This story of the prodigal son is one of the most famous and familiar of Jesus’ parables. And the most personal. For it touches an area that is often the most painful—our children.
In the parables of the lost sheep (Luke 15:3-7) and lost coin (Luke 15:8-10), the emphasis is on the lostness and the relentless efforts of the owners to recover what was lost (Luke 15:4,8). The sheep was lost due to its natural propensity or weakness to stray; the coin through carelessness. But the son was lost because of his own willful sinfulness (Luke 15:11-13).
Instead of a seeking shepherd and a searching woman, we have a waiting father. The aggrieved father did not relentlessly pursue his wayward son. Instead, he patiently waited for the son to return. Undoubtedly, the father had perseveringly prayed for his son to come “to his senses” (Luke 15:17).
The turnaround came when the son willed to “go home to [his] father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you’” (Luke 15:18). The son also took deliberate steps to come home: “So he returned home to his father” (Luke 15:20).
Why didn’t the father go and search for his lost son? The first two stories made it clear that Jesus came to seek and save those who are lost (Luke 19:10). But this third story of the prodigal son emphasizes the responsibility of the lost—the need for us to repent. The longsuffering Father patiently and lovingly waits for us to return home. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him” (Luke 15:20). The son’s guilty sinfulness is overshadowed only by the Father’s gracious forgiveness.
Have you willfully left home? Come back to your senses!
NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Deuteronomy 29:1-29
More:
Why was the older brother so upset with the reception his younger brother received from the father? (Luke 15:25-32). At this point in your life, are you most like the father, the older brother, or the younger son?
Next:
Why didn’t the father stop his son from leaving home and ruining his young life? What would you have done?
tom felten on February 23, 2012 at 12:20 pm
KT, I’m so glad we have a forgiving heavenly Father who shows us such grace and undeserved forgiveness. May we treat those who have wandered away from the faith in the same way. Praying for them. Reaching out to them. Welcoming them with gladness when they repent and turn back.
winn collier on February 23, 2012 at 10:34 pm
and throwing a party. A big one.
daisymarygoldr on February 24, 2012 at 4:57 pm
Good teaching KT and I absolutely agree with everything you have said in this post. The lost sheep wouldn’t know how to find its way back and represents new and naïve believers. The coin doesn’t even know it is lost and stands for those who are lost due to negligence of the church leadership. Hence we have a seeking shepherd and a searching woman.
The lost son’s case is different in that he had a true relationship with his father. Yet he chose to reject the truth and sought pleasure in the false things of this world. He fully understood his lost condition. And also knew the way back when he wanted to return to his father’s house. Thus there was no need for the father to pursue him. Yet the father’s loving heart continued to seek and yearned to have His spiritually-dead son restored back to live with Him again.
This son represents carnal Christians who are very liberal with the riches of God’s grace and use it as a license to sin. These are the ones who throw caution to the wind because of spiritual immaturity and get easily influenced by the latest postmodern fads. They don’t hesitate to dabble in false things of the world system that are contrary to scriptural truths even if it means going against or leaving the church which is God’s house. Inevitably as expected they end up with damaged faith, disheveled and disillusioned among the hogs.
Why didn’t the father stop his son? The answer is: free will. You see, this is not a child but a full-grown adult who knows right from wrong. Only when allowed to make wrong choices and experience the consequences of evil he was able to appreciate his father’s goodness.
On His part God gave us clear instructions in the Bible and the prodigals’ father must have also taught Him God’s absolute truth. This why the son knew he had sinned against heaven and against his father. Personally, I would do the same. When children are young we should train them in the ways of the Lord and teach them the truth and when they grow older even when if depart from it they will surely get back on track.
At one point when children are mature enough we must allow them to make decisions for themselves. If they choose the wrong way, it does sound very uncompassionate and unloving to let go. But only when children know what it is like to be away from the Father they will seek to come back to Him. We don’t give up on the lost but watch in prayer and wait patiently for prodigals to return and be restored into the right relationship with God.