The Prodigal Returns

I am under the impression that some young people see the things laid out in Scripture as interesting, at best, but ideal and not very practical. Perhaps it is a challenge inherent in youth that they have not had enough time to test what is taught in the word to prove it true. It is a theoretical something-or-other, to be defined later in life.

So, they leave the Lord and His church shortly after graduation from high school. They are in pursuit of higher things like happiness (translated “fun”). Like Eve in the Garden, they determine for themselves what is right and wrong. They may even experience some “fun” for a while, but it is only “pleasures for a season” (Heb. 11:25). Many of them end up coming home broken-hearted, and some pregnant.

I have had the opportunity to ask a few people in their mid-twenties who lived the pattern described above if everything they had done to that point in their life they did because they thought it would bring them happiness. Through the puzzled look on their face, they answered in the affirmative.

It doesn’t make sense, or does it? The Lord has forever told us that it is not in us to direct our own steps, and that folly is bound up in the heart of a child. For those of us who are older, it makes perfect sense. In our youth we may be smart, but we are not wise. We may know a lot of facts, but we do not know the truth. We turn from life to death.

Fortunately, some of these brokenhearted people return to the only place they can return—home. Home is where they were loved to begin with. Home is where they learned about God and the foundation was built for them to rebuild their lives.

Let’s take a look at what happens when they return. Like the story of the prodigal (wasteful) son, people are greeted in one of two ways. The lost son returned home to receive a less than warm welcome from his older brother, but the father in the story kissed his wayward son. He dressed him with a rob and a ring and sandals for his feet. He even threw a party.

The parable of the prodigal son is the third in a series of three parables Jesus tells, recorded in Luke 15. First, there is the parable of the lost sheep, then the lost coin, and then the lost son. All three stories are built on the same pattern: something is lost, the thing lost is found, and then there is rejoicing.

The pattern is broken in the parable of the lost son. It is broken with the sour-puss attitude of the older son, who represents the Pharisees and scribes. Luke 15 begins with the tax collectors and the sinners coming to Jesus to “listen to Him”. It is always a good thing for people to come “to listen to Him.” But the Pharisees and the scribes began to grumble, saying, “This man receives sinners and eats with them.” (15:1, 2).

Who are you more like in the story? Are you the returning prodigal son who went into the far country and squandered your early inheritance? Or are you like the father who receives the returning prodigal with open arms. Or are you like the older brother ready to give the once-lost son a hard time? Are you, “humbly grateful, or grumbly hateful”? When the penitent prodigal returns do you greet them with open arms or with a scowl on your face; with disapproval in your countenance. Be a stepping stone and not a stumbling block.