Homecoming - The Prodigal Son
Prodigal: /ˈprädəɡ(ə)l/ adjective
1. spending money or resources freely and recklessly; wastefully extravagant.
2. a person who spends money in a recklessly extravagant way.
“The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’’
Luke 15:12 NIV
“A man’s worst difficulties begin when he is able to do just as he likes…”
~ Thomas Huxley ~
“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.”
Luke 15:13 NIV
When we declared our independence from God, we began to live in a foreign place.
“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. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”
Luke 15:13-16 NIV
We waste our life… seeking what can no longer be found.
“After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need.“
Luke 15:14 NIV
When we venture out on our own, we end up in a foreign land, left to our own devices outside of life with God.
“So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs.”
Luke 15:15 NIV
“He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.”
Luke 15:16 NIV
“We often meet our destiny on the road we take to avoid it”…
~ Jean de La Fontaine ~
We can’t run from ourselves…We can only run so far until we come to the end of ourselves.
“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! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’’
Luke 15:17-19 NIV
Hope begins with coming to our senses…
“The meaning of the younger son’s return is succinctly expressed in the words, “Father, …I no longer deserve to be called your son.” On the one hand the younger son realizes that he has lost the dignity of his sonship, but at the same time that sense of lost dignity makes him also aware that he is indeed the son who had dignity to lose. When he found himself desiring to be treated as one of the pigs, he realized that he was not a pig but a human being, a son of his father. This realization became the basis for his choice to live instead of to die.”
~ Henri Nouwen ~
“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. “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”
Luke 15:20-21 NIV
“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. Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let’s have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So they began to celebrate.”
Luke 15:22-24 NIV
God as our Father will welcome us with mercy and restore us.