The Joshua Victor Theory

The Father’s Love Meter 48 44 88 Luke 15, the Parable of the Father’s Love 1. I ran away My Father’s love I did betray As if I said “If you were dead I’d take it all and run from home I’d see the world—there I would roam” 2. He gave to me It came from His own property I spent it all I felt the fall Down to the bottom with the swine God, can it be? This life is mine? 3. If only I Could earn your love then I might try I’d work it off Redeem myself But I could never be your son Oh dear God!—what have I done? 4. But what is this? My Father welcomes with a kiss A warm embrace His smiling face This love was never earned by me Oh dear God!—Your love is free! 5. “Son welcome home! My heart finds joy you’re not alone! Please come my son We’ve just begun To celebrate the lost is found Fill up the house—and gather round!” 6. “Will you join in? Your brother has come home again. Please come my son We’ve just be...

*Please see an additional post for my hymn composition about this Parable, entitled: "The Father's Love"    In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. If you were in Jesus’ audience on the day when He first taught this parable, 2,000 years ago, there are certain things you would have just known as a Jew. You would have known that when it comes to an inheritance, the oldest son was due to get a double portion of the father’s possessions. You would have known that for the younger son to demand an inheritance before his father died, was deeply insulting and disgraceful, and would have made him the shame of the family. You would certainly never expect a good Jewish father to act in this way—conceding to the son’s request. And to take the cake, the father running out to greet his lost son on the road, was astonishing. The son can only anticipate being treated as he deserves—hopefully at best to work as a hired man, so he can at least be f...

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The parable Jesus tells in today’s reading is a profound picture of God the Father’s love for us. The story takes place in a time and culture where the community was shaped by honor and shame. Everyone in that community would have seen that the runaway son did a shocking dishonor to his father. It wasn’t like he’d just asked dad for a loan, and then spent it wastefully. Rather, it was as though he’d said to his father, “I wish you were dead! and all I care about is your money, so I can go have a good time.” Even though it was unthinkable, the Father granted this outrageous request. The son’s request was shameful to the family, and he would’ve been despised by the community. Probably few of us have grown up in a culture where honor and shame played such a powerful role in shaping expectations and behavior. The community wouldn’t have expected to hear back anything good about this son. ...

In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, Amen. The story of the prodigal or lost son is probably one of the most familiar parables Jesus taught. A son rejects his living father as dead, wants to cash out his inheritance now, and run off with the money to party and live life to the fullest. The parable is about that ever-so-difficult homecoming when the lost son returned broken and empty-handed to beg for food and a place to stay from the father he’d disowned. Today we’ll consider how the father and the older brother each reacted. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The lost son was lost when he squandered all his father’s inheritance in wild living. Then he returned to his home and to his father, but when he arrives, in another way he’s still lost. He doesn’t know his own father. So he comes on the grounds of his own merits. But he realizes that he’s shot any merits he’s had to oblivion. He’s a l...