In the first century a Middle Eastern man never — never — ran. If he were to run, he would have to hitch up his tunic so he would not trip. If he did this, it would show his bare legs. In that culture, it was humiliating and shameful for a man to show his bare legs. So, here’s the question: If it was shameful for a man to run in that culture, why did the father run when his son returned to him? What motivated him to shame himself? Before we answer that question, we have to understand an important first-century Jewish custom.
Kenneth Bailey, author of The Cross & the Prodigal, explains that if a Jewish son lost his inheritance among Gentiles, and then returned home, the community would perform a ceremony, called the kezazah. They would break a large pot in front of him and yell, “You are now cut off from your people!” The community would totally reject him.
So, why did the father run? He probably ran in order to get to his son before he entered the village. The father runs — and shames himself — in an effort to get to his son before the community gets to him, so that his son does not experience the shame and humiliation of their taunting and rejection. The village would have followed the running father, would have witnessed what took place at the edge of the village between father and son. After this emotional reuniting of the prodigal son with his father, it was clear that their would be no kezazah ceremony; there would be no rejecting this son — despite what he has done. The son had repented and returned to the father. The father had taken the full shame that should have fallen upon his son and clearly shown to the entire community that his son was welcome back home.
The amazing application for our own lives is crystal clear. Our heavenly Father has taken our shame through his Son, Jesus, who willingly endured the cross on our behalf. He took our sins’ shame so that we would not have to. As a result, we can be forgiven, restored — accepted. We do not have to fear going home to our Father and confessing our sins, no matter what we have done, or how many times we have done it (remember, Jesus taught his followers to forgive 70 times seven).
In the parable, only the father could restore the son to full sonship in the family. In our case, we are sinners, and there is nothing that we can do to restore our lost relationship with the Holy God of the Universe. He calls us and waits — a single repentant step in his direction, and he is off and running to welcome us back home!
Not only does God forgive us, but he takes upon himself our shame. He lifts off that weight that we carry on our shoulders for our past mistakes, and willingly wipes the slate clean once more. May we experience what the prodigal son encountered upon returning to the 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” (Luke 15:20).
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Embracing Redemption
Get Planted
Luke 15:11-32
Grow Strong
4 Attitudes (2 to kick and 2 to keep)
The attitude of the Rebellious - Luke 15:12-13
The attitude of the Repentant - Luke 15:17-19
The attitude of the Reproacher - Luke 15:29
The attitude of the Redeemer - Luke 15:20
Branch Out
2 Corinthians 5:17-20 (NLT) - This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. And God has given us this task of reconciling people to him. For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, no longer counting people’s sins against them. And he gave us this wonderful message of reconciliation. So we are Christ’s ambassadors; God is making his appeal through us. We speak for Christ when we plead, “Come back to God!”
If you lost your new iPad, how diligently would you look for it? Let's up the ante... What if you lost your child at the mall? I imagine you would hunt and seek like your life depended on it! Jesus said He came to seek and save those that are lost. We have the same task today and lives are depending on it. This week @BranchChurch our very own Ballantyne campus Pastor DaVon Alexander taught us how to start a party in Heaven.
Listen online @BranchChurch or download the podcast on iTunes.
Branch Family Church
Jesus Seeks and Saves
Get Planted
Luke 15:1-2 – Tax collectors and other notorious sinners often came to listen to Jesus teach. This made the Pharisees and teachers of religious law complain that he was associating with such sinful people—even eating with them!
Grow Strong
Luke 15:7, 10 – Repentance brings joy in heaven
Luke 19:10 – Jesus came to seek and save
Luke 15:11-32 – Parable of the Lost Son
Branch Out
Romans 1:14-16 – Not ashamed of the gospel
II Corinthians 5:18-21 – We are Ambassadors
Luke 14:23 – God wants his house full
Pak Week One from Stephen Eichholtz on Vimeo.
The amazing Tori Berkowitz is the fearless leader of all things children @BranchChurch. Her passion to connect the next generation to their loving Father and serve parents has resulted in a new blog...Treehouse Children
Check it out!
Treehouse, the children’s ministry of the Branch Family Church, is a safe place where love is at the heart of all we do. We invest in our children each week to strengthen their relationship with God. As we instill in our children a love for God’s Word, their roots are being established in Jesus. They will flourish in the generation to which God has called them.
