There he is. Sitting alone by the window. Gazing anxiously down the long stretch of road that leads from the house to the horizon. The furrows on his brow reveal agonizing worry. They make him look older than he is. And very frail.

A swirl of dust spins up from the roadway in the distance, and he leans slightly forward, eyes widening, senses coming to rapt attention. But then the dusty cloud recedes, revealing only a neighbor child playing with her new puppy.

The old man sighs in disappointment and settles back in his chair by the window. For a moment, sparked by sight of the child, memories flood his mind and he remembers a long-ago birthday party. It is his youngest son's fifth year and he can almost hear again the boy's delighted shrieks upon opening the back door and finding a little beagle pup waiting with tail wagging. The sheer joy of that wonderful birthday begins to seep back into the old man's heart as if living the moment all over again. But he resists the feeling and fights back the memory. No time to look back now. Time only to gaze hopefully down the long stretch of road that leads from the house to wherever it is his lost son might be, somewhere over the horizon.

He is the prodigal's father.

One of the most misunderstood aspects of the Parable of the Prodigal Son - one of the most famous parables of all - is that it is not really about the prodigal son at all.

Oh no, the story begins with the words, "A certain MAN had two sons."

And although both the younger prodigal and his elder brother are interesting characters and provide lots of provocative food for thought, the heart and soul of the story is not about them at all.

Its about the old man. The one who sits by the window, gazing hopefully down the long stretch of road that leads from the house to the horizon, waiting...waiting...waiting...for his lost son to come home.

Luke tells us that Jesus shared this story because the Pharisees and scribes were grumbling about the fact that he welcomed sinners. Even went to their houses to eat. The religious leaders didn't think any true representative of God would associate himself with those kinds of people.

But Jesus did. And they didn't like it. So they grumbled.

And Jesus responded with this parable.

Now the man in the story represents God incarnate in the person of Jesus. The young son represents the sinners and lost people Jesus always befriended. And the elder brother represents self-righteous people who think God should love them a little bit more, and the lost people a lot less.

So the story begins. The younger son goes to his father one day and says, in effect, "Dad, let's pretend you're dead! Give me the money you're planning to leave me when you kick the bucket. Think of all the lawyer's fees you won't have to pay by giving me the money NOW. Think of what Washington might do with the Tax Code between now and then - why, there might be nothing left! And besides, you'll be able to see the smile on my face which, of course, you wouldn't be able to see if you were dead!"

So the father divides out the inheritance, and gives the younger son the share he has coming. A few days later, the boy packs his bags, leaves home without so much as a handshake, and goes off to a far country where he spends his entire fortune on what the Bible calls dissolute or profligate living. If you're confused about what that means, the elder brother later describes his sibling's behavior as devouring the property with prostitutes. Give you an idea about the nature of Pee Wee's Great Adventure?

And you know the rest of the story, how the kid ends up without a dime, living in the gutter. He gets a job feeding pigs which is a terrible disgrace because you know how Jews feel about pork. And finally, the young man comes to his senses. Even his father's servants live better than this. So he heads home, red-faced and tail between his legs, practicing his apology as he goes.

And there in the window sits the old man. Waiting...waiting...waiting...with love and forgiveness in his heart.

Now, I think Jesus hoped we might see ourselves in the life-adventure of this prodigal son. Sometimes, we get so caught up in the wildness of this kid's behavior that we miss the connection with our own lives. You see, the story is not really about the boy's reckless behavior getting him lost. Oh no, the story is about how the boy was lost long before he ever got around to reckless behavior!

You see, the boy saw his father as a source of gain...and not as a source of love. The boy wanted his father's wealth, but not the father himself!

And that's exactly how many of us relate with God.

In this materialistic society of ours, great value has been placed upon accumulating the wealth of the earth. Its not ours to begin with, of course, because we bring nothing with us when we arrive. Its God's treasure. And it has become a mark of success to gather into our own barns the beautiful resources God has so generously built into the world. All of us, to one degree or another, desire to inherit - either by work or by gift - the treasures of life.

And yet, as we have gone off to the far country to ply our trades and exercise our skills and use our abilities to accumulate God's riches, many of us have found the meaning of the inheritance becoming far more important than our relationship with God himself.

I had a most wonderful conversation not too long ago with a couple, brand new to the Village, who shared with me the story of their life up to this moment. It's not unlike the stories many of us have experienced about the challenges of living in our day - raising children, working hard in business, being responsible citizens, facing illness and all sorts of problems, trying to prepare for retirement - and, in the process, losing touch with God. Not intentionally. Not out of either design or desire. Its just something that sometimes happens in the crush of life.

And the part of their story that I so admire and respect, is that one of the top priorities in their life right now, is a very intense desire to find renewed intimacy with God and involvement in God's work. How wonderful!

For many of us, God has become an impersonal force way up there somewhere, far removed from the daily walk of our lives. Why, we have lived by corporate principles for so long that we find it difficult to grasp, let alone know, God's will for our lives. We have embraced secular humanism to such a degree that we have lost hold of some of the most basic Christian values. And many of us would agree that, although we have inherited much by way of material and secular gain, our souls are starved and cry for home and the love of God.

