The Prodigal Son Returns

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Parables are simple life stories Jesus used to teach about spiritual truths. They raise intense curiosity, promising more for seekers. The interested ones will be inspired and uninterested will walk away uninspired. They are not myths or fables, nor are they doctrines or prophecies.

A kind father and two sons lived together. The younger son rejected the home and claimed his inheritanace and went to a far away land. There, he wasted all his wealth and became lonely and homeless. Then he remembered about his life in his father's home and decided to return. He repented and returned to the father asking for forgiveness and to take him back as a servant. The older son lived with the father, but was also unhappy and lost in discontentment. The story is not just about the sons, but more about a loving father who restores and reconciles. It has been described as "the Gospel within the Gospel" because the gospel is the love story of God to mankind.

Rejecting the joy of the home is a personal choice. You can be lost away from home or at home. God forgives and chooses to forget our sins. “But while the son was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.” (Luke 15:20). He saw son from far away means that he was waiting for his son all these days. The Father was longing for that which was lost

Acceptance does not mean that the father approved of his past actions. The father does not compromise his convictions. He does not condone, rather he is being compassionate. The son rehearsed what to say to the father: "accept me as a servant." The son was looking for a contract type relation with the father by being a servant. Servants get wages for the work they do for the hours or days. But the father turned it around and changed it by restoring him as a son by giving him a new robe, a ring, pair of sandals and a great welcome party.

Robe represents a complete acceptance with love and protection, while the ring is the seal of that covenant. God clothes his redeemed children with the robe of righteousness. "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of righteousness." (Isaiah 61:10). Sandals show his restoration of his sonship. The killing of the "best calf" speaks of the sacrifice of an animal. In the garden of Eden, Adam and Eve were clothed with the skin of an animal when God saw that their effort of covering themselves with fig leaves could not stand the heat of the sun. Our efforts or works to become righteous are like filthy rags and will not be able to stand the tests of sin. There was a sacrifice of an animal in the garden. It was a sign of the great sacrifice God's Son would eventually become. The blood of christ washes us from filthiness and God gives us the bright and shiny robe of righteousness. God has provided Christ, the spotless lamb, as a sacrifice on the cross to die thus making it possible for repenting sinners to be reconciled to a holy God.

Blessings

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