Get Back

Luke 15: 11-32

I confess that I have a case of wanderlust. Ever since I was a small child, I have had a curiosity about what was beyond my immediate surroundings. I grew up in a rural community about 20 miles outside of Baton Rouge on land that had been farmed by my maternal grandparents. At about age 12, I decided that I didn’t want to live in such a rural area. I wanted to move to the big city. I wanted the amenities of a city that I saw in movies. I wanted to be able to get radio stations that played alternative music and to shop in stores with the latest fashions. I know I was not the first young person with dreams of bigger and better things than what is right in front of me.

Through the years, untold commentaries have been written about why the younger son in this parable wanted to leave the farm for a far-away land. However, Jesus doesn’t provide that detail. So we have been left to attribute motives to his request. We decide that maybe he disliked his family so much that he just had to get away. Maybe he was like me with a head full of dreams of the big city. Maybe he just wanted to see if he could make it on his own. Whatever the reason, he asked his dad for his share of the inheritance. Despite what some have said, this doesn’t necessarily mean that asking for his inheritance before his dad died was equivalent to saying his dad was dead. He just needed some money to leave and asked for an advance. Asking for the inheritance is not where this young man got lost. His gravest sin wasn’t how he got the money but how he spent it, leaving himself in a strange land absolutely destitute.

Obviously the young man was lost because of his sinful living in that far-off land. Yet he was lost in another sense. He was lost because he was far off from his life-giving relationships. He was far off from his father. The Greek word that’s used to describe being far-off (makran) is used multiple times by Luke in both his Gospel and in Acts. For Luke, humanity is “far-off” from God and in need of returning back. When things got bad, he had no one to turn to in his need. He had no family to support him. He had only himself to rely on. He was completely on his own. He got a job, but it appears that it was not paying a living wage, as he pines for the pods that he fed the pig. Left to his own devices, the young man was unable to make good choices or even take care of himself. He was lost without his dad’s support.

If you’ve ever moved somewhere far away from your support system, you know that it can be tough when things get messy. I’m 50-something years old and yet, when I’m sick or feeling overwhelmed, I still want my mom. That’s what the younger son was missing. He knew he had to get back to the one who loved him unconditionally and would help him. When he was desperate, he wanted to go home. He no longer wanted to be so far- off from his father, not so far-off from home.

When we get in messy situations, feel desperate, and completely alone, we have the same option that the younger son had. We have the option to go home…home to our loving Creator who will receive us with joy and open arms. We don’t have to go it alone. We can always go home.

Prayer
Loving God, thank you for always welcoming us home. When we are struggling amid the messiness of life, messes often made by our own choices, welcome us back into your loving arms. Enable us to make the decision to come home. Amen.

Rev. Dana Ezell