Today Kwan Porter and I continue our conversation on identity by looking at a story about two sons and their loving father in Luke 15:11-32.
In verse 12 we find the younger son going to his father and saying, “Give me the share of the estate that falls to me.” He is really saying, “I’d be better off if you were dead. Your worth to me is simply my share of the value of your stuff.” And amazingly the father gives him his share of the estate. From there we read that this son goes to a distant land and squanders the estate by loose living.
Later on this younger son comes to his senses. He comes back home and says, “I’m not worthy to be your son.” It would be tempting for us to respond with a heart attitude of, “You have distanced yourself from me. I will distance myself from you. You are right. You aren’t worthy to be my son and I won’t treat you as a son any longer.”
There is a phrase that we hear said, “Shame on you.” We are tempted to respond that way, “You shamed me, now I will shame you.” What Jesus did and what we see the father doing in this story is just the opposite. It is “Shame off you. I will take that on myself.”
Then this father, who represents Father God, affirms his son’s identity. We might think He is giving it back but from His perspective He is simply reminding Him of who He was and is., “You are my son. You always have been. I want you as my son to receive and embrace that.”
Many times as parents we elevate our desire to teach our sons and daughters lessons over them knowing they are loved. This father had faith in the power of love. . .that if He stayed true to His identity and reminded his on of who he was good fruit would flow from that.
We will continue our conversation about the father and his two sons next week.
This week read Luke 15:11-32 and ask the Holy Spirit, “Which of these characters do I identify with? What do you want to speak to me today?”
