The Return of the Prodigal -- and Other -- Sons

The Prodigal Son by He Qi

      I get a little tired of those who, the scorn dripping from their words, condemn those who (in the words of one Facebook commentator) “cling to the Bible as if it’s some ‘How To” book for how to live in 2014.” Of course, I also get tired of those claim to be defenders of “Christian values” but seem to forget what is actually in the Bible, particularly the Gospels.
       My heart has been hurting this week over the reaction to the release of Sgt. Bowe Bergdahl, the only American soldier held in captivity from the war in Afghanistan. His character has been well and truly assassinated with claims that he was a deserter, traitor for walking off his post, and generally unworthy of the prisoner trade made to free him. I don’t know if the charges against him in the media will play out – last time I checked we considered people innocent until proven guilty in this country. And thank God our courts base convictions on actual evidence, not on the standard of rumor and innuendo often used by the news media (much of which is already being fact checked and shown to be false). But regardless, what does that have to do with whether we should do everything we can to bring an American soldier home? Should we convict him in absentia and just decide he is unworthy of rescue? What message does that send to the other men and women who place themselves in harms way in the service of this country? And even if the charges turn out to be true, does he cease to be an American or an American soldier because at the age of 23 he questioned his mission or made an unwise choice to walk outside the perimeter or even deserted his post?
       Turns out the Bible has something to say about this. As my husband, Steve, said this morning, “Maybe if Jesus had used names in his parables people would get it. So instead of the ‘younger son,’ in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, Jesus could have said ‘Bowe Bergdahl.’”
       Those who are condemning this young man and implicitly, or not so implicitly, saying that we shouldn’t have made a prisoner trade to bring him home, nor welcome him home, are acting just like the older son in the story -- who said to his Father, ‘”Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’”
       But Jesus calls us to act not like the older son, but like the father, who welcomed his foolish, disobedient son home with open arms and a big party. It is a cause for great celebration. Tomorrow there may be a reckoning for the younger son, who deserted his father and squandered what he had been given, and the difficult work of reconciliation will begin. But first, there are tears of joy, and celebration – because this son that was lost has been found.

       Bowe Bergdahl, child of God and son of America, is coming home. He is free after surviving 5 years in captivity. An American family is whole again. I don’t know if the charges made against him in the media will turn out to be true. Tomorrow there may be an appropriate reckoning for him. But for today, the Bible does teach us how to live, how to act: Let’s kill the fatted calf for Bowe, because the son that was lost is coming home. Thanks be to God!