New Thoughts (02/09/10-02/12/10)
There are a number of avenues and distractions I could pursue in regard to this passage, but I am consciously choosing to refrain from most of them. It is easy enough for me to become distracted by issues that don’t really bear upon the passage before me. To some degree this is as it should be, for God is fully able to speak to my daily situation through these times of study, and it is only natural that other events of the day would likewise influence what things stand out in these studies. But, at some point, it falls into the category of empty curiosities, and this needs to be trimmed off. It does nothing of use.
The one distraction, if I might call it that, that I do want to keep in view is that this is the parable of two sons, not just one. To be sure, most teachings I’ve encountered in regard to this parable do not fail to take that second son into account. And yet, we invariably refer to this as the parable of the prodigal son. Truly, it deserves to be in the plural. Whether one chooses to think of it as the parable of the prodigal sons or the parables of the prodigal sons, the fact remains that from the outset, it is noted that there are two, and each has their own lesson for us.
For my part, although I had originally set out the entire parable as a single section of study, I have lately chosen to break it into two pieces, one for each son. That decision is partially to do with the length of the overall passage. However, there is the factor that each of these sons teaches me something by what is said of them, and I would like to allow the Spirit the opportunity to speak separately from each son’s story.
That said, there are several things to learn from this first son. Foremost among these is the persistence and obstinacy of sin. Consider how Young’s Literal Translation renders verses 14 and 15. “There came a mighty famine on that country, and himself began to be in want; and having gone on…” Think about that. He had gone off to a different country, out from God’s kingdom and into the world. Many of us took a similar path in our youth. We had been raised in the church, but at the first opportunity, we were out of there and wanted no more to do with it. Thanks for the heritage, pops, but I’m cashing it in. See ya! In that first flush of unfettered freedom, as we perceive it in the moment, life is a party. Eat, drink and be merry, indeed! Responsibility is for chumps. I’m living for today. Until eventually the supplies dry up, and living for today is no longer the merriment it once was.
If there were those who had attached themselves to us in our period of largesse, odds are that they have departed now that we are broke. The party has moved on and so have they. And still, we are inclined to pursue our path into the world and away from God. Yet, every force of God and nature is pushing against our determined progress. Not only has this young man run through his entire estate in pursuit of fleeting pleasures, but now there is famine throughout the country. Not only is he unable to procure his provisions, there aren’t any provisions to procure. Even if he had all his wealth around him still, this would have been trouble. Now, it’s time for desperate measures. Now, it’s a matter of survival. Yet, even in such dire straits, even when survival is on the line, sin has so blinded our young man that he doesn’t choose the road that leads back to life. No! He’s chosen the world, and he intends to stick it out in his choice.
This is a particular sorrow that I don’t find any of the other translations really bringing to the fore. There was famine in this alien country, and he was in want. “And having gone on…” The message was being shouted in his ears. The erroneous nature of his choices was plainly laid out all around him, impossible to miss. And yet, he went on. He did not turn back. He went forward, continued to draw further away from every support for life.
He continues to look to the world for a solution to the world, and that just isn’t going to work. You know, the story we have here is like those we hear of the Great Depression in this country. Those who had been profligate during the Roaring 20’s found themselves brought up short in the 30’s. They had not put aside, and so had nothing to work with. Those who had lost everything wandered far afield looking for anyplace they might be able to get a meal for the day. They would wander into the countryside, looking for a farmer that might need an extra hand to labor around the property in exchange for a bit of food and maybe shelter for the night.
Truth is, those farmers were in just as hard a place and even if they did need the help, they could not well afford to pay for it. Yet, compassion won out in many of these farm families, and they would stretch what they had to include those who came in earnest willingness to do their part. Our lad, however, has not hit upon one so compassionate. He has, if I accept Wuest’s translation of things, ‘forced himself upon one of the citizens’. There is the potential for that sense in the wording, and it certainly fits the scene. That citizen did not need another mouth to feed. On the other hand, free labor is hard to turn down. Even so, one can sense a reluctance on his part to be bothered with this young man. Perhaps he is familiar with that one’s lifestyle of recent days, and has no particular sympathy for such a fool.
Yet, the lad persists, so finally the man puts him to feeding swine. I am inclined to think that man knew how insulting the idea would be to one such as our young man. The Jewish attitude toward swine was well enough known. So, perhaps he thought to finally dissuade the poor lad by offering such an insult. Yet, the lad is in earnest, and takes the job after all. Of course, nobody said anything about the pay… So, now he is employed in this most demeaning of tasks, and still there is no food to be had. The most he can hope to have for sustenance is the same stuff the pigs are being fed. It’s not unheard of. Those pods had fed many a poor person before himself. Yet, even this he must be careful of, for that wasn’t really in the job description, and could cost him even this meager employment.
