Celebrate the return of those who had been lost to us

FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2: The recounting of the prodigal son’s story has long focused on the younger son being the different one and the rebellious one.

The younger son can be considered the extrovert or the outspoken one, while the older son was the silent introvert.

The younger son spoke his mind while the older son was silent concerning what was going on in his mind.

Therefore, please consider whom the more difficult son was to understand or to get a read on?  

The absolute beauty of this parable is that there was a father who loved and cared for both his sons.

The father provided a home, a place of work, and also an inheritance for both of his sons.

It is the duty of a legitimate father to take care of his seed; his very own bloodline.

Indeed, the father of these sons had worked in order to provide a legacy for his sons, and consequently he would be in good standing with our heavenly Father, as he watched over his sons.

Even when one son left home, that father watched out for his return. 

That is no different from our heavenly Father who sent His Son to seek those who are lost.

Luke 19:10 For the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.

In the story, the younger son requested his portion.

He may not have been wrong in making the request, but he may have been a bit premature and unprepared to handle the very weight of his request. 

The father could have refused this son his inheritance, but then there would have built up a bitter root that would hinder his return later.

Let’s examine the resulting consequences of this son’s request: 

1. He left home and went to a strange land. In other words that son had not really prepared for the move. He just got his inheritance and left.
   There was no plan, and no forethought. Dangerous. Without a plan in place he was bound to experience the pain of failure.
   Whenever you inherit something of great value you must have a plan on how to make the best use of what you have.
   Luke 15:13  And not many days after the younger son gathered all together, and took his journey into a far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living. 
2. He wasted what he had been given. Once the inheritance passed from his father to him, he was responsible for whether he would invest his newfound wealth or whether through irresponsibility, he would allow others to ingest his wealth.
   He failed as he flaunted all he had and lost all he had been given because of false friends.
3. He was joined to a citizen of that country. The prodigal son was already in a far away country and was attached to a person from that place. He left home, but still needed a home. He left his father but still needed the covering of a father. 
   When sons leave home, they will still go looking for a father or mentor and they must be careful of where they end up.
   This younger son ended up in the home of a non-Jew. That is, a person who did not believe as he did. 
   Therefore the son ended up having to do things that were against his upbringing and culture.
   He fed swine and he even admired what the swine were eating. Surely, this son had sunken to levels he had never seen before. That is what leaving home prematurely will do.
4. He came to himself. Thank God this younger son did not die in his sins.
   Nope. He realized that he had a father who cared and who would care for him.
   So he left the place of his failure and returned to the home of his father. 
   This is key, because it shows that the son was not too full of pride and had the sense to remove himself from a sickening situation.
5. He returned home. The son went home and found out that his father was watching out for him and waiting for him. 
   Oh, the wonder of a father who will keep his eye out for the return of his son.
   When this son returned home, he found out that his father still cared.
   The father did not hold a grudge against him.
   No, he welcomed him and celebrated him.
   Unfortunately, it was the older son, who had an issue with forgiveness, as he refused to forgive the younger brother for what he had done.

So who was in more trouble? The younger brother who left and returned or the older brother who never left?

Bermuda, may we focus, not on what has been lost, but on the return of that which was lost.

Get ready to celebrate prodigals returning home. Respice finem.