Lost and Found part 3

This is part 3 of my Lost and Found series. You can read part 1 here and part 2 here. Jesus continues on the same theme of lost and found and rejoicing in heaven and now adds more dimensions to the story which reveal a great deal about our spiritual journey as children of God and even more importantly about God’s experience as our loving Father.

Luke 15 from verse 11 to the end of the chapter is often referred to as the Parable of the Prodigal Son. I like the insight from the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary that says the following:

PRODIGAL SON This term is used both as the title of Jesus’ parable in Luke 15:11–32 and a description of the younger son’s lifestyle. English translations do not use the term prodigal to describe this lifestyle but describe it by saying that he “wasted” or “squandered” his inheritance in “wild” or “loose” living. Unfortunately this title, focusing on the younger son, causes one to miss the point that both Jesus and Luke are making. The parable should be called “The Parable of the Gracious Father,” for he is the character who occurs in both halves of the story and is the main character of the parable. In addition, the parable’s main point comes from the conversation between the older son and the father, through which Jesus defends the offer of salvation that God makes to the tax collectors and sinners (and other prodigals like them) and condemns the Pharisees and scribes for their opposition to this offer of mercy (Luke 15:1–2).
- Donny Mathis, “Prodigal Son,” ed. Chad Brand et al., Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary (Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers, 2003), 1331.

All these parables found in Luke 15 highlight God’s desire to save the lost and this final parable drives the point home. But let us begin at the beginning.

A certain man had two sons…

11 Then He said: “A certain man had two sons. 12 And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the portion of goods that falls to me.’ So he divided to them his livelihood.
- Luke 15:11-12 NKJV

I remember when Disney’s “The Lion King” came out. The year was 1994. That year I visited the United States for the first time, and my family went to Disney World. 1994 was also the first world cup I remember Brazil won that year becoming the first nation to win four world cup titles. That was also the first world cup to be decided on penalties. But these details are irrelevant to my point (sorry). In The Lion King, there was a catchy song the lion cub Simba sings entitled “I Just Can’t Wait to Be King.” It’s a fun song to sing along to until you realize that in order for Simba to become king his father, the current king, has to die. I can see why Disney didn’t go with the title “I Just Can’t Wait ‘till Dad Dies,” it’s just not as catchy. But this is exactly the sentiment of the younger son in this parable.

When the younger son asks his father for the portion of goods that falls to him he is essentially telling his father he can’t wait until he dies. So he wants his goods now. At that time and in that part of the world the older son would receive two-thirds of the estate and the younger son one-third (Deut 21:17). If there were any daughters the younger son would receive even less since some of the money would need to be given as dowries.

The father divides his livelihood between his sons. The choice of words here is important, livelihood is not used often in the Bible. Some other examples I came across are the woman with the issue of blood and the gift of the poor widow.

Now a woman, having a flow of blood for twelve years, who had spent all her livelihood on physicians and could not be healed by any,
- Luke 8:43 NKJV (bold mine)

for all these out of their abundance have put in offerings for God, but she out of her poverty put in all the livelihood that she had.”
- Luke 21:4 NKJV (bold mine) (see also Mark 12:44)

The text indicates that the father gave form all that he had, from his livelihood. This was a sacrificial gift. Yet there is no sign of appreciation from the younger son. He feels entitled and acts as if his father did no more than his responsibility. The text does not give us details but I imagine the son is tired of having to live under the guidance and rules of the father. The son wanted to have fun, to live a little, and his old man was cramping his style. He needed freedom to do as he wished without his father always looking over his shoulder and providing guidance and limits.

Living it up!

13 And not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with prodigal living.
- Luke 15:13 NKJV

Prodigal living, that’s where the title of the prodigal son comes from. I am not too familiar with the word prodigal outside of this story so I decided to look it up in the original Greek. The word is ἀσώτως (asōtōs) which means in this case to live dissolutely or profligately. Which was not much help, to be honest. So I found another ancient Greek dictionary that was a bit more helpful, it defined “asotos” as recklessly, wildly, in debauchery, in dissipation, or wastefully. The picture this creates in my mind is of a young man doing everything his father had not allowed him to do. He willfully moved away from his father and began to do everything his father had not allowed him to do. Perhaps he hoped to find true joy and happiness in the things his father prohibited. Maybe he thought that if only he could live his authentic life and follow his heart he would be happy. If only he focused more on his desires and his selfish pleasure he would live a more abundant life.

This reminds me of Eve in the garden of Eden, she had everything she needed to live her best life, but she believed the lie that God was withholding good things from her. Do we, like Eve and the prodigal son, believe that God is keeping good things from us with His rules and regulations? Do we believe Him to be an angry mean person intent on keeping us from having fun and enjoying life?

