Shameful Grace…
11.17.24
Luke 15:17, “But when he came to his senses, he said, ‘How many of my father’s hired men have more than enough bread, but I am dying here with hunger?”
Receiving what you never expected can be the biggest blessing in the world. Undeserved favor. But in our humanity, it’s hard to forget the reason WHY we need grace. As we read and listen to what God wants for us in the Parable of the Prodigal son, we get to this moment where the prodigal returns. But he doesn’t just return. He returns to someone.
A father.
But not just any father. There’s this interesting aspect of the father that this son returns to that, when I first learned about it, made me realize why this son returned to this particular father. Verse 18, “I’m not just going to stay here and die, I will get up and go to my father and will say to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Here’s my plan, make me one of your hired men.'”
It’s very humbling.. very shameful, but he says I’m going to do it. And listen to how clear he is. “I have sinned against heaven and in your sight.” He’s not holding anything back. Now if you know the story you know this is an incredible moment where the father and son a reunited and the father accepts him back with open arms. Why would I call it shameful? Let me explain…
Verse 20, “So he got up, came to his father, but while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion and ran and embraced him and kissed him.”
What happened could only be described as … shameful.
It’s daytime, the town is full of people doing their business. And the father is looking.
Why? He wants to protect him from the shame.
So, how does he do it? It says he felt compassion.
The word compassion comes from a root word in the Greek which means your bowels. He felt sick when he saw the boy and knew he was headed toward these people. And so it says he ran.
Middle Eastern noblemen don’t run. Researcher Kenneth Bailey writes this, “One reason why Middle Easterners of rank do not run is that they wore long, expensive robes. To run meant to hike it up. When this occurs the legs are exposed which is considered shameful. The robes themselves are called makabedut(??), meaning that which brings me honor. Honor was connected to the robe.”
In early Arabic versions of the Bible, there was a refusal to include the father running. Finally, in 1860 in what’s called the Vandyke Arabic Bible, the father runs.
What is God running for? If you want the Gospel here it is… He takes the scorn and the mockery and the slander so that his son doesn’t have to. So much love that he empties himself of any pride, rights, or honor and in a self-emptying display of love brings shame on himself to throw his arms around His child. Does that sound familiar?
Philippians 2:6-8 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross!
Isaiah 53: 4-5
Surely he took up our pain
and bore our suffering,
yet we considered him punished by God,
stricken by him, and afflicted.
But he was pierced for our transgressions,
he was crushed for our iniquities;
the punishment that brought us peace was on him,
and by his wounds we are healed.
Jesus is saying…”You want to know how eager God is to receive a sinner? He will run through the dirt and bear the shame, He will embrace you.”
Let’s embrace this shameful grace God so lavishly pours over us.