A Lesson on Lostness -- Part 3

Fathers play an awesome role in a child’s life.  I was blessed by having a wonderful father, albeit, I only had him for a short nineteen years.  I was my "Daddy's girl," and he was my everything.  I’ve had the opportunity to be married to the wonderful father of my three children for close to thirty years.  I've seen him change diapers and wipe snotty noses.  I've seen him hold a feverish child, tenderly rubbing her back.  I've witnessed him run out of the house with a child needing stitches, while trying to make sure I did not faint!  A father's love is indeed a special thing.   As Christians, when we really think of the ultimate love of a dad, we have to think of God’s love for us—His children. 

In Luke 15,  Jesus shares with us the well-known parable of a lost son.  In this parable, Jesus illustrates the true love that God lavishes on His offspring.  As a mother, I would like to just smack this apparent spoiled brat of a son that dishonors his father by requesting his inheritance a bit early.  My own children have jokingly asked Jeff or me from time to time, “How much money do we get when ya’ll die?”    After years in the insurance industry, we are truly worth more dead than alive, and they know this.  That said, we have no plans of going anywhere anytime soon, and our eager beavers will just have to wait!  (And I have every intention of spending their non-insurance inheritance during my lifetime!) 

In the parable, we meet a young man who has come to a decision that he Is ready to leave home.  He no longer wants to be under his father’s roof, and he wants to be independent.  He asks his father to give him whatever money he would someday be entitled to as an inheritance.  The father agrees to the son’s request, and the young man heads to a distant land to enjoy the fruits of this inheritance.  There is no real thought or plan for the future.  He is finally on his own, free to enjoy his life.   He is off to find a new life for himself.  He finds new friends, new habits, and new excitement in this new life.  I can only imagine his feelings that he finally has it all!  He is on top of the world, and everything life has to offer is at his fingertips.   

In today’s climate, I can imagine a young man on a Las Vegas style escapade.  Las Vegas is an interesting place, but it is one of the most evil and sinful places I have ever had the unfortunate opportunity to visit.  There are beautiful buildings, dancing waters, and bright lights.  From an outward perspective, it is Disney World for adults.  Alcohol, gambling, prostitution, and other legal and illegal activities wait around every corner.  If a person has enough money, contacts and imagination, just about anything is possible.   This is the type of life this young man finds for himself. 

I can just imagine this young man at the craps table.  Money and alcohol flowing freely.  Beautiful women at his side, and partying friends ordering drinks around for all.    Party central, and Daddy’s inheritance money paying the tab.  There is no thought about tomorrow or next week.  Life is good, and it is going to be lived to the fullest .  . . as long as the money holds out!   As long as it does hold out, popularity , prosperity and pride are front line and center!

 But, as with most good times, it comes to an end.  We are not given information on how long he enjoyed the party, but the lights soon dimmed, and the party was done.     I can almost imagine him in the desolate casino, with pockets empty, and eyes dull from too much partying and too little sleep.  Friends gone.  Nothing left.  Now what?

Scripture says that a famine arose, and the young man found himself working for a pig farmer, slopping the hogs.  He has traded all the popularity, prosperity and pride for a pathetic, perilous existence with pigs!  What a tremendous fall from his high society rank to the mud pit with pigs! 

He is dirty and dusty; hungry and homesick.  He has a “light bulb” type of moment downwind of the pigs, when he realized that even his father’s servants have a better life than he does.  They have food and shelter.  He decides he will go back home. He will tell his father that he no longer deserves to be a son, but will work as a servant.  He rehearses his speech, and leaves for home with much regret and anxiety in his heart.

Back on the home front, I can only imagine the father’s feelings during the son’s absence.  I’m certain that not a day passed by when he didn’t think of his youngest child.  I’m certain he longed to know his whereabouts.  Perhaps he had received news that his son was living it up in that distant land.  Perhaps he knew that the money had run out, and his son had fallen on hard times.  We don’t know, but we do know that the father’s love for the son had never waned.  It had never diminished—regardless of the actions of the son. 

Jesus tells us that as the son approaches home, his father sees him.  He cannot believe his eyes.  He squints quickly to make sure he is not seeing some type of mirage.  Could it actually be that his son has returned?  His heart leaps in his chest!  It is HIS son!  He has returned!  Let the reunion begin!

