The story of the Prodigal Son is one of the best known of all the parables of the Holy Bible.
Declared Legally Dead
We can read of the Prodigal Son who desired his
inheritance from his rich father. This son approaches his father and makes
his desire known. This was not a simple request; it is much more involved than
it may first seem.
The younger son is
asking his father to put his will into effect, that is, to be legally
dead and considered to have died.
Yet, here we find the request is honored, and
the father is willing to act upon his son's request. The younger son was
given his inheritance and the elder brother, it appears, was given
his inheritance in the estate as well.
"And he said, A certain man had two
sons: And the younger of them said to his father, Father, give me the portion
of goods that falls to me. And he divided to them his living" Lk: 15:11-12
This Father has bequeathed everything to his sons. The
father does, what the Greek word "ton bion"
describes, which means to "pour out", which
in the Greek means, that the father poured out all
which was whole his being, in other words this
part of the parable describes someone who pours out his life in death.
Leaves Home
After the inheritance has been discharged to
the two sons, the younger of them removes himself from the family estate and
ventures out to a "far country" and
engages in a life style of self
gratification.
"And not many days after the younger son
gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there
wasted his substance with riotous living" (13)
This "riotous
living" quickly spends and depletes the son's resources
which had been conveyed to him by his father. Now, due to conditions that he
had no control over a famine comes upon this "far county”. This
son is now forced to become a field worker feeding swine for a "citizen" of this "far
country". His options are now limited, he is not being looked
upon with his accustomed favor.
"And when he had spent all, there arose a
mighty famine in that land; and he began to be in want. And he went and joined
himself to a citizen of that country; and he sent him into his fields to feed
swine. And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine
did eat: and no man gave to him. And when he came to himself, he said, How many
hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with
hunger!"(14-17)
This son begins to consider his state of
being and then, he recalls his father’s house
hold. This prodigal son comes to his senses, in other words, the
prodigal son finally realizes that whatever life he has had is now over.
The point in St. Luke’s account is that
the prodigal son wakes up one day and realizes for all intent and purposes
that he is dead. The son wakes up dead , that he is not really living
the life that he was meant to be living.
The prodigal son begins to feel the longing
for his father's house hold and determines to return home. The son
then conceives the idea of what he will need to do, so he decides
that he will return to his father with a diminished status and he also believes
this will be the only way his father will extend a reception to him, and
receive him back.
So, with this belief, the son develops a
"script" which he believes will serve as an
adequate reflection of his change of heart. This prodigal son feels
worthless as if his very sonship is in question. It is his hope that his
prepared "script" will incline the father's heart
to him so that he might extend the son welcome and be readmitted to the
household even if that of being a
servant.
" I will arise and
go to my father, and will say to him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and
before you,And am no more worthy to be called your son: make me as one of your
hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a
great way" (18-20)
Grace for Him
The prodigal felt worthless, and what is worse, he thought that he had lost his son ship status. The prodigal prepares himself to face his father. We see that he had a distorted view of the father, so with this distorted view of his father which he held, the son rehearses the prepared "script" that he believed his father needed to hear, so that , at the very least, his father would allow him to return home; but this is not the way of his the father .
When the prodigal son makes his choice
and starts for home he is unsure of how his father will receive him, what will
the encounter be like?
"And he arose, and came to his
father" (20).
Yet, beyond the
prodigal's expectations, his father's eyes have always been watching for
this moment when his son would come home. The father's heart has always been
inclined toward this wayward child; he is wanted and included in his fatherly
love and welcome in the father's house.
"But when he was yet a great way off, his
father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed
him”. (20)
Upon their meeting the father takes no notice
of his son's well-rehearsed "script". The
father only surrounds his son with acceptance and love washed in grace. The
father makes it clear that this son is fully his son, and the father
now rejoices in the prodigal's return home where he has always belonged.
The father rejoices in celebration.
"And the son said to him, Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called
your son. But the father said to his servants, bring forth the best robe,
and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet: And bring
here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat, and be merry: For this my
son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found. And they began to
be merry."(21-24)
The father does not wish a recount of
his son's actions but instead graciously and joyfully over looks them and
see him with only the eyes of love. The prodigal son’s sins had been
judged through the father’s eyes of love. This son was for all intent dead, now this prodigal is ready for a new birth to a new life or rather a restored
life as a son, he is now resurrected back
from the dead. The prodigal is ready to be the son that his father has always
intended and wanted him to be.
The Gospel
This is the message of the Gospel that
any who will turn to Jesus Christ. When any one turns to Jesus, we literally
die to the useless life that we wasted
and are now resurrected to a new life a restored life with the God Father - symbolically reflected in the embrace and love
the Father bestows on the prodigal in the parable.
This is what Grace is about - the
prodigal son was given the welcome of a dead son who is alive again - all
because the father was willing to pour out what amounted to be as his
life, which he did at the beginning of the parable.
We see that the father exercised his will and
became declared legally dead in
order to grant every good thing to his son, that is symbolically, the father
was giving his life for his son blessings, that he might share the estate,
that the unqualified gift of all that is his for the prodigal.
