The Prodigal

I really loved Elder Uchtdorf’s general conference talk about the prodigal son. So often at church, when we hear this parable, we put ourselves in the place of the righteous son, and we judge the prodigal son as the “other”. We’re righteous, but God will forgive those wretched sinners because God is good. But we’re still a bit better because we’re not sinners.

This misses the point of the parable. We’re all sinners. We are the prodigal. We have wasted our substance. And God, in God’s infinite mercy, watches and waits for us. When we are yet a long way off, God runs toward us with open arms and has a celebration at our return home. We were dead and yet we are alive. We were lost and yet we are found.

I have a dear friend who has fallen victim to the opioid crisis. He has quite literally wasted his substance in riotous living. He’s a shell of his former self, and I’ve often lamented over the past few years that it feels like my friend died and a zombie is animating his body. So when Elder Uchtdorf cited the part in the parable where the father says “For this my son was dead, and is alive again.” I teared up. I had always loved that line, but I had never felt it so viscerally as I do now. I hope I get to throw a party for my friend when he becomes alive again.