This tells me that this father has been watching and waiting for the son to return.  But why?  Could it be that he was eagerly awaiting his son’s return so he could  scold and lecture him about his wicked ways?  Could he finally get to say the famous parental words, “I told you so”?  Could he find some satisfaction that his son was not able to make it independently, and he was crawling back home for Dad’s help?  Could he think about agreeing to take this son back in, only to hold this over his head for the rest of his life?  The possibilities could be endless for revenge on this sad excuse for an offspring!

We soon recognize that none of these possibilities are true.  The father has been eagerly awaiting his son’s return, but it is because of an unconditional love that only a parent has for a child.  The father runs to the returning child.  Runs.  That is an action verb, and love is an action verb, too.   It takes energy, and neither is done in a passive manner.  The father grabs him, and he hugs the boy’s neck.  He holds his baby boy.  I can imagine the tears of joy shed, by father AND by son.  The jubilant father takes the young man into the house.  He gifts the young man a beautiful robe, a ring, and sandals for his feet.  He orders a party to be given in his son’s honor.  The son is fully restored to his place in this family.  It is as if he was dead, and he is now alive again.  He was lost, and he has now been found. 

What a beautiful story.  “. . . and they all lived happily ever after.”  Well, not quite.  At this point, we are introduced to the “older” brother.  This son has always been “the good one.”  He has been obedient and respectful of his father.  He has probably been the one to comfort his dad during his rebel brother’s absence.  The older brother is not at all happy about the attention given to the baby brat.  His father explains that he should be happy that his brother has returned, and he invites him to join in the celebration.  The older brother refuses.   This is where Jesus ends his parable, so we are left with questions about how all of this family dysfunction resolved itself.        

We don’t really have those answers, but we do have the heavenly meaning that Jesus intended us to have from this parable.  The father represents God, and God loves His children unconditionally.  He lavishes His love and blessings on us daily, and many times, we travel to a distant land—away from Him.  Too many times, we are truly the bratty child in need of discipline.  We ignore our conscience and upbringing.  We live a lifestyle contrary to His plan for us.  We travel in circles that transform us into something He would never want us to be.  We end up in the proverbial pig pens of life, slopped with scars and squalor from our choices.  We have a “light bulb” moment when we realize our Father is waiting, if we will just return to Him. 

When we return to God, we are restored to His family, and we are promised full benefits of that familial relationship.  Angels in heaven rejoice because we were dead, and now we are alive again.  We were lost, and now we are happily found. 

Older brothers often abound in life, and fellow Christians can sometimes be the least forgiving of all.  I remember my father telling a story of a young woman in his home church in the 1950s.  This young woman had lived a wild life, and she had traveled into those “distant lands” many times in her life.  Her “church roots” always seems to call her home though.  From time to time, she would return home, and her sweet parents would encourage her to worship with them.  One Sunday, the preacher’s message touched her heart, and she responded to the invitation.  One of the loving sisters in the congregation loudly whispered in a disgusted tone, “Well, she’ll just do it again!  She’s just a bad seed!”  The message of the intended whisper echoed through the church house.  The young woman’s softened heart turned to stone because of this older woman’s vocal judgment.  The young woman left that church house, and she never returned.  She lived the rest of her life in rebellion, making sure that older sister’s prediction came true.  How sad.                    

As Christians, we are called to forgive, and we must—end of story.  We must forgive with the same spirit by which God forgave us.  We must forgive—and forget.  God does, and aren’t we glad?  God wipes our slates clean when we ask for His forgiveness.  He keeps no record of our wrongs from ten minutes ago, ten months ago, or ten years ago.  We surely do.  I can tell you how “Sam” hurt my feelings when we were in college.  I can tell you how “Lori” went wild on spring break in Florida when we were in 10^th grade.  I can tell you how “Steve” cheated on his math test in 3^rd!  We hold on to these things, and God commands us not to.  We must forgive and forget, and we need to pray for God’s help in that.  It’s not easy, but we need to remember that we are not perfect.  We need to recall  a time that we have also been in the pig pens of life, and we too have had the stench of slop on us.  If we consider ourselves above such things, a pig pen may, indeed, be in our future.  Pride often goes before a fall! 

God loves His children, and we are blessed to be one of them.  God forgives us unconditionally, and He lavishes His love on us.  We need to do the same for others.  We were dead, and now we again live.  We were lost, and now we are happily found.  Thank you, God, for being our Father!