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Wichita, KS 67203 - © 2009 Olivet Baptist Church,
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A couple of mornings ago I was working on a discipleship study that focused on God’s grace. Part of the study used Luke 15.11-24, the story of the prodigal son. As I studied I was confronted in a fresh way with God’s incredible love for me.
When the youngest son “came to his senses” and decided to return to his father he was planning on asking the father to take him back as a hired man - a day worker with no guarantee of job security. Just as he had done when he demanded his inheritance so he could spend it as he wished, the son was still focused on himself. He had not yet come to grips with the intense pain he had inflicted on his father.
But something happened as he returned home. The father saw the son and ran to him - not what the son had imagined or expected. In his great love for his son, the father defied cultural expectations by running toward the son to embrace him and restore him.
In the ancient Middle East a mature man would never do anything like this. He would not lift his robe and expose his bare legs and undergarments and run in public. He would, instead, maintain a steady, dignified pace - or even wait for the son to come to him. He would demand public satisfaction in rebuking his son before there was any discussion of reconciliation. This father didn’t do this. He endured public humiliation by running to the son.
Our God took on public humiliation by being beaten, stripped naked and hung on a cross in front of the world. Our God took on human so He could pursue mankind - you and me!
When the father reached the son, he embraced him, putting himself between the son and the shame that would have been heaped on him by “nice society.” Jesus went to the cross and took our place, standing between us and the rightful, just punishment our sin deserved - death.
Sometimes when I confess sin before God it is because I don’t like the way the sin makes me feel or I am uncomfortable with its consequences. I want to be released from the personal guilt that is often associated with sin. Even in my “confession” it is about what makes me comfortable. What I need to remember is the horrible humiliation Jesus bore to cover my sin - and to see His heart broken over my rebellion. I need to see my sin as the cause of His horrific humiliation and death - and then remember His resurrection and the freedom it brings to all who have placed their trust and hope in Him.
Father, thank You for bearing my shame and humiliation. Thank You for pursuing me while I was still hopelessly lost in my sin. Thank You for giving me a new nature - the righteousness of Your Son, Jesus. Thank You for running after me still today. Forgive me for breaking Your heart.
