Luke 15:11-32
The Parable of the Lost Son
11 Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them.
13 “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father.
“But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him.
21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’
22 “But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.
25 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27 ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’
28 “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’
31 “‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”
The Parable of the Prodigal Son by Jesus makes us look at and teaches us the Grace of God...
Prodigal means spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant...So the prodigal son was a free and reckless spender of his Father's money...And he wasted it on extravagant things until the half of his Father's estate money was gone...The son had spent all the money his Father had given him, and now was poor and had taken a job feeding pigs...
Grace is the free and unmerited favor of God, as manifested in the salvation to sinners and the bestowal of blessings upon sinners...But sometimes definitions like this lose their significance and their great importance...Words over time came become diluted if they are only glossed over...We can lose the feelings of God's Grace and read about His grace in a lukewarm fashion...God's Grace is shown through the LOVE of Him sending His Son to us to live and to dwell among us...And grace is a major concept of the entire Bible, and God's Grace is shown to us by Jesus in His Parable of the Lost Son...God's Grace can be unexpected and given to those who are undeserving...It always is given to the undeserving because all of us fall short of the Glory of God...Grace is powerful and Almighty, and it is not something that has this light warmness to it...And God's grace can be unpredictable...God's Grace in this parable may seem as reckless and as extravagant as the younger son's spending ways, as He gives half His wealth to His undeserving son...
I have read this Parable of the Prodigal Son many times over the years...At times I have read it from the young son's point of view...I have read the Prodigal Son from the older son's point of view, and now as I read it again and again I see and better understand the Grace of God...God is there for all His son's...
It may seem an unusual thing to say, but Grace can be upsetting...And sometimes we seem to miss God and where He is at...The older son behaves in a quite shocked and angry way to his forgiving Father, who has shown His grace to his younger brother...The older son sees His Father's grace as upsetting...The story of the older brother goes like this after finding out his younger brother had returned after losing half his father's estate...“Meanwhile, the older son was in the field...When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing...So the older son called one of the servants and asked him what was going on...‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’...“The older brother became angry and refused to go in...So his father went out and pleaded with him...But he answered his father, ‘Look!...All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders...Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends...But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’...“‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours...But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’”...The older son has been with His Gracious Father for years, but He did not notice His Grace until His younger brother comes home...
Was the younger son worthy of grace?...The grace of God can make us angry and be upsetting...It can be shocking and jarring...God's grace can be unsettling...God's grace certainly shocked and jarred and angered the older son...But God is full of grace...God's Grace is there for you and for me...God's Grace is there for everyone...God's Grace is a Great Gift...