Luke 15:11-12 (NLT)
To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had
two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now
before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons.
These are the first two verses
of the famous parable of the Prodigal Son.
Prodigal Son means “wasteful and extravagant”. This son exemplifies a common characteristic
of immediate gratification. What amazed
Jesus’ listeners then and even today is that the father in the story agreed
with his son’s request. If you are a
father, would you agree to give your son his share of your estate right now
knowing that he was going to leave you and foolishly lose it all? Especially with a son like the son in this
story who wanted everything of the father he could give without wanting the
father personally. Doesn’t that sound
like people today who want all the blessings of God, but want no relationship
with Him? Yet the father in the story divided
his wealth between his two sons and allowed the prodigal son to waste it
all.
I believe that the Prodigal
Son story and the other two stories in Luke 15 make this chapter the greatest
chapter in the New Testament. Why? Because it shows how much God cares about the
lost of the world. It shows how great
the love of God is, greater than any human is capable of loving. God shows His love for sinners, a
characteristic that humans rarely have.
You read in Luke 15:20 where the father, representing God, ran to greet
his lost son. This is the only reference
in the entire Bible where God ran. He
ran to greet a sinner. He ran to be
reunited with his sinful, lost son. That
is a remarkable picture that unquestionably depicts the unconditional love God
has for his children, regardless of what they do. Jesus displayed this same love on the cross
with his unbelievable utterance while being tortured, “Father, forgive them,
for they know not what they do” (Luke 23:34).
Rob Bell wrote a very controversial
best-selling book, Love Wins (HarperOne, 2011) where he questions the
prevailing position of the Christian community that of billions of people who
have ever lived on earth, only a select few, those who have declared faith in
Jesus Christ, will end up in heaven.
Bell asks the following question (page 2) “Has God created millions of
people over tens of thousands of years who are going to spend eternity in
anguish? Can God do this or even allow
this, and still claim to be a loving God?”
Now I am not defending or agreeing with Rob Bell’s position (you have to
read the book to gain your own perspective), but I am intrigued by his use of
the Prodigal Son story to make most of his points. One of those points, relevant to verses 11
and 12 here, is that no matter how much and how terrible people sin, the
Father’s love cannot be taken away. Nor
can the Father’s love be earned. It just
is.
Perhaps you have been a
prodigal at one time or another in your life and you have a prodigal child or
children. Realize that God loves and
forgives you regardless of your sins, and you should aspire to be like Him with
those who exasperate you at times. Jesus’ stories in Luke 15 clearly point out
His association with sinners and His willingness to forgive them. What an unbelievably loving God we
serve.
Read as much as you can about
the various stories from the Prodigal Son parable and what the three main
characters—the younger son, the older son, and the father—teach you about the
ways of man and the ways of God and how opposite God’s ways are from man’s
ways.
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