All of us get what we don’t deserve

Speaker: Richard Topping

October 25, 2020

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This Sunday, our sermon began with Pastor Ruttan’s reading of Luke 15:11 – 32. The parable of the Prodigal son.

Then Rev. Dr. Richard Topping took us through this parable with a different perspective, perhaps, than we’ve had before. He says “if we read closely, this is the story of ‘a man who had two sons.’ Not a story about ‘a young man sowing his wild oats who had a father and a brother.’ It is a parable of extravagance and reckless expenditure to be sure, but it is the father’s over the top extravagance that’s the heart of the story. The story is really about a father who loved both his sons with everything he had and was and wanted them to love him and each other.”

He ends with;

None of us gets what we deserve, we get mercy.

All of us get what we don’t deserve, we get grace.

And mercy and grace have a name: Jesus Christ.

In telling the story – Rev. Topping tells us about ourselves and our willingness to live, as we pray “thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”