The Running Father

Yesterday, I preached a sermon on the Heart of God. It was based on Jesus’ parable of the prodigal son. I prefer to call it the parable of the running father. Most of us have heard the story. It is found in Luke 15: 11-32. The younger son says to the father, give my inheritance. In essence, I wish you were dead. The son gets his money, goes to a far away land and wastes all his money. He ends up in a swine pit feeding the pigs. He comes to himself, leaves the swine pit, and returns home. The father sees him in the distance, runs to him and welcomes him back. The son has prepared a speech to give his father, but the father cuts him off, puts a robe on him (in place of the dirty clothes he was wearing), puts a ring on his hand (signifying authority and respect), and has a party rejoicing over his return. The elder son is angry and refuses to join the celebration because of his self righteousness.

From this passage, I stated that the heart of God was a hopeful heart. Some scholars believe in the story the father would have been waiting 3-5 years before the son returned. That was hope that caused the father to keep looking for the son’s return. The heart of God was compassionate. If the community had learned of the son’s activities, losing his money to gentiles, he would have been cut off. The father has compassion and gets to the son first, stops him from saying too much, and puts the tone and ting on him to accept him back. I also stated that the heart of God was a forgiving and rejoicing heart. So far, the story is as you have probably heard.

One of my points was that the son was not forgiven until after he left the swine pit. The forgiveness and restoration would not take place while the son was in sin. He leaves the swine and returned. That triggered the forgiveness and cleansing from the father. One of the senior members of the congregation, a long time believer and church member, came up to me afterwards and said, “I have heard many sermons on the prodigal son. But, this is the first time that anyone ever pointed out that the son had to leave the swine pit to be cleansed.” I turned to the man and said, “That is the fault of the church. We need a return to the thundering from the pulpit that sin must be repented of, that there is no salvation without repentance.” The church needs to return to the old gospel message that Jesus Christ saves us from our sins, not in our sins. Methods may change, but the message must not. Otherwise, there are going to be disappointed “Christians” on the day of judgment that were living in sin and they will hear the words, “Depart from me....” Spread the Word.