Are you familiar with the story of the prodigal son? If not, I encourage you to read Luke 15:11-32. Basically, a man had two sons. One wanted his inheritance early. He left, partied away his money with friends who in turn left him when all the money ran out. He was desperate, so he started working for a pig farmer. A Jewish man working for a gentile with what the Israelites considered unclean animals. He was hungry and he was desperate. He “came to himself” and thought, “Hey, my dad’s servants eat better than I do. I mean, I’m sitting here wanting to eat the pods we feed the pigs to fatten them up. I’ll just go home and ask to be a servant.”
WHAT IF?
I think deep down he probably thought, “But what if Dad can forgive me. I know I’ve lost all my rights and all my inheritance, but what if he still loves me, or can love me again? I’m pretty unlovable. I know this. I’ve done some unforgivable things, but what if…
And perhaps he began to hope. The journey home was probably pretty far. So, he had some time to think and consider. He had time to allow guilt and shame to consume him and destroy him. But he pressed on. Maybe as he walked he remembered the words his father had spoken to him and over him. I am reminded of the disciples who left Jesus. Jesus turned to the twelve and asked would you leave me too? “To whom else would we go, Lord. You have the words of life.”, they said.
What if the prodigal son remembered there was no one else who could love him like the Father. What if he remembered life in his father’s house, in his presence? What if as he walked he began to feel great remorse for the hurt he had caused his father’s heart?
OR WHAT IF
Or…what if he had allowed his doubt and fear, guilt and shame, to keep him in the pig pen? What if he had never returned home? What if he had turned around on the journey, giving up all hope of mercy and grace? What if he had allowed his past to rob him of his future? What if he had embraced fear rather than courage and his present situation became his ending? What if he had held on to all of the things he had done? Those sins were so heavy. He could not truly receive all his father had to offer while holding on to the past.
ME TOO!
I get it! As the writer of Titus 3 I myself have “once been foolish, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending my life in malice…” “But when the kindness and affection of God my Savior appeared, He saved me, not by my works which I did in any righteousness of my own, but according to His mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Sprit, whom He poured out upon me so richly through Jesus Christ my Savior, so that having been justified by His grace, I would become an heir, according to the hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3-7)
When the prodigal son arrived home he found his father waiting, standing on the porch looking for him. He embraced him, forgave him, welcomed him home and restored him.
Jacob vs. Esau
I’ve sometimes wondered about Esau. The writer of Genesis tells us he sold his birthright and gave up his blessing and though he sought repentance earnestly with tears it was not granted to him. How was he different from the prodigal son? I cannot say definitively. I can only continue along my journey with what I know to be a truth. Repentance and Forgiveness go hand in hand. One cannot receive forgiveness without repentance. And though repentance requires responsibility and remorse so we may receive restoration and renewal, often the enemy of our mind and soul causes us to hold onto the guilt and shame. This blocks our path set before us-the one where God said “For I know the plans (thoughts, purpose, intentions) I have for you…plans for peace (completeness, well-being and wholeness) and not for calamity (evil, bad, harmful, anything deviating from God’s laws and commands), to give you a future and a hope.” (Jerimiah 29:11)
Jesus, in the telling of this parable, never tells us if there was restoration with the brother. The former prodigal was different than when he had left. He would never be the same. Maybe the brother doubted his repentance. Maybe he could not find it in his own heart to forgive or renew the relationship they once had. We do not know.
BUT THIS WE KNOW: Forgiveness and restoration and renewal was offered by the Father because of His great mercy and love. None of us deserve it. Quite the opposite. This grace is glorious and abundant. It doesn’t only stand waiting for our return. It follows us, this goodness and mercy, all the days of our life.
The Inkwell Collections 