“The parable of the prodigal son “
The story of the prodigal son is one of the heart melting parables in the bible that reveals the love of god for man. Here the LORD Jesus Christ explained this story when the pharisees and scribes were grieved and murmured as, he drew near to him the sinners and publicans. but as LORD Jesus narrated this beautiful story, the character of God shined forth as ray of hope in the darkened heart of sinners.
In this world that we live, we are made to compromise with sin and asked to hate sinners, and stay away from them. But LORD Jesus hated the sin, yet he loved the sinners. The bible divides the time periods into various dispensation, the period of time when Jesus lived was the transition period between “the period of LAW” and “the period of GRACE “. During, the period of law, a man was justified with his works and deeds. He was condemned according to the measure of his sins and was justified by the scarifies that was made. That’s why we see the pharisees and scribes were grieved when they saw Jesus with sinners.
Jesus came down to this world to end the period of LAW, and begin the period of GRACE. We are all not justified by our works, but by the grace of god. This story is a testimony for that.
Now looking into the parable it starts with a man having two sons, his younger son wanted his birth portion from his father, he took all his rightful wealth and went to a very far country. He lived a very sinful life, spent all his father’s money with harlots and came to a state of nothingness. His immoral life took him to a state where he had no money left, no not even a penny to buy food. He was living with swine and having the swine’s food as his. On the other hand, the father’s elder son was living with him. He was with his father, he lived a moral life, he did not sin. yet in the story when the younger son returned to his father, the father accepted him, not only that he also celebrated his coming back. This disappointed his elder son as he claims that he lived with his father so long, yet not once the father had a feast for him. But for the prodigal son who wasted the father’s wealth and his own life, the father gave a feast for him. From this the following character of Jesus is revealed:
The justification of the LORD Jesus:To anyone who is reading this story might it be a contrary fact, or injustice in the father’s side. But this is wherethe truth of the gospel is described. As we see in Isaiah 64:6, all our righteousness are filthy rags and no man on this earth is sinless, for all have sinned and fallen short of God’s glory (Romans 5:12). That which justifies a man to be sinless is the grace of God (Ephesians 2:5,8). God doesn’t see the magnitude of our sin, you might be a little sinner or a serial killer that which God sees is the heart of repentance, a broken heart with love (psalms 51:17). The LORD Jesus already paid the price of our sins on the cross of calvary all that we have to do is go back to him as the prodigal did. We needn’t do anything so big to receive this justification, if only we believe, repent, confess, and be washed in the blood of Jesus, we are made righteous. Salvation is at hand (Ephesians 2:5). The justification that we receive through grace is special because, we are not only forgiven from our sins but was made as righteous and are placed among the saints. In the story, we see how the elder son was grieved because his father treated the prodigal equal to him in spite of his mistakes, or much better, this is because the return of one lost sinner is more joyful than the ninety-nine saints who needn’t repent. But sadly, the elder son living so long with his father didn’t have the mind of his father, he couldn’t accept his own younger brother, he couldn’t forgive him as his father did. One of the stunning qualities of LORD Jesus is that he forgives us, not once, not twice, not thrice, but every time when we break down and ask for forgiveness (Matthew 6:14, Matthew 18:22). But, let’s not take the take the forgiveness of the LORD for granted.
The embracing hand of Jesus:The prodigal son did not remember his father when had money, he realised his immoral life only when he went to a pathetic situation. He realised that he sinned against his father and heaven only after he had no food or shelter. He returned to his father thinking he can at least be a servant in his father’s home, to have meal for survival. That’s fascinating because, whenhe went back to the father, he would have chucked his prodigal son saying “you did not remember me when you had everything, and now as you having nothing you return back here “, but he didn’t do so. He saw his son afar off coming back to him, he recognised his son even before he came near. He embraced his prodigal son before even the son asked for forgiveness. He kissed his son, gave him a robe, a ring from his hand, made a feast for him. His love towards his son was much greater that the love of his son towards him. This is who JESUS is, a loving God. Even today we might be far away from God, living a sinful life, but if we decide to go back to him no matter what, there is Jesus with his arms opened wide to receive you back into the depths of his love.
The eternal love of God:No God on this earth loved man and died for him. But the king of kings, the LORD of LORDs came down to earth took the form of man and died brutally for each and every one of us. This is the love of God, though man himself crucified this loving God, yet there is salvation for him when he goes back to LORD Jesus. The prodigal son’s story is a classic example for the that. the love of Jesus can’t be explained through words alone. the prodigal son went in search of happiness, pleasure and joy. He tried to fill the void in his soul with every sinful thing his eyes saw. But nothing could fill his void in return soiled his whole life. But the love of his father satisfied him. Similarly, every human as a God shaped void inside his soul, he tries to fill it with things of the world but every time he does it, the void still becomes big. The void in every man can only be satisfied with the love of God. And the love of God is open to any sinner.
“I sin and hurt you every day,
Then I cry, weep, sigh and ask you,
Still do you love me even today?!
You never forbid to show,
Your bleeding blood flows,
Washing my scarlet sins as snow…,
And your still small voice;
Thundering into my soul,
“I love you ever more “
In love there is no fear, for God has given us power through the sweet gospel, love and sound mind (II Timothy 1:7).The prodigal son though he came back to the father suffering lose and fear, he was not rejected. Even today we might return to LORD Jesus because, we might suffer lose in our life, or perhaps we are sick and want healing or we want any other worldly blessings. Still, the loving father will accept you, he will never cast you away or reject you (Matthew 12:20). His love in turn will change your carnal mind to heavenly mind and to love him not for need but, to love him back for who he is. The prodigal son did not fear evil once he came back to his father, he had no fear of uncertainty, no fear of hunger, no fear of death. When we come back to LORD Jesus there is life in him. In his love there is no fear.
There is no shame when we go into the love of God. For our sins are covered in his love (proverbs 10:12).
Thus, the story of prodigal son opens of many truths about LORD Jesus to us. The love of God that yearns for a sinner to repent, the embracing hand of Jesus no matter how far we have gone away from him causing him pain. The gift of God that we receive through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross of calvary. The gift of eternal life that we receive through LORD Jesus. The unending joy of salvation given for free to men.
There is no greater love in this earth than the love of JESUS, taste and see that the LORD his good!!
References
Hagner, D. A. (1995). The parable about fulfilling responsibility. In B.M. Metzger, D.A. Hubbard, & G. W. Barker (Eds.), Word biblical commentary: Vol. 33B. Matthew 14-18 (pp. 730-737). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.Nichol, F. (Ed.). (1980). The Seventh-day Adventist bible commentary, Vol. 5. (pp. 506-514). Hagerstown, MD: Review and Herald Publishing Association.Wilkins, M. J. (2004). Matthew. In T. Muck (Series Ed.), The NIV application commentary series. Grand Rapids, MI:Zondervan. Sider, R. J. (2005). The scandal of the evangelical conscience : why are Christians living just like the rest of the world? Grand Rapids, MI : Baker Books.[Button id=”1″]
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