Keys to the Kingdom

By Carolyn Tucker

Worst Party Pooper Ever

Jesus would often teach the crowds by telling parables (earthly stories with spiritual meanings). One of His most-familiar parables is about the prodigal son. However, there’s a great lesson regarding the other son too. In order to make the story simpler to write and read, let’s name the two brothers: Prodigal Pete is the younger brother and Selfish Sam is the elder.

So a father had two sons. Pete told his dad he wanted his share of the estate. So Dad distributed their inheritance between the two sons. Soon, Pete packed up and traveled to see the world. In no time he managed to waste all his inheritance in extravagant and reckless living. He was starving and homeless, so he begged a farmer to hire him to feed his pigs. Pete finally came to his senses and decided to go home, admit he was wrong, ask for forgiveness, and work as a hired servant since he didn’t believe he was worthy to be called a son after all he’d done. So when Pete arrived home, his dad was delighted, and immediately threw a “welcome home” party.

When Sam heard the celebration of music and dancing and was told that Pete had  returned home, he became angry and refused to go in the house. Not an ounce of forgiveness could be found in Selfish Sam’s heart. He was raging inside with the fact that Pete had dragged the family name through the gutter. Sam was not happy or thankful that his little brother had rejoined the family.

Sam’s dad left the party to find out why he was acting so terrible. Sam responded, “Look! For so many years I have been serving you and I have never neglected a command of yours; and yet you never gave me a young goat, so that I might celebrate with my friends; but when this son of yours came, who has devoured your wealth with prostitutes, you slaughtered the fattened calf for him. And he said to him, ‘Son, you have always been with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has begun to live, and was lost and has been found.’” (Luke 15:29-32 NASB).

It’s interesting to note that Sam wouldn’t even claim Pete as his brother. He referred to him as “this son of yours.” But Dad reminded him that “this brother of yours” is worth celebrating! Sam’s self-righteous legalistic spirit demanded that Pete be punished with no room for mercy. Sam chose to stew in the juices of anger and bitterness and be a party pooper. A life lived with no love, forgiveness, or mercy is actually no life at all. Sam even tried to steal the moment of celebration from his brother and make it all about him. He claimed he had never done anything wrong. Well, maybe so, but because of his selfish attitude, hateful actions, and unloving words he proved he was in the wrong now! Glen Campbell would tell him to try a little kindness.

When someone in your life makes a genuine change for the better, don’t throw a wet blanket on their celebration of restoration. Show forgiveness and mercy and top it off with a blanket of love.

The Key: Don’t be a party pooper!

I am a stickler for rules and reasonable requests.  Right now, I’m sitting on a plane, watching passengers board.  The flight attendant just instructed us not to place two items in the overhead compartment.  The smaller item needs to go under our seats.  Two people in front of me placed both of their carry-ons above them, and now there is no room for other passengers’ suitcases. That irritates me. I want to rat them out to the flight attendant, and if my “don’t get involved” husband weren’t sitting next to me, I probably would.

The request over the intercom to “Please place your overhead items on their sides so that the overhead bin will hold more bags” is ignored by passengers three rows ahead of me.  I tell Dave that I’m going to let them know.  He suggests otherwise.  After all, I “haven’t been a flight attendant for 50 years.”  That irritates me too, and yes, I mean the selfish passengers and Dave. These rude ones need to be held accountable.

If that isn’t enough, the woman in the row ahead and to the right of me thinks it’s cute for her four-year-old son to entertain us for 20 minutes with “Jingle Bells” in his three-mile voice.  When he tires of that, we hear the “ABC” song.  Over and over and over again.  Why are the two old ladies in front of me looking at him and smiling and telling him what a wonderful voice he has?  They must be related.  Lord, help me.  I need ear plugs.

Personally, I believe that common courtesy has relocated to the “endangered species list.”  People who don’t crowd in lines.  Those who never say, “I’ve changed my mind and don’t want this hamburger, so I’ll just set it here by the Kleenex” but instead, do the right thing and return to its refrigerated compartment.  Drivers who don’t tail gate or swerve in and out of traffic to get to their destination two minutes earlier.  Dog owners who clean up after their pets.

Let’s face it.  Too many people have become “the exception to the courtesy rule.”  No doubt, you too can add to this list, but I wonder what would happen if people were held accountable…like the newlyweds who sent out this “Missed RSVP” notice: “We’re sorry you can’t make it to our wedding.  Our RSVP deadline has passed, and you unfortunately did not respond.  We would have loved to have you attend, but final numbers have now been turned in and your presence will be missed.”  Signed, “Bride and Groom.”

I find great satisfaction in this response, and I applaud the nerve of the future newlyweds…unless the one who responds late is me.  Case in point: within two months, I missed two very important get-togethers.  No excuses, for there was no one to blame but myself.  In those cases, accountability was not what I sought; I wanted mercy.

Who set a better example of mercy than Jesus Christ, clearly setting the example for how we all are to treat one another?  He never knew the “satisfaction” of holding his torturers responsible or of punishing his disciples who left him hanging to his death on the cross.  Quite the opposite.  “Father, forgive them.  They know not what they do.”

I read that and admit, I need to be a lot more like Jesus.  But what would Jesus do if the people did know what they were doing, like the plane passengers who were being disrespectful to the other passengers?  Would he confront them?  I would hope so.  And if he did, I would be the first to applaud.

Dear Lord, have mercy on my soul.