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17 “When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! 18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants.’ 20 So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him. 21 “The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’ Luke 15:17-21
We have been considering the three parables of Luke 15. Today, we consider, again, another part of the third story, the parable of the Prodigal Son. The whole chapter is about the joy of God in response to the foundness of the lost. Today's text begins with: “When he came to his senses.”
There is an “insanity” to sin that seems to paralyze the image of God within us and liberate the “derelict” inside. The younger son changed his mind about himself and his situation, and he admitted that he was in need of a savior. In fact, the hardest to reach with the Gospel are those who see no need for a savior. But, this younger son confessed that his father was a generous man and that service at home was far better than “freedom” in the far country.
The Apostle Paul reminds us in Romans 2:4, it is God’s goodness that leads us to repentance. If the son had thought only about himself, his hunger, his homesickness, his loneliness, he would have despaired. But his painful circumstances helped him to see his father in a new way, and this brought him hope.
True repentance involves our souls which is made up of our minds, our wills and our emotions. And, if repentance is the work of God in our lives, we will obey Him. We will not only experience justification, but we will embrace His sanctification.
The context of this chapter is framed out by the fact that the religious leaders of Israel knew nothing of God's joy over repenting sinners. In fact, they never wanted to be anywhere near sinners. They felt that they would be somehow polluted and made impure if they came into contact with them at all. So, they kept their distance by only associating with each other in a sort of self-imposed isolation to maintain the illusion of their own holiness.
These so called leaders could not comprehend the fact that the Lord Jesus associated with sinners, these who were the worst, the most publicly scorned, the outcasts. To them, this was proof that He was not of God, rather He was of Satan because He associated with the people who were known to be a part of the kingdom of darkness.
At this point in the story, all of a sudden, the father of the younger son comes to his mind. Having been led by his lusts, he has fallen to the bottom and there is no where to look but up. This is the good side to our rebellion, it puts us in the position to cry out to our Father in heaven. So, left with nothing, destitute, in a famine, dying of hunger, this young son comes to his senses. He has a conversation with himself which leads him to consider, "How many of my father’s hired servants have food to spare, and here I am starving to death?"
This is the beginning of repentance. It begins with an accurate assessment of our condition. All repentance begins with an honest assessment of one's condition of destitution, helplessness, and desperation. Humility thrives in this context. And, there is no greater enemy to pride than humility which is the primary root of repentance.
The younger son thinks about his father. This is where this young boy grows up. He remembers that his father paid his hired servants more than enough. Finally, he sees his father as generous. He remembered that his father gave them more than his hired hands generally needed to survive. He now sees his father as loving, good, and kind.
Now that he believes in his father, he is in the place to embrace repentance. And, repentance leads to salvation because repentance is one of the best expressions of faith. Most believe we repent in order to get better, to merit the favor of God. This is not biblical thinking. No, we repent because we can't do what is necessary. Having come to the end of ourselves, we trust in our father's goodness, compassion, generosity and mercy.
So, in v.18-19 we read, "18 I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. 19 I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired servants."
His sensible thinking moves him in his soul. Armed with correct thinking, he chooses, of his will, to return home. This is how repentance works. After we come to our senses, we bow our will to the Sensible One. A bowed will is willing to embrace the shame of returning to the One we have rejected.
He said, "I have sinned against heaven and against you." He is genuinely repentant. He recognizes his life is a total disaster, and there's no one to blame but himself. He is owning his stupidity. This is what humility does, it owns its own stupidity.
According to v.20, “So he got up and went to his father. “But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him and kissed him."
The younger son wants restoration more than he wants his way. At this point, he needs his father and his resources. So, here comes the son with another outrageous request after he has already wasted a great portion of the family's fortune and the honor of his father.
The culture of that day dictated that the father would be hard-hearted in his response to his returning, rebellious son. This hard hearted approach was designed to make the repentant son learn his lesson and work hard to earn his father's favor back. This impossibility would take the young man along time to do.
But this is not what happened. In fact, while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion for him and ran and embraced him and kissed him. The father reaches his son before his son reaches his home. He not only wants to initiate the reconciliation, but he wants to protect his son from shame. He wants to protect him from the scorn and the abuse and the slander. He wants to bear the shame, take the abuse, which was expected in their culture.
The father felt compassion for his son. He felt a sick feeling in his stomach when he saw the boy and knew he was headed toward this unleashing of the townsfolks scorn. And so, he ran. But, Middle Eastern noblemen don't run. But, this father could not get to his son fast enough.
Now, Middle Easterners didn't run because they all wore long robes that went to their ankles. And, honor was connected to the father's robe. The Father ran, taking the shame, to protect the son from taking the shame. He takes the scorn and the mockery and the slander so that his son doesn't have to bear it.
When the son finally gets to his father, his father embraced him. He collapsed in a massive hug, buried his head on the neck of his son, stinking and dirty and ragged as he was. And now the son knows that his father had been suffering silently for the whole time he's been gone. By the time the boy walked into the village, he was a fully reconciled son.
In v.21 we read, "The son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son." The grace of the father melts the heart of his son even more. So much that he joins his father's humiliation and he confesses.
Confession is a doorway to freedom and forgiveness. No, it doesn't earn freedom and forgiveness, it enables us to access it. Confession isn’t telling God what he doesn’t know. It is a radical reliance on God's grace, a trust in God’s goodness. Confessors find freedom that deniers of sin do not! Holding onto our sin hardens us, but confession softens us. Confession is the pressure relief valve of the souls that has come to know the soul changing grace of God.
