The Receiving Father Luke 15:12-24 But the Father . . .
The Dishonor of the Father 12 And the younger of them said to his father, 'Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me. The son had robed the father of his reputation and his respect. He had a dual debt- debt of the finances and the disrespect of the father Timothy Keller
The Discernment of the Son v. 17 . . he said, 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father.- Ezra 9:6 He remembered that his father was loving. His father is kind, and generous, and good, and he knows his father well enough to know that he’s a merciful man, that he’s a generous man, and that he is a forgiving man. He doesn’t know anybody else like his father. He doesn’t know anywhere to turn to. He would expect that his father having been so totally disgraced and dishonored in the village by such action of an ungrateful and profligate son would have been in shame, and embarrassed, and dishonored to the point where you wouldn’t want to go back to him, at all.” But he knows his father better than that. He knows his father is not vengeful. He knows his father is merciful and generous. (Mc Arthur)
There is nothing that will make us realize the sinfulness of our sin and our unworthiness then the response of God our father’s love for us and his welcoming us even in our rebellion, receiving Grace when we should receive wrath. His kindness will bring you to repentance (Allister Begg)
The Decision of the Son 18 I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants."' 20 And he arose and came to his father. 21 And the son said to him, 'Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.' The prodigal when back home not because of his guilt, but because of the hope of mercy. (Allister Begg) - But he’s ready to go back to this man that he knows to be merciful, and generous, and compassionate, and kind. He is ready now because he doesn’t have an alternative. There’s nowhere left to go. All he can do is humble himself, face his shame, admit his terrible sin and disgrace, go back and try to be treated with the same kind of mercy and compassion and kindness that he knows his father treats his hired hands. And maybe, maybe if he can work long enough, he can earn back what he lost, and make restitution back to the family, and then have a reconciliation with his father. Mc Arthur Well, he’s ready. He’s broken. He’s alone. He’s sad. He’s penitent. He has nowhere to go. And he believes in his father. This is a picture of one whose repentance leads to salvation because, you see not only repentance here but faith in his father. He trusts in his father’s goodness, compassion, generosity and mercy. Repentance is linked to faith. He knows the kind of man his father is, and in spite of the horrible way he has blasphemed his father, dishonored his father, shamed
his father, the horrible way he has treated his father, the terrible way he has lived his life, he knows his father is a forgiving man and penitently he trusts to go back and receive forgiveness, and do whatever works he needs to do to make restitution and be reconciled. He’s not holding anything back. He’s genuinely penitent. He is denying himself fully. It is real repentance. He is saying, “My life has been a total disaster. I am facing death and there’s no one to blame but myself. I rebelled. I disobeyed. I wasted my life. I dishonored my father. My sins rise to the very presence of God they stack so high.” This is true repentance, holding back nothing, no excuses, no blame anywhere but himself. And so true penitence matched with true trust in a father’s love and forgiveness starts the sinner back. He has to go back to save himself from his sin. Empty, alienated, headed for eternal destruction, every sinner whoever repents starts with powerful conviction of their own condition: Destitute, empty, headed for eternal death. Every sinner who comes back takes full responsibility for that sin and sees it as an offense that rises as high as heaven. Every sinner who comes back sets their course toward the Father to come back. (Mc Arthur)
His real need wasn’t for something called food, but his real need was a relationship with someone called father. The insatiable longings that had taken him off to the far country could not be satisfied there. His physical frame was indicative of his spiritual emptiness. He was lost and guilty. Like the son our desire is to go against the father and like the son we have sinned against heaven. Like the boy we need not only the father’s friendship, but the father’s forgiveness. His confession is met with compassion when what he deserved and expected was condemnation. (Allister Begg)
The Demeanor of the Father 22 But the father . . .
Care rather than criticism - Gracious Father v. 12 And he divided his property between them 17 'How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread
Compassion rather than condemnation – Faithful Father 20 But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion -” Gk splagchnizomai, compassion, it comes from a root that means “your intestines, or your bowel or your abdomen.” He felt a sick feeling in his stomach when he saw the boy, and knew he was headed toward this unleashing of scorn. He wants to reach his son before his son reaches the village. He wants to initiate the reconciliation and he wants to get to his son before his son gets to the village.
Why? He wants to protect him from the shame. He wants to protect him from the scorn, and the abuse, and the slander. He wants to bear the shame, take the abuse. This man who has been dishonored now dishonors himself by embracing this wretched boy.” But he wants to protect the son from the scorn, the slander, the taunting which was expected, which was just, which was part of the culture, which was expected. How does he do it? How does he protect the boy? He sees him, “when he’s still a long way off - ” from the village, - he felt compassion.” Not just compassion for his past sin, not just compassion for his present filth - and he was in rags and smelled like a pig - but compassion for what he was about to experience.
