Cultivating Compassion for the Prodigal Son

It began with pride. "I know better." "I can do better." Demanding "I want what's mine now!", greed and impatience followed close behind. As different as prodigals may seem, foolishness is never far from them.

When the prodigal son, Luke 15:11-32, first

left home, all he experienced must have seemed like proof that he was smarter than everyone else. The young man had friends and he had fun as long as he had the blessing of his father's money. Eventually rebellion leads to ruin. Most know this part of the story. It's the important details which follow that we tend to miss.

Without friends, funds, or the faith that family would welcome him home, shame exploded into the vacuum left by shattered vanity. Instead of rushing home to the father who longed for his return, the prodigal stayed in the land which had destroyed him, struggling to survive.

Eventually, scripture tells us, the wayward son "joined himself" to a citizen of that hostile land. This was more than a job. The language speaks of permanence, like marriage. In his desperation, the prodigal willingly enslaved himself. Do you notice what happened next? He remained hungry. Why would anyone agree to brutal humiliating labor, to long hours, and living in filth only to remain hungry?

So often we focus on the rebellion, the greed, the pride and foolishness we miss the tragedy. The prodigal was deceived. He was tricked into an arrangement with someone more cunning, cruel, and powerful than himself. It's heartbreaking. How many have prayed for prodigals to return as they cling to the reasonable roots of their anger?

Although the father gladly received the child he had long yearned to see return, perhaps welcoming the prodigal back was more difficult for the brother who had not seen or smelled the degradation of his sibling. Arriving at a celebration, to see the one who had done so much harm to the house, clean and clothed caused the older brother to jealously wonder, "What about me?" He, like so many of us, failed to consider no prodigal escapes the world unwounded. Too often we are unwilling to welcome our prodigals home, because we fail to view them with compassion as our heavenly father sees us. That is Worth Remembering.