Prodigal Father

Yesterday was Father’s Day and many of us called our dad or had lunch with him or at least sent a card to him with a Home Depot gift card in it. All of us have a father.

Yesterday was also Sunday when believers gather in one place to worship our Heavenly Father and thank Him for all He has done for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus entire ministry was working to tell the world how incredible that Father truly is. Jesus’ whole life was spent pointing people to the Father. So it’s no surprise Jesus shows us how full of grace and unconditional love our Father is as Jesus tells stories in Luke 15.

While the Pharisees are upset that it appears Jesus is condoning sin by eating with sinners and tax collectors, Jesus reminds us our Heavenly Father is too busy rejoicing over found coins, found sheep and found kids to worry about what they were doing while they were lost.

See, Jesus tells the story of young son who wanted his inheritance from his dad before the dad died. Amazingly, the dad grants his half to him and the son goes away to the big city where he blows his entire bank account on worldly living. Sleeping in the day and partying at night with conditional friends who love the son as long as there is money. After weeks of the party life, spending money on drinking, drugs and women, the money runs out and then the friends do as well. In addition, there is a famine in the land.

So with no money and no friends; no place to stay and nothing to his name, the young son finds a job at a pig farm, slopping the hogs. Every day, he’s in the pig pen, in the mud, in the feces, in the stink and longing to eat what the pigs are eating. Until one day, he comes to his senses. He says, “I can go home and just ask dad if I can be a servant. Even the servants have food to eat.” So he begins the long walk of shame home.

But we discover the dad has been watching for his son every day. And one day, he sees his son in the distance so the dad runs down the road to meet him. While the son is trying to get the words out about being a servant, the dad says, “Bring a new robe, the family ring, new sandals and start cooking. Welcome home, my son.”

Now while Jesus reveals how wonderful it could be for prodigals to come home, it’s disturbing. Because most of us want our pound of flesh. Most of us want the sinner to come home but groveling on their knees, not to a party. And the young son has spent his half of the inheritance so he’s coming home to live off his brother’s half.

Big brother comes home to find the party and is irrate! “I’ve been here working the whole time and you never threw a party for me,” he says. And in the moment, dad realizes he’s lost both sons, one to a life of reckless abandonment and another to angry self-righteousness.

See, what the older son doesn’t realize is that dad does love them both but not because of what they deserve. He loves them both because that’s just who he is. See this father is a prodigal too who never tires of giving his love away.

We all are so blessed to have a Father who loves us unconditionally. When you decide to come home, he doesn’t remember what you’ve done but just loves on you. So if you are looking for peace in your life…if you are looking for a father to hold you close unconditionally…if you are looking for permission to leave behind the shame and guilt of your past mistakes, then say “yes” to Jesus and come home. Making Jesus Lord of your life will allow you to drop the baggage and embrace a totally new and wonderful life. Blessings on your journey.

Prodigal Father.

Now you have either been a son or a daughter. I bet if truth be told, you were not an angel. I know I was not. I butted heads with my dad on more than one occasion growing up. When I was 18, I left home and never looked back. I was young, naive, and selfish and I made multiple poor decisions in my early 20s.

Jesus tells a story that begins, “There was a man who had two sons…” in Luke 15. It’s the story of a young son who wants his half of the family inheritance BEFORE his dad dies. So, when he asks for it, the dad concedes and gives it to him. The story goes on to tell of wild nights in bigger and distant cities where all the money was spent to buy friends, prostitutes, drugs, alcohol…it was pure Las Vegas on steroids.

Eventually, the young son ran out of money and of course, his so called friends left him for better things. With no money and now a shortage of food, the young son convinced a farmer to let him feed the pigs to earn a meager wage. Hebrews cannot touch pigs. They are unclean and one would be defiled to come in contact with those animals. The young son has hit rock bottom. No money, no friends, no food, defiled and unclean…But he remembers the servants in his dad’s house have more than enough food. So he determines to go home.

He thinks, “At home, even dad’s servants have a place to sleep and something to eat. I’ll go, recognizing I can no longer be called his son because of my stupidity, and ask dad if I can just be a servant.” So, he begins the long journey home.

But the father has been watching for months and months for his son. Finally, in the distance, the father sees his son and leaps from his porch to run down the road and hold his son. Their is no time for confession…no promise of different future behavior. Before the son can say he’s sorry, the father hugs him, kisses him, puts his own robe on him, a ring on his finger and shoes on his feet. Let the party begin!

Jesus reminds us in this story that the love of God both violates and fulfills our sense of forgiveness. It is a two-edged sword. When we are in the wrong, we want and may feel we deserve the forgiveness. But when we have been wronged, it takes a little more time to offer that forgiveness. Yet we see from the father what true love looks like.

The young son has been a prodigal…giving away all of his money, his time, himself to the world around him. The father is a prodigal too, who never tires of giving away his love for wayward children who have come home.

He’s waiting for you to come back as well. He’s watching for you to make the decision to be embraced by a love that’s deeper than the ocean. He’s waiting to give you that robe, ring and new shoes but you have to make the decision to come home. May the overwhelming love of the Father cause you to remember what’s at home. May you make the decision to embrace the wonderful life you can have by coming home. Blessings on the journey.