Luke 15:1 – 3 and 11 – 24
It is very important for us to understand the Father-heart of God. The prodigal’s father is our Heavenly Father.
John writes with amazement, Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! (1 John 3:1). The story of the prodigal’s father is about that amazing love.
It’s particularly powerful, because this Father stands in contrast to our human fathers. Our fathers simply could not father us as the Divine Father does – this is not necessarily an indictment on our Dad’s, it’s simply the truth about the difference between the human and the Heavenly.
For some the difference has been vast – the experience in the human family of father has been so distorted, that we must – with God’s help – do all we can to bring one another through to the place where experiencing God’s Fatherly embrace is as real as it must have been for this prodigal. Only our heavenly Dad is able to bestow the soaring privilege of heavenly sonship (daughtership) upon us.
The first thing it’s important to realise is that Jesus tells this story in response to a situation we read of in the opening verses of the chapter.
Luke 15:1 – 3 Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Him to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, "This Man receives sinners and eats with them." So He spoke this parable to them, saying:
What follows is: The Parable of the sheep lost in the field. Next, the Parable of the coin lost in the house. Thirdly he tells the Parable of the prodigal son. The fact that tax collectors and sinners were drawing near to Jesus was being seized upon by religious hypocrites to criticize Jesus reveals their belief that there are some classes of people who deservedly should be shunned. And as if to ram home that with God the complete opposite notion is true, Jesus tells, not one, but three parables!
The three parables are linked by three common elements:
1. Something of great value to the one who searches for them:
The shepherds of that time knew each of his sheep so well that each sheep could distinguish his voice from that of other shepherds; he would be acquainted with the health and wellbeing of each sheep on a daily basis; and would lay himself down across the opening of the sheepfold at night as the personal protector of the flock. That’s what each sheep meant to the shepherd.
The silver coin that was lost in the house is said to be both valuable by itself, but more so because it was one of a set that would adorn a necklace – with a coin obviously missing, the jewellery could not be worn.
Jesus presses home the value to God of those whom others discard by likening them to the son of a landowner of some wealth (was able to readily give the son his inheritance before his death – also: servants, costly gifts, able to feast and make merry, etc)
2. A person who inherently knows the value of that which is lost, and does not sit back waiting for it to be found, but pursues that which is lost with single minded focus and the lost is found and reunited.
3. A scene of great joy and celebration that Jesus likens to the rejoicing in heaven when a person falls into the Father’s loving embrace.
Let’s pick up the story from verse 17 …
"But when he came to himself, he said, "How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son.
The son works out his ‘speech’ … what he says is true of each of us. Then he figures out his father’s response – premeditates his father’s response, or judgement …
Make me like one of your hired servants.
We do this, usually, because of how we see ourselves – and this is entirely fitting when we first come to the cross – but not after that! The cross is genuinely transforming!
Before we properly start to receive the Father’s love, we self-judge the Father’s feeling about us and condemn ourselves to limitation, lowliness and powerlessness.
This would’ve been exactly the state of mind of those who were drawing near to Jesus (v1). Their life up to that time, and the voices speaking to them, had created a kind of outsider mentality. Now, although the Pharisees were blind to it, they were eating at the table of the King of kings.
So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long distance away, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. (v20)
Is this some kind of fluke? That this farmer / businessman, who undoubtedly had much to attend to in any ordinary day just happened to glance up at the right moment and in the right direction and spotted the distant figure of his son returning home?
No, I don’t think that was the case at all. We’ve got to stay in sync with the first two parables – this father-heart was searching – I see him there standing at the same bend of the road day after day, searching out the next mirage-like image on the horizon, and focussing intently upon each distant figure until he could dismiss the description as being that of the son that he loved.
Like the shepherd, it was not about the 99, it was about this one. And like the woman, there was a unique place in the coin necklace that only this one, and none other could fill.
Filled with love he runs! The Father runs to us. Dishevelled, soiled with pig poo, a bag of bones – the Father runs to that. He looks past all the signs of lowliness, limitation and powerlessness and he sees his own image in the young man.
Jesus pulled a kid off the dusty streets one day, sat him on his lap and said to his disciples, “Take heed that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that in heaven their angels always see the face of My Father who is in heaven.” Imprinted on the face of every soul is the image, the face of the creator – the Lord said so when he created us – and from the heavenly realm angelic beings can see in us what the prodigal’s Dad saw that day, a son upon whom he longed to bestow his unconditional love, and restore to his rightful place and inheritance in his family.
(v21) And the son said to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son.' "But the father said to his servants, "Bring out the best robe and put it on him …
Wait a minute. That wasn’t the speech the son had rehearsed. The last bit is missing, you know the supposed judgement - Make me like one of your hired servants. How did he not get to that part?
Well I think he must have got to the first syllables when the father placed his loving hand over the young man’s mouth. There would be no such judgement from him, so neither should it ever again be part of the prodigal’s language.
We commonly premeditate how others (and God) will judge us … those settings of life where we are just not able to be ourselves in a room, or with particular people. We’ll never be totally free until we stop that practice. There is a fear of man which brings a snare. But there is a love that casts out all fear.
"Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry. (22 – 24)
This is our Heavenly Father’s love for us. His love bestowal over our lives is to do these four things:
1. Take off us the cloak of inferiority, of lowliness; and place upon us the best robe.
This literally means “the chief garment”, and was reserved for occasions of highest celebration in the family - ‘best’ is literally ‘first in rank’.
2. Raise us out of powerlessness; and place a ring on our finger.
When the King of Egypt elevated Joseph to his right hand, and gave him complete authority over all he himself ruled over, he place a ring on Joseph’s finger (the one who had been betrayed, lied about, enslaved, imprisoned, and forgotten). The ring was a mark of honour, dignity and authority.
3. Unshackle us from the captivity of limitation; and put sandals on our feet.
It was the practice in those days to remove the shoes of those you had captured in battle; not only was it a sign of the shame of your defeat, but it served to limit your ability to progress far should you escape.
4. Move us from that mode where we see nothing good to celebrate about our lives to kill the fatted calf, and let us eat and be merry.
Such a family would always keep a calf in good condition, ready for the next festive occasion. The more I perceive the quality and uniqueness of the Father’s love for me, the more I am able to celebrate who I am – the internal music plays, the dancing begins on the inside – the muffled statements of self-judgement are muted.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God!
Dear ones; you’re in the Father-heart of God, and His love is upon you. And this love, this Father, is completely different from any other you’ve known – no matter how good a man your own father has been. In his amazing love, our amazing Father, proclaims how amazing each of His children really are.