During this Lenten season, it is important to keep focused on the fact that Jesus' journey to the Cross is a journey of reconciliation. God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. The Cross is about God making it possible for you and me to return home. I wonder, would you give some prayerful thought to where you are in relationship with God? Where is God in your life right now? The prodigal discovered that he'd gained the whole world, but in some deep way, had lost the core of life. He discovered that a personal relationship with his father was worth far more than the value of his father's estate.

How are things with you and God these days?

And, how are things with you and your siblings?

You see, the elder brother, stands in stark contrast to the prodigal. He has a relationship with his father, but disdains his brother. He's the good kid, this elder brother - the son who always does what he's supposed to do. He never misses a day of school or work. He makes his bed, cleans his room, and goes to college and gets a degree. He prepares himself for taking over the family business in such a way that its value will be protected. In his whole life, the elder brother doesn't give his family a moment of trouble.

The elder brother is the kind of straight-laced, fly-right kind of kid I always hated when I was growing up, being myself one to walk a bit on the wild side. But to be perfectly honest with you, as much as I disliked this Wally Cleaver kind of guy, he is the sort of person I want my daughter to marry.

You know how his story goes. When the elder brother sees his father welcome back that dirty so-and-so of a younger brother, he gets ticked off! The old man throws the kid a party for coming home! Never threw him a party for staying home! The old man kills the fatted calf and has a great banquet! Never killed a fatted calf for him. What an injustice! The kid goes and blows it all, and his father restores him just like nothing ever happened. Its almost like being rewarded for being bad!

Now, I think Jesus hoped that we might see ourselves in the elder brother, too. For as the prodigal chose the inheritance over a relationship with his father, this elder sibling chose self-righteousness over a relationship with his brother. In fact, did you notice that he doesn't even call the boy his brother, but rather "That son of yours."

I find myself feeling the same way about other people. I don't understand why God tells me to feed the hungry when at least some of the hungry ought to go out and feed themselves - like I do! I don't understand why I should help the poor when at least some of the poor ought to go get a job to help themselves - like I do! I don't understand why God wants me to forgive someone who's deeply injured me when what God ought to do is punish them and inflict on them some measure of the pain they've inflicted on me!

But there's that God of ours telling me to feed the hungry, help the poor, forgive those who hurt me, love my enemies, and pray for those who hate me!

I don't understand this God. I don't understand this kind of love. I don't understand the old man sitting alone in the window...waiting...waiting...waiting...

And that's the point of the story.

Here is a God whose love will not be dissuaded by our sin, our stubbornness, or even our stupidity. Here is a God who is sort of like that little boy's dog you may have seen on the TV news the other night. He follows the boy's school bus every day. Seven miles out. And then he waits on the steps of the school. And then seven miles back home. Just to be with the one he loves.

He sits by the window and waits...in love...for you!

And he calls us to reach toward others with the same kind of extraordinarily extravagant love!

There once was a man who lived with his only son in a beautiful house in the city. They collected art - great world-class pieces created by the likes of Picasso, Van Gogh, and Monet. It was a love they shared - father and son - and they were as close as father and son can be.

But these were days when war engulfed the nation. The young man went off to serve. Not long after he was shipped overseas however, the telegram came. The boy was killed in action.

His father was overcome by grief and every day would sit by the window staring out. The great masterpieces no longer had meaning for him without his son to share them. Many dark and lonely months passed. And then one day, there was a knock on the door. It was another young man, a soldier who, it turned out, was the very man the son was pulling to safety when he was killed. They had been friends. The young man clutched a package in his hands and explained to the father that he fancied himself an artist. The day before the battle, in fact, he had painted a crude portrait of the father's son. The old man opened the package, and began to weep. There were the cool blue eyes, ruddy complexion, and handsome features of his son.

When the soldier left, the father took out a step ladder and climbed the wall of the great-room where the masterpieces were displayed. There, right in the very center of them all, he fastened the portrait of his boy.

Years later, when the old man died, his will called for an auction of all his art. Experts came from around the world, feasting their eyes on the treasures he owned. Then the auctioneer started the bidding - with the portrait of the son.

It was certainly not a work of art. It had no value to a collector. There were no bids at all.

Finally, a neighbor spoke up. "My friend loved his boy very much, and I can't stand to see this portrait scrapped. I'll give you ten dollars for it. Its all I have." The auctioneer looked for other bids, but there were none. The gavel rapped. The deal was done.

And so was the auction.

"What are you doing?" the art dealers screamed in protest. "When will we bid on the masterpieces?"

"You won't bid on the masterpieces," replied the auctioneer. "The auction is over. According to the terms of the old man's will, whoever takes the son...gets it ALL!"

And the same is true of God's estate. Whoever takes the poor, the blind, the lame, the hungry, the lost, the sick, the leper, the failure, the younger and the elder son...gets it ALL, according to Jesus.

You see, to be a Christian you have to encounter a different kind of God than you've ever imagined before. And you have to take up a different kind of love than you've ever experienced before. A love that is large enough to see others around us not as those sons or daughters of yours.

But as our own sisters and brothers.

He is like a father who sits by the window, waiting...waiting...waiting...for his children to come home. And when they do, he loves them...loves them...loves them with a reckless, lavish and extravagant love!

And interestingly enough, the dictionary says another word for reckless, extravagant, or lavish is... prodigal..

And in that special way of loving, go into the world this week as the prodigal sons and daughters of a very prodigal Father!