us equally. Our eternal life with Him begins on the day of our repentance, when we welcome Jesus into our lives and ask Him to turn it all around.

I understand what unconditional love is, because I was given it by two special people in my life. My mother died when I was four years old, and the task of raising me fell on her parents. They taught me a lot while I was growing up, nearly all I needed to know to survive in this life.

But the most important thing I received from them is unconditional love. That’s the most important thing any child can receive from parents. They should be corrected when they’re wrong and disciplined when necessary; but they should always know they are loved, no matter what.

There was a bonus to my grandmother’s legacy. The faith I have today is the faith I saw in her, an unwavering, belief and trust in God through all of life’s ups and downs. The prayers I utter today for my family are the same she uttered for so many of us long ago – and they worked, just as I know mine are.

If you haven’t experienced God’s unconditional love, come to Him today. No one is less worthy than anyone else of receiving God’s grace and mercy. He looks up and down the road every day to see if you’re coming.

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