When we left the prodigal son yesterday, he had started out on the long trip back to his father's land, and he had decided that he could only hope to be hired on as a servant, having lost, he believed, his status as his father's son. Things are looking bleak for the young man as he finally headed home, but he did not know his father as well as he thought. He had turned his back on his father, disdained his father's blessing and squandered it all, and finally had worked tending swine, which he not only had to care for, but undoubtedly he also had to touch these animals and tread in their filth. Surely his father would refuse to let the young man even enter the family home, but rather would cast him out to live with the other hired servants.
Unknown to the prodigal son however, the father was in fact watching for his son. The Good Shepherd tells us in St. Luke 15:20 "But when he was STILL A GREAT WAY OFF (emphasis mine)his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and FELL ON HIS NECK AND KISSED HIM (emphasis mine again)!" This father was not a grudge-bearing father at all, but was full of mercy and compassion. And we see that he did not even wait for his son, but went running to him while the son was still a long way off, still at a distance. The Good Shepherd himself is never far from us, and runs to us even when we ours selves have gone afar, and remain at a distance. God never runs away from us, but certainly runs TO us when we take just a few steps back to him. He comes the rest of the way to meet us!
The prodigal son saw his father running to meet him. We are not told whether the son started running to meet the father, but what a scene the Good Shepherd relates to us at their meeting. The father does not reach out his hand to shake his son's hand, but literally falls on his son's neck, we might think of it as a bear hug, and begins kissing his son, a custom still seen in the Middle East today. The father must have smothered his son with his loving embrace and his kiss of acceptance. No doubt the father was shedding tears as well, and telling his son how much he had missed him.
At this point the son, having worked himself somewhat loose from the father's embrace, launches forth into his prepared speech. Remember, I pointed out earlier that the speech consisted of three elements. So the son tells his father, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son." The prodigal son was able to make two points, that he was a sinner and had shamed his father, and that he was no longer worthy to be called his son. Before he could utter the third part of his rehearsed speech, however, the father cut him off.
I can see the father cover his son's mouth as he began giving orders to the servants. And notice what those orders were. The servants were told to bring out the best robe and put it on the son, to place a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. The father wanted there to be no doubt that this young man was his son, and would be treated like his son, and welcomed back home in the highest way, by killing the "fatted calf" and cooking it. Then they made merry! It was such a celebration, and the father was happy to the point of being overjoyed, "for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to be merry. (St. Luke 15:24)
The use of the word "merry" is not an accident, not a random selection of a synonym for "happy." No, merry signifies a degree of happiness that is not an everyday thing. This level of happiness is used rarely in the English language; in fact, we usually use it in ONLY ONE instance: that is when we wish our friends and loved ones a merry Christmas! So the father, his son, presumably his mother (the Bible does not say this, so I am not forcing this on anyone), and all the assembled servants began to make merry! There was much noise, much music and dancing. We read in St. Luke Chapter 15:7, "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance." What a happy scene! The prodigal son was home, and was not taken in as a hired hand but as his father's beloved son.
No matter how far you may have wandered from the Good Shepherd, no matter how badly you think you have ruined your life, this parable teaches that us that while one is still yet far away from the Good Shepherd, He will run to meet the poor sinner, embrace him with His tender, yet strong comforting embrace and His kiss of love, and will take him back, not as a poor, unworthy servant, but as a son of the Good Shepherd Himself, once again worthy to receive the blessings promised in the Gospels.
I have to tell you that from the very first time I read this parable, I wished that the story had ended with the party. There was so much joy, so much happiness, that this lost son was home. But the story unfortunately, does not end here. For you see, there was one person who was not present at that great celebration. The older brother was at that very minute in the field working. No one had even gone to tell him that his younger brother had returned! Did you realize that the older son had finished that day's work and was walking toward home for the evening when he first heard the noise?
Next time: The older brother is not so happy...
Unknown to the prodigal son however, the father was in fact watching for his son. The Good Shepherd tells us in St. Luke 15:20 "But when he was STILL A GREAT WAY OFF (emphasis mine)his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and FELL ON HIS NECK AND KISSED HIM (emphasis mine again)!" This father was not a grudge-bearing father at all, but was full of mercy and compassion. And we see that he did not even wait for his son, but went running to him while the son was still a long way off, still at a distance. The Good Shepherd himself is never far from us, and runs to us even when we ours selves have gone afar, and remain at a distance. God never runs away from us, but certainly runs TO us when we take just a few steps back to him. He comes the rest of the way to meet us!
The prodigal son saw his father running to meet him. We are not told whether the son started running to meet the father, but what a scene the Good Shepherd relates to us at their meeting. The father does not reach out his hand to shake his son's hand, but literally falls on his son's neck, we might think of it as a bear hug, and begins kissing his son, a custom still seen in the Middle East today. The father must have smothered his son with his loving embrace and his kiss of acceptance. No doubt the father was shedding tears as well, and telling his son how much he had missed him.
At this point the son, having worked himself somewhat loose from the father's embrace, launches forth into his prepared speech. Remember, I pointed out earlier that the speech consisted of three elements. So the son tells his father, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight, and am no longer worthy to be called your son." The prodigal son was able to make two points, that he was a sinner and had shamed his father, and that he was no longer worthy to be called his son. Before he could utter the third part of his rehearsed speech, however, the father cut him off.
I can see the father cover his son's mouth as he began giving orders to the servants. And notice what those orders were. The servants were told to bring out the best robe and put it on the son, to place a ring on his hand, and sandals on his feet. The father wanted there to be no doubt that this young man was his son, and would be treated like his son, and welcomed back home in the highest way, by killing the "fatted calf" and cooking it. Then they made merry! It was such a celebration, and the father was happy to the point of being overjoyed, "for this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." And they began to be merry. (St. Luke 15:24)
The use of the word "merry" is not an accident, not a random selection of a synonym for "happy." No, merry signifies a degree of happiness that is not an everyday thing. This level of happiness is used rarely in the English language; in fact, we usually use it in ONLY ONE instance: that is when we wish our friends and loved ones a merry Christmas! So the father, his son, presumably his mother (the Bible does not say this, so I am not forcing this on anyone), and all the assembled servants began to make merry! There was much noise, much music and dancing. We read in St. Luke Chapter 15:7, "I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repents, more than over ninety and nine just persons, who need no repentance." What a happy scene! The prodigal son was home, and was not taken in as a hired hand but as his father's beloved son.
No matter how far you may have wandered from the Good Shepherd, no matter how badly you think you have ruined your life, this parable teaches that us that while one is still yet far away from the Good Shepherd, He will run to meet the poor sinner, embrace him with His tender, yet strong comforting embrace and His kiss of love, and will take him back, not as a poor, unworthy servant, but as a son of the Good Shepherd Himself, once again worthy to receive the blessings promised in the Gospels.
I have to tell you that from the very first time I read this parable, I wished that the story had ended with the party. There was so much joy, so much happiness, that this lost son was home. But the story unfortunately, does not end here. For you see, there was one person who was not present at that great celebration. The older brother was at that very minute in the field working. No one had even gone to tell him that his younger brother had returned! Did you realize that the older son had finished that day's work and was walking toward home for the evening when he first heard the noise?
Next time: The older brother is not so happy...
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