Have you ever been a prodigal and welcomed home, or do you know individuals now who are prodigals adrift in a fallen world?
Hi, I’m Rex Rogers and this is episode #194 of Discerning What Is Best, a podcast applying unchanging biblical principles in a rapidly changing world, and a Christian worldview to current issues and everyday life.
In the New Testament book of Luke 15:11-32, the Word of God gives us the parable of the prodigal son. In the title of the podcast, I call it the “glorious” parable because it is a story of second chances, hope, and redemption.
For the record, parables in the Bible are simple stories, as told by Jesus in the Gospels—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—to illustrate a moral or spiritual lesson, to provide information and spiritual insight in terms the public could understand. So, parables often reflected circumstances people could and did experience in everyday life. The fact that these parables or stories were not an account of an historical event does not mean the principles they taught are untrue. Quite the opposite. The story helped elaborate and illustrate the principles in a way they could be quickly grasped and applied to real world living.
In Luke 15, Jesus shared three parables, sometimes called the “Redemption Parables,” because they each illustrated the love and mercy God extended to those who seemingly were without hope. Jesus shared these three parables about loss and redemption after the Pharisees and religious leaders accused him of welcoming and eating with "sinners." The father's joy described in the parable of the prodigal son reflects divine love: the "boundless mercy of God," and "God's refusal to limit the measure of his grace.”
The first parable is about the Lost Sheep. In this parable a man leaves his flock of 99 sheep to find the one which is lost. And the Scripture says, “I tell you that even so there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents, than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.” Lk 15:3-7
The second parable is about the Lost Coin. A woman had ten coins, lost one, lighted her lamp, swept the house, and sought diligently until she found it. When she found the coin, she called together her friends and neighbors, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin which I had lost.' The Scripture says, “Even so, I tell you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner repenting” Lk 15:8-10.
The third parable is about the Lost Son. This parable is about a younger brother who decides he wants his inheritance now, long before his father passes.The father grants the younger brother’s request, and the son takes his inheritance into what Scripture calls “a far country” where in due time he “squandered his property in reckless living,” (or as the Old King James presented it, “wasted his substance with riotous living”). Shortly thereafter there is a famine that adds to his woes and soon he hits rock bottom, no resources, nothing to eat, able to secure an unpleasant job feeding swine, and there his reality comes home to him. He realizes the pigs are eating better than he is and that in his father’s house back home even the servants are living well.
So, the destitute young man thinks, “I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ But while he was yet far off, his father saw him—which implies the father was watching and hoping for his son’s return—and runs to him, places a fine robe on him, calls for a “fatted calf” to be slain in celebration, declaring, ‘For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’” Luke 15:24.
The character of the forgiving father, who remains constant throughout the story, is a picture of God. In telling the story, Jesus identifies Himself with God the Father in His loving attitude toward the lost.
The glorious message of this parable is that no one is so far gone, so lost as to be beyond hope. God is faithful, forgiving, always there, waiting, ready to redeem or restore.
This applies to us all, for I do not think it is a stretch to say, “everyone has either been, or is,” a prodigal son? We know there are “none righteous, no not one,” Rom 3:10, that all are born in sin. In Psalms the psalmist says, “Behold, I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me” Ps 51:5. In Genesis, God noted that “the intention of man's heart is evil from his youth” Gen 8:2.
We have all strayed, maybe not into debauchery or great evil, but nevertheless into sin far from God. Yet God is there, waiting, inviting, making possible our redemption, giving us hope.
God never gives up on anyone, and if you or I are not the prodigal, then likely we all know someone who is a prodigal in some manner. Our task is to emulate the Father, to pray for them, to look for their return unceasingly. Think of the faithful Mothers, Grandmothers, Uncles, Pastors, who year after year pray for the prodigals in their lives – and some live to see the prodigal come back to the Lord. We are to love them and speak the truth in love regarding their sin. This does not mean preach at them every time we meet or stand in holier-than-thou judgment. It means we commit them to the Lord who is ultimately the only one who can reach them and bring them to restoration.
One common challenge is that if you have a loved one who is living away from the Lord, likely he or she knows what you believe, even perhaps about their specific sin, like immorality or compulsive gambling or substance abuse. Generally, the prodigal does not want to hear truth or to be held accountable, so rather than react just to the truth, they react to you. You become the enemy and may be rejected. Sometimes we may need to stay faithful in openness, prayer, and support even as we pray for the Lord to perhaps send someone else into their lives who can reach them. The prodigal son in Scripture spent a period in his reckless living. For a time, he was not ready to think and behave differently. But there came a time when he hit the wall, in this case physically but finally in his understanding spiritually. Then he was ready to consider the truth.
Lest we forget, in the parable of the prodigal son, there is an older brother who surprisingly reacts negatively to the father’s celebration – slaying the “fatted calf” – upon his younger brother’s return. If prodigal sons or daughters exist today—and they do—does this older brother or sister personality exist as well? If so, how do we relate to him or her?
Certainly, the older brother persona exists. Maybe these are the judgmental or legalistic or I’m-better-than-you people in our midst. Or maybe these are just people who seem to live for the Lord on the outside while not always being faithful on the inside.
Frankly, I sometimes think of myself in this person. As it happens, there was never a time when I went completely off the deep end as a prodigal, but I certainly still engaged in sinful attitudes or behaviors, drifted along in my relationship with the Lord, and was not always faithful doing what he called me to do.
Our task with the older brother—sort of a prodigal heart—is the same as with the prodigal son who ran from God into a far country of sin and degradation. It is to pray for them, to be a testimony before them, to help them see truth and righteousness as the brother’s father did in the parable, saying, “‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”
On another level, I happen to believe there are prodigal Christian organizations, so to speak. Sadly, we’re seeing more of this today wherein once biblically and doctrinally sound Christian ministries, even churches, are now caught up in beliefs that run counter to Scripture, things like pro-choice, or embracing a moral relativistic belief that LGBTQ+ is somehow OK with God because to think otherwise might hurt someone’s feelings, emphasizing humanitarian activity—which in themselves may be needed and good—to the exclusion or displacement of sharing the Gospel, or, for reasons hard to understand, embracing antisemitic views.
Our responsibility as ambassadors of Christ in this fallen world is to keep praying and presenting HOPE based not upon politics, partisanship, or political leaders, upon salvation in Jesus Christ.
This is the “glorious” nature of the parable of the prodigal son. As human beings, we want hope, need hope, and hope is available to us in the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. Never forget. As long as he or she is still breathing, no prodigal is beyond hope.
Well, we’ll see you again soon. This podcast is about Discerning What Is Best. If you find this thought-provoking and helpful, follow us on your favorite podcast platform. Download an episode for your friends. For more Christian commentary, check my website, r-e-x-m as in Martin, that’s rexmrogers.com. Or check my YouTube channel @DrRexRogers for more podcasts and video.
And remember, it is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Stand firm.
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