A Father's Love: Prodigal at Peace

The parable of the prodigal son is one of the greatest redemption stories ever told—a story filled with mercy and grace. It is a parable of how God views us and how we can choose to repent and turn to God or reject him.

In modern terms, the prodigal son represents all sinners who squander and reject the blessings offered by God and the opportunities He provides to repent and believe the Gospel.

On the Christian website Bible Study Tools, Stephen Baker wrote this well-crafted statement of the message and impact of one of the best-known and oft-repeated teachings of God's love, within the "story" of a father's love. This love transcends a shattered family situation with pure unselfish love and forgiveness, allowing the prodigal an opportunity for peace.

International Christian leader and author Jeffrey R. Holland agreed with and extended Baker's thoughts on a father's love.

The tender image of this boy’s anxious, faithful father running to meet him and showering him with kisses is one of the most moving and compassionate scenes in all of holy writ. It tells every child of God, wayward or otherwise, how much God wants us back in the protection of His arms.

A Shattered Family

In today's culture, rebellious teenagers are a popular stereotype—validating the young persons' desires to reject their family, especially their parents, going as far away as they can conveniently get, so they can do what they think will make them happy. We hear or read examples almost every day, and many live with them. The behavior of the prodigal son doesn't shock us—but at the time of this parable it shocked everyone.

The Jewish religion and culture of the time centered on family honor; every son was to respect and honor his father. Bible Study Tools expressed it bluntly: "The son was not merely seen as an individual but an extension of his father and his entire family . . . he had an obligation to continue the family legacy respectably." In rejecting this obligation, the younger son rejected the entire family, the culture, and the religion. The inheritance left by a father was given after his death. Stephen Baker remarked, "when the youngest son asked the father for his share, he essentially told his father, “I wish you were dead.”

Shattered Dreams

Kristi Walker, Director of Student Ministries at an international church in Berlin, author of books about applying (or not applying) biblical principles in daily life, wrote on Christianity.com, that the prodigal son was "an abuser of grace." She continued, "Grace is most often defined as unmerited or unearned favor. He had a loving father, a good home, provision, a future, and an inheritance, but he traded it all in for temporal pleasures." The striking application comes at the end, as striking applications often do: "We are the prodigal son."

As Christians, most of us have no plan to reject the abundant grace God offers us, but rejections can slither in when the living doesn't really seem "riotous"—just somewhat earthbound.

The shattering of the prodigal is well known. His inheritance shattered first, as he spent freely on anything he wanted and on giving his "friends" what they wanted. His friendships shattered when he had no money left to finance them. His religion and culture finished shattering when he accepted the only work he could find—feeding swine, the animal Jews considered unclean. Jews didn't even eat pig products. And this young man coveted the "husks" he fed them.

The prodigal's pride was shattered as he recognized everything shattering around him and thought of his father's home. Steven W. Owen, tireless worker for groups of young men worldwide, reflected on the young man's "long walk home."

Were there times when he hesitated and wondered, “How will I be received by my father?” Perhaps he even took a few steps back toward the swine. Imagine how the story would be different if he had given up. But faith kept him moving.

Like other Christian authors, Mr. Owen wrote of and to today's prodigals. He included those shattered, struggling, or merely discouraged: "We all have to 'come to ourselves'—usually more than once—and choose the path that leads back home. It’s a choice we make daily, throughout our lives."

Whole in Peace: A Father's Love

Shattered pieces can be gathered and made whole. The gatherer waits: the loving parable father of two sons, the Heavenly Father of innumerable sons and daughters. Both seek a relationship with their children "in loving obedience." Although the behavior that shattered the family was the younger son's, some Christian writers have suggested that the collector or editor who labeled the parable should have identified it with reference to the father. The Good Faith Media Christian website explained,

Jesus does not begin his tale by saying, “There once was a man who had a father and an elder brother. . . .” Instead, Jesus begins by saying: "There was a man who had two sons,” letting us know that the story is really about a father and his two children.

Fathers did not gather a rebellious child into their family in Christ's time. The "law," as stated in Deuteronomy, was that at the first rebellious act a child was warned; at the second, he was stoned. The second son in the parable had committed many rebellious acts in planning, demanding, and leaving.

But this father was not bothered by Deuteronomy. Jesus was teaching that His father—our Father in Heaven—has a loving, forgiving relationship with his children. Dieter F. Uchtdorf, a worldwide Christian leader, writer, and speaker from Germany, gave us an intimate and poignant version of the loving, anxious father:

How many times had he looked down the very road his son had taken and relived the penetrating loss he had felt as his son walked away? How many prayers had he offered in the deep of night, pleading with God that his son would be safe, that he would discover truth, that he would return?

And then one day, the father looks out on that lonely road—the road that leads home—and sees a distant figure walking toward him.

He knew his son, and he ran toward him. Fathers in that day did not run to meet their children. Children respected their father by coming to him. But as Matthew Payne, who had himself been a prodigal, wrote in his book about the parables of Jesus, "the message of grace breaks all customs."

The story is well known. The son's plan to become a servant was overruled immediately, the father gave the son three gifts demonstrating sonship: a new robe, a fine ring, and shoes (which servants did not wear).

The older son—faithful, always obedient, hard working—was disgruntled over the attention and celebration for his prodigal brother, as his own continual contributions were rarely recognized. The father noticed the older son's absence and went to him, reminding him of all he had earned and would inherit, and of the love and closeness between them.

An insightful Christian author explained the gathering and wholeness of the three:

This father is not content to have one child without the other; he advocates for and seeks out both . . .This father does not love either of his sons according to what they deserve. He just loves them, more because of who He is than because of what they’ve done. And despite how many times either child might break his heart, this father continues to give his love away to them. The father’s love for one child does not preclude his love for the other (emphasis added).

Dieter F. Uchtdorf extended our role in this parable. All of us have had wanderings, " foolishly thinking we could find more happiness going our own self-centered way." And we have "felt humbled, brokenhearted, and desperate for forgiveness and mercy." Some have even asked,

"How will God react if I try to return?”

This parable gives us the answer.

Our Heavenly Father will run to us, His heart overflowing with love and compassion. He will embrace us . . . [and] proclaim, “Today we celebrate! For my child . . . has come back.

Heaven will rejoice at our return.