Forgiven Much!
Stories
Lectionary Tales For The Pulpit
57 Stories For Cycle C
The life of a prostitute is a hateful way of life. Debra, a woman whose father had thrown her out on the street, quickly came to hate herself for what she had become. She often thought of taking her own life. In modern psychological parlance we would say that Debra had lost all of her self-esteem. She was a woman desperate for affection, desperate for someone, anyone, to treat her with dignity. She just could not see herself as a person of worth. No surprise there. No one had ever treated her as a person of worth.
Then one day when Debra was walking through her village she spotted a crowd of people coming her way. Her immediate thought was to get her worthless self out of the crowd's way. Something held her in place, however. She could soon see that the crowd was gathered around a storyteller. As the storyteller came closer his eyes met her eyes. She looked down immediately. It was instinct. Habit. Who was she to look anyone straight in the eye? The storyteller reached out his hand and cupped her chin gently in his strong hand. He lifted her head and looked her directly in the eye. He invited her to join the crowd.
And then the storyteller proceeded to tell a story. We know it as the story of the prodigal son. Debra quickly identified with this prodigal son. He, too, had fallen from grace. He wound up in a pigpen far from home. She recognized the man in the pigpen. She understood just how he felt. That's the kind of life she lived. She could just as well live in a pigpen. Then the outer circumstances of her body would mirror the inner feelings of her soul.
What would become of the pigpen man she wondered? Soon she had her answer. The pigpen man decided to go back home to his father with words of repentance and tears of remorse. To her astonishment the father ran out to meet the pigpen man. "Quickly, bring a robe," the father said, "the best one -- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!" (Luke 15:22-24).
This story captivated Debra. At first she wondered what her father would do if she tried to return home. She knew the answer to that question all too well! She knew something about human fathers after all. The father in this story, however, was clearly a different kind of father than any she had ever known or experienced.
Debra was taken up into this story. She remembered how the storyteller had lifted her chin, looked into her eyes and asked her to join the crowd. He acted toward her just the way the father in the story acted toward his son. Then it dawned upon her. The storyteller was telling this story as a story about God. God is like a father who embraces a man from the pigpen. So it could be with her! "God is like a father who embraces me, pigpen and all," she thought to herself.
Weeks later this storyteller returned to her town. Simon, a Pharisee, invited him to dinner. This would be Debra's chance to say thanks to the man whose story brought acceptance and worth into her life. She would crash Simon's party. She would wash the storyteller's feet.
Then one day when Debra was walking through her village she spotted a crowd of people coming her way. Her immediate thought was to get her worthless self out of the crowd's way. Something held her in place, however. She could soon see that the crowd was gathered around a storyteller. As the storyteller came closer his eyes met her eyes. She looked down immediately. It was instinct. Habit. Who was she to look anyone straight in the eye? The storyteller reached out his hand and cupped her chin gently in his strong hand. He lifted her head and looked her directly in the eye. He invited her to join the crowd.
And then the storyteller proceeded to tell a story. We know it as the story of the prodigal son. Debra quickly identified with this prodigal son. He, too, had fallen from grace. He wound up in a pigpen far from home. She recognized the man in the pigpen. She understood just how he felt. That's the kind of life she lived. She could just as well live in a pigpen. Then the outer circumstances of her body would mirror the inner feelings of her soul.
What would become of the pigpen man she wondered? Soon she had her answer. The pigpen man decided to go back home to his father with words of repentance and tears of remorse. To her astonishment the father ran out to meet the pigpen man. "Quickly, bring a robe," the father said, "the best one -- and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!" (Luke 15:22-24).
This story captivated Debra. At first she wondered what her father would do if she tried to return home. She knew the answer to that question all too well! She knew something about human fathers after all. The father in this story, however, was clearly a different kind of father than any she had ever known or experienced.
Debra was taken up into this story. She remembered how the storyteller had lifted her chin, looked into her eyes and asked her to join the crowd. He acted toward her just the way the father in the story acted toward his son. Then it dawned upon her. The storyteller was telling this story as a story about God. God is like a father who embraces a man from the pigpen. So it could be with her! "God is like a father who embraces me, pigpen and all," she thought to herself.
Weeks later this storyteller returned to her town. Simon, a Pharisee, invited him to dinner. This would be Debra's chance to say thanks to the man whose story brought acceptance and worth into her life. She would crash Simon's party. She would wash the storyteller's feet.
