The Father and our Compassion seen thru the Prodigal Son
I Corinthians 12:7 Epistle = TEAM . Together Everyone Accomplishes More
This was a saying that one of my Chaplain friends used that was an outstanding preacher, mentor and unifier. He and I worked together in the Protestant Service in the main chapel at the 2nd Division Headquarters in South Korea about 25 miles north of Seoul. He had a lot of those sayings but this one stuck with me. So is this a Biblical idea? How can we be TEAM?
Berean Study Bible
"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." Sunphero is the Greek word, meaning to bring together or be profitable . The Spirit gives as He wills individual gifts to all for the building up of the body of Christ. Much like sports, Christianity is a together team effort , not an individual shining above the others. The only individual that should shine is Christ.
But the question remains, how can we be team and not just little lights that flicker or don't light much at all....? How do we work for the common profiting of all? Last Sunday we heard about several characters in the story of the Prodigal Son. It is still fresh for me.... Which character are we? As we look at these from the story again, let us reflect on how we can become what we should be in the Father's embrace or become fathers ourselves in how we show compassion and love.
Are we the younger son? Luke 15 " He wasted his substance with riotous living" 15:13 " Addiction might be the best word to explain the lostness that so deeply permeates contemporary society. Our addictions make us cling to what the world proclaims as the keys to self-fulfillment: accumulation of wealth and power; attainment of status and admiration...these addictions create expectations that cannot but fail to satisfy our deepest needs....Why do I keep ignoring the place of true love and persist in looking for it elsewhere?" Nouwen in The Return of the Prodigal Son.
All of us have been needy and need the compassion of others at some or other time in our lives. Perhaps we have done something as the younger son or just don't feel God's compassion much in our lives. Rembrandt has a picture which he did of this scene of the Father. His hands are prominent as the younger son kneels before him, and He welcomes him home once again. We were all lost at one point and need God's salvation . We may go through periodic times of need. We all need compassion from God and one another.
Or , I hope this is not us , the older son, for Nouwen was accused of being that person by someone, and he did not know it even...angry. He says , "it is the lostness---characterized by judgment and condemnation anger and resentment, bitterness and jealousy ---that is so pernicious and so damaging to the human heart."
I believe we can wander into the character of this second person , the older son without realizing it. Somehow our spiritual lives become stale , and we go thru the motions, but do not feel thankful and have no joy for life or others. We can become envious of others who seem to have it all and we are over here trying to do God's will and keep His commandments. Why are they even getting any compassion for all they have done we may ask?
Lastly , there is the Father and I learned that this week ( mostly from what Nouwen said in his fine book on the Prodigal Son), this should be our goal. We ought to be compassionate as is the Father, merciful to all, and gracious as we have been given so much in our gift of eternal life and salvation.
Yes, at times we need compassion from others and we fall into the role of the Elder son as well and need to find healing for our anger, but our goal is to be that we are the Father. I had never thought of this parable that way before. This is how we can become profitable to others as our text tells us from I Cor. 12:7.
Here is how Nouwen came to that conclusion as well, " Is there a way to spiritual fatherhood? Or am I doomed to remain so caught up in my own need to find a place in my world that I end up ever and again using the authority of power instead of the authority of compassion?....Living out this spiritual fatherhood requires the radical discipline of being home. As a self-rejecting person always in search of affirmation and affection, I find it impossible to love consistently without asking for something in return.But the discipline is precisely to give up wanting this myself is a heroic feat. To claim for myself spiritual fatherhood and the authority of compassion that belongs to it, I have to let the rebellious younger son and the resentful elder step up on the platform to receive the unconditional, forgiving love that the Father offers me, and to discover there the call to be home as my Father is home. Then both sons in me can gradually be transformed into the compassionate Father. This transformation leads me to the fulfillment of the deepest desire of my restless heart. Because what greater joy can there be for me than to stretch out my tired arms and let my hands rest in a blessing on the shoulders of my home-coming-children?"
