There are two parables told by Jesus that I’m pretty sure have found their way in to American Literature, and beyond...that are most likely familiar to many folks who have never cracked a Bible open a day in their life. I could be wrong...but...

The first one that comes to mind is The Good Samaritan, and the second one – The Parable of the Prodigal Son. I ended yesterday’s post referring to this one. That would be an interesting question to ask a ‘non-believing’ friend or acquaintance sometime if they have ever heard the story and/or are familiar with it.

Luke’s gospel tells the story of a certain man who had two sons. (11). There is a boatload of information that we are not made aware of regarding this family dynamic; and I always hesitate to try and speculate as to what is ‘not given’ for us to know. Safer to stick with what we are told, or so I like to think.

But we have two men who clearly are sons of this father and apparently both are due an ‘inheritance’. That in itself is not unusual given the fact that when a parent(s) die, their belongings and assets usually are bequeathed to the ‘next in line’ of kin which is usually the children. No doubt this can get quite complicated the more assets and children there are that come in to play.

People are known to daydream at times, some more seriously and desperately than others, as to what they would do if they ‘inherited’ a large sum of money. That even becomes fodder for entertaining conversations when the lead question is asked in a group of people: “What would you do if you inherited...?”.

I realize folks probably have a wide range of personal views regarding family estates, and what should be done with personal wealth when one dies and how those assets should be dispersed. A good friend advised me some time back that we don’t work and save up and then live frugally in order to ‘leave our children all that we worked and saved for’. And while others might disagree with that mindset, I understood what he was telling me. It’s nice if one is able to do that, but one considerate ‘gift’ parents can give their children is to not become a financial burden to them when they are old. This would certainly describe what my parents did and I count myself blessed, as do my brothers, I’m sure.

Dad passed away almost two years ago at the age of 95 and my mom just turned 94 a week or two ago and is doing well. Both have lived comfortably in their latter season of life. When Mom does cease to live among us here, barring any unforeseen surprises, I’m sure there will be some funds left that will be divided among my two brothers and I, but we won’t be out buying yachts and mansions and fancy cars with it.

I delved off into all this to make this one point: “I’m thankful that I did not come in to some unexpected inheritance when I was younger, and ‘needed it more’. Youth, foolishness, and lack of foresight has caused many a people who came in to unexpected money to make unwise choices. Which takes me back to our story in Luke 15.

For reasons unknown to us, we have this younger son who has it in his mind that he is due his inheritance sooner than later. As we touched on, one usually thinks of an inheritance that comes after a parent has died. But this younger son not only thinks he should have his portion now, the wording suggest he demanded it then: “Father, give me...the portion of goods that fall to me”. (12).

And the father agrees to this and then actually divides ‘his livelihood’ between BOTH sons. I had never seen that before, until this morning, that both sons received their inheritance at the same time. Again, we are not sure as to why the father did this; and while it must have been something substantial, we can conclude there were still assets left over that would most likely be divided after he (the father) passed away.

Now we get to the ‘meat of the story’ as the ‘plot thickens’- “...not many days after, the younger son gathered all together, journeyed to a far country, and there wasted his possessions with ‘reckless and unrestrained’ living.” (13). His downward spiral continues rapidly as he soon finds himself destitute and ‘in want’. (14). As we all are probably aware of, desperate times cause us to take desperate measures and we can find ourselves doing things we never thought we were capable of doing, or even being willing to do. This next line in the story is an interesting one, and while I tend to hesitate on making too much out of word usage in language to make the case for some new ‘doctrine’, it is noteworthy to read where this son ‘joined himself to a citizen of that country...’. (15)

Who knows if he had to become a citizen, get a ‘green card’, or obtain work visa in order to do this, but the next think we know...he’s feeding pigs in a place...far, far... from home where he knew, once upon a time, a different way of life. He has, as we tend to say, ‘hit rock bottom’.

