The Runaway

Growing up in a well-to-do family has its advantages. Growing up in a family with means and where everybody is loved and cared for is even better. Yet, even the best circumstances do not always lead to the best consequences.

Jesus tells a story of a young man who became a runaway. He grew up in a rich and caring family. One day he asked his father to give him his part of the family inheritance. This no doubt hurt the father deeply because he was really saying: “I wish you were dead, father, so I can have my portion of the family fortune”. Despite the pain, the father seems to do what his son wishes—apparently without resistance. Then the son leaves home with his riches and squanders everything with reckless living and friends who only lasted as long as his money did. Eventually, at the end of his rope, he comes to his senses and returns to his father as a humble man.

The story goes on telling us that the father had been looking for his runaway son all the time he had been gone. Although hurt, he never stopped to love his rebellious, wayward son. When the father saw his son again we are told that deep compassion welled up in him. As the forlorn figure slowly made his way up the road, the father does something unusual for a man of his dignity. He picks up his robe, runs toward his son and embraces him—although he was still smelly from his last job—tending pigs. Then he not only welcomed him back into the family, he also gave orders for a big party, celebrating his return.

In one way or another every person on this earth has rebelled and made a mess of his or her life. Like the runaway in the story, rebels like you and me can come back to God, who reveals himself to us as a father, whose love for us never wavered, who is full of compassion and willing to restore us into his family. This is possible through what his son Jesus did. He carried the penalty that we deserved, when he gave his live as a sacrifice on the cross. Stuart Townend, a contemporary songwriter expresses his thoughts like this:

“How deep the Father’s love for us,

How vast beyond all measure

That He should give His only Son

To make a wretch His treasure”

Although the father always loved his son, the son’s restoration depended on recognizing that he was lost, alone and removed from the fellowship of his family. His story turned when he humbled himself and entrusted his destiny into his father’s loving hands.

Yours and mine will too if we do the same.