This Little Light of Mine

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The Prodigal

Have you heard the one about a tax collector, a sinner, a Pharisee, a teacher of the law, and Jesus walking into a bar? Well, maybe it wasn’t an actual bar, but they were definitely all together somewhere. Let’s pick up the story in Luke 15:1-3 (NIV) “Now the tax collectors and sinners were all gathering around to hear Jesus. But the Pharisees and the teachers of the law muttered, ‘This man welcomes sinners and eats with them.’ Then Jesus told them this parable…” Actually, Jesus proceeded to tell them three parables (stories). First, in the Parable of the Lost Sheep, a man loses one of his 100 sheep. He leaves the 99 to retrieve the lost one, then calls his friends and neighbors and says “Rejoice with me…” In the second parable, the Parable of the Lost Coin, a woman loses one of her ten silver coins. Ultimately, she finds it, calls her friends and neighbors and says “Rejoice with me…” The last parable that Jesus told then is commonly known as The Prodigal Son (Webster defines prodigal as: characterized by profuse or wasteful expenditure). The parable is found in the Gospel of Luke 15:11-24 NLT. To illustrate the point further, Jesus told them this story: “A man had two sons. The younger son told his father, ‘I want my share of your estate now before you die.’ So his father agreed to divide his wealth between his sons. “A few days later this younger son packed all his belongings and moved to a distant land, and there he wasted all his money in wild living. About the time his money ran out, a great famine swept over the land, and he began to starve. He persuaded a local farmer to hire him, and the man sent him into his fields to feed the pigs. The young man became so hungry that even the pods he was feeding the pigs looked good to him. But no one gave him anything. “When he finally came to his senses, he said to himself, ‘At home even the hired servants have food enough to spare, and here I am dying of hunger! I will go home to my father and say, “Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.”’ “So he returned home to his father. And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him coming. Filled with love and compassion, he ran to his son, embraced him, and kissed him. His son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son.’ “But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began." So, here’s maybe an obvious question, but humor me. Who left the father? It seems clear from the story that it was the younger son of

by Larry VanHoose

the father. The one who left wasn’t a servant or a slave, but one of the father’s very own sons. Younger son yes, but still entitled to a portion of his father’s estate including the position and prestige of being a son of a wealthy landowner. However, when he returned, he no longer saw himself worthy to be called a son (verse 21). But the father, what did he say? “We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found!” I'll ask you again, a little more personal and in the present this time. Who has left the father? Is it too much of a reach to say that possibly you have left the father? Have you gone off on your own, to do your thing, have a little fun and entertainment, live your life without his interference? Have you perhaps left the father’s side to squander your inheritance on selfish, apathetic, careless living? Does that have even a little ring of truth – for you? I used to think what I wanted most when I got to heaven was to hear it said of me, “Well done, my good and faithful servant” (see Matt. 25). As I’ve gotten older, I realize how that yearning relies too much on what I HAVE DONE, and not more appropriately on what JESUS HAS DONE. Perhaps I secretly wanted the father to be proud of me? The eternal truth is that his son, Jesus, paid the price for my, the younger son’s, sin and rebellion, from both before – and after – I became a child of God. He himself has made a way for me, for all of us, to get back to Father. So you have not received a spirit that makes you fearful slaves. Instead, you received God’s Spirit when he adopted you as his own children. Now we call him, “Abba, Father.” For his Spirit joins with our spirit to affirm that we are God’s children. And since we are his children, we are his heirs. —Romans 8:15-17a NLT As amazing as it might seem, I no longer just want to hear Jesus say, “Well done my good and faithful servant.” Instead, I long for the day when my Father sees me, is filled with love and compassion, runs to me, embraces me, kisses me, and says “Rejoice with me!”

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