“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. (Luke 15:20 NLT)
This is perhaps one of the most famous stories of old time and almost everyone has heard the concept of the prodigal son but for so long we have paid attention to the wrong character.
So before I move forward I want lay on the table the following question, why did Jesus was telling the story? Well that is because the Pharisees and the teachers of the law were mad at Jesus because Jesus was always hanging out with the wrong crowd, the underdogs, the undesired, you know, our modern pimps drug lords, prostitutes etc. So to make it clear why Jesus hang around with this people he told three stories and this is one of them.
The story is simple, a kid came up to his dad and told him: “dad just give me the money,give me my part of the inheritance, I am tired of this life I want to live my own” not exactly those words but you can imagine, Can you picture the heart of the dad,how he must felt? Imagine you were the dad and imagine that was your son uttering those words… Devastating isn’t it? So the kid goes far away to a different town to live a wild life, the kind of life that is every parents nightmare. But the time came when he spent all the money and he lost all the “friendshipis” he had and in that position he had to look for a job and he took one of the crappiest jobs around, to feed the pigs.
Right there and then in the midst of the nasty smell, the noise, the filth and the despair, he remembered he had a father a home a real life before this terrible decision. So he made a decision to head back home but he knew that he could never go back to the same life he had, he was not worthy of it, he brought shame to his father, to his family, so he prepared a speech, and he knew it better be touching, the best speech ever, so he work hard on his way back home.
Right now the kid maybe has our sympathy, maybe our pity, but to this mans (the Pharisees and the teachers of the law) pity and sympathy where not even in the horizon, this kid according to the law disserved to be punished, this kid was the shame of his father; So Jesus continues with the story and he says to them
“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.”
Say what??!!! He ran? He kissed the boy? They were going nuts, this is madnes, but that was not the end of the story, the father tells his servants, clean the boy up, give him new clothes, put a ring in his hand and let’s throw a party,
“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. (Luke 15:20, 24 NLT)
This is the love of Jesus, the love of our Heavenly Father, Jesus needs no explanation, no speech, His love is so big that covers our shame, His love is so big that its not intimidated by our sin, it’s so big that it doesn’t wait for us to get back home, He runs after us to meet us in our way.
Leo Lozano 