Whatever the appearance may be, every life centered in self is squandered. Whoever attempts to live apart from God is wasting his substance. He is squandering the precious years, squandering the powers of mind and heart and soul, and working to make himself bankrupt for eternity. The man who separates from God that he may serve himself, is the slave of mammon.
- Christ’s Object Lessons p200 (bold mine)

…and he ran out of money

14 But when he had spent all, there arose a severe famine in that land, and he began to be in want. 15 Then he went and joined himself to a citizen of that country, and he sent him into his fields to feed swine. 16 And he would gladly have filled his stomach with the pods that the swine ate, and no one gave him anything.
- Luke 15:14-16NKJV

Things were going great while the money lasted. But when things go bad they seem to do so in clusters. He ran out of money just in time for the famine, or recession. He is out of money, and there are no good jobs available. The only job available is the job no one wants to do. So now he is working feeding pigs and he finds himself desiring to eat what the pigs were eating.

He longed to fill … that the pigs were eating. This may mean that he saw the pigs eating and being filled and he would have liked to have been full also. It was psychologically impossible, however, for him to eat such “pig-food.” It could also mean that he would have liked to have eaten the food the pigs ate, but it was physiologically impossible to do so since humans could not eat such food. Finally, it could mean that he would have liked to have eaten the food the pigs ate, but the “citizen” would not allow him to do so. It is uncertain which of these is more likely, but what is clear is that the younger son has fallen as far as he can. He is working for a Gentile, feeding pigs, and is in some way or other contemplating “breaking bread” with them. “Pods” are carob pods used to feed animals, and at times the poor were forced to eat them.
- Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 405.

The younger son had distanced himself from his father in order to live his life focusing on everything that gave him immediate pleasure. His desire for self-indulgence and sinful pleasures drove him to distance himself from the loving care of his father. Now that he had done everything he thought would make him happy he found himself alone, hungry, weak, and miserable.

a turning point

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! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, 19 and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants.” ’
- Luke 15:17-19 NKJV

After hitting rock bottom the younger son realizes that he would be better off as a servant of his father than as someone who feeds pigs. The lifestyle he expected to give his life meaning and joy left him hungry and alone. The younger son had lost his identity. He felt that his course of action had caused him to lose his “sonship.” He had rejected his father after all. This train of thought also shows that the son, though he had grown up with the father had not yet fully grasped his father’s love for him.

15:19 No longer worthy to be called your son. The issue does not involve the young man’s legal status (I am not legally your son any longer) but his filial status (a father like you deserves better than a son like me).
- Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 406.

Decision and Action

20 “And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. 21 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.’
- Luke 15:20-21 NKJV

The younger son decided to return to the father, then he acted on that decision. He arose and came to the father. I love how the text describes these events. While the son was still a great way off his father saw him and had compassion and ran towards him and fell on his neck and kissed him. The father did not wait for the son to come close. The father did not make the son pay for his rebellion and poor choices. The father did not even lecture his son. All that matters to the father is that his son decided to return home.

The fact that the father runs to meet the son is also significant. Elders in the Middle East never run. In order to run they would need to hike up their robes and this would reveal their bare legs and would be shameful for an elder. In seminary, I had a professor, Dr. Joseph Kidder, who was born in Nineveh. He said that growing up he had never seen an elder run. He even said some elders would suffer injury or even death because they refused to run away from a runaway cart or falling objects. The father could have reasoned that the son had left on his own and he could very well return on his own. But that’s not how the heart of the father works.

18 “If a man has a stubborn and rebellious son who will not obey the voice of his father or the voice of his mother, and who, when they have chastened him, will not heed them, 19 then his father and his mother shall take hold of him and bring him out to the elders of his city, to the gate of his city. 20 And they shall say to the elders of his city, ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious; he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton and a drunkard.’ 21 Then all the men of his city shall stone him to death with stones; so you shall put away the evil from among you, and all Israel shall hear and fear.
- Deuteronomy 21:18-21 NKJV

I have heard some interpret this verse to mean that the son would have been put to death if the father had not run to embrace him. This could be true, there could have been neighbors and others who were so upset with the younger son’s disrespect toward his father that they would want to stone him. However, the law in Deuteronomy 21 requires the father and mother to take the son to the elders of their city, to the city gate. The way I see it, the law allows the father and mother to decide whether or not their son should live. I do not see this law as meaning the son must be put to death. Another way I have heard this law being interpreted is that if anyone in the community is going to decide whether a stubborn and rebellious son should be put to death it should be his father and mother, in essence protecting the son from others deciding that fate for him. This law also reveals a certain danger for the young man to return home. His father could have him killed. But his father loved him more than he could have imagined.

