“And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that I have is yours. It was right that we should make merry and be glad, for your brother was dead and is alive again, and was lost and is found.’” (Luke 15:31-32)
I have to give credit to my pastor for this devotion. He recently preached a sermon on the prodigal son that inspired me to think about the “other son” in the parable. His slant on the meaning of this parable was both fresh and provoking.
Interestingly, a number of the newer bible translations refer to this parable as the Parable of the Lost Son rather than the Parable of the Prodigal Son. I invite you to read the parable at Luke 15 and ask yourself, “Who really is the “lost son” here?
You know the story. It’s one of the most familiar accounts in Scripture. A father of two sons was approached by his younger son who demanded his inheritance. After receiving it, he moved far away where he squandered his fortune by living foolishly. When a famine came, he had no money and went to work for a farmer feeding pigs. He realized that his father’s servants were better off than he so he decided to go home and beg for his father’s forgiveness. His father not only forgave him, he threw a barbecue to celebrate his homecoming. “For this my son was dead and is alive again,” his father said. “He was lost and is found.” (Luke 15:24)
The other son couldn’t believe his eyes. “These many years I have been serving you,” he angrily told his father. “I never transgressed your commandment at any time; and yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might make merry with my friends. But as soon as this son of yours came, who has devoured your livelihood with harlots, you killed the fatted calf for him.” (Luke 15:29-30)
The contrast between the two brothers is important. One by his own admission didn’t deserve his father’s forgiveness; the other was too good to see the need for it.
When it comes to salvation, I worry most about the “good sons” in this world. It’s hard for them to see their need for salvation. They are often so blinded by their own goodness that they think all they have to do to go to heaven is to die. The truth is it is they who are living life on the edge –dangerously close to missing out on the mystery of salvation.
It would have been a perfect ending if both of the sons in the parable had come understand and experience their father’s forgiveness. Even though the brothers were very different, their father’s love for them was the very same. He loved them both of them enough to look beyond both their faults and their pride.
The father portrayed in this parable is pleading with his good son to come into the house. His last words to him are, “All that I have is yours.” (Luke 15:31) While we never know whether the good son ever responded to the invitation, the eternal truth is God did not give up on him.
I take comfort that God will not give up on any of us, or our sons and daughters. “All that the Father gives Me will come to Me,” Jesus said, “and the one who comes to Me I will by no means cast out.” (John 6:37)
His love for us is unconditional and He really does want us to experience all that He has for us.
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