The Ultimate Story of Grace (Luke 15:11-32)

Jesus told us a story to teach us about God’s grace. There was a young man in a fairly well-to-do family that desperately wanted his independence. He realised that if he was going to be free to see and experience the world he was going to need some extensive funds. The only way he could get such money was through his father. Though a generous father, he knew that it would be better if his son remained within the family fold and benefitted progressively from the available resources. Yet the son was so fixated on taking his own journey, that he would have preferred his father to be dead and the inheritance distributed now! Seeing no point in holding him back against his will, the father allowed the son to go, and gave him the money he was looking for.

As often happens in the complex and difficult world, the son lost his way, for he never did really have a good plan or purpose. First he spent all the money he had been given, some wasted on what turned out to be hopeless get-rich-quick schemes. Then he got himself into such debt that life became simply a matter of working to survive. We might imagine the sort of depths that he fell into. Hearing what happened to his youngest son, you might imagine the father would be incensed, angry and bitter, bemoaning the waste. But no, quite the contrary – the father’s only abiding emotion was one of compassion – ‘if only my son would come home’! The father only wanted to pour love out on his son again; he had already forgotten this son’s belligerent and arrogant attitude. He couldn’t wait for the moment he would talk to his son again.

Not everyone however felt the same as this loving father. For instance an older brother couldn’t understand this offering of mercy at all. After all this young man deserves everything he’s got himself into. People, like this older brother, looked at themselves and felt superior, and couldn’t accept that such a miscreant could be restored. Not only this, but to be given a place of honour in the family, and his return being celebrated at a big party – this was outrageous. Well perhaps it still seems far too radical humanly speaking – but this is the grace of God! The younger son, having certainly learned a lesson, humbly returned; and one who would have otherwise been lost in an endless hell, now has received a future paved with opportunity. To be a bearer of God’s grace is to follow this father’s attitude.