10/26/2023
When the Prodigal Son, or Daughter, returns, do you react like the father or the older brother?
Do you rejoice that the one has returned to the 99, or do you castigate them because of the scars that the world has left on them?
Do you find the good in them because Christ found the good in you, or do you say you want nothing to do with them because they aren't, "Godly," enough for you?
Do you reject them because of the ink upon their skin, the beard on their chin, the clothes that they wear, the accent that they have, or the stories they need your help to bear; or do you embrace them as spiritual siblings and tell them that you love them because they are worthy of Christ's death?
All who take up the path of Holiness are our brothers and sisters. All who travel the road of sanctification with us are our family. All who turn their back on the world and surrender their lives to the Messiah are closer to us than those who look like us, act like us, go where we go, but refuse to turn their lives fully over to God.
Do we treat them as such? Or do they feel rejected by the family that God gave them? Because that rejection comes not from God, but from man and his pharisaical need to be "better than my brother."
Be the father in the story, not the brother. Throw your arms open to them. Take off your robe and put it on them. Oil their head and slaughter the fatted calf. Rejoice because your family is once again in the Bet Av, the Father's House.
Let them know that they are loved, and MORE IMPORTANTLY, that YOU love them.
