The Forgiving Father Series

I can picture the Father going out everyday to the HIGHEST HILL looking for his son to RETURN. Every night he goes back into the house DISAPPOINTED because his son is still GONE far from HOME.

But on this particular day as he is WAITING and WATCHING, he sees this LONELY figure slowly TRUDGING up the ROAD. He feels this GNAWING PAIN in his CHEST again as his HEART beings to BEAT rapidly. The anxiety begins to BUILD as he thinks, “Is this him? Could it really be…?” And as his SON approaches more closely the Father shouts, “Yes! Yes, it’s him! My boy has COME home!”

2. “When the Father saw him, he was filled with compassion and RAN…”- v. 20

COMMENT:

According to Charles Hodge, the author of When God Ran, OLD MEN in those times did not RUN. But the Father swallowed any PRIDE that a Father perhaps could have, and VIOLATING all of the TABOOS of that day and any day—the Father RUNS and EMBRACES the PRODIGAL!

ILLUSTRATION:

It took a Father to RECOGNIZE that son! Metaphorically speaking, the son LEFT home in a NEW CAR and a NEW SUIT. He left home with a DIAMOND RING. He left home TALL and STRAIGHT and SMUG. He had the WHOLE WORLD for his TAKING.

He returns WALKING, not RIDING. His feet are BLEEDING and SORE. He returns in RAGS, not a new SUIT. He returns with a head MATTED with FILTH and UNSHAVEN and UNKEMPT. And is FACE is that of an OLD MAN—a man DISSIPATED in SIN. He is STOOPED and STINKS like the HOGS that he LEFT.

Yes, it took a Father to RECOGNIZE this young man. And he RUNS to meet him!

3. “When he ran to his son, he threw his arms around him and kissed him.”- v. 20

a. I want you to understand that the Father RAN to his son, EMBRACED and KISSED him before the SON had a chance to say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you.”

COMMENT:

The SON didn’t have to BEG his Father to FORGIVE him. He didn’t have to say a word.

All that mattered to the Father is that his SON has come HOME!

b. Nor does the Father give him the “THIRD DEGREE.”

COMMENT:

I don’t read where the Father said, “Son, where have you been? What have you been up

to? I bet you’ve been up to NO GOOD, haven’t you?”

All I see the Father doing is RUNNING to his son with OPEN ARMS, and then once there puts his ARMS around him and HUGS him tightly to his CHEST and KISSES him.

It doesn’t matter to the Father what his son LOOKS like or SMELLS like, or even what he had been DOING. All that matters to him is that his son “was DEAD, and is now ALIVE. He was LOST, and is now FOUND” – v. 24.

C. Jesus presents this story to help us UNDERSTAND how FORGIVING our Father is.

1. God is not a TYRANT. He doesn’t delight in PUNISHING—he delights in showing MERCY.

2. But please don’t MISUNDERSTAND this critical point.

COMMENT:

The REBELLIOUS will be PUNISHED if they remain in REBELLION. If the PRODIGAL would have remained in the DISTANT COUNTRY, he would have remained DEAD and LOST. It was only when he RETURNED HOME to the Father that he became “ALIVE and FOUND” once again.

But this PARABLE does teach that regardless of how REBELLIOUS, how UNGODLY, how UNCLEAN a person may be, he or she can always COME HOME to a Father who is WAITING and WATCHING for His CHILDREN to RETURN.