He Sees and Knows
Authors and literature professors for centuries have often said that Jesus' parable of the prodigal son is quite possibly the best short story ever written. Have you ever read it? I would encourage you to if you haven't. In fact, even if you have, I would encourage you to read it again. I read it regularly and it never fails to raise a mirror to my soul and show me how short I fall. It also encourages me every single time I read it.
It's a remarkable story, isn't it? A young brother would rather have his inheritance than a relationship with his father. The young brother's choice was made - riches over relationship.
The Father allows him to have what he thinks he wants. He gives him his riches and then waits for reconciliation.
The younger brother runs off and gets into all types of trouble, and eventually the money runs out and he finds that the friends he had made all left him alone. Those relationships were based on his riches. No riches - no relationship. Have you ever been there? Have you ever been used for what you had to give? Have you ever thought you were really loved only to find out you were being used?
Finally, this young brother decides to come home. He doesn't think relationship is possible with his father because he has blown it. It would make sense right? Have you ever hurt a friend or relative, maybe even your father, and then realized you were wrong? Have you ever had to go back to them not because you really wanted to, but because you had no place else to go? Tough isn't it? This younger brother knows that walk of shame. He is the original "will work for food" guy. He came home just to see if he could work for food.
But his father didn't want that. The Father wanted relationship. That's not something you really earn, as hard as you may try. The father didn't give him a to do list. The Father's choice was made - relationship over requirements.
After that, we meet the older brother. He's pretty upset about this whole thing, and is very quick to point out all of the things that his younger brother had done. Have you ever done that? Have you ever had somebody do that to you? It's pretty tough. The Father comes out to him to talk to him, but the older brother is angry. He has obeyed all the rules. He has not, in his mind, done anything wrong. He does not want to come into the party, but the Father invites him in. Sadly his choice was made - rules over relationship.
Did you notice what happens? The "bad" brother winds up inside at a party being held in his honor, and the "good" brother winds up outside. You see, the Gospel is not at all about riches, rules, or requirements. It is all about relationship. An intimate relationship with God. Can you believe it? He knows everything you have ever done, and even what you will do, and he loves you anyway. It's incredible isn't it?
Maybe you have been told that there are things you have to do before you become a follower of Christ. Maybe you have been told that if you are doing certain things that you can not be a follower of Christ. You know what? Corrie Ten Boom, survivor of the Nazi concentration camps, said, "There's no pit so deep that God's love is not deeper still." I believe that to be true. Do you know why? Quite simply, because Jesus himself said in John 3:17 that he did not come into the world to condemn it, but to save it.
He did not come to condemn you, he came to save you. You. He came to re-establish relationship with you. We have all made our choices to destroy our relationship with God. Some of us chose riches. Some of us chose rules and regulations, or any manner of things that we elevated to the level of gods we hoped would rescue us. But the fact is that Jesus died to pay for our actions. He came to restore and re- establish our relationship with God. Not to condemn us, but to save us. Pretty amazing, huh?
He wants relationship with us just that bad. He loves you just that much. Not because of who you are, but because of who he is.
