Monday
Jesus continued: “There was a man who had two sons. The younger one said to his father, ‘Father, give me my share of the estate.’ So he divided his property between them. “Not long after that, the younger son got together all he had, set off for a distant country and there squandered his wealth in wild living. - Luke 15:11-13
When I was about 6 years old I ran way from home (sort of). I vaguely remember my mother telling me that I was not allowed to do something that I felt certain a 6-year-old boy should be allowed to do. I felt strongly that her rules were totally unjust for a boy of my intelligence and maturity, and that I could no longer remain in such a restrictive environment. I'd teach her a lesson, I would strike out on my own and experience the world the way a young boy was meant to – totally free and unrestrained. Actually I don’t recall having any of those thoughts. I think I was just a mad and ornery little boy. I packed a few things for my journey (comic books and cookies mostly) and headed out into the wide world. I got as far as the end of our cul-de-sac and sat myself down under a group of pine trees in the corner of my neighbor’s yard. After about twenty minutes, the cookies were gone, and I got tired of waiting for my mother to come looking for me. I do recall wondering why she hadn’t organized a neighborhood search party or called the police. Finally I got up and went home. I think my mom probably knew where I was the whole time because she didn’t seem to worried when I walked in the back door.
Clearly the story Jesus told in Luke 15 was not a cute little tale about a young boy running away from home. But it is a story about what it means to leave home. It is a story about selfishness, pain, and broken relationships. Jesus gives us a picture of what our rebellion against God actually looks like. This young boy left home in every way that a person can leave home. He left his physical home, his ancestral family home, his relational home, and the home of his faith as well.
Most of us probably don’t think of ourselves as runaways from home, but the truth is that spiritually speaking, we have all leave home in one way or another. We all reject the love of our Father. We all demand our rights and want control of our lives – We all leave home. In his book The Return of the Prodigal Son, Henri Nouwen writes that “leaving home means ignoring the truth that God has fashioned me in secret and molded me in His image…leaving home is living as though I do not yet have a home and must look far and wide to find one.”
If home is a loving and obedient relationship with the Father, then we have been running from our spiritual home since Genesis 3 when Adam and Eve ran and hid themselves from God in the garden. We leave home whenever we doubt the truth of God. We leave home whenever we reject the love of God. We leave home whenever we fail to seek or to offer the forgiveness of Christ. We leave home whenever we resist the work God wants to do in our lives. We leave home whenever we think we know better than God and demand control of our own lives. We leave in a thousand big and small ways every day.
How have you left home?
What tempts you to run from your Father?
Father, Help me to know that my one true home is with You. Jesus teach me that all of my running and wandering will never gain me what I already have in You. Holy Spirit keep me from any thought or deed that would lead me away from my home with the Father – Amen.
Jeff Frazier
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1 comment:
Pastor Jeff's experience running away from home strikes me as very funny, since I tried running away from home at around the age of 13. After a disagreement with my father about the injustices of being a preacher's kid, I decided to go out into the world and away from my "oppressive" environment. I had no clue of where to go, so I thought it would be clever to sit under a tree overlooking a baseball field located behind my house. I remember trying to think about where to go and could not come with any ideas. My pathetic attempts were discovered by my dad who came out to the baseball field and sat next to me under the tree. He probably saw me from the living room window as I was "running away" from home. He didn't say anything as he sat down, he didn't have to because I knew I was wrong. After a while of just sitting there, I got tired and went home with him. I wish, I remembered to bring comics with me on my trip, I think it would have been a lot more fun of an experience instead of an embarrassing story about my teenage years lame attempt at rebellion. God bless.
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