City Life Starter

Written by Paul Lane

The Word

¹⁸ But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn,
    which shines brighter and brighter until full day.
¹⁹ The way of the wicked is like deep darkness;
    they do not know over what they stumble.

Proverbs 4:18-19

4 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. ² And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster. ³ Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” ⁴ And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”

Jonah 4:1-4

¹⁷ “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!

Luke 15:17

¹⁰ For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death.

II Corinthians 7:10

Reflection

Consider, if you will, the image of two paintings from a couple of Dutch masters as stand-ins for the two sons in the story of the Prodigal Son.  You have Johannes Vermeer’s “The Astronomer,” which is the image of a son who has skills, plans, and everything going for him in the future.  Then you have Frans Hal’s “The Happy Drinker,” which is the image of a son who simply values pleasure.  I would dare to say that we can identify with each of them at some level.  When we have our act together, we can find ourselves looking down on the drunkard.  And when we are tired of it all, or just falling behind, we want to cast off the “good kid” as a show-off or teacher’s pet.

In all honesty, it is the task of mature society to get you to act like the good kid.  No one is proud to introduce their slacker child to friends at a party.  But that is the very thing that this father does in this parable.  How can this be?  How can Jesus tell a story that places the disobedient person in the right, while the person that obeyed is left as the bad guy? I think there’s a two-part answer to that.  First, in our life with Christ, we should understand that we can be both sons at different points in our lives.  We are the son who went astray, and we are the son that obeyed.  Both sons are sinners, and both need to be redeemed.  Second, Jesus is teaching that there is something more than property.  The wayward son ends the story in a good light because he has learned to value his father’s house, not just the possession of it.  The faithful son ends in a poor light because he did not value being with the father.  Think about the ending scene:

³⁰ But when this son of yours came, who has devoured your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² It was fitting to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”

Luke 15:30-32

The faithful son has disowned his brother, and says to his father, “this son of yours….”  But this father is compassionate and very wise when he says back to him, “this brother of yours was dead, and is alive….”  I believe his “faithful” son has stopped being part of the family in his heart for some time now.  He stands in the shoes of Jonah, desiring more the punishment of the evil doer than their redemption. So, the father is offering his son a path back into the family.  The trick of this parable is that it is not about one prodigal son, but about both sons.

Application

How about you?  Are you the religious son who stayed or the prodigal son who left?  Are things going well for you, and you don’t see why someone in your life can’t get it together?  Or are you mad at God and struggling with the way He is doing things? 

Well, the good news is that Jesus has room for both types.  If you have gone astray and squandered the Lord’s grace, there is forgiveness for you.  Or if you have been religious, but feel that you have been overlooked or mistreated, there is grace for you too.  In both cases, the answer is repentance.  Turn away from your pride and let it be the work of Christ that justifies you and is the reason you are accepted, and not by your works.  They are nothing in comparison to the work that God is doing within you.

Work hard, yes.  Develop your skills, yes.  Do great things in your life with eagerness and excitement.  But don’t forget the source of your blessing, the grace by which you live, and that the reason you are here is to worship God.

Prayer

Dear Lord, I know that Your grace is sufficient for me, but I am often distracted by other things.  I pray that You remind me of Your presence, that I can enjoy Your fellowship, and that I learn to seek You always. In Jesus name, amen.