But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was filled with compassion for him; he ran to his son, threw his arms around him, and kissed him.
—Luke 15:20b
We celebrate Father’s Day in June. Many pastors pull out the parable of the prodigal son on Father’s Day. It’s one of Jesus’ most famous parables, and one pastors use to encourage nonbelievers to turn to the God who loves them. This is definitely a correct use of the parable. However, often the focus is on the son instead of the father.
When most Christians read the prodigal son’s story, they tend to glance over the father’s role. They know the father forgives his son and throws a celebration for him. Yet, they don’t stop to think about how long the father had waited. The Bible doesn’t specify a time frame, but we can infer this father loved his son. He may have watched for him to come home every day, for hours on end.
Bible scholars point out that when the son does come home, the father runs to greet him. This is no casual homecoming. It is an emotional embrace from an eager parent who thought he’d never see his child again. In early Jewish culture, it would have been undignified for the father to run, but he did not care.
God is like that with us. Believers or not, we are all His prodigal children. Some of us simply have more prodigal moments than others. Every day, we have a choice to stay at God’s side spiritually or go off and do what we want. Too often, we choose the latter. Yet God doesn’t turn away from us. Instead, He runs to us, welcoming us back. If you need to be welcomed back today, remember this parable and come home.
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