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Writer's pictureMelissa Tembo

The Prodigal Father and His Prodigal Son

Updated: Feb 15, 2020


 

11 Then Jesus said, “Once there was a father with two sons. 12 The younger son came to his father and said, ‘Father, don’t you think it’s time to give me the share of your estate that belongs to me?’ So the father went ahead and distributed among the two sons their inheritance. 13 Shortly afterward, the younger son packed up all his belongings and traveled off to see the world. He journeyed to a far-off land where he soon wasted all he was given in a binge of extravagant and reckless living.

14 “With everything spent and nothing left, he grew hungry, for there was a severe famine in that land. 15 So he begged a farmer in that country to hire him. The farmer hired him and sent him out to feed the pigs. 16 The son was so famished, he was willing to even eat the slop given to the pigs, because no one would feed him a thing.

17 “Humiliated, the son finally realized what he was doing and he thought, ‘There are many workers at my father’s house who have all the food they want with plenty to spare. They lack nothing. Why am I here dying of hunger, feeding these pigs and eating their slop? 18 I want to go back home to my father’s house, and I’ll say to him, “Father, I was wrong. I have sinned against you. 19 I’ll never be worthy to be called your son. Please, Father, just treat me like one of your employees.”’

20 “So the young son set off for home. From a long distance away, his father saw him coming, dressed as a beggar, and great compassion swelled up in his heart for his son who was returning home. So the father raced out to meet him. He swept him up in his arms, hugged him dearly, and kissed him over and over with tender love.

21 “Then the son said, ‘Father, I was wrong. I have sinned against you. I could never deserve to be called your son. Just let me be—’

“The father interrupted and said, ‘Son, you’re home now!’

22 “Turning to his servants, the father said, ‘Quick, bring me the best robe, my very own robe, and I will place it on his shoulders. Bring the ring, the seal of sonship, and I will put it on his finger. And bring out the best shoes you can find for my son. 23 Let’s prepare a great feast[l] and celebrate. 24 For this beloved son of mine was once dead, but now he’s alive again. Once he was lost, but now he is found!’ And everyone celebrated with overflowing joy.


Luke 15:11-24


 

The first thing we see is that there was a relationship where open communication was encouraged. Although it wasn’t a good thing the son was asking for, he was not afraid to ask. He was bold enough to go to his father and ask for something as outrageous as his inheritance while his father was alive. That is the same thing that Abba wants with us as his children, open communication. In Isaiah 1:18, God says, “Come now, let us reason together, though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be white as snow.’ In the Contemporary English version that same verse says I, the LORD, invite you to come and talk it over. God desires that we be open with him about all things, not just the good things. He wants us to be in relationship with him in spirit and in truth and that includes not being afraid to ask for the outrageous.


The second thing to notice about this father/son relationship is that the Father listens and he acts upon the son’s desires. The Father listened to his son’s desire to have his inheritance and he went on to divide his estate among his two sons just as the prodigal son had asked. I believe that is how God is. He does give us our heart’s desires. There is an argument that if we are saying the Father is God, and God is all knowing, why would he give the son his inheritance knowing that he would squander it all away and end up destitute and hungry, that doesn’t seem very Fatherly or like God. I came across an interesting verse in Psalms 81. Verses 11 – 12 say ““But My people would not heed My voice, And Israel would have none of Me. So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart, To walk in their own counsels. Drawing from my own relationship with my father, I think the prodigal father would have had some sort of discussion with his son about what he wanted. But if the son kept on asking, eventually the Father would have said ok here you go. If this is what you really want, you can have it. And it’s the same with God when we ask and keep on asking, he gives us what we ask for. There is no caveat on the verse in Matthew 7 that says if we ask and keep on asking what we ask for will be given to us. So if we ask and keep on asking God for things that may not be beneficial to us, God is gentle enough to give us “over to our own stubborn hearts, to walk in our own counsels.” But if we delight ourselves in him, he gives us the desires of heart. Literally. God’s desires for our lives become our desires as well.


The third thing to note abut this Father/son relationship is that the son knew his father and the way his father ran his household. He remembered that “at my father’s house there are many workers [who]…lack nothing.” The son was confident that even in a time of lack, at his father’s house there would be plenty. He had confidence in his father. I believe that God would want us to have the same confidence in him as the son had in his father. That in moments of lack or want we would know that our Father is able to supply for all our needs. That we would come to our senses and realise that everything we need can be found in his presence. This is what the prodigal son realised. Everything he needed was not in the places that he had spent frivolously but in back home, in his father’s house.


