When he was yet a great way off

It is remarkable that the parable of the two sons, which initially was told in response to the Pharisees’ self-righteous attitude against our Lord, judging Him for being so approachable to the unworthy, has become known as ‘the Parable of the Prodigal Son’, rather than ‘the Parable of the Petulant Son’. The parable is, of course, much loved because it illustrates a number of truths we find moving: that a rebellious child can change his attitude; that a proud, self-indulgent one can return to a parent in humility and self-deprecation; that a parent never gives up hope, and is usually not only willing to forgive and restore, but is longing to do so; that all this illustrates the fact that God Himself waits patiently for the returning, humbled, repentant sinner.

Yet, the thrust of our Lord’s parable was that the son who remained behind was just as lost to the father as the one who had left home; that the one who was careful and disciplined in doing his father’s will was just as wrong as the one who was indulgent and disobedient; that a parsimonious, unforgiving spirit is just as regrettable as a generous but sensual one. The Pharisees felt that God owed them something as did the older brother in the parable. By their careful living they thought they had done God a favour and could not understand how Jesus of Nazareth could seemingly take more pleasure in the company of the sinners of the day than in theirs.

The father of the prodigal seems to have spent many an hour looking for the return of his errant son, for he saw him come ‘when he was yet a great way off’. Physically, of course, the prodigal was still afar off, but in spirit the son was close to his father from the moment he ‘came to himself’, humbled himself, and repented of his folly. The opposite was true of the petulant son. Physically he had always been close to his father, yet in spirit ‘he was yet a great way off’. The kind, generous, forgiving spirit of his father was not displayed in the son. Self-righteousness and a jealous spirit always destroy. Should we ever be called upon to come along side another overtaken in a fault, may we always be willing to restore such in a spirit of humility, and with a desire for true restoration.