Luke 15:11-32

Luke 15:11-32

Will we allow the father to love us? The father in the story never stopped loving his sons. And at one point neither son would allow the father to love them. The repentance of the younger son was more than just rejecting the pigsty. Returning to work as a hired hand was a bargain that was beneficial for the boy. The father orders the robe, the ring, and the shoes, and it is when the son accepts these that his repentance has finished its work. The boy allowed his father to love him.

The older son had a perversity of character that would not allow the father to love him. He saw his relationship to the father as a form of slavery. He complains that he has never even had a young goat to celebrate with his friends. Note that had such a party occurred it would have been with the friends and not the father. Likely the father would not have been invited. The older brother could not accept the father's love, which made it painful him to see anyone else enjoying the father's affection.

Until we get it through your thick skulls that God loves us, our faith and relationship with Him will always lack a dimension of depth. Many of us have a hard time accepting love because we don't think of ourselves as lovable. In point of fact we are not very lovable. We are profoundly interested in our own agenda and our selfish interest. What sometimes passes as lovability may be nothing more than an act, and attempt to behave in such a way as to secure some benefit for ourselves at some future point. We are very like the older son. The question we must ask is, “Am I, like the younger son, still trying to work out a deal? Am I still trying to work out a bargain with the father while standing on the road? Are my insecurities in collaboration with my pride and keeping me from accepting the Father's Love?”

The intellectual side is really the easier side of the question. God's nature is to always have mercy and to love us. But for some reason our heart always returns to the default setting of being good so that God will like us. That has not worked, it never will.

The difference between the two boys in this story is most pronounced when we see their willingness to accept the Father's Love. Scrupulous legalistic righteousness is no better than riotous living, and in fact it maybe worse in that it gives us a false sense of righteousness. The difference between the two boys is most profound in that one accepted the Father's Love and the other did not. The truth of scripture and of the Christian faith is that actions of worship and the fellowship in the community will always be two-dimensional and lacking depth until I allow the father to love me without trying to earn it or make an argument. I can know the theology of the atonement but its beauty occurs to me when I accept the Father's Love. This “allowing” is the great challenge for me and it will never occur apart from the grace and work of the Holy Spirit.

Lord, help me accept and enjoy Your love. AMEN