Because we bear your name April–May 2025

‘The hearing ear and the seeing eye – the Lord has made them both’ (Proverbs 20:12).

I was listening to a podcast about a familiar parable of our Lord – the one known as the ‘Prodigal Son’ (Luke 15) – and I was reminded how faith sees everything in a new way. Since the parable is given that popular title, we often forget that the story is about TWO sons: the younger and the elder. The story of the elder brother is so very helpful for understanding our participation in the mission of God.

The elder brother seems rightly upset. The younger brother has insulted their father, acting as though the father was already deceased by demanding early access to the inheritance, then squandering the family estate.

Then upon the return of the younger son, the fatted calf is killed and there is celebration. The elder son would have been expecting this calf to go towards something other than a celebration for his wayward brother.

But this elder brother also does not understand the heart of his father. The father must go out to his elder son who has not come into the celebration for the younger brother’s return. The elder brother speaks of his brother as ‘this son of yours’ and he speaks of prostitutes when there is no mention of prostitutes in the story. The elder brother has dwelt in the father’s house, expecting that he had earned entitlement. He believes that he deserves more than his wayward brother.

In response, the father is gracious and purposeful, addressing the elder brother personally as ‘little child’ and saying, ‘You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. But we had to celebrate and rejoice, because this brother of yours was dead and has come to life; he was lost and has been found’.

This parable calls us to see each other with the eyes of faith enlightened by the gospel. Scripture proclaims, ‘God so loved the world that he gave his only Son’. This is God’s amazing and abundant love for all – regardless of race, background or misdeeds. We who are baptised into the death of Jesus Christ are raised with him to walk in newness of life and to see ourselves and the world through eyes enlightened by this good news.

As this word of the gospel takes root in us, we discover the missionary call to bear this good news to all the world. This word of the gospel shapes how we see ourselves and those around us. We are not entitled members of a cult who will have nothing to do with other people. We are beloved daughters and sons of the God who has gone to the cross to show us love and who sends us as witnesses to the ends of the earth.

This is the ‘hearing ear’ and the ‘seeing eye’ we read about in Proverbs 20. Faith in the work of Christ and his cross gives us eyes to see the neighbour in a new way.

This past month, I gathered with my wife, Heidi, and our extended family, at St Paul’s Lutheran Church in Henty NSW, for the funeral of Heidi’s father, David Muller. It was a sad but hope-filled time as we commended this Christian man into the everlasting

arms of the Good Shepherd, trusting in his mercy.

What was quite clear about David’s witness was those ‘hearing ears’ and ‘seeing eyes’ of faith. His obituary reminded us that David had learned to not despise preaching or God’s word, but instead to keep that word holy and gladly hear and learn it (Small Catechism, 3rd Commandment).

And in hearing and learning the word, David lived as a gentle and purposeful evangelist who saw all those around him as people for whom his Lord and Saviour had died on the cross.

We are privileged to bear the name of our Lord Jesus Christ in the Christian mission he has given to us. In the parable, the father said to his beloved child, ‘You are always with me, and all that is mine is yours’.

In Christ,

Paul

‘Lord Jesus, we belong to you,
you live in us, we live in you;
we live and work for you –
because we bear your name’