As we get set for the first presidential debate and the election that will follow, Luke 15 gives me hope. Along with the parables of the lost sheep and lost coin, we find the story we call, “The Parable of the Prodigal Son.” We label the son who went away and squandered the family money as reckless, irresponsible, and of course, just plain bad. While the other son, the older who stayed home and worked the farm, as loyal, trustworthy, and of course, the good one. How we read the parable tells us something about ourselves, we tend to label people in polar opposite ones. One is good, and one is bad. To have ‘good’ you need ‘bad’. In the case of tonight’s debate, the tendency seems toward, ‘bad’ and ‘less bad’. In the parable, Jesus says, “There was a father with two sons.” In this parable, both sons are people you’d likely avoid unless thrust together at a family reunion. While the younger is quite prodigal (wasteful), the older is quite rude to his father and casts as much disrespect to his father as his younger brother, even though he didn’t have to travel as far away to do it. The good news is, it is The Parable of the Loving Father, also known as, God. Regardless of the outcome of the election, how harshly we judge one another, or what terrible things we do to one another, the consistent one in this story, our stories, and the world is God, the loving parent that keeps reaching out to us hoping we’ll come home, and of course, love one another as God loves us. The good news of the gospel and the hope for the world, in election years and every year.
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