Michael continues: The younger son went into a far country … again this was against Pharisaical law. Jews were not allowed to associate with non-Jews. Jesus exaggerated the story for emotional emphasis and arousing a reaction. According to the Pharisees, the descendants the House of Israel were required to keep their associations and blood lines pure from the contamination of the outside world. However, the younger son wandered away into a foreign land and squandered away his father’s fortune with riotous living . As long as he had wealth and money, he had many so-called friends. However, when he ran out of money everyone deserted him. He became so hungry and destitute that he was forced to look for work. The only job he could find was tending the pigs of a heathen unbeliever in the far country. This was also an egregious sin in the eyes of the Pharisees. For a good Jew, if you associate with pigs, you’re no longer considered human… you’re counted among the pigs. The prodigal son became so hungry that he “did fill his belly with the pods which the swine did eat.” He sunk so low that he craved pig slop. He had lived in the pig-sty of world so long that he had developed an appetite for the garbage of the world.
Then the story takes a turn. In a moment of clarity, he woke up and “came to himself.” When you hit the bottom, the only way to go is up. He said to himself, how many of my father’s hired servants have more food than they can eat and here I am craving pig slop. I will arise and go to my Father and say to him, “I have sinned against you and against God and am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me one of your hired servants.” Then a twist in the narrative. As he approached his Father’s house, his father saw him from afar off. He had been waiting patiently for his son’s return. The father ran to meet his son, running was considered undignified for a respectable man but he didn’t care what the neighbors thought.
The younger son recited the first part of his speech: “Father, I have sinned against you and against heaven and am no longer worthy to be called thy son.” The loving father did not allow his son to finish his speech. Instead he lovingly embraced his lost son. The father was filled with joy that his lost son had returned home. He put a ring on his finger and a robe on his back. It signified not only that he restored his son in good standing but also that his son. The robe signified that he was his father’s son and a reconciled, trusted, and cherished member of the Father’s household.
The father announced, we’re going to celebrate. We’ll kill the fatted calf and have a feast. My son who was a dead is alive and has returned home. God is the forgiving Father. Even though his younger son was worthy of death, our Father is not a God of judgement, retaliation, vengeance and so-called righteous indignation. The older son who had been diligently working in the field heard about the celebration. In a fit of anger he approached his father and said, I’ve been faithful all my life to serve you and I have never dishonored our family’s name. Yet you never had a party for me or killed a lamb for a feast in my honor. But your son who has wasted away your fortune with riotous living and prostitutes in a foreign land has returned and you killed for him the fatted calf. The father said to his older son. Everything I have is yours. You could use the family’s resources at any time and according your own best judgement. But if ever there was a reason for a celebration, this is it. For your brother was dead has come back and is alive.
The emphasis on all this parable is not on the prodigal son, but on the forgiving Father. All we like sheep have gone astray, especially when we think like the Pharisees that we are good in our own power and are worthy of judging others. Thank God that he is our loving father. When we turn around, forsake ourselves and return our hearts to our Father’s house, by his grace and mercy he will forgive our sins, cast them as far as the east is from the west, and welcome us back home with his loving embrace that we may be His living witnesses, Testaments of the praise of the glory of His grace!
Your brother in Christ, Michael
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