This was a saying that one of my Chaplain friends used that was an outstanding preacher, mentor and unifier. He and I worked together in the Protestant Service in the main chapel at the 2nd Division Headquarters in South Korea about 25 miles north of Seoul. He had a lot of those sayings but this one stuck with me. So is this a Biblical idea? How can we be TEAM?
Berean Study Bible
"Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good." Sunphero is the Greek word, meaning to bring together or be profitable . The Spirit gives as He wills individual gifts to all for the building up of the body of Christ. Much like sports, Christianity is a together team effort , not an individual shining above the others. The only individual that should shine is Christ.
But the question remains, how can we be team and not just little lights that flicker or don't light much at all....? How do we work for the common profiting of all? Last Sunday we heard about several characters in the story of the Prodigal Son. It is still fresh for me.... Which character are we? As we look at these from the story again, let us reflect on how we can become what we should be in the Father's embrace or become fathers ourselves in how we show compassion and love.
Are we the younger son? Luke 15 " He wasted his substance with riotous living" 15:13 " Addiction might be the best word to explain the lostness that so deeply permeates contemporary society. Our addictions make us cling to what the world proclaims as the keys to self-fulfillment: accumulation of wealth and power; attainment of status and admiration...these addictions create expectations that cannot but fail to satisfy our deepest needs....Why do I keep ignoring the place of true love and persist in looking for it elsewhere?" Nouwen in The Return of the Prodigal Son.
All of us have been needy and need the compassion of others at some or other time in our lives. Perhaps we have done something as the younger son or just don't feel God's compassion much in our lives. Rembrandt has a picture which he did of this scene of the Father. His hands are prominent as the younger son kneels before him, and He welcomes him home once again. We were all lost at one point and need God's salvation . We may go through periodic times of need. We all need compassion from God and one another.
Or , I hope this is not us , the older son, for Nouwen was accused of being that person by someone, and he did not know it even...angry. He says , "it is the lostness---characterized by judgment and condemnation anger and resentment, bitterness and jealousy ---that is so pernicious and so damaging to the human heart."
I believe we can wander into the character of this second person , the older son without realizing it. Somehow our spiritual lives become stale , and we go thru the motions, but do not feel thankful and have no joy for life or others. We can become envious of others who seem to have it all and we are over here trying to do God's will and keep His commandments. Why are they even getting any compassion for all they have done we may ask?
Lastly , there is the Father and I learned that this week ( mostly from what Nouwen said in his fine book on the Prodigal Son), this should be our goal. We ought to be compassionate as is the Father, merciful to all, and gracious as we have been given so much in our gift of eternal life and salvation.
Yes, at times we need compassion from others and we fall into the role of the Elder son as well and need to find healing for our anger, but our goal is to be that we are the Father. I had never thought of this parable that way before. This is how we can become profitable to others as our text tells us from I Cor. 12:7.
Here is how Nouwen came to that conclusion as well, " Is there a way to spiritual fatherhood? Or am I doomed to remain so caught up in my own need to find a place in my world that I end up ever and again using the authority of power instead of the authority of compassion?....Living out this spiritual fatherhood requires the radical discipline of being home. As a self-rejecting person always in search of affirmation and affection, I find it impossible to love consistently without asking for something in return.But the discipline is precisely to give up wanting this myself is a heroic feat. To claim for myself spiritual fatherhood and the authority of compassion that belongs to it, I have to let the rebellious younger son and the resentful elder step up on the platform to receive the unconditional, forgiving love that the Father offers me, and to discover there the call to be home as my Father is home. Then both sons in me can gradually be transformed into the compassionate Father. This transformation leads me to the fulfillment of the deepest desire of my restless heart. Because what greater joy can there be for me than to stretch out my tired arms and let my hands rest in a blessing on the shoulders of my home-coming-children?"
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