The Astonishment of God's Love

Gentle Rain

Astonishing Love

“And when he came to himself, he said, How many hired servants of my father's have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” Lu. 15:17 KJV (Rd 15:11-31)

Every time I read about the parable of the Prodigal son I am overwhelmed by God’s love and I never tire of reading about it.

Jesus gets right to the point and starts talking about a man who had two sons and how the youngest son was restless and quite dissatisfied with his life and requested his father to give him his portion of his inheritance. As Jewish tradition has it, this request was considered to be unheard of and disrespectful. The idea would be something like, “I don’t want to wait until you die, I want my share now!” The oldest son would eventually receive 2/3^rd of his father’s possessions while the youngest son would receive 1/3^rd. His wise father knew his son’s rebellious heart quite well as he divided up his property. He also knew that we do not learn everything from books. There are some things that only experience can teach.

Excited to get out on his own, it was not long after that when the youngest son took all of his inherited wealth and went far away from home into a foreign country. He made new unsavory type friends as he squandered his inheritance upon them with lavish and wild living. Sin offered their favors and their services that he eagerly gobbled up, all for a price.

Then, a famine hit the country. The spoiled youth completely taken by surprise, did not even see hard times coming. He had been captivated by the power of the world's seducing spirits. Anything he lusted after, he bought.  But now, everything he had was all gone and there was nothing to show from the inheritance his father had so graciously given and; by the way, where were his friends now? When he needed them the most?  Broke, humiliated and wounded from their rejections, he walked to a farm on the outskirts of town and found a job feeding pigs. The very idea was defamatory, for a Jew to stoop to such depth. His stomach growled with hunger pains, yet; there was neither food nor pig slop offered to him.

Then, the Bible says “he came to his senses.”  I picture our young man; drained of energy as he wept on the side of the pig barn, wiping his hair away from his dirty face. He started thinking about how good home was and how his father’s servants were given more food then they need and; there he was; starving. He continued to think: “I’ll go back to my father and ask him if he will hire me as a servant because I am not worthy to be his son.” On his way back home, while still a long distance from his father’s farm; his father saw him and rushed to him. With a heart that was filled with merciful compassion, he threw his arms around his son and kissed him! We can imagine the condition of his son: dirty, barefoot and wearing ragged clothes that stank of pigs, thin, exhausted and weak from hunger and it was all because of the sinful life he had chosen. The son tearfully gushed out his sins against heaven and his father. Perhaps the father may have held up his hand to close his mouth. He already knew what he had done and what was in his heart. He quickly gave orders to his servants to bring the best robe and put a ring on his finger and put sandals on his feet.  The fatted calf was killed and there was a celebration.

Irresistible joy filled the father’s heart as he declared: “This son of mine was dead and is alive again. He was lost and is found!

The astonishing love the father showered upon his son can be compared to our Holy Father. God is always watching and waiting for us to return to Him. He knows what is in our hearts and loves us anyway.  When the son “came to himself” in the pigpen he came to the realization of what greed and selfishness brings into a person’s life. The pigpen could have been a good analogy of how tainted and stained we get when we dabble in the seduction of the world. We dabble, get broken hearts and our lives are ruined by the enticement we sought for ourselves. The very thing we embrace as exciting will steal everything that we have; including deadening our soul.  When the son “came to himself” he became sane. To stay in sin, is a form of insanity; because sin will destroy our physical, mental and spiritual lives in every way.

Many of us have been Prodigals or are still Prodigals. The son that Jesus spoke about does not stand alone, but was given so that we can see; there is a Holy Father who rejoices when you come back home. Although, He will never force you to come back; His arms are always held out when you, alike the Prodigal son begins to admit you were wrong and not worthy of being called His son. Heaven’s gates are opened and your sins are forgiven as you understand and see the power of His love.