“If God seems far away, guess who moved?” is an insightful question. The parable of the prodigal son is one of the favorite stories from the bible to both religious and non-religious people. There are many songs, articles and books written based on this story, yet the freshness and relevance of the powerful lessons from this parable in Luke 15 continues to capture the hearts of both the young and the old alike. There are three main characters in this story, the Father, the older brother and the younger son (the prodigal).
Traditionally this story is often called the parable of the prodigal son. A closer study of this passage clarifies to us that Jesus’ main purpose in sharing this story is not to highlight the shameless rebellion of the younger son, or the self-righteous defiance of the older son. His main focus was to point to the father’s heart that was a reflection of God’s grace and generosity. I think a more suitable title for this parable would be “The Father’s heart” instead of “the prodigal son”.
Jesus starts the story with these words “There was a man who had two sons”. The lead character of this story was the man who unconditionally loved and reached out to both his sons, but the younger son gets most of the attention because of his wild nature and dramatic choices.
During Jesus’ days in the Jewish culture, inheritance was only given by the father, it was never demanded by a son. The younger son broke the father’s heart, rejected his leadership and caused embarrassment to the family. The father’s response shocked the listeners because he had the right to kick him out of the family for such rebellion and disown him for good.
The younger son had a sense of entitlement, he felt that he deserved better and his life with his father was robbing him of all the thrills the world offered. He literally ran miles away from his father with his share of his father’s money, squandered his wealth in wild living, and then realized what he was missing as he fed the pigs. When he came to his senses he returned to his father, asked his father to forgive him and allow him to be one of his servants in the house.
“In his self-righteousness, the older brother thought he was morally superior to his debased sibling. His attitude said, “I could never do anything like that.”… He did not see himself as a fellow sinner to his brother…his service was nothing more than a joyless servitude: “Look, these many years I have served you.” This son found no joy in working with his father. It was a burden. He was just hanging in there, doing it all until his father died” writes Rev John Sartelle.
The younger son was lost, he repented and returned home; the older son physically stayed with his father but was lost at home, neither of them appreciated their father’s love, both of them broke his heart. Similarly every one of us is lost in sin, either our rebellion takes us away from God or our self-righteous pride keeps us away from God.
“Grace” is often defined as “unmerited favor”, though the word grace is not mentioned in this parable, everything the father does in this story is a demonstration of grace. While the younger son was still a long ways off returning home with filthy rags, his father left his palace and ran towards him, hugged him, kissed him and welcomed him home. The younger son was only requesting his father to accept him as one of his slaves, but the father gave him a ring and restored back all his privileges as his son; one of the best demonstration of Grace.
This father ran on the street for his younger son, he went out and pleaded with his older son to come join the celebrations. In both cases he left the house, reached out to them and wanted them to “return home” and rejoice with him. Grace is something nobody can explain or fully understand. Why does the father go out of his way for his sons who neither cared for him nor valued his unconditional love will remain an unexplainable mystery till we acknowledge “Grace”. Karl Barth said “Only when grace is recognized to be incomprehensible it is grace”.
For most of human history mankind saw God as a distant, harsh, heartless, mean supreme being who is hunting to punish sinful humanity. But for the first time Jesus is giving the Pharisees and us a glimpse into God’s compassionate heart that longs to see his prodigal sons return home and join the celebrations.
Pastor Chip Ingram writes “Instead of assuming God can never be pleased, choose to see God through his lens of a loving father who – 1. Will go to ridiculous lengths to show you His love, 2. Gives you a place of honor in His family, and 3. Offers grace that is undeserved and unwarranted.” I hope you recognize how much God loves you and how far he went to bring you back home. Welcome Home, welcome to “Grace”.
Rev. Dr.Francis Burgula
