“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.” Luke 15:20b
The prodigal son is a beautiful parable about how a son being selfish is still loved by his father. The part of the parable I wish to focus on is the part where after he has spent all of his money and is not able to feed himself that he returns home to his father where he is going to ask for forgiveness. I could spend this time talking about how the son only returned home once he had lost everything and realized that he had all he needed at home. However, I would like to look at how the father reacted.
In the second half of verse 20, we read that “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.”. I would like to clarify a few things before I go on. First is that the father appeared to be waiting, second is that there were no phones, and third is that the father did not have to go to his son. I am drawing attention to those items because of how this verse is worded.
The father in this parable was looking for his son daily, after his son had left, he did not just forget about him. He was longing to see his son and have him home. The assumption is that he still completed his work, but that his heart longed to have his son return to him. Also, the father did not know that the son was going to return home on this particular day, the son did not phone ahead and tell him. It appears that the father made it a part of his day to look for his son.
The last part is that the father did not have to run to his son when he saw him in the distance. He could have sat on the porch and thought about how the son must have learned his lesson, about how the son lost all of the money and how the son was going to have to make it up to him since he caused all of this heartache, but, that is not what the father did. Instead the father ran to his son and threw his arms around him, happy to see him. The father could have also waited on the porch and let his son come to him, but he didn’t, he went to his son. It was undignified in the time of this parable for a grown man to run unless he was in danger, so for this father to put aside how he would look and he ran to his son.
Our heavenly Father is waiting for each one of us, waiting to show us the love He has for us, waiting for us to realize that we are ready to return home. When we sin, we need to return home and ask for forgiveness. God has not forgotten about us and wants us to come home to Him. When we sin we are not in communication with God, our relationship is on hold. God wants us to be a part of the relationship we have with Him again.
Do you need to return home?