Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 256 · September 13
A Great Way Off
“And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”
There is a speech in your head and you have been working on it a while. You know how it starts, you know the humblest way to phrase the middle, and the closing line offers to take less than you were given, because asking for less feels safer than arriving with nothing.
He had one too, word for word, worked out among the pigs. I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, And am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. Confession, disqualification, and an offer of reduced terms.
He gets two of the three out. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him. Saw him first, which means the road had been watched. The son manages Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son, and the hired servant clause never arrives, because his father has turned to the servants and is calling for the best robe.
The distance was closed from the other end while the wording was still being polished. And the part of your speech about being demoted to staff is the part that never gets said, because the man running down the road at you settled what you are called before you were in earshot. Jesus told this to a room of men who were muttering that he receives sinners, and eateth with them. The running was aimed at them too.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 256 is The Gentle Shepherd (Isaiah 40:11).