There was a wealthy
Jew in Palestine who had a
great household with
olive yards and
vineyards, sheep and camels and hired servants.
He had two sons, who
had all the
father's provisions available in that wealthy home.
However, the
younger son being sick of living with his loving
father chose no longer to be under his authority. He brazenly
demanded his share of the inheritance and his father
refused him not. “He gathered all together” and
cutting every tie with his father,
took his journey
to a “far country”,
to a world of sin and mirth, away
from God and the eyes of his father. The
rebellious act of the young man has characteristics of Isaiah's prophetic
portrayal of sinners, “all we like sheep have
gone astray; we have turned every
one to his own way…” (Isaiah
53:6).
Soon
he spent all and became penniless. To make
matters worse, a mighty famine ravaged the land and he began to be in want. His dire situation forced
him to join the citizen of that country,
who sent him into his fields to feed the swine, a great disgrace that
could happen to the son of a wealthy
Jew. The swine was an
unclean animal under the Levitical law (Leviticus 11:8), which kept reminding
him that he was a lawbreaker and under the judgement of God. The ration
provided to the prodigal was scanty that he longed to fill his stomach with
the swine feed,
but even that was not
available, and none pitied him. Running away
from the presence of his loving father has brought him to a most
shameful and disgraceful experience of feeding
the swine.
We see in this narrative, God's amazing kindness and mercy, for the extreme
misery brought the prodigal to his
right senses. Earlier
he was “beside himself”, but now
“came to himself”. Then he said,
“how many hired servants of my father's house have bread enough and
to spare, and I perish
with hunger!” He composed a statement of repentance
(Luke 15:18, 19). Genuine repentance is not confined to shallow words, but to
action. In his extremity, there was genuine repentance in his heart. This is of
prime necessity for the salvation of every sinner who walks the road of the
prodigal.
The
prodigal is under the sentence of death just like the older brother is who
holds a pharisaic attitude. The words “…when he was yet a great way off…” speak eloquently about the father's
heart, reminiscing about the Love of
God, our Saviour. The waiting and
watching and yearning of the father focuses our attention on the incredible
bounty and generosity of the father, which
is the powerful portrayal of the heart of God, our heavenly Father towards the
prodigals, you and I (Genesis 3:8, 9).
The father, casting
aside his dignity
of a wealthy Jew, having had compassion, unashamedly ran, reached his wayward son, embraced him and kissed
him tenderly, which reminds us of the Son of God coming on the earth &
suffering humiliation and torture and dying on the
cursed cross as a criminal for you and for me, prodigals. The prodigal was
arrayed with the best robe, the garment of salvation which our heavenly Father clothes
us with (Isaiah
61:10; Revelation 7:14), the ring on his hand, signifies an
unending relationship to our heavenly Father and shoes on his feet, as a mark as a free man, privilege to stand in His
blessed presence in absolute forgiveness and acceptance. The fatted calf
is a prize animal reserved for a feast in honour of a special
guest.
In
the mind of our heavenly Father, there
could not be a joyous occasion than when a lost son is found (Luke 15:7). Dear
readers come home to God, our Saviour with a repentant heart and bring joy to
the heart of God!
- by Nadesan K.
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