Now there has been many sermons and lessons on this passage. It is used for evangelism to help show how God will receive those who have squandered their lives and fallen into sin, it is also used to speak to Christians who are struggling with sin. But there is something else that I think is important for everyone to recognize and learn from.
When the son returns he is feeling miserable, inadequate, and unworthy. He plans to go back to his father and say, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants." But when he stands before his father to say the same thing, his father interrupts him before he can finish. His father is so glad he has come back he doesn't even focus on where he was or how he feels. The father is not glad that his son feels horrible, he does not feel honored that his son wants to be his servant, he is just overjoyed at his return. The father does not lower himself to cater to the son's feelings of brokeness. He does not say, 'Oh son I know how you feel... I know you squandered all of my property...but I forgive you...' No! It is nothing like that. The father completely ignores who the son was before, instead he makes a proclamation of who he IS!
The new identity that the father gives the son is accompanied by gifts, among them is a robe and a ring. 'Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet (verse 22).' The father sees his son in a way that the son does not view himself. He sees him as part of the family, and not only that but an honored member of the family. The robe is given to replace the rags that the son was wearing, from rags to riches as it were. This is representative of how we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. The ring bears a significance of its own. Now this may be some speculation, but at that time wealthy families had family crest rings. The rings were a way to represent the family and to carry out the family business. And the father gave one to his son!! The son went from a place of abject suffering, humility, and deprivation, to a place of right standing and authority in his family. Its hard to imagine what is going through the son's mind!
The next thing that the father does is throw him a feast! He wants to celebrate with his son and to be with him. Now the son has two choices, he can either accept the place of authority that his father has given him, in order to do that he must let go of who he was before; the other option is that he can live in a perpetual state of inadequacy. He can think to himself during the whole feast and his life with his family, 'I am so undeserving'.... I shouldn't be here'.... 'I am unworthy'.... If it is this mindset that the son is in, then he will never actually enjoy the feast that has been given to him, neither will he be able to effectively carry our his fathers business. If the son kept feeling this way I can't imagine the father would be too pleased. He would be sad that his son wasn't accepting the honor and glory he had given him, sad that in some way his son was still clinging to the person he had been rather then the person he is now. He had restored his son but his son doesn't necessarily need to accept that restoration.
This is something that we often struggle with, and we find ourselves stuck in a stagnant pool of our own inadequacy. Not only that but we aren't comfortable with the place that God has raised us up to! We not only don't accept the authority that God has given us to represent him, but we continue feeling miserable over our past. This is absolutely ridiculous!! God has forgiven all our sins, and we are RIGHTEOUS in his sight! We have been reconciled and now represent the kingdom of heaven. We need to learn how God wants to live as well as how he wants us to think. In order for us to fulfill the work of his kingdom, we need to step into our role as a royal priesthood and learn what that authority really entails. We need to change the way we think about ourselves; our minds need to be transformed to view ourselves the way that God views us! For it is this that is glorifying to God, and it is only the truly humble heart that can accept the place that God has placed us in and at the same time let go of the person that God says has been crucified with Christ.