The fourth thing to note is that the Father knew his son. He knew that one day, he would come back home. The father saw him coming from a long distance away. I can almost imagine that everyday the father would walk out to the road and watch out for his son expectantly, knowing that the day is coming when he shall return. What’s even more amazing is that the father was able to recognise that the person that was a long distance away was his son. He knew his son’s stature. He knew how he walked. The way his son would swing his arms when he was strutting in pride and the way he would hang his head low when ashamed. That is how well God knows us. He says that he knew each day of our lives before we were even born. He knows exactly how many strands of hair are on your head…he counted them himself as he created you. When you come to him, he never confuses you for someone else. He knows you from the inside out. All your desires and wishes, your strengths and weaknesses, the things that make you laugh and cry, he knows them all. Even the small passing thoughts that we have and think nothing of, he captures them and treasures them in the depths of his heart.


The last thing to note about this Father/Son relationship is that the father restores what has been lost. It is his nature. No one but the father could restore what was lost because the son’s beginning would never have been without his father. Let me explain. As children we are the seed of our fathers. We come directly from them. The words they speak to us can either build us or destroy us. They know our strengths and weaknesses more so than other people, because we come from them. When the prodigal son went to the farmer for help, all the farmer saw was a beggar in need of help. He never saw that this young man in front of him was the son of an affluent person. He only saw a beggar, worthy of being a farmhand doing the most menial of tasks – feeding pigs. He only saw the son as a beggar not worthy of any care, even the basic cares such as food. And the sad thing is , the son believed him. I can almost imagine the contrast of the son leaving and him coming back. When he left, he would have been wearing the best of the best, the latest labels with so much money to spare. He would have walked with a certain swagger in his step. But as he came back he was dressed as a beggar, head low with nothing to his name but the clothes on his back. He did not even see himself as worthy to be a son. He had completely lost himself…”Father I could never be your son, make me a servant”. The seed had forgotten who he was. It could only take the Father to restore the son and remind him of his position; that he was righteous and that he was a son.


The first thing the father restored, was the son’s right standing with him. The father said ‘bring me the best robe, my own robe and I will put him it on him’. The robe speaks of righteousness. The son could never be righteous in his own strength. The servants could not restore righteousness to him. Only the Father could. It is the same with us, we can never make ourselves righteous. But it is only through Jesus that we are made righteous. The bible in Isaiah 61:10 says “I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness.” As prodigal children, when we come back to the Father, he takes away our shame clothes us in his righteousness, reminding us that we are in right standing with him through his son Jesus. We are accepted in the beloved.

The other thing that the father restored to the son was a


Authority and identity He asked for the ring, the seal of sonship to be brought to him so that HE, the father, could put it on his finger. Back in the day, kings, to show that they had signed off on a document or decree, would place a stamp on that document using a signet ring. This basically showed the reader that the king had accepted and approved of what the document/decree stated. To be honest, the giving of the ring was more of a reminder than a restorative act. Just because we disobey or disappoint our parents, it doesn’t mean we are no longer their children. Similar with the prodigal son, just because he had made a mistake it did not remove his status as his father’s son. The father, in giving the son the ring, was reminding the son that he was not, and neither could he ever be, a servant. His sonship was sealed and could not be revoked. Similarly, the father in asking for shoes to be brought to the son, he was reminding the son that he was not a slave. In those time, slaves/servants would not wear shoes. The shoes represented ownership and authority and it was the Father’s desire to remind the son that, contrary to his belief, he was worthy to be called a son. When we come to God, he reminds us of the authority he gave us when he said fill the earth and subjugate it [putting it under your power]; and rule over (dominate) the fish of the sea, the birds of the air, and every living thing that moves upon the earth.” Gen 1:28 AMP. This authority helps us to live a life of victory, overcoming the world and all the temptations it may throw at us. Yes. ALL. Jesus did it, and with the Holy Spirit's help we can too


At times, life’s hardships and sometimes even the pleasures of life, persuade us to forget about who we are and the authority we have been given by God. But when we come back to the father with repentant hearts, he reminds us that he has given us all that we need to be victorious. We are more than conquerors through Christ and we are sons and daughters of Abba.

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