Jesus too is clear on this: In the parable of the Prodigal Son, he teaches that we can be away from the father’s house equally through infidelity and weakness (“the younger brother”) or through bitterness and anger (“the older brother”), whereas what God is really asking of us is to have the compassion of the father (an empathy that can issue forth only from a very grateful heart).15 In the Gospels, the call to have a mellow, grateful heart is just as nonnegotiable as are the demands to keep the commandments and practice social justice.
