The Parable of the Running Father - Monday Morning Mail, 30th September 2013

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Loving God | Loving Each Other | Loving our Community

Good Morning!


It was great to see quite a few people I didn't know at church yesterday – many thanks to all those who invited friends or neighbours for Back to Church Sunday! And particular thanks to those who invited people who didn't come along – our job is sowing the seed, not making it grow...


I'm not going to do a full recap of yesterday's sermon – writing is a different medium from preaching. But I preached on the so-called parable of the Prodigal / Lost Son, so that's what's still on my mind, and here are three big surprises in the story.


1. The Father lets his younger son go

The younger brother was really insulting to his dad. He basically told him that he wished he would just hurry up and die so that he could inherit his share of the estate. And yet instead of punishing him, his dad let him go. In the same way, when we want to run away from God, he lets us go. There's a lot to be said about the kind of dignity that gives us, but it also means that often we don't feel how much we've offended God by all the ways we ignore and reject him.


2. The Father waits for his son to come home, then runs to meet him

The Father really cares about his son. He loves him, and so is hurt and saddened that his son has left. So he waits and watches, maybe for years, then as soon as he sees his son coming, runs to him, taking the disgrace that should have belonged to his son, and welcomes him even before his son has a chance to apologise. That's how keen God is for us to come back to him.


3. "Religious" people are just as lost as "sinners"

Jesus tells the story to a crowd that is a mixture of religious people - Pharisees and teachers of the law - and "sinners". The Pharisees would have seen that the younger son represented the sinners, and would have been shocked at the Father welcoming him back so freely. But in Jesus' story, it is the older brother who ends up outside the party with his father pleading for him to come in. The older brother's relationship with his father has been damaged by his good works just as the younger brother's was damaged by his bad works. He had been trying to earn his dad's favour just as his brother had been wishing his dad was dead. Neither of those attitudes treated the father with the respect he deserved; neither of them trusted in his love and treated him as a proper dad.


God loves to welcome us back. He gives us his love freely; we can never earn it.


God bless,


John

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