The Extravagant God - Part II

Today, in our Gospel, Jesus tells us that God is outrageous with love, extravagant with love, reckless with love for us, like a generous father or a loving mother. God is on the lookout for us.  God can’t wait for us to return home; to welcome us and embrace us.  God is filled with compassion for all of us.  God wants to throw the best party we’ve ever been to in our honor. 

God wants to put a ring on our finger and start the music and dance for joy because of us. And if we refuse to come to the party, God is going to seek us out and come outside and plead with us to come in. God wants all of us to celebrate life and to live in God’s love, justice and peace.

Jesus invites us not only to turn back to God, but to reject  sin and resentment, to let go of selfishness and anything that is in God’s way of gracing us  – for Jesus desires us to  celebrate life with God, to become one with God, to be extravagant with our love for one another and with every human being on this planet –

So what is the Good News today for us from this parable as we are invited to change?:
•    That like the younger brother, we must come to our senses, turn away from that which pulls us from being  “homed” with God and turn back to God in our vulnerability, in our desire to be internally free, forgiven, understood, welcomed, received, loved.
•    That like the older brother, with the help of God’s grace we will let go of any resentment, anger, judgments or self-righteousness that gets in the way of God’s intimate, loving embrace.
•    That God desires to welcome us with open arms and with infinite compassion.
•    And that we may become people of extravagant gratitude, forgiveness and compassion as we celebrate life with one another.

And finally, if we were to review the Master Card expenses of Jesus today – the reconciliation form would possibly read in this way:

Master Card Expenses:  Jesus of Nazareth

• Incarnated
• Good-newsing
• Missioned
• Blessing, healing, forgiving, loving, exorcizing demons
• Sharing bread, walking on water, washing feet
• Friend of women and children
• Storyteller, teacher
• Way, Truth, Life,  Living Water, Good Shepherd, Light of the World, Narrow Door, Living Bread,  Vineyard

Cost:  Embodied Love

• Disturber of the status quo
• Threat to Sadducees and Pharisees and other religious and political leaders
• Wandering over borders, crossing boundaries, breaking rules
• Banqueting with sinners and tax collectors
• Welcoming the poor and outcasts, touching lepers, giving sight to the blind, forgiving sins, raising the dead
• Betrayed, arrested, tried, crucified, buried

Cost: Everything 

• Resurrected, Ascended, Pentecosted  
• Redemptive Love for all 
• Eternal invitation to new life with robe, ring, sandals and endless banqueting  
• Timeless Honeymoon of Big Joy 
• A never-ending compassionate, merciful, generous and loving embrace to God’s breast 

+Priceless!