SEPARATED AND IMPOVERISHED
Consider a branch of a tree that is healthy and vibrant, but if damaged and compromised at its attachment to the main trunk, will inevitably wither away, to become a pale shadow of what it once was. The popular story of the prodigal son is really one of separation from God.
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ ….“Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine ……..He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
“When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ So, he got up and went to his father.…….“But the father said to his servants, ‘Quick! Bring the best robe and put it on him….. Let’s have a feast and celebrate.For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ (Luke 15:11-24)
While spending his wealth in prodigal living might have been attractive, the core issue with the son was one of unwillingness to submit to the father’s authority at home. So, he deliberately heads off to a distant country. Far too often, people consider the lordship of Jesus as oppressive and desire to go as far away as possible from God. However, a life of separation invariably ends up being one of impoverishment. The son is left with no food, no respect and the prospect of death. Likewise, a life of separation from God takes away abundance. Even in the presence of material abundance, the soul pines away in despair! Man cannot find satisfaction but for a union with his Maker.
Hungry, desperate and facing death, the son has a moment of epiphany. Her understands what he took for granted for so long- that in his father’s home is abundance. Going back to the father was still a step he needed to take. It sounds strange, but in reality, most people are unwilling to take that step of returning to God despite their despair and emptiness. Man’s pride prevents him from saying what the son was willing to say, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son”. Yet, when he is able to say that genuinely, also comes a willingness to be a slave for the father. In returning to God, man needs to respond to the epiphany he has, with genuine repentance and a commitment to live for God.
And when he does that, he finds at a near distance, a Father who loves, who eagerly awaits the return and who forgives, to restore the son’s honor and abundance in celebratory vigor.
