He Runs to Us
I led a Bible study in a mostly freshman dorm my junior year in college. One of the shiest attendees of the study -- we'll call him Thomas -- lived down the hall from me. He had a roommate -- we'll call him Larry -- who drank so much, even for a college student, that Thomas and I suspected he was fast becoming an alcoholic. Thomas wanted to reach out to Larry in some sort of way, and so together we decided to ask him if he was interested in studying the Bible with us. Larry respected Thomas because Thomas was such a nice guy and had already served him in some very significant ways, and so Larry agreed to meet with us.
We decided to study Jesus' story that many people know as the Prodigal Son. We got to the part where the son hits rock bottom after telling his father off and squandering his share of the inheritance on profligate living. The son decides to return to the father, and rehearses a speech about working for him to earn food to feed his desperately hungry belly. Larry, having attended church as a child, immediately remembered it, and in a rote way, rattled off an answer about how this was the son's repentance, having figured out that his former lifestyle was wrong and now returning to the father.
I looked at Thomas and then Larry and said, "I disagree." We probed further into the story and its meaning. I noted that what the son wanted was to be his father's employee. But the father's response -- to run to his son, even at the risk of the peering eyes of disapproving neighbors, embrace him, and invite everyone within earshot to a huge banquet -- showed that he wanted his son to be his son again. In this story, at least, there is no repentance; just a loving father, happy to see his son home, eager to have him be his son again.
Thirteen years later, I don't know what's become of Thomas or Larry. But I still remember the lesson from this Bible passage. Far too often, we as Christians, having messed up our relationship with our Heavenly Father seemingly beyond repair, realize that being God's worker beats the direction we're currently going in life. We rehearse a speech and hope for just enough mercy from God to have an arms-length, employer-employee relationship, where we do as we're told and earn enough wages to live on.
God has other intentions. He runs to us -- the Creator of the Universe, Author of all History, Supreme Judge at the Final Judgment runs to us! -- because He is that happy to see us, He is that desirous to have us as His child. Far from making Him smaller of a God for excusing our sin, it makes Him greater of a God, for there is nothing we can do to merit such a response -- it is all flowing from an abundance of fierce love. We ought not run away from Him. But nor ought we think that the only way to be with Him is to run as fast as Him. For He runs to us.
We decided to study Jesus' story that many people know as the Prodigal Son. We got to the part where the son hits rock bottom after telling his father off and squandering his share of the inheritance on profligate living. The son decides to return to the father, and rehearses a speech about working for him to earn food to feed his desperately hungry belly. Larry, having attended church as a child, immediately remembered it, and in a rote way, rattled off an answer about how this was the son's repentance, having figured out that his former lifestyle was wrong and now returning to the father.
I looked at Thomas and then Larry and said, "I disagree." We probed further into the story and its meaning. I noted that what the son wanted was to be his father's employee. But the father's response -- to run to his son, even at the risk of the peering eyes of disapproving neighbors, embrace him, and invite everyone within earshot to a huge banquet -- showed that he wanted his son to be his son again. In this story, at least, there is no repentance; just a loving father, happy to see his son home, eager to have him be his son again.
Thirteen years later, I don't know what's become of Thomas or Larry. But I still remember the lesson from this Bible passage. Far too often, we as Christians, having messed up our relationship with our Heavenly Father seemingly beyond repair, realize that being God's worker beats the direction we're currently going in life. We rehearse a speech and hope for just enough mercy from God to have an arms-length, employer-employee relationship, where we do as we're told and earn enough wages to live on.
God has other intentions. He runs to us -- the Creator of the Universe, Author of all History, Supreme Judge at the Final Judgment runs to us! -- because He is that happy to see us, He is that desirous to have us as His child. Far from making Him smaller of a God for excusing our sin, it makes Him greater of a God, for there is nothing we can do to merit such a response -- it is all flowing from an abundance of fierce love. We ought not run away from Him. But nor ought we think that the only way to be with Him is to run as fast as Him. For He runs to us.
Comments