Thoughts from Mark "Hat" Rackley

your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

• Matthew 6:10

Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.

• Luke 15:11-20

I want to tell a little fable.  There might be elements that are true or it could be totally made up.

But before I start, have you heard the Bible scholars talk about what will happen on Judgment Day?  Those who are in the Book of Life will turn to God in worship and say, “Thy will be done!”  And the non-believers will approach the Great White Throne and God will tell them, “Thy will be done!”  In other words, the non-believer wants to be where they do not have to listen to God or listen to anyone talk about God.  Thus, God gives them what they want.  They are sent into the Lake of Fire where God will never bother them again.  They may not like it once they get it, but I agree with many scholars that they will still curse God for eternity in Hell, but God will not be around to listen.  The saying, “Depart from Me.  I never knew you” comes to mind.

The fable begins:

Once upon a time in a land far, far away, there was a woman who thought family was the most important thing in the world.  That is except for her belief in God.

Then, a member of the family told her, “I never want to hear from you again, and you will never hear from me.”

This saddened the woman.  She was ill and receiving such a blow caused her great pain, making her illness affect her even more detrimentally.

After years of never hearing anything from this family member, she told her husband to not let this family member know when I die.

The husband thought that the wife was not forgiving as God had commanded.  When the pastor found out, the pastor thought the same thing, but the husband stayed to his word.  When the woman died, he told the family, excluding the one.  The one in question then heard from others in the family.

The husband was troubled by guilt, but as he prayed, he realized that his wife understood the story of the prodigal son and the idea of “Thy will be done” on Judgment Day.

She had already forgiven the family member, but she gave the family member what that family member desired.  They would not communicate ever again, even after she had passed away.  She would not burden this family member’s life by communicating when that family member desired no communication.  Just as God tells those who do not believe “Thy will be done,” she allowed the rule about no communication to go beyond her death.  Why burden someone with a death announcement when they never wanted to hear from them again?

But if they even repented, and turned around to seek the family, the woman would be waiting.  The woman would have run into their arms.  The woman prayed for that family member daily.  At the end of the prayer, she would take out her phone and intensely try to will the phone to ring.  But she was like the father in the story of the prodigal son.  He did not go to the foreign land and drag his rebellious son back kicking and screaming.  He waited.

She waited. And if she died before the family member “came to his senses” as the Scripture states (not being gender specific – just quoting), then should this person not be given a lesson that life is short?  Love your family while you have the chance.

This fable is now over.  You cannot force someone to love God.  You cannot force someone to love their family members.  And granting the silence treatment when they ask for it does not seem like punishment.  They got what they asked for.

But what do you think?

Soli Deo Gloria.  Only to God be the Glory.