“Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and make merry; for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found” (Luke 15:22-24).
The younger son in the story insults his father in the worst way by demanding that he give over the son’s inheritance while the father is still alive. The younger son takes what is still his father’s, and squanders it on pointless things. His father must have been humiliated, as well as deeply hurt, that his son chose to do this to him.
The youngest son then runs into trouble, having spent all that he had and finding himself in a country gripped by famine. He’s pretty much screwed: doing menial labour, he still can’t manage to feed himself. Full of remorse, and realizing what he has done, the son makes the journey home prepared to beg his father’s forgiveness. He is shamed, and humble, and acknowledges his sin.
But when the father sees him coming from afar off, he runs to his beloved son, even after all the hurt between them. He embraces his son, and when the boy apologizes and acknowledges he is unworthy, the father immediately showers love and good things upon him – which he was prepared to do the moment he saw his son approaching. The father does not hold on to his hurt, but puts it aside.
God, like the father in the story, is waiting to embrace us when we come to him. He rushes to meet us before we’re even all the way there. He desires to forgive us, to be overjoyed at our return, because he loves us even when we’re far away. Like the prodigal son, we have to choose to return: God will not seek us out in far-away lands. But he is more than willing to embrace us when we seek him with humility, for we have returned, and he does not hold the past against us.
The eldest son in the parable is distinctly less pleased than his father at the younger brother’s return. He is jealous because, while he has never disobeyed, his father has never done anything for him like what he is doing for the son who hurt him. The elder brother thinks none of this is fair.
The father tells him “all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to make merry and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; was lost, and is found” (Lk 15:31-32). The brother has no cause to be jealous because he and the brother receive equally, just as one saved person would have no cause to be jealous of another since both are held equally in the Father’s embrace.
In this parable, Jesus shows us a God Who’s love defines justice, and Who’s love for us overshadows all our wrongdoings. The only thing asked of us is to come before him in humility.
“Fill me with joy and gladness; let the bones which thou hast broken rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all my iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me. Cast me not away from your presence, and take not thy holy Spirit from me […] The sacrifice acceptable to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise” (Psalm 51:8-11, 17).
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