Lent day 16: thin forgiveness

¹¹Then Jesus said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹²The younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of the property that will belong to me.’ So he divided his property between them. ¹³A few days later the younger son gathered all he had and traveled to a distant country, and there he squandered his property in dissolute living.¹⁴When he had spent everything, a severe famine took place throughout that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵So he went and hired himself out to one of the citizens of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed the pigs. ¹⁶He would gladly have filled himself with the pods that the pigs were eating; and no one gave him anything. ¹⁷But when he came to himself he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired hands have bread enough and to spare, but here I am dying of hunger! ¹⁸I will get up and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; ¹⁹I am no longer worthy to be called your son; treat me like one of your hired hands.”’ ²⁰So he set off and went to his father. But while he was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him. ²¹Then the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’²²But the father said to his slaves, ‘Quickly, bring out a robe—the best one—and put it on him; put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet.²³And get the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate; ²⁴for this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found!’ And they began to celebrate. 

Sometimes I think Jesus is not being fair with these parables -- but I guess that is the point.  Here is a parable about forgiveness.  With a clear example of what complete and extensive real forgiveness looks like.  So, Jesus goes to a story of father and son.  He goes to a relationship where crazy, extreme love --perfectly imperfect, passionately devoted, never-ending, never-tiring love -- is understandable.  A parent and a child.
Not always, I know that.  But true and often enough that most of us get it.  We know that kind of love.  We feel it.  We've seen it.
This younger son asks for a share of his father's inheritance -- even while his father is very much alive.  Saying as much as, "You're as good as dead to me."  No matter, the father gives him the money and off he goes.  Wild behavior.  Lavish spending.  Loses it all and is left alone, broke and starving.  We can't take it.  We can't not see our own child/children in the face of this young man.  Our hearts break with this father. We feel his pain in ways that surprise us and catch us.  Eyes well up -- we know that love.

Moments or events or places where we experience God most closely are called thin places.  Places where the distance between heaven and earth collapse into each other. Times when human and divine blend together like watercolors.  Beautiful moments when we feel that sense of connection to God where we are fully connected and fully one.  These are times that are qualitatively different from other times.  A native American saying, "Wisdom sits in thin places." 
Someone once said that children are those thin places.  Children are where we experience that closeness to God, and most important, where we experience God's hopes for us.  So there it is.  Jesus gets us right where we are most vulnerable to getting "got."  How can we understand God's hope for us to offer true compassion, to love and protect at all costs?  How can we understand true forgiveness?  We understand it with/for our children.  And it is our lenten journey to understand that it is God's hope for us to offer that forgiveness to everyone.  And try to make thick places thin with our love.