This is such a model of the course sin takes with us. We start out with these rosy ideas of what lies ahead. It’s going to be great! We’re finally free of all those stupid rules our parents laid on us. We don’t have to deal with the restraints society has tried to bind us up with. We can do what we want, and what we want is to party all the time. You know, that may continue for some time. It may continue for years. Sadly, for some it may continue right up to death’s door. But, for those upon whom God has decided to have mercy, there comes a time when one comes to his senses. Eventually, the reality of our circumstance starts to impinge upon our besotted thoughts. This really isn’t much fun, is it? I really am not particularly happy. Indeed, in that moment, we may begin to realize just how long God has been trying to get our attention, but we wouldn’t heed Him. Fortunately for us, He has a much bigger amplifier than we. We can try and drown Him out with our own choice of programming, but He can always turn up, and He always will. Until we finally hear what He has been saying.
“Finally, he came to his senses.” That’s how God’s Word renders the result, and it’s certainly the way we tend to feel things. “What was I thinking?” How did things get this far? How could I do such a stupid thing? And, why, oh, why wouldn’t I listen when first I was going wrong?
Well, now: if the insidious nature of sin’s influence over our perceptions is the first big point of the parable, the second must be this: You’re never too far gone to turn back. How often have I heard somebody try that dodge when presented with the Gospel news! “Oh, it’s too late for me.” Nonsense! It’s never too late until death has come. Oh, you may have made it harder for yourself than was necessary. You may have further to backtrack to get back to the right path, but impossible’s not in it.
When I consider how far I had gone, how much farther I would have gone given half a chance. And yet, I am not there. I am here. I am not abandoned to my fate. I am redeemed. I am not dead in my sins. I am alive in Christ. It’s the same marvelous truth Paul must have felt. I, who have done so much wrong, who have given all my strength to opposing the very thing God was doing! He has opened my eyes! He has rescued me! How can this be? What sort of God is this, that He would rescue His very enemies from themselves? He, the Perfectly Holy and Righteous God, has looked upon this wretched worm and found something in me to love, something He chooses to call His own.
Listen! Paul’s not alone in that. I’m not alone in that! That is the story of every last man, woman and child who finds themselves surrounded by the love of God. That is the story of redemption start to finish. I am this craptastic failure of a miserable human being, rebelling against all that is good, and yet, my God comes and says, “No! It’s not going to be like that. From this moment, you are changed.” He looks upon this pile of corruption and says, “My son, today I have adopted you. Welcome to your new home.”
And we can still find it in ourselves to get all puffed up in our pride? And we still think it had something to do with us choosing Him? As if! How can I look at the reality of His merciful treatment of me and be anything but humbled by it?
My God! It is too marvelous for me! If I have been playing this game of thinking I’m so worthy of Your kind intentions, let it fall from me in this very moment. I can be nothing but humbled to consider what You have done. You, perfect in all ways, complete in every aspect, have willingly decided to make me your own child. You have adopted me, called me Your own when all I ever did was deny Your very existence, let alone Your right to rule over me! And, yet, I am Yours, for You have made it so. Choose You? Was I ever bright enough to make such a choice? Never in life! But, thank You, my Lord, my God! You so worked upon me as to make me willing. You chose, and how well I know it to be so! How could I ever suppose it was otherwise? How can I ever be so ungrateful as to play this game of behaving like it was my doing? Earned it? Never! Thankful for it? Always!
We who are the called of Christ live in a certain duality. A few months back, Table Talk had taken on the topic of the now and the not yet. I have focused on the not yet in looking at that ‘from this moment, you are changed’ aspect of things. I mean, you are. I am. The Truth of that statement is immediate and unchanging, as God is immediate and unchanging. But, experience requires us to accept that the full impact of that reality is not yet. We are changed, and yet the old ways persist. We are cleansed from all sin, freed from the bondage of sin, and yet it is a day not only rare but unheard of in which we avoid every sin. We are in constant need of forgiveness because we are constantly falling short of the standards of God. And yet, we are cleansed of those failures. And yet, we are declared justified, legally righteous, pure and undefiled. How can this be?
