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“A Father Who Makes You Want To Come Home”
A Father Who Makes You Want To Come Home
Wade Webster
Some suggest that the Parable of the Prodigal Son should be called the Parable of the Loving Father. Often, in studying the parable, we spend our time talking about the son going away. However, the parable is really about the son coming home. The chapter is not about getting lost, but about being found. The coin, the sheep, and the son were all found. There is a key difference between the first two parables (coin, sheep) and the final parable (son). In the first two parables, that which was lost was sought and brought home. Coins and sheep don’t come home on their own. However, prodigal sons sometimes do. What was it about the prodigal son’s home that drew him back? What were the recollections of the father that paved the way for him to return? The text makes clear that the attitude of the son changed. Luke records, “And when he came to himself…” (Lk. 15:17). He left saying, “Give me…” and he returned saying, “Make me…” He left feeling entitled, and returned, feeling indebted. “I am no more worthy…” (Lk. 15:21). This was the turning point of this young man’s life. The prodigal son remembered that even the servants in his father’s house had bread and to spare (Lk. 15:17). It was the remembrance of the father’s goodness that brought him to repentance (Rom. 2:4). Hopefully, our children will never go astray. However, if they do, and they certainly can (1 Cor. 10:12; Gal. 5:4), we want their recollections of home to be such that they will want to come home. As fathers, we want them to remember us in a positive way.
A Father Who Will Give You A Warm Embrace Rather Than A Cold Shoulder - The prodigal son requested his inheritance. Distribution of the inheritance was usually made at the death of the father. If made earlier, it should have been at the father’s suggestion and not at the son’s request. The prodigal son’s request shows ingratitude and disrespect. It was as if he couldn’t wait for his father to die. Although the prodigal son showed ingratitude and disrespect for the father, the father showed great love for the son. Rather than a cold shoulder, the son received a warm embrace. Luke records, “And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him” (Lk. 15:20). The father was watching for his son to come home. He had not given up on him. The father had compassion, and not contempt, in his heart for his son. The father ran to meet his son. He was ready to forgive (Isa. 65:24). The father fell on his neck or embraced his son. He didn’t keep his son at arm’s length. The father kissed his son. The tense of the verb suggests that he kissed him again and again. Some have pictured the prodigal son as knocking on the pig farmer’s door in the far country and handing him back the slop bucket. As the son handed the bucket back, he declared, “I’m going home.” The farmer answered, “When your father sees and smells you, he’ll send you back.” “Mister,” the prodigal said, “You don’t know my father.”
A Father Who Will Give You A Son’s Robe When You Ask For A Servant’s Towel - The prodigal son headed home with the intention of declaring that he was no longer worthy of being called the father’s son. He was asking merely to be treated as one of his hired servants (Lk. 15:18-19). After the son confessed his sin, and before he could request to be a servant, the father called for the best robe, a ring, and shoes (Lk. 15:22). The returning son was received not as a servant. The robe was the kind worn by kings. The far country clothed him in rags, the father in the best robe (cf. Isa. 61:10; Zech. 3:3-5). The ring was a symbol of authority. The ring revealed that the son was not going to serve as a slave. The shoes or sandals were also significant. Slaves did not wear shoes.
A Father Who Will Give You A Place At The Table Instead Of A Seat In The Corner - The elder brother thought that his brother should be punished, not pitied. He thought that he should be rejected, not received. He thought that he should be flogged, not fed. The elder brother was angry and wouldn’t go into the feast (Lk. 15:25-28). The elder brother wouldn’t even speak of the prodigal as his brother. He said to his father, “Thy son” (Lk. 15:30). The father corrected him (Lk. 15:32). The elder brother rejected the reasoning of his father (Lk. 15:28; Isa. 1:18; Hag. 1:5, 7) and charged his father with favoritism (Lk. 15:29-30). His attitude must have dampened the father’s joy. The father had to leave the celebration to deal with his eldest son. The elder brother’s reaction dampens the parable. The same father that ran to meet the prodigal son left the party to meet him. It reminds the Bible student of Jonah (Jonah 4). The elder brother seems not to care that his brother has repented and that the father has forgiven him. He brings up his brother’s past as if it were still his present condition. His brother has been forgiven, but he would not be because of his attitude (Mt. 6:14-15). He declared his brother’s sins, but missed his own (Mt. 7:1-5; Lk. 18:9-14). He said he had done nothing wrong, but at that moment he was not obeying his father’s pleading for him to go into the party and rejoice. Furthermore, he charged the father with not giving him a fatted calf when the father had already given him a double portion as the firstborn. It all belonged to him (Lk. 15:31). He could have had a party with his friends anytime he chose. Imagine what would have happened if the elder brother had met his returning brother before the father. Likely, he would have sent him away. Unlike the elder brother, the loving father would in no wise cast his penitent child out (John 6:37). The father would show his son mercy (Psa. 103:10-14). The father commanded the fatted calf to be killed and for there to be a celebration at his son’s return (Lk. 15:23). The father understood the significance of the occasion. His son, who was dead, was now alive. His son, who was lost, was now found (Lk. 15:24). He told his eldest son that it was “meet” or “right” for them to celebrate (Lk. 15:32). Everyone in the chapter finds joy except for the elder brother. Everything the prodigal son hoped to find in the far country, he found at home – fine clothes, jewelry, friends, feasting, love, security, etc.
Let’s all try to be fathers that make our children want to come home. Our heavenly Father is certainly that kind of Father.
