Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’”
NL Daily Devotion for Sunday, March 7, 2021
by Dr. Kimberly Leetch, Clergy Stuff
Main Idea: Repentance is relational. It is about restoring and repairing a damaged relationship.
Repentance is at the center of today’s parables. If we limit interpretation of repentance only to being sorry and asking for forgiveness, then we also limit the power of the story. Repentance here is so much more—it is the return of something lost.
First, the lost things were sheep and coins—valuable, yes, but not as valuable as people. When Jesus dives into a more complex parable, the stakes are far higher. A man’s life hangs in the balance. The man did what all people do—he made poor choices that led him down paths he never should have walked. The miracle here is in the moment of awareness, when the man accepted the reality that his choices had led him here, and cultivated a willingness to make it right. Despite his fear, he courageously returned home to beg his father for work alongside his servants.
The father certainly would have been within his rights to shun the son who had brought shame and heartache to the family. But the father represented the abundant and persistent love God has for people, and he welcomed the lost son home with a grand celebration. What the father had lost had been returned to him—not just the man, but the relationship. He could have had the man back and still allowed him only to work as a hired servant. But what the father wanted was a restoration of the relationship—father and son.
The restoration of a loving and trusting relationship is what God desires in God’s appeal for repentance. It’s not about being sorry—it’s about turning back and working to restore the relationship that was damaged. Repentance is relational, and the most important relationship we have to repair is with God.