Of course, there is the matter that God stands outside of time. He is the one who sees the end from the beginning. We speak of Him, saying that to him a thousand years are as a moment, and a day like a thousand years. Some have tried to push that similitude too far, insisting that we are being taught a literal ratio in these comparisons, but I have no cause to suppose they are right. The point is simply that time doesn’t apply to the God who created time. He sees the end from the beginning because they are simultaneous events from where He resides.
For us, however, there remains the time He created, and the process of our sanctification which plays out in the arena of time. As we go through that process, sin remains. So long as flesh remains, we can expect that this condition will continue. We are promised a perfection at the end of our process, but that end is before His throne, when we are brought before Him face to face. In the meantime, we have lessons, discipline, exercise, training. Our battle against sin is all of that and more.
In that battle, we learn that sin is a most deceptive opponent. That is evident in the parable under consideration, as we have seen. It is the deceptiveness of sin that leads the young man to keep on going even when everything is so clearly gone awry. Broke? No problem. Famine? Oh, well. No sense turning back now. Thus sin deceives us into continuing. Indeed, sin deceives us into thinking there is no sin in what we are doing. Oh, I grant you that even a man who is wholly in denial as to the reality of God (or of any god) has some atrophied sense of right and wrong. There are things so egregious that even the worst of men will realize the evil of them. But, we have no real conception of sin. Our standards are so poor that we are quickly convinced we are good when we are still deep in our corruption.
That habit doesn’t die with rebirth, unfortunately. It is thus that we have the warning of Scripture to remind us just how deceptive our own hearts and thoughts tend to be. We are all but incapable of taking earnest stock of ourselves and seeing what all is out of alignment with God. What needs correction? You know, if we are in that place of thinking we are doing everything right, or even just doing pretty good, it’s time to ask that question. What needs correction?
I think back to the parable of the rich young ruler (Lk 18:18-23). He was convinced that he was doing all that could possibly be required by God’s Law even as he came asking Jesus what was missing! How deceptive the heart! Something’s wrong, I know, but it can’t be me. I’m doing everything right. Don’t suppose that this is an affliction that only assaults the unbeliever, or maybe the seeker of God who just hasn’t quite found him yet. Don’t think that this is a disease of new believers only. No, no. It is a disease of the flesh, and persists as the flesh persists.
There is only the one cure: ask God. What’s wrong, God? Where am I in need of work? Now, nobody in their right mind wants to be asking after the full list of their faults, nor is God so cruel as to reveal the full list. We would be crushed! Despondency would so overcome us that there would remain in us no will to try and do anything about our condition. We would join the ranks of those who simply erect that wall of, “I’m too far gone. Might as well just accept it.” No! Even if we are not so clear as to ask Him to reveal just that bit of error He is seeking for us to address today, that is what He is does. The Holy Spirit, Who abides in us against all reason: Who could reasonably expect such perfect holiness to stay so much as a moment in such a corrupt place as ourselves! But, He does! He abides in us, and He instructs us. A major part of that instruction comes in answering the very question we ask: What needs work? God loves to address that question! God loves for us to seek to know where He is working so that we can do what little we can to make that work easier.
Can I attempt an example from life? Of course I can. Who will stop me, unless it be God Himself? Anyway, having been to the dentist yesterday, consider the case. You are in that dentist’s chair, and the hygienist is poking and scraping and what not to remove the build up of foreign matter that would otherwise destroy tooth and gum. What is your role in this? Well, other than trying to keep the head at a convenient angle, and the mouth sufficiently open, but not too far, there’s really not much you can do, is there? The one thing I found happening was that as I was conscious of where that work was focusing, I would get my tongue out of the way, and try to see to the drainage hose being effective. In other words, I could get myself out of the way of the work and very little else. I mean, there’s not any way that I could help that hygienist scrape, is there? I can’t hold the mirror. I certainly can’t improve the aim of that scraping or probing. The best I can do is try to keep myself out of the way and still.
This is the lion’s share of our effort against sin. It’s not that we walk about as if sin were no issue for us. It’s not as though we join those against whom Paul spoke, who took the grace of God as license to sin without a care. No way! But, we do need to walk in clear understanding that we are yet powerless in the matter. We can barely identify our sins without help from on high. We certainly can’t walk free of those sins without Him. If we are throwing ourselves into the fray against what is certainly sin, but what isn’t the area God is addressing in us, we are likely to become very tired to very little purpose. Anybody who has dealt with a long-standing, deep-rooted sin surely has come to this realization. We can try anything we care to in our own power and we may even hold things at bay for a time. But the sin isn’t dealt with, and we will return to the vomit thereof. But, when God has decided that this is the thing we are dealing with now! Well, the whole picture is changed! We may not even be aware that we have walked away from that sin until some time later. But, the victory is there, and the most we have done is to keep our tongue out of the way of God’s probe.
