The Homecoming

It is, of course, no surprise that reading Nouwen's book on the prodigal son sent me to Luke 15 to read the parable once again.  For a preacher it is a parable with a thousand sermons.  Well, perhaps, I exaggerate a bit, but it has within it a lot of good texts for sermons.  My favorite verse and image within the parable is verse 20.  "...But while he (the younger son) was still far off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion; he ran and put his arms around him and kissed him."  Anyone looking for a picture of God need look no further.   

What is implied within the words and the image is the reality that the father had been looking for the gone from home son.  The image which has always accompanied the parable is the father standing each evening at the gate looking down the road to see if this would be the day his lost son would return.  The father did not give up on his son.  He waited for him with love.  And when the son was nearing home, the father was beside himself with joy as he ran down the road to take his son in his arms once again.   

It is a homecoming that speaks to each of us about how our Father God loves us.  Not even our indifference toward Him changes the way He loves us.  When we come to the place of realizing that our obsessions with the trivial ego pursuits of life are a dead end street and turn around, He is there with open arms of forgiveness and a heart filled with love.  Many have been the times when this prodigal soul has wandered far from home only to find the Father's arms open when it became clear that the way being pursued was only taking him further away from the longing of his heart.  How thankful we all are for His patience, His long suffering, His mercy, and His unconditional love.