Coming Home

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF LUKE

COMING HOME

Luke 15:11-32

11 Jesus continued: "There was a man who had two sons. 12 The younger one said to his father, 'Father, give me my share of the estate.' So he divided his property between them. 13 "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. 14 After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. 15 So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. 16 He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything. 17 "When he came to his senses, he said, 'How many of my father's hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.' 20 So he got up and went to his father. "But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 "The son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' 22 "But the father said to his servants, 'Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him. Put a ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. 23 Bring the fattened calf and kill it. Let's have a feast and celebrate. 24 For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' So they began to celebrate. 25 "Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. 26 So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. 27'Your brother has come,' he replied, 'and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.' 28 "The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. 29 But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!' 31 "'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. 32 But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.'" 

NIV

A long story about the prodigal son which we just cannot break up yet it holds once again a truth that Jesus has said before in different ways. He has been teaching about how Heaven rejoices when a sinner repents, and this is the same lesson. The father, of course is the Father and the older son are those who have remained faithful to him and the younger son can be a variety of people. He could represent the Jews who have wandered from what God had for them for the sake of the manmade rules of the Pharisees. They had it all but took the best God had for them and squandered it. This son could also represent us. When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Savior we received our inheritance, all that God has. Have we run off into the world to spend our inheritance on prostitutes? Because it is all prophetic in nature we cannot know for certain who the great prostitute in John’s revelation is. She is explained as the great city that rules over kings and nations. In some sense this could be religion. Some have conjectured it to be Rome, or the Catholic Church, but it is more likely the whole of church, or religion, or denominationalism within Christianity. They may well have taken Jesus, their inheritance, and squandered him in the world. This son also represents each and every individual person. God gave us our inheritance when he gave us Jesus. While some still are living the wild life, we, realizing we have nothing, have returned home humble before God, simply asking to be a servant in his field. But he rejoices that we have returned to him, and celebrates beyond measure. He puts the finest robe on us and gathers us for a feast. He clothes us with Jesus, with the Spirit and we will be at the wedding banquet table of the Lamb. We, like all mankind are his sons and daughters and for the most part took our inheritance and ran away into the world to spend it all. But when we repent the Father celebrates. We also could relate to the older son in a sense. Those who have been raised in denominational living, thinking they are right with God, doing all the right things all their lives, being saved from birth, evidently, or perhaps at a very early age, might get upset over a new believer getting such a celebration made over him by God. We have to accept the fact God celebrates when a sinner comes home and he gives a great feast in this sinners honor. We need to celebrate as well. But the main point, the purpose of this story is to show us ourselves and how we wandered from the Father and carried on with the world, whether that is as a sinner or as a religion based Christian, now come home and once again be his son, clothed in the riches of heaven. Praise God we have come home.