One further aspect of this son’s example I should like to pursue: When he has finally come to his senses, there is something marvelous revealed in his thinking. It is the certainty that his father will receive him when he returns. Oh, he may be thinking that the reception will be limited to that of a new employee, but there is no question of being rejected outright. The thought doesn’t even enter his mind. This is the relationship that has been established for us with God. Consider this passage from 1Kings 8:47-49: If they take thought of God once again, if they repent, seeking Him with prayers of confession, if their return to Him is true and heartfelt; then He shall hear their prayers and uphold their just cause. Their reception by Him is certain when their return to Him is earnest. It is with our Father in heaven as Jesus depicts it in this man’s father on earth. Just come in earnest repentance. He is faithful and just to forgive (1Jn 1:9).
Certainly, there are conditions attached. Any parent will understand those conditions well. The apology that expresses nothing but, “I’m sorry I got caught,” doesn’t reflect repentance and does not earn forgiveness. The apology that says, “I don’t really think I did anything wrong, but if it will shut you up and get you off my back, then, fine: I’m sorry,” doesn’t do anything for the offended party, either. It’s evident even if the words are kept silent. We quickly learn to distinguish between those who are truly sorry for what they have done, and those who are only annoyed by the consequences. As it is God who conceived of the family, and it is God who has caused the family concept to serve as model for our relationship with Him, why would we suppose Him to be different in His views on repentance?
Of course He will require an earnest and heartfelt repentance. No, He will not wait to see if we’re going to stay on course this time before forgiving us. No, He is not keeping an accounting of our every screw up to be rehearsed before us as each subsequent occasion arises. But, He does require a functional conscience. He does require a recognition of sin as sin. And part of that recognition is realizing that every sin is a sin against Himself.
Now, I will readily admit that many things that we take offense over are not sins. We are quick to categorize them as such, but they are not. We are a thin-skinned people when it comes to offense. Armed with the knowledge of heaven, we are sadly inclined to make more of these offenses than they warrant, assuming the role of heaven’s judge. If it offends me, it must be a sin! Why, my judgment is so well attuned to heaven’s king, how could it be otherwise? Of course He sees things my way. But, somehow we manage to avoid reaching that last statement, though it is the logical conclusion that we must arrive at given the starting point. If what offends me must be a sin, then God must see things my way. It cannot lead me to the conclusion that I must see things God’s way, for if that were the case, I would be too concerned about my own sins to get all worked up about somebody else’s.
It is when I allow my focus to change, as this son has done, that the true equation reveals itself. If I have sinned in my dealings with any man, I have simultaneously sinned against God. Every offense against me may not be a sin, but every sin is against God. Let me put it in some more easily recognized constructs. If I have lied to my boss, I have lied to God. If I have cheated on my wife, I have cheated on God. If I have stolen from the storeowner, I have stolen from God. It is not the taking of offense that defines the sin, it is the breach of God’s Law that defines the sin. That may be a fine line, and I know there will be those who will make the argument that the very fact that I have offended somebody is already a sin. I disagree. That sounds more a symptom of the politically correct, multi-cultural oversensitivity that plagues the world we live in. That is, I suspect, the world teaching the Church how to think. Far be it from us to let this happen!
No! The standard is God’s Word. The rule of conduct is God’s Word. If I have acted in such a way as to violate His rule of life, then yes, there is sin involved. Here, it would be well to recall the so-called golden rule: Do to others as you would have them do to you, which is how we tend to paraphrase Matthew 22:39. Yet, even this does not preclude a bit of cajoling, or the corrective rebuke. Jesus was not politically correct in His dealings with men. He could get verbally rough with those who needed to hear the Truth. This was, in fact, His foremost concern. In doing to others as He would have done to Himself, His guiding principal was to speak truly. Be honest. Say what you mean. Say what needs to be said.
The point that needs to be driven home is that we cannot sin in such a fashion as only applies to some acquaintance of ours. There is no sin that excludes God as an offended party. This is another of those things which, like His perfect holiness, were we to keep conscious of the fact it must surely reshape our behavior. I have noted this before in regard to His holiness. If we could but keep a sense of His holiness and His imminence in mind, it must guard us from offending against Him. This all-powerful, all-righteous God who cannot so much as abide the stench of sin’s nearness is riding with us dwelling in us. How, then, can we stomach the risk of sin? Knowing the awful extent of His wrath towards sin, how can we allow the least possibility of that wrath being turned upon ourselves?
