THE COURAGE TO GO HOME

 

Sometimes we make such a mess of our lives that we have to admit it. The parable of the Prodigal Son is the best example of this (see Luke 15). I see in this parable an analogy that could apply to all of us.

To recap, a man had two sons. Imagine you are the younger and you wanted to leave home and make your own way in the world and perhaps sow some wild oats.  You plan to part ways with your family so you ask your father for your inheritance. The plan was to have some fun and even gamble and maybe make some speculative investments to double your money. You are sure there is an easier way to make it than your father tilling his fields.

The father obliges and sends you out into the world. No doubt he can see that you could learn a few lessons. Much like our Father in Heaven who had sent us down to earth not just to learn a few lessons but to eventually become like Him and enjoy the riches of eternity.

The older brother in the Parable, the heir of all his father had, was pretty much of the opinion that his brother deserved all the misfortune he got. This brother never sought him who was lost, despite the kinship, despite the brotherhood, despite the father's sorrow over his loss.

Our older brother, on the other hand, knowing from the beginning that He alone would inherit all the Father has, had a very different approach to the situation. Knowing that none of us could come back home by our own efforts, in essence said: ‘I will pave the way, I will seek them and I will bring them back.

So you the prodigal, with your inheritance spent are now reduced to the lowest form of poverty and misery that the world can offer. You find yourself sleeping and eating the husks with the pigs in your service. Imagine such degradation and suffering as eating and sleeping with pigs, especially for one of an honorable parentage who was raised in wealth and was attended to by servants.

Your suffering is extreme, you can sink no lower. You reflect on the home of your youth and the security and safety you had there and how well you were provided for. If only you could go home to the Father who loved you!  But you have no means to make your way back. And you are in agony of remorse for what you have done. The guilt and shame is consuming you.

And then, the unthinkable happens. Your older brother finds you and tells you he will pay for your way home and he will redeem you from all your debts and he will even share his inheritance with you. There are some conditions that will have to be met to ensure your return but you will be saved from the failure your life has become. It is almost too good to be true and you hesitate in your weakness.

And then the hope and courage is born to follow your brother home! You would go home to the father who loved you and would surely forgive you and allow you to serve him. You would go home to the father who would lift you out of the misery and hopelessness you had fallen into. You would go home because there was a path of return, with a price paid to cover all your debts.

What exquisite hope his father was to the prodigal! How that hope would have lifted him out of the mire he was in and propelled him to return home! And what courage was given him by his brother who sought him to bring him home! He was not forgotten and he was wanted!

So here some of us are, like the prodigal, eating husks with the swine for this is not much more that this world has to offer. What hope our Father must have had when He sent us out into the world that we would remember the splendour we came from, that we would want to run home.

 

And so a great sacrifice was made for our return. The Son who came to guide and to seek us to bring us home climbed the hill of Calvary so that we could in our lowest earthly moments say:

For me Your body was broken,

For me Your blood was spilt,

For me Your death was offered

That I might live with You still.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Modern Prodigal Son by Liz Lemon Swindle)

The Official Website of Liz Lemon Swindle – Lizlemonswindle

THE PRODIGALS

 

I see an important simile in the parable of the Prodigal Son. I see in it Christ’s redemptive power. I will not rehash the parable itself as I am presuming that most of us know it so I will outline what it is that I see.

 

The father of this parable is in every way symbolic of our Father in Heaven who respects our free agency and yet welcomes back, with compassion, forgiveness and immense joy, anyone who returns to Him. We, like the younger son, are the prodigals, who have gone out into the world and are spending more than what our part of the inheritance would have been worth. The First Born of the Father, the Saviour himself, can be compared to the good son in the parable, but with a huge difference. The parable's good son never sought him who was lost, despite the kinship, despite the brotherhood, despite the Father's sorrow over his loss. And when his brother returned, he was reluctant and fearful he would have to share his inheritance with him.  The Saviour, on the other hand, knowing from the beginning that He alone would inherit all the Father has, propagated and promoted His willingness to share the inheritance with his younger siblings. But the loving kindness did not end there. Because of His perfect nature and the purity of His love, He was able to say: ‘I will not only share with them all that I have but I will make it possible for them to return. If they come to Me, none will stay in deficit’.

 

I have been faithful to God all my life, carefully avoiding sin, and whilst recognising that I, like everybody else am not sinless, I had not fully resonated with the prodigal son until I realised one day that I, like him have made unwise decisions in my life, not exercising the power of foresight when I made them. Because like sin, every decision carries with it consequences and repercussions, I have suffered much over the years because of them. But the Saviour’s Atonement covers all sin and all foibles of mortality and its ensuing suffering, and even that of bad decisions. The Atonement is not only cleansing but also consoling. Like a salve to a wound, it relieves the pain and heals the once broken, the once torn, the once damaged, the once suffering. Its' restorative power makes us whole and once again aligned with God. It means all our sins, our bad choices and our unwise decisions can be swept away. 

 

I sometimes hear such merciless comments as: they deserved what they got, or they made their bed, they have to lie in it now. The thing to remember is that some of us will have more to be forgiven of than others, because we are not all equally strong. Some of us are good sons and some are the foolish ones. Some are strong and some, for whatever reason, are weak. Where would we be if the Saviour had said: If I can be sinless, so can you! I know, for one, I would be lost. Because of Him, I, the prodigal, can return. It means I can once again be safe, be loved and never be lost again….and I can still have it all.

 

 - CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: The Lost Is Now Found by Greg Collins)

THE JEWELS IN HIS CROWN

 

A friend told me once that if the Saviour suddenly came to our chapel one Sunday, He would walk right past me and go to the sinner who was not being obedient, that because I was doing well, I was not as important. I was crushed by this but reasoned that I should not be like the Prodigal Son’s brother and should accept that the sinner that needed to be saved was all that mattered. Yes, we are all sinners but some more so than others. The righteous are the faithful who keep yielding their hearts to God and who keep repenting whilst others persist in their rebellion of Him. 

Whereas I do not wish to discredit the worth of a sinner, my intent here is to highlight the worth of the righteous because this week I read something in the scriptures that sent waves of joy through my heart. When the Saviour visited the spirit world post crucifixion and before resurrection, He did not walk past the righteous to go to the sinners (D&C 138:20-22). In fact, the righteous were the only ones He went to, the ones who had heard His voice, who accepted Him, obeyed Him and who awaited Him to rejoice in His gift of redemption. They were the ones who welcomed Him and sang praises to His holy name (v23-24). The only ones He preached the gospel to were the saints who were already converted, who deserved to hear the words of eternal life from His lips (v19; to hear Him declare liberty to the captives ‘who had been faithful’ (v18). To the rest, the Saviour sent his faithful servants to preach the everlasting gospel of repentance (v29-30). 

To you, who are the faithful saints of His Church, I want to say this: You are cherished and valued beyond your capacity to understand. You are the ones who make it all worth-while, the ones who bring Him joy. You are the jewels in His crown (Malachi 3:17). You are the sheep who hear His voice and who obey, the faithful who sustained Him in realms of eternity and who will worship Him forever. May you embrace your cherished heart this day and be filled with the unfathomable love of Him who sacrificed His all that you might live and have fulness of joy (D&C 93:33; 138:17; Moses 7:67).

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art: The Good Shepherd by Eva Koleva Timothy)