Lessons From the Father
Again, I do not want to imply that evangelicalism has the truth market cornered. There are excesses and a type of deconstruction does need to happen. We aren’t consistent. In the parable there is nothing but pig slop in the far country. It’d fit well with our typical arrogance to neatly position ourselves as the father’s house but we evangelicals need to acknowledge that we have pig slop on our own farms and there might be more of Jesus out in the far country.
Having said that I do think there is some correlation here to the prodigal. There are some things being picked up in the far country that do not belong in the father’s house. You’ll notice in the text that though the father clearly loved the son he did not turn his home into the far country in order to keep him.
The Father will always remain true to Himself. He doesn’t have a wax nose that shifts with whatever our fallen inclinations are treasuring in the moment. He remains the treasure. He must remain our standard of truth. And we must remain steadfast to the truth as we see it in Jesus.
But we also need to prepare the soil for the prodigals return. There is famine and pig slop out there. Just as an evangelical obsession with power is collapsing, so also other worldviews seeking to fill that void will inevitably collapse. They too will experience famine.
I think this is why that gap is silent. The father knew it would eventually collapse and he wanted the road on which the prodigal would return to be void of roadblocks. He wanted his love to be the last thing the prodigal remembered as he walked out the door and into the far country.
Conclusion
Truthfully, if our community looks more like the elder brother in the story then the prodigal probably isn’t going to return. And that isn’t a bad thing. The elder brother remains in the house but he’s just as far off from the father as the prodigal was. Tim Keller is correct:
If, like the elder brother, you seek to control God through your obedience, then all your morality is just a way to use God to make him give you the things in life you really want. (Keller, 39)
Filling that gap with elder brother responses isn’t going to bring back the prodigal, nor do you even gain much if you convinced him to stay. You’d just further encase his heart to the “far country” even if he stays in your house.
I also write this as an encouragement. I believe if you do have communities that are marked by the father—lovingly preparing soil for their return while remaining steadfast in truth, then there is a day coming soon when you’ll likely see a busy highway of returning prodigals.
But this is where we need to acknowledge that not a one of us is actually the father in this parable. It’s not our mud houses that we want people to return to, it’s the Father.
This article originally appeared here and is used by permission.
