Luke 15:11-14
And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided his property between them. Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living. And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need.
The younger son did not have a problem finding parties. He knew where to find them and what made for fun ones. He spent a lot of money and had a lot of fun. He lived it up in riotous, reckless revelry. And then... the money ran out. Lavish living can only last for so long without a means to support it. The young man then was forced to finally sober up because the the storehouse wore out. He woke up dry one day because his means had all dried up.
Luke 15:17-20
But when he came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ And he arose and came to his father.
Having partied hard left this young man on hard times and so... with head hung low, he headed home. He learned his lesson. The harder they party, they harder they fall. The higher the high, the harder the crash. Certainly his father would agree, right?
Luke 15:22-24
But the father said to his servants, ‘Bring quickly the best robe, and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet. And bring the fattened calf and kill it, and let us eat and celebrate. For this my son was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.
Who would have guessed that what this young man needed was one more party? Who would have imagined that another feast was in order? Wasn't partying the problem in the first place? Wasn't feasting what got him into so much trouble?
What Jesus reveals to us here is that we have all longed for the wrong kind of party. We have set our hearts on riotous living, imaging it as the pinnacle of delight, but what Jesus reveals here is that we've desired a backyard balloon artist when a circus tent of celebration is being offered. We have preferred watered down whiskey to the hard stuff. So our solution is not less parties, but better ones. Not "no more partying," but "one more good one!"
God's grace is to throw a party for a son who comes to his senses after discovering that his parties couldn't last forever. When God throws a party, the wine is sweeter, the food is fatter and the lights never go out; the senses are never dulled by drunken insatiability, but elevated by sober gratitude.
The young man looked for life in being the life of the party, but discovered life in being invited to a party thrown by someone else.
The seed form of this thought came from a comment Doug Wilson made in passing HERE.
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