The Prodigal's Father Shouldn't Have Run

Putting the Famous Parable in Context

by Matthew Williams

One afternoon, when my son was 3 years old, he was upset with me. He decided that it was time to run away from home. He'd had enough of dad. He was going to go it alone — at 3 years old! So, he walked out the garage, walked down the driveway and started walking down the sidewalk. He got three houses down the street before I ran to him — as fast as I could — to hug him and bring him home.

I ran! Of course I ran. That makes perfect sense to us.

In the first century, however, a Middle Eastern man never — never — ran. If he were to run, he would have to hitch up his tunic so he would not trip. If he did this, it would show his bare legs. In that culture, it was humiliating and shameful for a man to show his bare legs.

[READ: What the New Testament Authors Really Cared About by Matt Williams and Kenneth Berding.]

So, here’s the question: If it was shameful for a man to run in that culture, why did the father run when his son returned to him? What motivated him to shame himself? Before we answer that question, we have to understand an important first-century Jewish custom.

Kenneth Bailey, author of The Cross & the Prodigal, explains that if a Jewish son lost his inheritance among Gentiles, and then returned home, the community would perform a ceremony, called the kezazah. They would break a large pot in front of him and yell, “You are now cut off from your people!” The community would totally reject him.

So, why did the father run? He probably ran in order to get to his son before he entered the village. The father runs — and shames himself — in an effort to get to his son before the community gets to him, so that his son does not experience the shame and humiliation of their taunting and rejection. The village would have followed the running father, would have witnessed what took place at the edge of the village between father and son. After this emotional reuniting of the prodigal son with his father, it was clear that their would be no kezazah ceremony; there would be no rejecting this son — despite what he has done. The son had repented and returned to the father. The father had taken the full shame that should have fallen upon his son and clearly shown to the entire community that his son was welcome back home.

The amazing application for our own lives is crystal clear. Our heavenly Father has taken our shame through his Son, Jesus, who willingly endured the cross on our behalf. He took our sins’ shame so that we would not have to. As a result, we can be forgiven, restored — accepted. We do not have to fear going home to our Father and confessing our sins, no matter what we have done, or how many times we have done it (remember, Jesus taught his followers to forgive 70 times seven).

In the parable, only the father could restore the son to full sonship in the family. In our case, we are sinners, and there is nothing that we can do to restore our lost relationship with the Holy God of the Universe. He calls us and waits — a single repentant step in his direction, and he is off and running to welcome us back home!

Not only does God forgive us, but he takes upon himself our shame. He lifts off that weight that we carry on our shoulders for our past mistakes, and willingly wipes the slate clean once more. May we experience what the prodigal son encountered upon returning to the Father: “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 15:20).

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There has been some debate over this aspect of the parable of the prodigal son. What do you think? How important is it that we search for the Gospel in the parables?

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Editor’s Note: This article was first published by Biola Magazine. It is used by permission. The artwork above is from “The Return of the Prodigal Son” by Pompeo Batoni (1773).

Comments

Eric Olsen from Relevant Reverence

Love that you cited Kenneth Bailey! His wonderfully insightful book "Jacob and the Prodigal" inspired us to create a musical rendition of the parable of the prodigal son. And that insight you mention still hits me every time I sing the lyric, "While I was still running, my father came running to me."

Eric Olsen

Relevant Reverence

www.relevantreverence.com

Phil

We just did this parable last Sunday. How do you not find the gospel in this? Sources I read, including Kenneth Bailey, also pointed out that the father humilitated himself in leaving the feast to go out to the older son. The father offered both sons just what they needed to be restored to the family.

Another writer pointed out that the father did not make the younger son bow down to kiss his ring or his feet, but gave him an upright embrace fully restoring him to the family without humiliating him. (The point of this article.)

Bailey also does a marvelous job of pointing out the literary 'art' in this parable. It is too much for this space, but anyone interested can find it in his book, Poet and Peasant and Through Peasant Eyes.

The reunion of the younger son and the father is the heart warming story line from Sunday School. However, the Master Storyteller does disclose what happens to the relationship between the older son and his father or his brother. The unresolved issues of the older brother offer a chilling word of warning to those of us who have been 'good Christians' all our lives. The tendency for salvation by works to dominate our attitudes is always present. Luke 15 starts off with the Pharisees muttering against Jesus. I'm betting this last story left them speechless.

Jo Decaesteker

Tim Keller wrote his book "The Prodigal God" about this parable. I can recommend it: he says this is one parable in which the depths of the Gospel are revealed.

He also refers to the running of the father as shameful. Philip Yancey talks about a missionary who told the parable in Lebanon and asked the people (without even explaining anything) what they thought. They said two things struck them: 1) the prodigal son wanted the inheritence and with this he wished his father dead and 2) the father RAN... (which was shameful).

I think it's interesting and important to see if and/or how the Gospel is woven through the parables. Jesus didn't tell them for nothing anyway.

God bless!

PS: interesting thoughts about the community: in the same way we also should accept people who are accepted by our Father!

Dawn Blanchard

I just wrote a blog about the word prodigal and how it refers to the extremes in the parable: the extreme wastefulness of the younger son and the extreme mercy, indulgence of the father. The title given by commentators could be Prodigal Son or Prodigal's Son, but focus on the younger son diminishes the parable. There is a lesson to be learned by studying each of the main characters: father, older son and younger son. When you do this, you get the whole Gospel.

http://dschondog.wordpress.com/2011/04/15/prodigal-confusion/

I have been in the middle east and west Africa where showing the legs was deemed shameful. Your mention of this in the parable was new to me. Thank you!

Dawn Blanchard, PhD, RN

vaughan

I heard a reading once asking the question, "what happened next". The elder son felt so shamed, that he then murdered his father. (Thus the father representing the mercy of Jesus, and the elder brother representing the prideful Pharisees).

V

JeffG

This really added to my understanding of the parable. It gave it more context, which always helps. The parable is intended to highlight the bad attitude of the Pharisees and I think the cultural context helps make that even clearer. But it also shows God's heart. In the parable, the father was humiliating himself in order to protect the sinful but repentant son.

The pharisees would have understood that Jesus was pointing out their view, like the older brother or the villagers, which thinks it shameful to fellowship with sinners. Jesus in their view was humiliating himself by associating with the sinners.

Jesus, in all three parables, also points to the nature of our loving and gracious God. He loves us enough to humiliate himself (Jesus humble i.e. humiliated himself) to meet us just were we are in order to save us. What a glorious message indeed!

ptriez

I too read Prodigal God and even though I always thought the story was more about the older brother, I loved finding out about God running for us and in the process humbling himself. Thanks for the message.

Helen Roome

I have recently been meditating on this parable a lot and uncovered an old book of my dad's called "The Father Ran" by Neville Holmes - a useful little book explaining all the parables from a middle-eastern perspective. (The author lived there for many years). Really enriched the reading when understanding it from its context.