Clemency rather than contempt- Forgiving Father and ran – Gk dramōn it is a technical word for racing in a stadium. He sprinted. Kenneth Bailey, “One of the main reasons why Middle Easterners of rank do not run is that traditionally they all have worn long robes. This is true of both men and women. No one can run in a long robe without taking it up into his or her hands. When this occurs the legs are exposed, which is considered humiliating . . . exposure of the legs was considered shameful. The robes themselves reached to the ground to make sure this didn’t happen. What is God running for? Why does He bring shame and scorn on Himself for exposing Himself? The Father runs taking the shame to protect the son from taking the shame. He takes the scorn, and the mockery, and the slander so that his son doesn’t have to bear it. And then when he finally gets there, even more shockingly, he embraced him, literally “fell on his neck,” just collapsed in a massive hug, buried his head on the neck of his son, stinking and dirty and ragged as he was. (Mc Arthur)
The Father goes after the son doesn’t stand on the porch and wait for the son to come to him. Father gives the love before the son even asks for it. The father runs – the inferior is to come to the superior – note what the father did he ran to the son, he is not allowing his son to gravel before him. He will not let the son payback the financial debt – he declared him the son. You cannot pay back the debt – I am going to absorb the debt that you owe me. Forgiveness is absorbing the pain rather than inflicting it. He absorbed the debt. God gave us our lives and the world and we destroyed them. We owe God and instead of waiting on his porch for us to come to him he comes down from heaven to us and instead of inflicting pain he absorbs it. Instead of making us pay for our sins on the cross he is paying for them. (Timothy Keller) Prodigal God This was absolutely unexpected, and this is where the story has its huge surprise. The father condescends, humbles himself out of this deep love for this son, comes all the way down from his house to the dirt of the village, runs through bearing the scorn and the shame, throws his arms around the penitent believing sinner who is coming to him in his filthy unclean rags. That father is doing exactly what Jesus did, exactly what He did. He came down into our village to run the gauntlet, and bear the shame, and the slander, and the mockery, to throw His arms around us, and kiss us, and reconcile with us.
The shock is all this happened without any works. It was all grace as the next verse makes clear, the son understood it. “And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven, and in Your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ ” End of speech. But he left something out. What did he leave out? v 19 he left out the last one, “Make me as one of your hired men.” Why? Because there’s no need for works. He’s just received grace. The father is so eager, he receives, and embraces, and reconciles with the son before the son can say anything. (Mc Arthur)
Cuddling rather than chastisement - Loving Father and embraced him and kissed him- Gk kataphileō kiss -repeatedly on the corner of the lips, on the cheek, anywhere. God eager is ready to receive a sinner. He will embrace the sinner with all His strength and plant kisses all over the sinner’s head. This is the kiss of affection repeated and repeated. He’s ready to kiss his Father’s feet, but His Father is kissing
his head. This is a gesture in the culture of acceptance, friendship, love, forgiveness, restoration, reconciliation, all the above. And all of that before the son says one word. What does he have to say? He’s there. That’s enough to indicate his faith in the father and his repentance. He came knowing he had to cast himself on the father’s mercy, and he came knowing he had to be ready to bear the shame. And he came. Mc Arthur You need to know that God is this way. God is pure and God is physical. He does not hold you at arms length (Piper)
How deep the fathers love of us how vast beyond all measure that he should give his only son to make a wretch his treasure. - When you give God and inch, He will give you a mile. If you come a little way to Him, when you are "yet a great way off" He will run to meet you. I do not know that the prodigal saw his father, but his father saw him. The eyes of mercy are quicker than the eyes of repentance. Even the eyes of our faith is dim compared with the eye of God's love. He sees a sinner long before a sinner sees Him. There stood his son ready to confess his sin; therefore did his father kiss him all the more. The more willing you are to own thy sin, the more willing is God to forgive you. When you make a clean break of it, God will soon make a clear record of it. He will wipe out the sin that you willingly acknowledge and humbly confess before Him. He that was willing to use his lips for confession, found that his father was willing to use his lips for kissing him. (Spurgeon)
Celebration rather than a coffin ' 22 But the father said to his servants, 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. 23 And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. 24 For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.' And they began to celebrate - - Something is wrong – the boy doesn’t get what he deserves. His wasted his father’s goodness and his father throws him a party Allister Begg We who have forfeited every right to our father’s love, every right to a party, every notion of welcome, every warm embrace, may be embraced and welcomed and rejoiced in because of what another has done Step back and see his compassion is portrayed at the cross (Allister Begg) - Martin Luther once said, If I could believe that God was not angry with me, I would stand on my head for joy
This is the celebration of the father. The feast honors the father for what he has done. It is the father who gave him back his life. It is the father who made him a son. It is the father who restored him to blessing by merciful forgiveness and gracious love. And the whole village comes to rejoice with this father who celebrates his own grace and his own mercy. This father has exhibited unheard of kindness, unheard of goodness, sacrificial love, and sacrificial grace. The son who was dead, is alive, one who was lost is found. The son has new life, new status, and new attitude. He has for the first time a real relationship with a loving, forgiving father, who has made him heir of everything he possesses, to whom he has been reconciled, and to whom he will eagerly give his love, his service in response. The son entrusts his life to the father and the father entrusts his resources to the son. He’s in the family. He has full access to all the riches of the father.
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