The father knew his son, foreknew from
the beginning what his sacrifice would accomplish. The father gave
everything that he had in order to have the opportunity to raise up the
prodigal son from the dead to life. The prodigal was
now living! When did the father really start to love the son? He
loved him even from the beginning. The father's love was always present
even as the prodigal wasted his inheritance in that "far country",
and fell into the despair of servitude.
Father Seen in Jesus
The intent of this parallel is seen
in John 3:16, John 14:9-11, Jesus said “if you have seen the Father, you have seen me” we see that Jesus died so that
we might be resurrected to a new life and restored life, even now, and we will
have the fullness of that life in the future, restored with our heavenly
bodies as true children of our Father with new glorified bodies beyond the
confines of this present Earthly life.
"And the son said to him, Father, I have
sinned against heaven, and in your sight, and am no more worthy to be called
your son”. (21)
The prodigal's script of
repentance which he had crafted, rehearsed, and was going to recite for
his father, becomes not just words upon his lips, but, after experiencing
his father's love, his new posture of heart, because he has
experienced what "deadness" away from his
father's estate is truly like.
The prodigal was dead and is now alive.
He realizes that he will not be in servitude as he was in the
"far country", which symbolizes the condition this world. The
son's distorted ideas about his father were swept away and he
now knows that he is and always will be his father's son! He sees his father
for the first time as he truly is. A loving and gracious father who wants his
son back if his son will only accept it.
In this parable, we see this transformation is
brought about when we see the truth regarding his father. His father has always
loved him, and watched for him and ran to meet him even before this son uttered
his prepared "script" of repentance.
True repentance and belief are the
same, repent simply means to change your thinking (Metanoia) about our Father God. We
come to see him as the loving Father, who looks out upon all humanity willing
to accept us back as children of his house hold, yet it is humanity who has
left our Father's estate and remains in the "far country" of
disbelief and hostility in mind toward God.
"Once you were alienated from
God and were enemies in your minds because of your evil behavior." Col: 1:21
What keeps humanity from experiencing
all that our God has for them, is not unwillingness on God's part, but rather,
hostility in the minds of humanity. This distorted view keeps humanity in
servitude the "far country" of
disbelief.
Through the Gospel, our Father offers us an
eternal place in his house hold. When we believe him and we enter
into the son ship which is offered us through Jesus. Jesus demonstrates
that God loves us and wants us to have all the rights and privileges of being
his sons and daughters.
Jesus shares all this with us, except his
deity in that he is completely unique … At the time we believe what God says
about his love for us our lives changes … we have repented or changed our
thinking about God and our lives change with this belief. We are alive again.
Fully Restored
When the prodigal comes home there is great
celebration. He is conferred again with all the rights and place of being
his father's son. It was his all along, just waiting for him to come home to
the father that loved him.
"But the father said to his servants,
Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and
shoes on his feet: And bring here the fatted calf, and kill it; and let us eat,
and be merry: For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is
found. And they began to be merry." (22-24)
Elder Son
The son that was dead was now alive and had come home. Yet we see the elder son that was alive was unhappy, but the father showed the elder son his eternal love and pointed out that everything the father had was already his showing us that Jesus as the eternal Son of God always has shared in all that the Father has.
This parable has no real ending which
is symbolizing the Father and the prodigal are now always together, living
together throughout eternity.
Prodigals Waiting to Hear
We live in a world of prodigals who's views of
God are distorted, and deep within them there is a hostility that keeps them
from being the children that they were always met to be. They are like that
prodigal which squandered the inheritance being in bondage of servitude to
a "citizen" of the "far country".
Yet, within humanity there is need for
something greater than ourselves, this something is longing for our fathers’
house. All have it. They need to hear the Gospel regarding the love God has for
them.
"He has made everything beautiful
in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot
fathom what God has done from beginning to end." Ecc: 3:11
Some ignore this desire for
the Father. Most don’t recognize nor understand it. The
Christian message about the Love of the Father revealed to us, and to
any and to all, that through Jesus Christ people are not just
sinners, (which is true of all humanity) but we preach to
them as prodigals, that God loves them and wants them to come home and be his
children, with an all-new life, prodigals are not brought back
by condemnation, but by seeing the love of God extended without
condition. When we see this, that is, the truth of who we are we are convicted
of our self-imposed exile from God and should awaken the desire to return to
our Father's house hold and be who we were meant to be.
"For God was in Christ, reconciling the
world to himself, not imputing their trespasses to them; and has committed to
us the word of reconciliation."2Cor:5:19
"Now then we are ambassadors for Christ,
as though God did beseech you by us: we pray you in Christ's stead, be you
reconciled to God”. (20)
If humanity could only come to realize that
their Father is waiting for them to come home. He watches daily for them. The
Father does not want a "scripted" a
pre-planned confession, but a genuine change of heart and mind which comes
about when they see God for the loving Father that he is. They would be
welcomed home with the Father's Love, if they will but freely receive it
and be who they were always meant to be.
Benediction: May we each and all cast aside all our
distorted view of our loving Father who always looks and awaits our return to
him and celebrate with him, today, tomorrow and forevermore. Amen
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Rev.Todd Crouch, Norman, Oklahoma
"If It Is Not About Jesus, It Is Not
About Anything"
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