I’ve been looking at the parable of the prodigal son in a new way lately (Luke 15:11-32).\u00a0 I think it’s more a parable of the hired hand.<\/p>\n
“I will go home to my father and say, ‘Father, I have sinned against both heaven and you, and I am no longer worthy of being called your son. Please take me on as a hired servant.'” (Luke 15:18-19)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Twice the prodigal son says this.\u00a0 Once to himself as he is rehearsing what he will say when he returns home and once when he actually sees his father.<\/p>\n
And this is the older brother’s response:<\/p>\n
“…but he replied, ‘All these years I’ve slaved<\/em> for you and never once refused to do a single thing you told me to.” (Luke 15:29, emphasis mine<\/em>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I think for many Christians, we have made ourselves the hired hand.\u00a0 We have accepted Jesus Christ as our Savior but we can’t accept God’s lavish grace.\u00a0 We don’t deserve<\/em> to be rescued.\u00a0 We must do something<\/em> to make up for it.\u00a0 We OWE <\/em>God.<\/p>\n
So we make ourselves the hired hand.\u00a0 We slave<\/em> away in service to God but many of us don’t understand that He is not demanding works from us.<\/p>\n
“For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” (Hosea 6:6); which Jesus quotes twice (Matthew 9:13 and 12:7).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
I know I certainly have lived that way.\u00a0 And my ‘works’ were based on fear – fear that I would not be ‘good enough’ for God, that He would not accept me if I didn’t behave in an ‘acceptable’ way.\u00a0 But as I’ve let go of striving and trying to be ‘good’ and simply…accepted…grace… I can be more like the prodigal son when he returned home.\u00a0 He accepted the party his father threw for him.\u00a0 He received the Father’s free<\/em> gift.<\/p>\n
What would have happened if the prodigal son had dug in his heels and said to the Father, “Absolutely not!\u00a0 You can’t throw this party for me.\u00a0 I don’t deserve it.\u00a0 I’m making myself your hired hand and that’s that!”\u00a0 I think we subconsciously do that to God.<\/p>\n
And the older brother, the ‘good’ one, didn’t understand either.\u00a0 He stayed behind and was faithful to the Father, but he didn’t see himself as the free recipient of the Father’s riches.\u00a0 He saw himself as a slave, as a hired hand (“…all these years I’ve slaved<\/em> for you…” Luke 15:29).<\/p>\n
And yet…”His father said to him, ‘…everything I have is yours<\/em>.'” (Luke 15:31, emphasis mine<\/em>)<\/p>\n
Do we understand that everything God has is ours without having to work for it?\u00a0 That we can cease our striving and rest in grace?\u00a0 Or do we live our lives as hired hands?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"