10. Come Home To The Father (A Sermon On God's Waiting Love) Series

10. Come Home to the Father (A Sermon on God's Waiting Love)

Introduction: The Universal Language of a Father's Heart

Picture a father standing at the edge of his property, hand shielding his eyes from the sun, scanning the horizon for a familiar silhouette. Day after day, he returns to this spot, hoping. This image transcends cultures and centuries. In every Indian village and city, in every home across this land, parents know what it means to wait for a child who has wandered. The ache in the heart, the mixture of love and longing, the readiness to forgive before a single word of apology is spoken. This is the heart of our sermon today from Luke 15:20, where we see something remarkable: the father did not merely wait. He ran.

In the ancient Middle Eastern culture where Jesus told this story, elderly men of dignity never ran. Running meant lifting your robes, exposing your legs, and appearing undignified before the community. Yet this father ran. Why? Because love breaks through every social barrier. Because mercy moves faster than judgment. Because the God of the universe cares more about restoring you than protecting His reputation.

God Is Not Distant - He Stands at the Gate

Many people carry a false picture of God. They imagine Him as a stern judge sitting on a distant throne, arms crossed, waiting to punish. They think they must first clean themselves up, fix their lives, and prove their worth before approaching Him. This is not the God Jesus reveals.

Look at Luke 15:20 closely. The text says the father saw his son "while he was still a long way off." How did the father see him from such a distance? Because the father was watching. He was positioned where he could see the road. He had been looking every day, straining his eyes toward the path his son had taken months or years before.

In Indian culture, you know this truth. When a family member travels far from home, mothers and fathers keep vigil. They check the time, calculate when the train or bus should arrive, and position themselves where they can see first. The kettle is already boiling for chai. The food is prepared. Everything is ready because love prepares in advance.

Psalm 139:1-3 tells us, "Lord, you have searched me and known me. You know when I sit down and when I rise up; you discern my thoughts from afar. You search out my path and my lying down and are acquainted with all my ways." God knows exactly where you are right now. He knows the road you took to arrive at this moment. He knows your thoughts, your fears, your shame. And He is still watching for you.

The Journey Away - Understanding the Prodigal's Path

Let us walk through this story together, because parts of it may mirror your own journey. The younger son came to his father and demanded his share of the inheritance. In that culture, this request carried a terrible message. He was essentially saying to his father, "I wish you were dead. I want what you will leave me, but I do not want you."

The father granted the request. God gives us freedom. He does not chain us to His side. Love that forces is not love at all. So the son took his wealth and traveled to a distant country. Luke 15:13 says he "squandered his property in reckless living." The Greek word for squandered means to scatter completely, to waste utterly. He did not just spend money foolishly. He threw away his identity, his dignity, his future.

Then famine came. When you walk away from God, emptiness follows. You may not see it immediately. The first days of rebellion often feel like freedom. You make your own choices, follow your own desires, answer to no one. But eventually, the resources run out. The friends disappear. The pleasure turns hollow. The Bible says he became so desperate that he hired himself out to feed pigs. For a Jewish young man, this represented the absolute bottom. Pigs were unclean animals. To care for them meant constant ceremonial defilement. He had fallen so far that he longed to eat the carob pods the pigs were eating, and no one gave him anything.

Maybe your story echoes his. Perhaps you walked away from God, from your family, from the values you were taught. Perhaps you made choices that seemed exciting at first but led to emptiness. Perhaps you tried to fill the God-shaped void in your heart with relationships, success, money, substances, or pleasures. Perhaps you woke up one day and realized you had lost yourself. Perhaps shame keeps you away now. You think, "How could God accept me after what I have done? How could I face Him after breaking my promises? How could I return to the community after everyone saw me leave?"