This week our kids are learning about the grace and forgiveness of God from the parable about the prodigal son. This is one of the most well known parables of Jesus. At the same, we often overlook the depth of the love and grace of God Jesus is demonstrating in his story about a father of two sons.
This story is told in a series of stories about lost things. Jesus talks about a shepherd who searches for a lost sheep, a woman who searches for a lost coin, and finally a father who searches for his lost sons. As we will see, just this simple context reorients our perspective on this parable.
The story begins with a father of two sons. The father’s youngest son comes and demands his share of the inheritance. The father obliges and the younger son goes off and squanders all his father had given him. Now a few points on what Jesus’ audience would have been thinking about this father and son with first century ears. The son would have deserved death for the disrespect and shame his demand would have brought on his father and family. He was basically telling his father he wished his father was dead, or at least he was as good as dead to him. The law of Moses said that this type of attitude and behavior was punishable by death (Duet. 21:18-21). The father would have been seen as a complete fool at best, but also liable to the law for allowing his son to treat him this way.
After blowing his small fortune on rebellious living, the son is forced to tend pigs. As he is looking at the pig food he thinks about the servants of his father’s house. He then hatches a plan to earn his way back into the household as a servant. But notice the motive behind the son’s plan. While he may be sorry for his sin, the sense given here is that it is his own well being that is driving him back to his father. He is not repenting for how he treated his father, but he is sorry for how his life has turned out. The story ends with the son returning home, only to be met on the way by the father running down the road to meet him. The father does not allow the son to give his full speech, but orders a banquet in his honor. The father, in the eyes of Jesus’ culture, would have looked even more foolish at the end of the story. Elder men did not raise their robes to run, especially for a son who had brought shame and dishonor on the household.
The dishonor continues with the reaction of the older son. He refuses to come to the party. The father goes out to find him, and the older son disrespects his father, basically calling him a fool and unjust. The father responds, once again, with concern and grace. He leaves the door open for his older son to join the family.
In his treatment of both sons the father is gracious and loving. In both cases, just as in the other two parables in Luke 15, the father is the one who does the looking and seeking. The sons are not the ones looking for their father, the father is looking for his sons. He does not give what is deserved, he gives them grace. He does not treat them based on their actions, but on the unchangeable status they have as his sons. This is who Jesus is revealing the heavenly father to be, and saying that whether we are like the reckless younger son or the judgmental older son, it is our Father who seeks us out and rejoices to welcome us back home.
As parents, it can be tempting to see our job as laying down the law. When our kids step out of line, we are there to put them back in line. While discipline is an important part of our role as parents, we should consider the heart behind that role. The father in the parable was not concerned with how others perceived him, but often that is exactly what is on our minds when our children act out. So, our discipline is more about our embarrassment than about their well-being. Let us be like this father, and like our heavenly Father, and set our hearts in love toward what is truly best for our children, and give them and ourselves grace that comes from God.
Our character trait this week is Rejoicing. Expressing joy is a part of life for the followers of Jesus. It is not a shallow expression of happy feelings, or even positive thinking. But it comes from a deep sense of trust in God through all of life’s circumstances and is present even when we are not happy about the things going on around us. Talk to your children this week about how we rejoice even when things are hard and difficult. Seek to model joy in trusting God through the challenges you face this week.
Memory Verse Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
