The Prodigal’s New Clothes
By Stephen Terry
"Jesus
continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to
his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his
property between them. Not long after that, the younger son got together all
he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild
living." Luke 15:11-13, NIV
We all know the story of the prodigal son who took his inheritance to
the big city and squandered it all. We
also pride ourselves that we would never fall into such a trap. With a
Pharisaical attitude, we thank God that we are better than that. (See Luke
18:9-14) We tell ourselves that we would wisely handle such a boon and never
end up like the prodigal. However, it is easy to dream about the opportunities
of wealth when not faced with the reality of having it.
No doubt, the prodigal son dreamed many of those dreams. Contrasting it
with the boredom of life at home and imagining the excitement and energy of
life in the city, he could take it no more. Although it was not his to claim,
he demanded his inheritance from his loving father. He did not consider the
burdens it created for his father who had to make due with less than before. He
also did not consider the burden he was placing on his brother who now had to
cover the farm chores alone. The bright lights of the city were calling, and he
had no interest in any desires but his own. Imagining that he was missing
something, he quickly left to experience the excitement that beckoned like a
siren song.
In the city, he found that a man with money could count on the company
of those who would help him spend his wealth for entertainment and
companionship. Fooling himself that the sycophants who surrounded him were his
true friends, he increasingly let them dictate every aspect of his new
lifestyle. He mistook their love for his money as a love for him and his ideas.
The freely flowing alcohol, paid for with his riches, helped to cloud the true
nature of the new friendships.
He had chosen the city in order to get far from the restraining
influences of home. Now, when he was most in danger, those who truly cared for
him had little ability to reach him with warnings and counsel. Even if they
could, his friends and his lifestyle would have made it difficult for him to
hear them. With no one to unselfishly guide
him, he saw his wealth dwindle and vanish.
Now with no money, he found that in spite of his loose lifestyle, all
around him were the straight circumstances of recession. Seeking work, he only
had the skills of a farmer’s son. Eventually, he found someone who could use
those skills to tend their pigs. But this farmer could not or would not pay him
enough to survive, and he was soon reduced to starvation. Even the pigs had
more to eat than he did.
With the pangs of hunger upon him, he finally began to think of his
father’s love. He remembered that his father made sure even the servants had
plenty to eat on the family farm. That became his hope. If his father would
just be willing to take him back as a servant, he would at least be able to
stifle the growling in his stomach. Determined to seek now the love that he had
originally spurned, he set out for home.
His clothes had now become rags on his body. Mute
witnesses to the selfishness that had been his guiding principle, they
testified to the failure of that lifestyle. Symbolic of the rags of
righteousness (See Isaiah 64:6) of those who seek to go their own way, they
demonstrated his need for something better. With hope in his heart, he traveled
the many miles back to the family farm, believing that the farm that was so
boring, so restricting was now a place of hope and salvation.
The loving father had never stopped caring for his prodigal son. Praying
for him daily, he must have often wondered how he was doing and wished he could
reach out to him to let him know that his love for his son was unshaken. True,
the farm was diminished by the money that the son had selfishly taken as his
own. True, that they needed to carry more of a workload than they had before. But
it was also true that none of this diminished the love that the father had for
the son. He was missed and loved, and his father only wished to know his son
was well and to be a part of his life again, to restore the family as it once
was.
He had a habit at the end of the day to look down their country road
and wonder how his lost son was doing. One day when he looked down that road,
he saw someone walking toward the farmhouse. The gait looked familiar, like one
he had seen many times before. As the form drew nearer, emotions rapidly played
over his face. First, puzzlement shaped his features, then disbelief, astonishment,
and finally joy as he realized his son was coming home. He could barely contain
his joy as he ran to his son and embraced him.
The
son struggled to get out his carefully prepared speech. He managed to blurt out
a confession of his sin, but before he could say more, he was swept up in his
father’s love and things began to happen to fast for him to speak. His father
covered his filthy rags with a rich robe and prepared a meal to still the pangs
in his emaciated son’s stomach. As a demonstration of how much he was missed,
all were invited to join in the welcome home party. “ ‘…Let's have a feast and celebrate. For this son of mine was dead
and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate.”
Luke 15:23-24, NIV
His brother heard the party and asked a servant what was going on?
When he found out, he was incensed. He had grown angry while his brother was
away. Every time he had to do a chore his brother would have done, he chaffed. His
anger burned when he saw his father weighed down with grief that the son was
gone. He fumed about the selfishness his
brother had displayed in taking so much and doing nothing to relieve the
burdens of the rest of the family. He refused to celebrate the return of his
brother. Finally, his father had to come to him because he was too angry to
show the respect due the father.
His father pointed out that he had provided everything for his
fuming son. Nothing would be withheld from him. Why then did he begrudge his
brother since he had taken nothing from him? The only thing he had lost was his
brother. Now his brother was back and like his father, he should rejoice that
what was lost was now found.
Just like the prodigal, we can come home to our heavenly Father.
When we realize how selfish we have been and how little it has done for us, we
can come to Him and find a loving welcome. He is watching for us down the road,
eagerly scanning the horizon for those who would come home. Have you left thinking
that life with God was too boring, too restrictive? Have you realized that the
only real peace you have ever really known was with God? Maybe it is time to come home again, to
return to the One who loves you the most. He is the one who truly cares like a
father for what happens to you. I want
to come home to Him. Don’t you?
This Commentary is a Service of Still
Waters Ministry
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