At church this morning the message included a thought that was new to me. The speaker was talking about the story of the prodigal (reckless and wasteful) son. In this story, the younger son, comes to his Father, complaining about having to wait until his Father dies, to receive the inheritance due him! Basically he was saying - "I wish you were dead Dad! I want that money now!".
What a slap in the face! In the culture that he came from, that sort of insolent disrespect incurred an instant death penalty! And yet - his father loved him. So he sold off some of his assets and gave his youngest son the money he would otherwise have received at his death. And the son left his father and older brother to manage the farm at home, and took off, to enjoy his windfall.
And he did enjoy it! To the max! Did everything he'd ever been told was the wrong thing to do, but always wanted to try. He was a total disgrace to his family name! And then the money ran out. He tried to still get by on his own, but his friends had dried up with his money, and no-one was willing to help him out. Until, in desperation, he decided to go to his father and beg for work with his servants - even they were in a better position than he was. Still, it was pretty brazen of him to show his face where he had brought so much disrepute. Just shows how desperate he was. He was at rock bottom.
The next bit of the story must have brought gasps of utter amazement. The Father spotted him while he was still a long way off - he was still longing for him! And when he saw him, the unbelievable happened!! He ran to meet him! Head shaking behaviour in that day!! Dignified gentry did not run!!! I always saw it as a beautiful expression of the depths of love that would cause the Father to defy the conventions of the day to hurry to the son returning home to him.
But there's more. And I hadn't seen it until today. He was running to reach his son before anyone else did!! To wrap his arms of protection and cloak of ownership around him before someone had a chance to exact the vengeance due him!! It was not only love and longing that caused the Father to run. It was to rescue him!! And bring him home safely, with his shameful past covered. What a beautiful picture of who God is. ❤️
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