The Prodigal Son by John F. MacArthur

Author:John F. MacArthur [MacArthur, John]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Thomas Nelson
Published: 2016-10-02T00:00:00+00:00

SEVEN

His Forgiveness

When he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him.

—Luke 15:20

THE SCRIBES AND PHARISEES SURELY EXPECTED THE PRODIGAL Son’s father to drop the hammer hard on the wayward youth. After all, the father’s honor had been turned to shame by his son’s rebellion, and the father had further brought shame on himself by the lenient way he responded to the boy at the start. Hopefully this father had learned a lesson even more valuable than whatever practical wisdom the Prodigal had gained from his experiences. Any father with a proper concern about the honor of his own name and the reputation of the family would now see to it that a boy like this received the full and just deserts of all his transgressions, right?

Bear in mind that Jesus was telling this parable chiefly for the benefit of the scribes and Pharisees. In a story filled with shame and shock and surprises, they were nevertheless on board with Him up to here. Oh, yes—they were greatly amazed and even skeptical at the part about the Prodigal’s repentance. But they definitely would affirm the boy’s planned course of action: going home, humbling himself, confessing that he had been wrong, renouncing all rights to his position as a son, and working as a hired servant in an outcast’s role while he labored to make restitution. All of that, by their way of thinking, was exactly what the wayward youth needed to do. Finally, some sanity in this story!

THE PHARISEES’ PERSPECTIVE SO FAR

The gross improprieties of the Prodigal Son’s early behavior remained a large, almost impassible obstacle, preventing the Pharisees from showing him any empathy or compassion. They simply couldn’t hear about such shameful behavior without being demonstratively and permanently offended. Their worldview demanded it. The very thought of that kind of sin was so utterly distasteful to them that for all practical purposes, they treated it as unforgivable. Their carefully maintained public veneer was, after all, designed to show contempt for everything embodied in the Prodigal’s self-defilement: rebellion, worldliness, and other overt forms of conspicuous misbehavior. For them, when someone like that expressed any kind of repentance, even that was an occasion for scorn. They certainly had no category in their theology for showing grace to such a sinner.

So now that the boy was coming home, the Pharisees expected him to get what he deserved. The only question was how and how much the father would punish the boy—to save his own honor, and to shame the son in the way he deserved. Here was the part of the story that most captivated and appealed to their legalistic minds. By now they were engrossed.

One thing they were certain of: there could be no instant forgiveness. Nor was the Prodigal likely to merit full reconciliation with his father, ever. If the rebel wanted to come back home now, he would simply have to take his medicine in full doses.

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