The Prodigal So by Henri Nouwen
Week 7: Part Three — The Father (II)
Read the remainder of Part Three of The Return of the Prodigal Son (chapters on the father's compassion, forgiveness, and joy). Primary Scripture: Luke 15:22–32; 2 Corinthians 5:18–20.
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Nouwen's meditation on the father reaches its climax in a meditation on forgiveness — not as a single act but as a way of being in the world, the oxygen of the father's household.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.Nouwen writes that the father's forgiveness is not the cancellation of a debt but the restoration of a relationship — it is love that has not stopped. How does this distinction between debt-cancellation and love-restoration change the texture of what we mean when we say we have been forgiven?
2.Nouwen describes what he calls the "discipline of gratitude" — learning to see our own lives as gift rather than burden, and to hold our blessings and our wounds alike as things to be grateful for. This is, he suggests, the father's posture toward life. How is gratitude a discipline rather than just a feeling? What makes it difficult to practice?
3.The father calls a feast — not a quiet, private reconciliation but a public celebration. Nouwen emphasizes the communal and joyful nature of return: there is music, dancing, feasting. What does the extravagance of the celebration say about how God regards the return of a lost child? How does this expansive joy challenge more subdued or privatized versions of forgiveness?
a.Is there someone in your community whose return from lostness you have failed to celebrate?
b.What would it look like to throw a feast — literally or figuratively — for that person?
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