Likewise this conception of sin being ever and always against God first and foremost. If, as I am dealing with whomever I may have to deal, I see myself dealing with God instead, how does that reshape my behavior? If the one giving me change at the coffee shop is God and not some unknown stranger, how much more will I be certain I have not accepted more change than is my due? If I look in my boss’s cubicle and see God rather than some guy like myself, how much more diligent will I be to put in a good day’s work? If, as my thoughts turn to my wife, I am put in mind of God rather than just a woman, how much more shall I cherish the thought of her? How much more shall I guard my thoughts from any least demeaning of her worth by considerations of any other? For that matter, if the woman passing before my eyes is seen to be God rather than simply some beautiful but unknown woman, how shall my thoughts as to her beauty differ?
What power there is in this! And what truth. We are told, after all, that we are created in His image. We are created, in fact, to be the imminent reminder of His reality to those around us. We are called to model God to the world around us. Why, then, should we look upon those around us as just people? Why, then, should we discount those who bother us? How can we possibly esteem any one of these people as being somehow of less worth than ourselves? Oh my! You know, those kids from the high-school hanging out in the parking lot before school? They’re more than young toughs and hoodlums. They’re the image of God. The folks manning the counter in Dunkin’ Donuts? Yup. They’re not just folks of foreign origins whose legal presence in our community might be deemed suspect. They’re the image of God. The folks bugging us by driving the speed limit when we’re running late? Or the guy that cut us off in his own rush to get wherever he’s going? They’re not jerks. They’re the image of God. The child that seems so inclined to go wrong in spite of all our efforts? Nope. Not a lost cause. Not an ungrateful brat. The image of God.
Holy Father of God, this image is powerful upon me this morning. How far from this standard I am, for I know pretty much everything I have written in the last few paragraphs is perfectly applicable to myself. What a shift, Lord, if I were mindful of Your image in all I meet. What a shift, if I view each of my coworkers as an expression of Yourself. Help me, then, to see the world in that light today. Help me, Holy Spirit, to walk in the power of this Truth. Help me to be Your image myself as I encounter all these others who were created in Your image just as I was. Help me to see past the imperfections I share with them to the beauty of Your creation. Yes, and keep me mindful of Your holiness as I see You reflected in each of these mirrors.
Well, one day later and I can say that in answer to this brief prayer, I am certainly more conscious of the image of God upon those around me, yet it still seems to be in retrospect. I recognize it more to my sorrow than to my improvement.
Lord, it’s a step, to be sure, but it’s not enough. Please, I beg of you, bring me to the place of recalling Your presence and Your worth before I do or say regrettable things. In the meanwhile, I confess to You as I ought that these things I have said in the last day are sins against Your holiness. Inasmuch as I have disrespected this challenging coworker of mine, inasmuch as I have set my own concerns and issues above his, then I have failed of Your standard. For this, I ask Your forgiveness in the confidence that You shall surely grant me the same in accord with Your promise. I also ask of You that You would so work in me as to make the change I see I need. I thank You for having already increased my awareness of the problem. Now, my God and King, I long to see the change You are surely bringing. Help me to work with You in this, that the work may be smoothly and swiftly accomplished.
This prayer leads me into another great lesson to be drawn from this parable. When this young man has come to realize the foolishness of his course, his thoughts begin to turn back towards home, towards the right path. But, listening in on his thoughts, a great thing comes to light: he is confident of a positive reception at home. There is no least shadow of doubt in his mind that his father will not turn him away. Now, let me quickly say that this is not presumption on the part of the son. No, the earnest contrition in his words lays that issue to rest. It is not presumption upon the goodness of his father, but confidence. His father’s character is a settled matter in his heart. He knows who his father is, and therefore, he knows that, though he may not enjoy the full relationship he once had, he shall at least be accepted on some level. Were it not so, he could never have convinced himself to make the effort in returning homeward.
This is, after all, a man who has been near to starving after a long period of dissipation. He is not in peak health to make this journey. In his current estate, he at least has those pods to keep him going. If he leaves this bit of employment that he only barely managed to lay hold of, how shall he stay fed on that journey back from ‘a distant land’? One has to be pretty confident of a meal at the end of the road to start out on such a long journey all unprepared. And it is this confidence I find expressed in his thoughts. There is no, “Maybe he will help,” in his thinking. There is certainty that as he expresses his earnest confession of stupidity, his father will accept the apology and at least give him a place amongst his laborers.