I’d be willing to bet there are more than a few people sitting on church pews today who can identify with this young man and the place he found himself in.

You might recall a statement I shared yesterday, how you can be a ‘good Methodist or Baptist’ and still not be a child of God’. In other words, you may have had a good and legitimate history with...the Father early on, but then come to a place where you are certainly are not living...like a child of the Father. And as I made the case for previously, one can easily tell who a child of God is...they are actively being led by His Spirit (Rom. 8:14) and they are abiding in Him and ‘no longer continue to sin’. (1 John 3:6,9; 5:18; Gal. 5:16; John 13:34-35)

Now this is where the enemy likes to slip in undetected and get us off into fruitless debates and theological quagmires that want to focus on whether a ‘child of God’ can ‘lose their salvation’ or become ‘unsaved’ and no longer be a son/child of God. We could probably debate until the cows come home as to whether this prodigal pig feeder is ‘still saved’. So let’s just table that one for now and delve further in and read what we are told in this story. You might want to take notes if you have yet to do so thus far.

When you find yourself hungering to eat what pigs are eating, you are not in a good place. And yet, the case could be made that this is the best place you could be IF...it opens your eyes and has humbled you enough to become a recipient of God’s grace. Let’s not forget that God ‘resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble’. (James 4:6)

Let’s take vs 17 slowly....”But then he came to himself...”. Another way of saying that as is relayed in multiple translations is- ‘when he came to his senses’. Hold your place there in Luke 15 and flip back to Mark 5. Here we read the story of the demoniac of the Gadarenes that Jesus made a point to cross a stormy sea to find and set free. (1-20). This man had been controlled for an unknown number of years by ‘more than a few’ demonic spirits. You can read through yourself to see the extent in which his life was controlled by spirits that were not of God...and I should also point out...spirits that still exists today and are influencing countless people who are clueless. Yes, even people who sit in church pews. (Eph. 6:12; 2:1-3; 1 John 5:19)

And for all that we do like to ‘blame on the devil’ who seems to have a degree of power and control over people (1 John 5:19; Acts 26:18)...(know anyone bound by various addictions?) one piece of encouraging news to glean from this story is no matter how many demons may have found their way in to a person’s life and seems to be mercilessly controlling them, causing them to do the most unimaginable things, take note: there are not enough demons in hell that can prevent a broken and hungry heart from running to Jesus with everything within their tormented life/soul.

When he (demon filled man) saw Jesus from afar, he ran...he ran...he ran and fell before him and worshipped him’. (6)

Now fast forward to verse 15 where after Jesus has set this man free, people from the surrounding area heard some news as to what happened and came out to investigate. We are told that when ‘they came to Jesus’, they ‘saw the one who had been demon-possessed and had the legion, sitting and clothed...and in his right mind. And they were afraid.”

You know...there are a lot of people who ‘come to Jesus’, they just don’t continue on with Him. (John 6:66). These folks in this story will actually beg Jesus to leave them alone. (17)

But I need to point out the new ‘condition’ of this man whose life had been wrecked by demonic influence. We don’t know how he ended up in this condition or what led him down that path that opened up the door for that influence, but now...after his encounter with Jesus...we are told that ‘he is in his right mind’. You might say he had ...’come to his senses’; like the prodigal son, perhaps? And if you are really running on all cylinders today, you may have noticed there are ‘pigs’ in both stories here?

I’m just getting warmed up here today, but will wrap up for now and continue on tomorrow (Lord willing). You can be a ‘child of God’ and allow demonic influence to change you if you...’give him place’. (Eph. 4:27). It would be easy to suggest that this prodigal son, on his worst day, estranged and as far away from his father as he could be, was still...a ‘son’. But what is significant to read here is, in his mind, he was no longer worthy to be a son; as in, he no longer saw himself as a son.(19) And his father...basically for the most part, said he son was ‘dead’ to him and no longer existed.(24). For the two most important characters in this story to have this view, is no small factor.

Join me tomorrow?