Hanging Out With The Pigs Or Hanging Out At The Castle?
The father's heart broke in two. He could not believe what his son had just said to him. His precious son, whom he loved so much, wished that he were dead...
To a father living in Palestine during the time of Christ, that's what it meant when your son came to you demanding his inheritance while you were still breathing. You were simply a barrier between them and your fortune.
Many men would have killed their son for saying such a thing. Such disrespect! Such a lack of love for their own father! It would not be tolerated. That's not what this father did though. With a heavy heart, this father divides up the inheritance and gives his younger son his share. That in itself was also highly unusual. It just wasn't done that way.
To make matters even worse, shortly after receiving his inheritance, the younger son packs up and leaves. He doesn't go buy the house down the road. The Bible tells us he goes to a distant country (Luke 15:13). More pain!
Although the Bible does not tell us, I have a feeling the father knew what was going to happen. The son's personality is clearly revealed to us when he brazenly demands his inheritance and moved out.
After learning things the hard way, the son of a man of wealth and power finds himself... feeding pigs. Now remember, Jesus is telling this story to Jews. There was no greater indignity then to be feeding pigs. They were unclean. You were to have nothing to do with them. This is another indicator that the son was far from home. Pigs.
The Bible does not tell us how long the younger son "hung out" with the pigs. What it does indicate to us later is that the son was "hanging out with the pigs" when he could have been "hanging out at the castle".
He decides his father's servants are better off than he is so decides to swallow his pride (he certainly has nothing to be proud of does he) and beg his father to take him on as a hired hand.
When he is a long way, his father sees him and is filled with compassion. You see, the father was on the lookout for his son. This sort of thing was not the norm in middle eastern culture. The father was wronged and insulted! The son should be considered dead by his father. The son should come crawling back on his hands and knees, groveling. Then if the father chose to let him live, he would generously allow him to be the lowest of servants. Of course, then he could no longer be his son.
The father is not only looking for him, he does something else very unusual. He runs. Now that might not seem so strange nowadays but it was beneath the dignity of this father to run. You didn't do it. Other people ran. Subordinates ran, slaves ran but the father, a wealthy landowner, did not run. This indicates to us that the father loved his son above all things and did not care who knew it! He looked past the rags and the filth and saw... his beloved son! He didn't care where he'd been or what he'd done. He only cared that he'd come home and now he was safe in his father's arms! (Luke 15:20)
Can you imagine the scene? The exuberant father beside himself with joy and the sobbing, repentant son? (Luke 15:21) What a change has occurred!
The father ignores all of the protests. He doesn't even say, "But you are my son..." He acts like he hasn't heard a word the son says. He tells his servants to move quickly and bring out the best robe, a ring and sandals and... kill the fattened calf for a feast. The best robe is a long robe which is a sign of distinction. The signet ring indicates authority, the sandals indicate the son is no longer a slave (slaves went barefoot) and the fattened calf is killed for special occasions. All of these things are signs that the father has accepted him as his son and restored his previous position. (Luke 15:22-24)
There is more to this story but I am going to stop there.
Have you ever found yourself wandering off to the pig sty? Sometime we head off down there out of rebellion. We are going to what we want the way that we want. Other times, we get enticed to head down there just to see what is going on and before we know it, we've leaned over the fence to far and have fallen into that sticky, gooey mud ourselves! Ugh!
The good news is... we don't have to hang out at the pig sty. We can leave. You see, we're not slaves... we're princes and princesses of the King. We can climb up out the pig sty. Often we have to cry out for help, but help will always be there in one form or another. God is always faithful and will not abandon us!
And as He sees us approaching, our heart full of repentance, He will race out to meet us and catch us in His arms. He'll wave aside our protests for it is not a matter of whether we are worthy or not for we are not. Rather, it is a matter as to who He declares us to be!
Finally, we can never catch God by surprise. He knows all about this tendency we have to slip on down to the pig sty if we are not careful. He knows all about it. He knew about all of our successes and our failures but He still said I love you so much I'll die for you. Let's go back to the castle...
Blessings!
K 
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Author: kreynolds
Location: Apple Valley Minnesota USA
Gender: Female
Age: 49
Blog Entries: 644 (archive)
Blog Comments: 1754
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Exactly what I need to hear. 
love AJ
