This short meditation from March 23, 2011 is from a series of Wednesday night messages on the Prodigal Son, inspired by the writings of Henri J.M. Nouwen (compiled in the devotional "From Fear to Love," © The Henri Nouwen Legacy Trust.) Happy reading! - Pastor Tom
Proverbs 14:12 says, "There is a way that seems right to a man," and then in true proverbial fashion it concludes, "but in the end it leads to death." Ultimately, any way that elevates man to the position of lord and puts him in the center things instead of God leads to death. We tend to think of the obvious examples. The person who does drugs and dies of an overdose. The rapist who rots in jail. The third world dictator who finally gets what's coming to him.
But most of the time, what seems right that leads to death is more subtle than a mind altering substance, a terrible crime, or being a tyrant. Wrong thinking, that sometimes masquerades as something good or lovely or even holy can lead to a sense of hopelessness that turns to drugs, anger that turns to violence, and egotism that oppresses others, or more everyday examples like jealousy, selfishness, ingratitude, or unkindness.
In order to overcome these subtle ways of thinking that lead to death, we must listen more carefully to God's way of thinking. Listening with great attention is ob audire in Latin, where we get the word obedience. If we are not listening, we are surdis in Latin. A person who is deaf is ab surdis. The "absurd" life is a life in which we're deaf to the wisdom of God. That's when we go down those paths that seem right, but don't pan out.
The younger son in the lost son story is the one who obviously did something absurd. He turned his back on the one who had loved him and given him a place to belong and wasted his possessions. But after that, the younger son became an amazing success story of the power of a sense of belonging.
So many people in his situation might dwell on their past misdeeds. Doing so somehow seems necessary, even holy. Being able to simply run to the father for forgiveness seems too easy. Shouldn't there be some act that accompanies it? Some offering? Some penance to be done? So we hang onto guilt when we don't have to.
Henry Nouwen tells us, "Guilt must go. Otherwise we are indirectly competing with God. God is saying, 'I have always loved you and I love you now. I want you to receive my love.' And you and I are saying, 'You can't love me, God, because I'm so bad. Or you can't love me yet. I haven't done enough to make up for it. By thinking about my past I will prove to you that I am beyond forgiveness.'
But the lost son, faced with his moment of greatest need, still somehow knew there was a father who would accept him. And in our lives, there are moments when we realize that, even if we may have done everything to destroy ourselves, we have never lost our true identity as beloved daughters or sons. That identity is never taken away. The moment we realize that is very, very important. Satan would want us to believe all is lost. That things can never be the same again. That our loving Father is angry or hesitant or won't be fooled twice. Perhaps more than any other way of man, this way leads to death. Because it leads us to despair when we could instead be led into the loving and accepting arms of the Father.
Henry Nouwen describes our Father's love this way. "God says, 'I love you so deeply. I want to be present to you in all your "lost" places so you will know not just your lostness, but also in how many places I long to find you." We have a Savior who showed us the heart of God and came to seek and to save the lost. We have a Good Shepherd who was willing to leave the 99 in sheep pen and go out to find that one lost sheep. We have the Lamb of God, who knew no sin, but became the sacrifice for sin on the cross.
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death. But there is a way that seems so wrong - that at innocent man would die for the guilty - but in the end it leads to life. And it proves to us all that there is nothing our Father wouldn't do for us.
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