When he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have food to spare, and here I am starving to death! I will set out and go back to my father and say to him: Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son; make me like one of your hired men.’ So he got up and went to his father.
- Luke 15:17-20a
I must admit that I have sometimes wondered if this younger son’s decision to return home was truly the result of a broken and repentant heart, or if it was more of a desperate survival tactic motivated out of self-preservation. After all, which of us hasn’t turned to God in a crisis, begging Him to help us out of whatever fix we were in, and promising to change our behavior if He will bail us out one last time?
However, if we dig a little deeper into the historical context of the story, it becomes clear that returning home is no “quick fix” for his money problems. He would have had to endure extreme shame and the scorn of his family and entire village. In his book The Cross and the Prodigal, Dr. K.E. Bailey describes what this process might have been like. “As the son comes closer to his home, he feels fear and shame. He wished his father dead, left family and community, and now he has lost everything. He expects to face his father’s and brother’s anger and rejection. Further, the community would reject and banish him, as was the custom. Any Jew who lost his family’s money among foreigners would face the Kezazah ceremony (literally “the cutting off”). The Kezazah would be performed by breaking a large clay pot at the feet of the prodigal as visual symbol that the community rejected him forever.” So this lost son would have understood that to return was not going to be easy.
Another reason for believing that his motives were not entirely selfish is the content of his rehearsed speech. He is at least saying the right things, he acknowledges his sin against both his heavenly and his earthly father. He also recognizes that he cannot presume to re-enter his old life on the same terms, as if the whole thing had never happened.
Still, I think we have to admit that this son, like all of us, is probably a mixed bag when it comes to the true motivations of his heart and his reasons for returning home. Did he long for his former life as his father’s son? Quite likely. Was he thinking with his growling stomach? Also very likely. Was he completely genuine and repentant in his confession speech? Are you? Am I? The truth is that none of us are 100% in anything we do. However, as we will soon find out, the restoration of the son does not depend on the quality and sincerity of the son’s speech, but on the grace and compassion of the Father!
Biblical scholars agree that this is the turning point of the story (at least for the younger brother). This is the moment when his life begins to change. The phrase “When he came to his senses” actually means when he came to himself--when he remembered who he was. All of the things that he had sought his identity in were gone: money, women, freedom, friends, etc., and all he has left is the faint memory of the son he used to be. As far as he was able, he turned his heart toward home.
Pastor Jeff Frazier
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