Honestly, I think the son was confident of far more. Though he expresses the depth of his repentance in such terms, surely he knows his father will accept him back as a son in full standing. Yet, even that could not prepare him for the reception he actually encounters! Had he shown signs of expecting the welcome he received, he would quite likely have fallen into that error of presumption. Had he shown signs, upon his return, of expecting that his father would deck him out in such fashion and celebrate in such fashion, he would doubtless have been sorely disappointed. But, his heart is on the right course at his return, and so his reception exceeds expectations.
Now, there is an obverse side to this image. As certain as the son is of being received, it becomes clear that the father is certain of his son’s return. He knows that his son will return to him. He has been looking for that return. How else does he see the son coming from such a distance? He has been watching for it. This is a clear modeling for us of our heavenly Father’s perspective on our own wanderings when we stray. He knows we shall return to Him. Indeed, He sees to it. Who do you suppose saw to it that the young man’s finances were drained? Who do you suppose set famine upon the land to which he had gone? The God of all creation is quite capable of so arranging the features of our days as to guide us back to our senses. As my friend is fond of saying, He is relentless. He is able and entirely willing to keep sending the message our way louder and stronger until we finally catch on.
Let me dwell, though, on the aspect that He knows we shall return to Him. As I have already noted, He is that One outside of time, Who knows the end from the beginning. He is also that One Who has told us that He lays out those things we are to do from before our birth. He has set all in motion, even before the first day of Creation, to ensure that every needful act of providence was perfectly placed and timed to lead us back to Him. However many times that leading may prove needful in the course of our days on this earth, understand that He has already provided for each and every occasion. Perfect in knowledge, perfect in wisdom as He applies that perfect knowledge, perfect in the Power to make certain His will is done, and perfectly Good in how all this works together in Him: That is our God. Indeed, as David cries out in his moment of glorying in the Truth of God: Whom shall I fear (Ps 27:1)? Or, Paul: “Nothing shall ever be able to separate us from the love of God” (Ro 8:39).
What power in that realization! What freedom from anxiousness! Nothing shall ever be able to separate us. Nobody is able to snatch us from our Father’s hands (Jn 10:29), which is the source of our confidence in salvation. It is the only source of confidence in salvation. It is our confidence when we stand and it is our confidence all the more when we stumble. It is the sole basis we have to expect, as this son did, a positive reception when once we arrive back in our heavenly home.
You know, looking at this powerful truth, it is very hard for me to recall the days when I was confident only that it was up to the believer to continue believing. I was so sure that it was possible to fall away once for all, that salvation was just a possibility, not a certainty. Oh, it’s all well and good to tout free will and hold that up as if it were something so terribly valuable. But, any earnest self-assessment must surely leave me scared to death of my own free will! I’ve seen it in action too many times. No! If it is up to my own free will to see me safely home to heaven’s shores, then I may as well pack it in now and party like old times. There’s no ground for the confident declarations of Scripture in that viewpoint. If Christ died only so that I’d have one more shot at it, then it was a pretty worthless gesture, and God is a fool. But, it’s more than just a shot at salvation. It’s the assurance of salvation. It’s the “Nothing can separate us, nobody can remove us, whom shall I fear”, understanding that God’s got it covered. He has cried out, “It is finished,” and so it is! By His own right arm, He has done it.
What we have, then, in this parable is a simple summation of the Gospel. Man needs to repent, and man can be confident that as he repents, God will forgive. This, I expect, is why Jesus stresses that parental relationship of God. He is God, not just the Father, and not even solely, God My Father. He is your Father, our Father. This is not some terrible and remote ruler you are considering, although He is indeed King of all kings. But, He is family. He sees you as family. Indeed! He has chosen to make you family. You know, it’s not like you can force somebody to adopt you. They must do so of their own choice. You can, perhaps, reject the offer of adoption, but you certainly cannot insist that the offer be made.
But God is, by His own declaration and His own determination, your Father, my Father, our Father. He sets this point forth over and over, that we might absorb the truth of it, realize the wonder of it, and abide in the confidence of it. However badly we may screw up, and we assuredly do so often and terribly, we can be confident of this: When we have come to our senses, He will accept our contrition and restore us. We can be confident as well that we will come to our senses, for our Father is God Who Provides, the Ruler and Orchestrator of all creation. His will will be done, and this being so, we can be assured that the salvation He has purchased for us is indeed ours to all eternity.
Praise be to His name! All glory! And let the glory of this Truth be reflected in our lives today!
