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Reckless Love - Luke 15:11-32

When you were a child, were you ever pleasantly surprised at the loving response of your parent or guardian after you’d done something that you knew for which you deserved to be disciplined?

In Luke 15:11-32, we find the parable of the son that abused the grace of his wealthy father and was met with a similar compassionate response. We don’t know his or his family’s name, but we know there were two sons from a family of wealth. The youngest asks his father for his share of the property coming to him. Although his request was somewhat presumptuous, the father gives him his cut. Not long after, the son sets off to make his way in a far off country.

As one would expect from a young man with too much too soon, the son runs through all of his inheritance on wild living. He had hit rock bottom and found himself longing for the food that the pigs were eating. He came to his senses and recalled that his father, being a man of wealth, had servants that were living better than he was living, so he returned home in hopes of obtaining his father’s forgiveness and at least living as a servant in his childhood home.

When he returned home and before he could even ask for his father’s forgiveness and ask him for a job, the bible says, “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him.” Ah, can imagine this kingly man grieving his lost son, missing him, and finally seeing him come up the road. I can see him picking up his robes, forgetting his dignity, and running out to welcome his lost son home. Soon after, his father, cleaned him up, gave him a ring, and threw him a party to celebrate his son’s homecoming. He, the father, restored him, instead of punishing him.

Although this parable is known as “The Parable of the Prodigal Son”, it might be more aptly named “The Parable of the Prodigal Father”. The adjective prodigal is defined as being wastefully extravagant or giving something on a lavish scale. What extravagant love the father showed him, although he deserved much worse. Since this is a parable, we can conclude that the father in the story, mirrors our Father in heaven, even the more.

We are the son. We have sinned, fallen, messed up, and wasted God’s grace. As we take just a step towards our Father, he runs to us, embraces us, kisses us, and lavishes us with His reckless love and endless grace. Praise the Lord!

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