Jesus’ first two parables in Luke 15 challenge Jesus’ critics to abandon their objections and join heaven in reaching the lost one. As He reiterates, “Rejoice with me!”
However, it is one thing to challenge critics with cute stories about sheep and coins; it is another to confront their attitude with human beings, which is what Jesus does in His third and final parable in Luke 15. He tells the story of a wealthy Jewish family—a father with two sons.
Premature Inheritance
The youngest son approached the father for his inheritance prematurely, something he was deserving but not yet mature enough or prepared to manage. This is one reason why material security comes later in life when we are hopefully ready to manage it well. I have seen many financial windfalls destroy people and even kill them. I know that people in addiction getting a lot of money from a family inheritance will potentially lead to a tragedy. I warn families of this regularly and cringe when it happens.
Those in addiction are drawn to the quick, fast, easy way of life success. And even if they are materially successful, they will unfortunately squander it due to their inability and lack of maturity to manage and maintain success. Short cuts, while attractive, get us places we are not yet ready to be, so we unfortunately lose the opportunity.
The audacity of this young man to ask such a thing is amazing! What an utter rejection of his father. He is at best treating him as an ATM and at worst wishing him dead, which is when most inheritances transfer hands. Unfortunately, many people in relationships with those in addiction feel similarly, as if their only value is what they can provide, as if they are nothing more than a conduit to resources. This leads to the feeling of being used.
Self-Absorbed Life of Addiction
The tragic reality of a self-absorbed life of addiction is the inability to see people as any value except to satisfy their immediate desires. The painful truth of addiction is that it objectifies people into worthwhile or not based on ability and willingness to gratify their desires. That is why some say that addicts don’t build relationships, they take hostages.
The rejection of this father is devastating. And while I expect the father to take his requesting son into his office, put on his cardigan, pull out his pipe and give his son a lecture on respect and value, what he does instead is just grant him his portion of the family estate. This is astounding to me and his audience. What is the father thinking?
The father knows exactly what is going to happen and like Jesus with Peter is praying, “And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.” (Luke 22:32)
The father knows that the only way his younger son will learn is to experience the end result of his belief systems, and that is tragically true for those in addiction also. Sometimes wisdom is to let them go and experience the full ramifications of their desires. Then, and only then, will they potentially run out of themselves and then become willing to consider another option.
The struggle is that most loving enablers are unwilling to let them face the full impact of their choices. They cannot handle the potential pain of seeing their loved one hurt, so they soften the blow with rescue until the next time. They cover their bond or let them back in the house etc. They will be sure that when the addict falls, their landing will be soft.
Reckless Living
The younger son then runs away from home to a far-off country—a place that is more distant in values and culture than even distance. There, the son “squandered his property in reckless living” (v.13). His older brother will later clarify this as “devouring your property with prostitutes” (v.30).
He quickly runs out of resources. It is only there that he begins to realize what he is doing. Seldom do people begin to consider change until they have exhausted their resources. People must hit bottom before things can start looking up.
In this case “hitting bottom” was not only spending his entire inheritance on reckless living, but Jesus interestingly adds to his plight, a famine. Famine is an extreme scarcity, typically of food, caused by a severe drought due to a lack of water. This environmental drought leads to no crops and therefore everyone is starving. Everyone! Not just the irresponsible who may be most vulnerable, but everyone.
The grim reality is that America has a drug plague because we are affluent enough, we can afford it. There is enough economic wealth that we can absorb the irresponsibility of many. Responsible living builds protections, financial cushions, safety nets, and insulation from negative experiences. But famine with irresponsible addict behavior leads to devastation.
In America, if we had true famine, the first thing that would go would be social programs like disability, unemployment, welfare, and there would be no benevolent organizations like His Way. His Way is primarily founded on the generosity of those giving their extra—their surplus. If no one has extra, then no one can give surplus.
Every Bottom Has a Basement
At this point, the young man “began to be in need,” so he began looking for a regular job to support himself. The best he could find was a job slopping pigs—an extremely humiliating job for a Jewish boy who considers pigs very unclean and profane. He was forced even lower than this when the pig farmer would not allow him to eat the pig’s pods. The “far country” farmer viewed the pigs more valuable than the young man. The pigs need to eat to survive, the Jewish boy is expendable. What a devastating blow to one’s ego. A Jewish aristocrat has fallen below pigs.
It is there, at the bottom that Luke 15:17 says, “he came to himself.” The proverbial light came on. An epiphany! Yet, as we know in recovery, to every bottom there is a basement. A mother was telling me about the bottom her son had hit. He had lost his family, his job, his money, his home, his respect, he was barely surviving in his car. And one of our residents overheard the conversation and said, “He has a car?”
He thought he would do better going home and offering himself to his father as the lowest hired hand on the farm. So, he began preparing his speech and writing his script of humility. Everyone who has ever had to go back and “eat crow” knows the script that must be prepared. The script was prepared based on his view of his father: a very reluctant dad who had been taken advantage of and humiliated by his son’s behavior, and one that—with effective persuasion—may begrudgingly, graciously give him another chance as a bottom-tier servant.
The speech went something like this,
“Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.” (Luke 15:18,19)
Sinned Against Heaven
Clearly the horizontal relationship sin against his father is crystal clear. He squandered one-third of the family’s estate. Plus dishonored his father. But how had he sinned against heaven? What sins did he recognize vertically?
For many these are the most difficult to see. On one hand he had sinned against the moral order that God had designed with sexually immoral behavior and godless revelry. Also, the motivation behind these bad decisions was driven by greed and self-indulgence. But he also sinned against God’s commands by being disrespectful and dishonoring of his parents which is the fifth commandment, “Honor your father and mother.” In fact, Paul emphasizes that this is the first command with a promise, “that it may go well with you and that you may live long in the land” (Ephesians 6:3). He had sinned against God’s very order and design. Due to the sinful nature toward impulsive, flesh gratifying urges we get ahead of ourselves and God’s design for a blessed life.
God designed our sexual urges to be fulfilled within the context of a structured support for children called marriage. But when we are impatient and get sexually involved outside this structure, we tragically produce children without families and put pressure on other family members to raise these fruits of our impulses. And if families are unavailable or incapable, we put stress on the state and other families to cover for us.
Many trapped in addiction have lost all contact with their children and in many situations lost their rights to a relationship. All because we let our impulses get ahead of God’s design. “Sinned against heaven.”
A Long Walk Home
So, the young man begins his very long walk home. A walk that takes much longer when filled with regret, shame, guilt, and fear than the initial sprint to the far-off country had been.
As he crested the hill toward home, something very unexpected happened. His father, who he thought had long forgotten him and disowned him, had not. He had been spending his days sitting on the front porch looking toward the horizon for the day his son would return. And when he saw him, he leapt from his rocking chair and began running toward the silhouette in the distance of his beleaguered son.
Luke 15:20 describes his father’s response as, “saw him and felt compassion, and ran and embraced and kissed him.” Certainly not the response his young son had expected. You quickly discover that this son did not understand his father, just like many of us do not understand our God.
What drives much addiction is a faulty perception of reality. A lot of times we have a skewed view of people, their motives, and their character. In addiction, ourselves get so large that it is impossible to see others objectively.
The father had this response without any knowledge of why his son had returned. Maybe he was coming home to get his debit card refilled or get some more things to squander, but for a gracious father motives did not matter. His son was home! And it was time to celebrate.
Our God always celebrates our return. He says, “Rejoice with Me!” over you.