Whenever we decide to turn to God we are coming home. Our true identity is children of God. God is the one who gives value to our lives. Only in God do we find our truest most authentic selves. Only in God we can have life and have it more abundantly. And God is eagerly awaiting for us to make that decision, and to take action, to rise and come to Him. Then it does not matter how far away we are from Him and His will, we can be a great way off and He will run towards us. We can be filthy and covered in rags in the consequences of our sinful choices, yet our heavenly Father embraces us because He longs to save us.

The son also makes an honest confession. He says recognizes he has sinned against God and against his father. The son recognizes he is not worthy to be called son. The son does not blame the famine on the land, he does not try to explain how he wasted all his money, he does not blame his previous boss, he simply confesses his faults and places himself at the mercy of his father.

The Heart of the Father

22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. 23 And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; 24 for this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ And they began to be merry.
- Luke 15:22-24 NKJV

The father reveals his heart and it turns out he is much more gracious and merciful than his son could have ever imagined. God loves you more than you can fathom. He wants to forgive, he longs to save and in this story, Jesus illustrates the heart of God, our heavenly Father. God wants to save, forgive and accept and love and transform us as He embraces us reminding us of who we truly are, His children.

Best robe. The best, not the former robe he left behind. This refers to the robe reserved for notable guests.

Ring. Through the ring the father bestows his authority upon his son.

Sandals. Sandals were a luxury, and servants did not wear them. The son is not, however, to be treated as a servant. He is to wear sandals. These individual details in the parable are not to be allegorized in order to have them correspond to some spiritual reality but are only meant to reveal the father’s full acceptance of his son. Compare Gen 41:42.
- Robert H. Stein, Luke, vol. 24, The New American Commentary (Nashville: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1992), 407.

All this time the son did not realize who the father really was. He did not comprehend the love of his father. Notice how all the parables Jesus shares in Luke that which is lost always belong to the person searching for it.

The sheep belonged to the shepherd but had wandered away, gotten lost, and could not come back on its own. So the shepherd goes out and searches for the lost sheep until he finds it. Then he celebrates finding his lost sheep. (For more read Lost and Found part 1)

The coin belonged to the woman but had gotten lost inside the house. The coin did not know it was lost and could not save itself. The woman searches for it until she finds it then she rejoices when she finds it! (for more read Lost and Found part 2)

The younger son rebels and wilfully walks away from the father. He knows what he is doing and he knows the way back. In this story the father eagerly awaits for the son to decide to return, and once the son acts on that decision the father runs and meets him while he is still a great way off. Just like in all the previous parables great feasting ensues.

The three parables highlight the same key truth. There is great rejoicing in the heart of God when someone repents, confesses their sin, and returns to Him. There is great rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents. God wants to rejoice over you, over us! What are you waiting for?

Stop making excuses for your sin and your rebellious life choices. Stop trying to fix it by yourself. You can come to God as you are, even if you’re covered in rags and feeling terrible guilt and shame. Let God embrace you, kiss you, cover you with a special robe, and put a ring on your finger and sandals on your feet. Your true identity is that of a child of God. That is your truest and most authentic self. That is why your life is so precious. Jesus died for you. The Father is eagerly waiting for you to take a step toward Him. He will run and embrace you and rejoice over you. He won’t scold you, He won’t punish you. You have suffered enough, He longs to save you, to bless you, to restore you to your rightful place as His beloved child.

What is keeping you from coming home?

What is holding you back from returning to your Father?

Do not allow anything in this world to keep you from where you belong, from your true identity. You are a child of God, He loves you and is just waiting, eager to rejoice over you. You do not have to be lonely any longer. You do not have to go hungry another day. Turn to God and let Him embrace you, and kiss you, bless you, and restore you to where you belong, a beloved child of the King of the Universe. God will gladly forgive you and cleanse you and give you a fresh start.

What do you say to all this?

Are you willing to come home?

If so you can pray right now and tell God how you feel.

If you are not sure what to say here is a sample prayer.

“Father in heaven, I have sinned against you and lived in rebellion. I do not deserve to be your child. But I know that you love me and that you want me so I choose you as well. I want to be your child, please forgive me and restore me, heal me and take care of me. I love you, and I need you. Thank you for loving me too, and for never abandoning me. I accept Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior and it is in His name that I pray. Thank you for hearing my prayer, please answer it according to your will and for your honor and glory, in Jesus’ name, amen.”