THE PRODIGAL’S RETURN
Wayne Wilson
Today’s Scripture: “But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you.”’” Luke 15:17-18, ESV
Theme: Necessity brings opportunity for transformation.
DOING WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE
Tommy and Brendan are each at a “point of need” that drives them to face their past, their pain, and their struggles. Tommy returns to his father to train him for the upcoming big MMA tournament. He needs a trainer, and he needs the money. He and his mother had abandoned the family years earlier after what seems to have been years of alcoholism and abuse. We see in “The Warrior” that Tommy has built up a powerful rage which comes out both physically, when he fights in MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) tournaments, and verbally, when he returns the verbal abuse, he received back on his father.
Brendan is also desperate for money and enters the tournament to save his home. This need is so real that he sacrifices his career as a teacher and is estranged from his wife and children because he is entering the fight to earn the money to save his family's home. In one fight, when it looks all but lost, Brendan’s trainer says to him, “If you don’t find a way to knock him out, you have no home.” He finds a way. Necessity is the mother of invention, it seems. Necessity provides the opportunity for both brothers to reunite and for the boys' father to face the lingering shadow of his lost relationship with his sons.
WHEN THINGS ARE DESPERATE
In the story Jesus tells of the Prodigal Son (Luke 15:11-32), brothers are reunited out of necessity. In this story, the necessity is the younger son’s need to come home for food and shelter. He had asked for his inheritance money earlier and has already spent it all. He is living with pigs and eating what is given to them to eat when he “comes to his senses” and realizes the life he had before, commits to return to his father, and asks to hire on as a servant (Luke 15: 17-19). The elder son never leaves home but also does not appreciate what he has, only what he will inherit. Necessity provides the opportunity for both to come to appreciate their father's love and generosity.
For both Tommy in “The Warrior” and the Prodigal Son in Luke (15:11-32), the path of “their ways” had led them to their respective “bottoms” and motivated them to return to those they had left behind.
Make It Personal: What have you tried to leave behind? Is there something from which you have “run away”? Have you found the point of necessity (which most of us must find) to face it and heal from it? Perhaps, like me, you do know what you ran from. You have returned to face it and are once again living in the grace, love, and abundance of your Heavenly Father. I am very grateful. For that.
If you have not taken this journey of courage, I can tell you from personal experience that it is well worth the journey. I encourage you to bring your past into prayer and confess it to God. Ask God to show you what you need to do to heal. Your Heavenly Father is faithful to forgive you and show you the path of healing.
Pray: Heavenly Father, I have run from You and________ (name that person or thing from which you have run away). I am in the proverbial “pig pen.” I too—like Tommy, Brendan, and the Prodigal Son—am desperate and in need. I am ready to come home and face You and my past. What I lack most is courage, but I know courage comes from You. Inspire me with the courage to come home and find my pathway to healing. In Your Name I pray. Amen.
Read: Luke 15:11-32
Weekly Memory Verse: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.” Romans 15:13 (ESV)