Sunday’s readings include the Prodigal Son story.

With readings like this, I like to make it interesting, since we already know the whole story. So let’s play some “what if” games.

What if the Father said “No! Forget you! You are not welcome back here!”

What if the Son saw where he was among pigs, accepted it and moved on from there, refusing to return to his father out of stubborn pride? Even if the servants were doing better, he’d rather be with the pigs tahn admit defeat or weakness. He would keep on.
What if the older brother had to convince the father to let the son come back instead of the other way around?

What if the son came back and his father had died?

What if the son had met someone else who could have provided for him?

What’s interesting about these what-if games is that each of them represented a theological take on our relationship to God, just as Christ’s story also is an allegory for our relationship to God. Of course, the story of the Prodigal Son–of our sin and then our return–is universal. God will always be there to welcome us back. Yet we often envision our relationship with God as being one of these other stories. At least I do.

It’s hardest, for me, anyways, to picture an all-loving God. Just because it’s true doesn’t mean it makes sense.