The Prodigal Father

Several years ago when I was facilitating a college Bible study, I brought in a Rembrandt print. I thought since we were studying Luke chapter fifteen, it would be appropriate to examine a work of art inspired by this passage of Scripture. It was a painting called The Return of the Prodigal Son. I got this idea from a creative college professor who had done the same thing years earlier. I put the painting up on the wall in the front of the room and had the students look at it carefully. I wanted them to meditate on the painting, paying careful attention to every detail. I would ask you to do the same thing right now. Look at it carefully. Meditate on it. It’s a fabulous painting isn’t it? If you ever happen to be passing through St. Petersburg Russia, stop in at the Hermitage Museum to check it out.

After looking at the picture for a couple of minutes, one young lady said, “The Father’s face seems to be glowing.” The greatest amount of light in this painting radiates from the father’s face. In most English translations, this story is entitled, “The Prodigal Son” or the “The Lost Son.” Not so with this Rembrandt. While the title of his painting seems to focus on the son, he forces us to look at the Father. This story Jesus told in Luke 15:11-32 isn’t about the son. This is a story about a father; a father who happened to have two messed up sons. One battled with lust, while the other battled with pride. Choose your sin. We’re ALL messed up. I guess that's why most of us tend to identify with one of the sons. But do you really think this is where Jesus wants us to focus our attention in the story? I don’t think so. I think He was trying to get us to focus on the father. By focusing too much on the sons, the father seems to get lost in the story. I guess that would make him the Prodigal Father.

We have tendency to do the same thing with God the Father. We focus so much attention on sin (ours and other's) that we forget to talk about God’s forgiveness and grace. Instead of focusing on the grace of our Heavenly Father, we become obsessed with sin. The Pharisees did this a lot. When one particular woman was caught in blatant sin, they wanted to stone her on the spot. “In the Law of Moses we are commanded to stone a woman like this.” (John 8:5) These guys were so obsessed with her sin that they had forgotten grace. Like the older brother, justice had become more important than the father’s love. Instead of coming to a party to celebrate his father’s forgiveness, he would rather focus on his brother’s sin...and his own righteousness.

Some religious systems do the same thing today, and in the process, God the Father gets lost in our depravity. I realize you can’t have one without the other. Were it not for our sin, there wouldn't be a need for grace. Jesus, being the Master teacher He is, knew this when he told the story. Both of these sons needed their father’s forgiveness. We all do. This kind of forgiveness is radical. It doesn’t give us permission to live any way we please. No way! Rather, it compels us to “Go and sin no more.” (John 8:11) Like I said…RADICAL.

My dad had a little thing he would say when he was caught in a conflict between love and judgment…forgiveness and condemnation. He’d say, “I guess it’s better to err on the side of grace.” I never knew what that meant until I got much older. What does it mean to err on the side of grace? It means, we remember our Father’s example and we live the way HE instructs us to live. Kneel at His feet. Look up into His loving eyes...He forgives you.