Good morning. Our Thursday “thoughts for the day” are given to Bible characters, and today I would like to have us consider someone who wasn’t so much a living person as a representative of many persons, perhaps even all of us. I am speaking of the one we often think of as “The Prodigal Son.”
You probably are quite familiar with the parable: A father has two sons and the younger one is rebellious. He takes his share of the family inheritance, blows it quickly on wild living, and then finds himself without funds or friends when times get tough. He is sitting in a pig stye, hungry and ashamed, and he realizes two things. One, he had acted like an idiot. Two, the lowest servant at his father’s house was way better off than he was. He decided to swallow his pride and go back home.
As the young man was headed home, he wasn’t even thinking of asking to be re-instated to his rightful place in the family. All of his arrogance was long gone. As he walked along, he was practicing his speech. What he was going to say to his father was this: 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.’ Luke 15:19
When the young man of Jesus’ parable was ready to start his adventure he demanded of his father, “give me my share of the estate.” He was demanding that he receive all that he felt that he deserved. Doesn’t that sound like the voice of a headstrong young person? We must realize as we read the parable in Luke 15 that the rebellious son represents…us. We have all been there, we have all been arrogant, and we have all demanded what we feel we were due. The fate of the rebellious young man is shared to remind us of what a horrible idea that would be! Can you imagine standing before our Father God, and that is obviously who is represented by the father figure of Jesus’ parable, demanding what we deserve? The demand didn’t work well for the rebellious son, and it would certainly be a disaster for us as well.
We aren’t given anything but a glimpse of the young man in the parable as he makes his way home. Can you imagine what would have been going through his mind? The road home would have seemed a lot longer than it had when he was running in the other direction. It might even have felt as though it was all uphill, because every step had to have been miserable. It isn’t easy to admit when we have been foolish. It isn’t easy to beg for forgiveness. It isn’t easy to come before the Father knowing that you have nothing left to demand, and all you can do is beg for forgiveness. It would have been a miserable journey, one filled with doubt and self-loathing. Yep, been there and done that.
The rebellious son had no idea of what had been going on in the mind of the father. He never imagined that the father was patiently waiting for him. Every day the father stood by the road looking for a sign that his son, a child that he dearly loved, was coming home. The rebellious son would never have imagined such a thing. In fact, it would be far more likely that he would have imagined his father seething in righteous anger. His expectation was that his father would greet him with a stony glare and say something like, “So, the fool has found his way home. What do you have to say for yourself? Are you here to beg for forgiveness? Well, save your breath boy, that ship sailed with the first step you took down that road of sin.”
But none of that is in Jesus’ parable. For the father of the parable is our heavenly Father. Jesus describes the way He has been anxiously waiting. He is eager for a glimpse of His dear child coming home to Him. Eager for you and I to make our way into His arms and confess our sins that we might be forgiven.
The Father is filled with joy. The Father calls for a celebration. The Father is ready to defend the rebellious son to his angry and self-righteous brother. The Father loves His son. And nothing that the son has said or done could ever change the power, the wonder, the beauty of the Father’s love.
Be forgiven. Be re-instated. Be loved.
Vern