When the Prodigal Son Returns Home

     The Parable Jesus told about the Prodigal Son, as recorded in Luke 15, tells about the younger of two sons requesting his inheritance, going to a far country and spending his inheritance before returning home to his father who was waiting for him.  The younger son had already repented and was prepared to simply be treated as a hired hand, not worthy of being treated as a son.  His father, however, who had been waiting for him and watching often, ran to meet him and hardly heard his son's remorse because he was so happy to have his son home again.  He told his servants to bring a robe and ring and shoes for the son who had returned home.  The son, who had returned home, was treated royally which really upset his older brother, who was jealous and too angry to party.

     The father is easily interpreted as God being the Waiting Father, longing for His children to turn from their ways and build a relationship with God.  We admire the father for not acting harshly like the older brother wished.  We do not want to think of ourselves being like the older brother when someone who has wronged another person requests forgiveness in order to restore a relationship.  Set in the context of two other parables telling about a lost sheep and a lost coin, Jesus said that all three people who found their sheep, coin, and son called friends so they could rejoice also.  The waiting father even planned a banquet quickly for friends and family as a way to welcome home the son who had left home and let him know that he was fully restored in love.

     The older brother is easily identified as one who would not rejoice.  Reliving history has as its purpose the maintaining of anger in order to justify retaliation, retribution, and revenge.  Love, however, has its own logic that the world cannot understand.  Love rejoices in the present and plans ahead for a future that is expected to be filled with unending love, peace, and joy.  Love has no reason to live in the past by remembering hurts, insults, and unhappiness.  Love forgives and sees the restoration of relationships as all important.  What the person has done in the past is unimportant in love.  A person's present relationship with God is all that can make love a reality.

     As M-2 sponsors, you serve visibly and tangibly in the role of the Waiting Father.  Your pleasant smiles are visible evidence that you care and your warm handshakes are tangible evidence of your willingness to accept your inmate friend into your circle of relationships.  Many of the prison inmates never knew their father.  Many others knew their father and did not have a good relation-ship with him simply say, "Good riddance," when they hear of his death.  I've heard countless tear-jerking, heart-rending, and gut-wrenching stories about inmates' childhoods.  You, as M-2 friends, are more than substitutes for families who cannot or will not drive long or even short distances; you as M-2 friends who know of God's Love, serve as loving fathers who represent God's boundless Love.  Love does not relive an unhappy past, but rejoices in the present and looks forward to a bright future - brighter than prison inmates likely ever had and cannot comprehend.

     The Love you bestow on your inmate friend is not lost.  The Love you lavish on your inmate friend is not wasted.  God's Love is so bountiful that it will never run out.  God's Love will never be exhausted.  God's Love given through you is His reason for blessing the M-2 Program as He has in the past.  Many M-2's have said that they feel they are getting more out of the relationship than their inmate friends.  On walk-through tours, many inmates tell the M-2's and their spouses, "My M-2 is all I have."  Others say, "The M-2 Program is the best thing going here."  God's Love shared by you is noticed.  God's Love shining through you is appreciated.  Your efforts will bear fruit for eternity whether or not you sense a change in your friend's attitude.  Never quit loving!

Don Klassen, M-2 Coordinator, SDSP, July 9, 2007