No Strings Attached

 

And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced him and kissed him. And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate. (Luke 15:20-24 ESV).

 

Our reading today is taken from the Parable of the Prodigal Son. I prefer to call it the Parable of the Loving Father, though either is descriptive of Jesus’ intent in telling it. Rembrandt’s painting The Return of the Prodigal Son (shown here) often moves people to awe. Viewers crowd around the wall in the museum where this massive painting hangs, marveling at the solemn beauty of the father receiving his wayward son. But as remarkable as Rembrandt’s scene of reconciliation is, the father’s reception of his son in the parable is even more striking. Even before the son reaches home, the father is watching and waiting. Then, when he sees his son approaching, the dignified head of the household gathers up his robes and dashes out to greet his missing child with hugs and kisses. For Jesus’ audience, a father’s tossing aside all dignity would have been shocking.

 

The parable of the lost son completes a series of three stories showing God’s boundless love and mercy for sinners. The first tells about rescuing a lost sheep, and the second tells of finding a lost coin. And in this third parable we meet a father who with urgency and joy runs out to meet his wayward child, who was dead and is now alive, was lost and now is found.

 

Here’s the impact of this truth… there is nothing left to be done. All that was necessary was done by Jesus at the request and motivation of the Father. It was always God’s will that His love and mercy be show to sinful humankind. Regardless of what we may have done, God’s love goes far beyond all of that. It reaches into the darkest corners of our soul and plucks us from destruction. We must not… we cannot let anyone diminish the greatness of that love and mercy. Jesus has paid the debt we could never pay and died the death we all deserve! And, there are no strings attached to this great gift of mercy!