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The Prodigal God

It always amazes me how Scriptures that I have read a thousand times have truths that I have missed over and over. Recently, I was reading the story of the prodigal son (Luke 15:11-32). All my life I have assumed that the term "prodigal" refers to the younger son's leaving the father's home. I had always thought that prodigals were people who wandered away. Imagine my surprise when I finally looked up the word and found that it means nothing of the sort. Prodigal is an adjective that means "excessive, extravagant, over the top." The prodigal was not prodigal because he left home but because he took his inheritance and wasted it on wine, women and song. He spent excessively and extravagantly. That is why he is described as prodigal.

That got me thinking. Who is the real prodigal in this story? Yes, the son wastefully threw away his inheritance through extravagant spending. However, I think there is an even more extravagant prodigal in the story. It is the father. Think about it. I have a twenty-five year-old son. Imagine how I would respond if he came to me and said this: "Dad, I'm tired of waiting for you to die. Give me my share of the inheritance so I can enjoy it now." How long do you think it would be before my foot planted itself in the seat of his pants? Yet the father in the story that Jesus tells liberally gives up the inheritance to this ungrateful son.

Later in the story, the father is even more prodigal. When his ingrate of a son returns home with nothing, smelling of the pigsty, the father spots him from afar, hikes up his robes, runs out and embraces his son. Although the son deserves nothing, the father dresses him in a clean robe, puts sandals on his feet and a ring on his finger. He then orders a feast to celebrate the return of this pathetic son. That is extravagant behaviour. This father has been abused by this child, yet he responds with over the top love. His expression of acceptance of this child is nothing less than prodigal.

Now bring those details to the true point of the story. We are the son. Ungrateful, stinky, disgusting in every part of our being. We do not deserve anything from the Father, God. We are rebels without a cause. As the son rightly confesses, we do not deserve to be part of the family. It would be amazing grace for God the Father to even allow us to be slaves on the family farm. However, the Father does not treat us that way. His grace is prodigal. It is excessive, extravagant and over the top. Rather than treat us as we deserve, he welcomes us and makes us part of the family. He forgives us, cleans us up and throws a feast in our honour. My friends - the point of this story is not the prodigal nature of the son. The point of the story is the extravagant, prodigal grace of our God!
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