Here are a few thoughts about the folk song “500 miles” by Peter Paul and Mary and about the Parable of the Prodigal Son. The song was originally written and sung by Hedy West and titled the Railroader’s Lament but the lyrics may have been derived from an older folk song. The song was covered by Justin Timberlake, Carey Mulligan and Stark Sands in the 2013 film Inside Llewyn Davis. The Parable of the Prodigal Son can be found in Luke 15. “Lord, I can’t go a-home this a-way”. That is a haunting lyric. “Lord I’m one, Lord I’m two, Lord I’m three, Lord I’m four, Lord I’m five hundred miles from my home.” Is there any other way to go home than as we are. You know I wonder if the reason we stay away is because we believe home is where the successful are, and why would losers like us want to meet with that. It is not the father that we fear so much as the older brother - the one who never risked anything and doesn’t know what it is to lose all and not be able to look yourself in the mirror. To be honest, it is hard for me to understand the older brother in the story. I have never known anyone who didn’t sell their birthright for a mess of pottage, only those who cannot or will not see that they have and I feel increasingly uncomfortable around that sort. We have so little to talk about. The father on the other hand, I get. And it is obvious that he understood the prodigal. He might not have spent his wealth with harlots, but it appears at least that he understood what it was to be deeply wrong and terribly ashamed. You might say that it was fatherly affection that prompted him to slay the fatted calf and throw the party. I am sure there was some of that in it but consider what you know of fathers and sons and reconciliations. In most cases, the returning prodigal is met with skepticism and the reconciliation is slow and paced commensurate with the prodigal’s improved behavior. This father seems to understand first hand what it is that the prodigal has had to overcome to return home. I may be stretching the point, but the meeting of these two is so moving that I have a hard time not believing that the Father did not understand. And then there is this party with special gifts - a robe and a ring. Rings historically denoted ceremonies wherein there is a transfer of authority. That seems like a strange thing to do for a nasty prodigal. A party perhaps, but the ring and the robe go over the top. The brother’s angst is somewhat understandable considering the lavishness that was poured over the one that was lost. But the strangest thing about the story is how it all turned out. In the end, it is the prodigal who feasts with his father and the “faithful” son who needed no repentance is left outside - and that of his own accord. The other thing that is interesting is the fact that the father and the prodigal end up in the same boat financially. The father tells the older son that all that he has is his - the older son’s. The father is leaving all of his temporal goods to this oldest son who wouldn’t come in unto the feast and soon the father, whether through death or a transferral of deed, will be left with exactly what the prodigal son has in the way of earthly possessions - nothing. And the older brother who could not see his way to rejoice with the prodigal is left with what he wanted in the first place - to preserve at all costs his worldly inheritance. It is an interesting story and a hopeful one for anyone far from home. “I can’t go a-home this a-way.” Maybe not. Who knows but what the father which seems so far from our humanity knows better than anyone else what it is to be loosers like us. What if the reason we chose to risk our inheritance in the first place was becuase we knew that there was something the Father knew that we did not and we desired to grow up and come to know that compassion which prompted the Father to slay the fatted calf and to bestow upon the wretched the choicest of gifts. God Bless You,The Trackless Path

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