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 10th
grade. I can tell you how “Steve”
cheated on his math test in 3rd!
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!
