Reforming (phase 1), Hell and Mercy (step 6), session 4a

The reading for session 4 (Lk 15, 11-32) has led me back to reflect on the reason that I think is most likely to cause people to choose hell over mercy. Since I don't want to get ahead of the calendar, this is a great opportunity to spend more time considering the snare of judgment.

This is the trap into which we fall very easily when we begin to think of salvation as a reward we earn rather than a gift of grace. The older brother felt that he deserved such a reward, and that his wayward brother certainly did not. He might have been correct on both counts, based on their respective behavior, but in focusing on that he prevented himself from freely receiving all that his father desired to give him.

So here are a few thoughts related to this wonderfully revealing passage:

• God's greatest gift to us is himself, which we can only receive in relationship.
• We receive our relationship with God in the context of our relationships with one another.
• A natural result of receiving the gift of our relationship with God is that we desire that gift for others.
• When we would deny others' God's merciful gift, we reveal that we have really considered it a reward, something that we deserve. This rooted in immature thinking about salvation, heaven, hell and grace.

I have long been of the opinion that the older brother of this parable represents our most insidious obstacle to entering the heavenly banquet for all eternity: what if we don't like who we'd have to spend eternity at the table with? Certainly, many who accept the Father's gift of grace and mercy do so only after heinous actions. If we mistakenly believe that our ticket to the meal gets punched as a result of our worthiness, we are less likely to accept "that unworthy person" who is admitted as well.

Still, the father in the parable reminds us that everything he has is ours, and invites us again to enter into the feast he has prepared, to rejoice with him that our brother who was dead has been restored to life.