In today's post, we will be discussing two parables that recently have been on my heart a lot. Well, the other day, I was scrolling through Amazon (a daily activity :) ) and I stumbled across this piece of artwork that I immediately fell in love with. It is the simplicity of the artwork that tells the story in-depth for me. In this drawing, we find 99 sheep, yet the Shepherd running after the 1 that ran away from the security of the fold and got lost. This parable is found in Luke 15 amongst two other parables about a lost coin and a lost son. All different subjects, yet one common theme: What was lost is now found.
In Luke 15:1-7 and Luke 15: 11-32, we find the parables of The Lost Sheep and The Lost Son. Although two different stories, allow me to cross the two together, if I may. You see, Jesus used parables to help people understand God and His kingdom. A parable is a earthly story with a heavenly meaning, which made hard subjects easier to grasp (thus why Jesus used them frequently). Even though two different storylines were used, both reflected the same message: That we have a Father in Heaven that loves us and pursues a relationship with us. One about a sheep; one about a son: Both about us.
Since seeing that picture about the lost sheep, it spurred me to begin studying the parable of the lost son. Upon my research, I found that an understanding of Middle Eastern culture during this time is vital in fully grasping the enormity of what Jesus was teaching his audience. For clarity purposes, I will divide this up into sections :)
1: In verses 11-13, we find a father and his two sons. Within these verses, the younger son approaches his father and asks for his "portion of goods" from his father's estate. Although this birthright was something he was allowed to ask for, it sent the underlying message that his father was of no importance to him. The estate belonged to his sons once he had passed away and asking for it early was rude and selfish. Nevertheless, it happened.
2: After receiving his portion, he journeyed into a "far country, and there wasted his substance with riotous living" (vs.13). Notice that he journeyed into a FAR country, thus creating as much distance between him and his father as possible. Sin, like a cockroach, does its best work in the dark, out of sight. Within the country of his father, he was held to the standard of the way he was raised to live, whether this was imposed forcefully or not. He could not live the "riotous life" he wanted in close proximity to the father. Sometimes, distance between us and God is a void that we create because we are way too selfish and self-seeking. Sometimes in pursuing our "dreams," we rip up our solid foundation in order to build a wobbly, unsturdy bridge to the life we want. Unfortunately, I see myself amongst this example. Sometimes God feels like my best friend that I can spill all of my life's details to; other times, He feels like an acquaintance that I run into at Walmart and keep the convo short and sweet (I am not that much of a talker:). How can a God that NEVER changes feel like both of these at different points in my life? I can tell you one reason that seems to invade my life far more than I'd like to admit: We want what we want and sadly, sometimes, we abandon God to get it. He never changes and is a foundation that is always solid, so the blame lies on me. I walked away, not Him. I had taken my journey into the "far country," on my way to "better" pastures, only to find out that this road only leads to the pig pen.
3: In Jewish culture, pigs are considered incredibly nasty and are to be avoided. However, this Jewish son finds himself taking care of a Gentile man's pigs since he wasted all of his inheritance on riotous living. A famine had hit and he had no money in order to survive it, so he took whatever job he could get. In verse 16, it says: "And he would fain have filled his belly with the husks that the swine did eat: and no man gave unto him." You see, as sin creeps into our lives, our desire for God grows smaller, as our hunger for the world grows larger and more intense. Sooner or later, we find ourselves in the son's position and we'd rather eat the husks meant for the pigs. It's a sad day when we'd rather eat the world's husks than the buffet at our Father's table.
4: Also, I find it quite interesting that Jesus never clarified exactly what "riotous living" he had wasted his father's money on. After examining this, I found that He was teaching to a mixed audience of publicans and sinners and the Pharisees (equally just as much sinners). The Pharisees had a problem with adding to God's law in order to appear more "religious." They added to God's commandment of resting on the Sabbath and went as far as to say that spitting in the dirt (thus creating mud), was work and was forbidden. Apparently, they also forgot that being a spy on everyone else required just as much work, yet we don't talk about that :)....In my opinion, I believe Jesus did this because "riotous living" was used to represent sin. We each have our pulls and draws to sin, and not all of us are the same. Some are pulled to drugs and alcohol; others, bad friends and bad relationships, etc... What draws you into sin may not be what draws me into sin. Sin can look different for person to person. Although the Bible is clear that all sin is sin, sin comes in different packages, and is a vice to people in their own way. Because of this, I believe that "riotous living" was an open-ended word choice where whatever you battle with in regards of sin could be placed there. I also believe that, given his audience of Pharisees, He didn't clarify because they would get hung up on one word and fail to "search the Scriptures" (John 5:39a). Far too many religions have been made, yet no relationship with Christ formed because we get hung up on words and don't search for context.
5: Next, we see the son's response when he "... came to himself...." (vs.17). He decided to go home. This alone was no easy feat. Anyone who has ever barked up the wrong tree and had to make the slow, painful descent back down knows how he was feeling. In this time and culture, it was actually quite dangerous. In this time and culture, a family's honor was everything (and still is in Middle Eastern countries). Since he had disgraced his father's house and name, he could very easily be banished, beaten, or killed upon arrival back home. Yet, even with this uncertain response awaiting, something drew him home. What was that? He knew his father. He had lived with his father and knew him best. He knew he could come back home to his father. Likewise, we can too. These parables reflect more of a backslidden Christian to me than anything else. The sheep lived amongst his herd and under the shepherd's guidance. The son lived amongst his family with his father. Maybe we're the same. Whether we have been a Christian for years or are new to the faith, we've lived amongst the Father. When you live with someone, you begin to understand their routines and know how they'll respond to different things. The knowledge of a father that loved him and would forgive him drew him back where he belonged.
6: Lastly, we see the father. I can only imagine that every day he gazed over the hills, waiting to see his son's silhouette on the Judean horizon. In verse 20, it states: "And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him." Jesus included a very important detail within this verse. Did you catch it? Read it again and pay very close attention to the punctuation. Having helped teach English for 3 years, these details are important to me. Periods mean the thought or sentence is complete unless a new sentence is formed. Commas, however, mean that the thought isn't finished, yet a pause needs to be practiced before reading the next word (#practicethepause). Look again... it said: "...and he ran...". Not that important to you? Let me clarify... In this culture, men did not run. Running was considered childish and immature and was left to the children. Also, since men wore long robes, running required pulling their robes up, thus exposing their legs. In today's culture, that would be equivalent to a man running down the street in only his boxers. It was not dignified, nor was it classy. Yet, this father ran.
Sometimes love goes against the grain and does uncharacteristic things when something that was lost is returned home again. Love sacrifices. Love forgives. Love apologizes. Love takes the time to make the time when others need them. Love listens. Love cares. Love speaks. Love runs.
In this case, we have a father that did all of that. Since he was an earthly representation of our Heavenly Father, he represented everything good because that's exactly what God is. I say this to you and me alike: No matter how far you've traveled, come home. Love waits for us at the door. Feel like you can't walk home? That's okay. We have a Father that runs.
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