Friday, November 24, 2017

The Father's Compassion

My Bible Study group recently studied two of the most familiar parables in the Bible.  The first is the story of the Good Samaritan as described in Luke 10:30-37.  As you may recall, this parable mentions a man who was walking from Jerusalem to Jericho and was attacked by robbers.  They "stripped him and beat him, and went off leaving him half dead" (Luke 10:30).  A Levite and later a priest walked by him in his helpless condition but opted to do nothing.  Thankfully, a Samaritan "..saw him...felt compassion, and came to him, and bandaged up his wounds, pouring oil and wine on them; and he put him on his own beast, and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  And on the next day he took out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper and said, 'Take care of him; and whatever more you spend, when I return, I will repay you.'" (verses 33-35).

Isn't that what sometimes happens in life?  The gentleman walking down the road to Jericho didn't do anything wrong.  He was simply viciously attacked out of the blue.  A routine journey became a fight for his life.  Gratefully, the Samaritan came to his aid in a big way.  He took care of his wounds, found him a place to stay, even provided further financial assistance to make sure he would fully recover.

We all need "Good Samaritans" in our lives at times.  These may be those seasons when we may be caught in situations due to no fault of our own and end up broken and bleeding.

Skip over to Luke 15:11-32 for the account of the prodigal son.  In this situation, the son purposefully got himself in trouble.  He asked for his father to give him his inheritance prematurely (before the father had passed away) and promptly spent all of the money.  Luke 15:13 records how he "..went on a journey into a distant country, and there he squandered his estate with loose living."  Starving and penniless, he decided to return to his father, even being willing to be a servant to survive.  Yet, the father welcomed him with open arms.  Luke 15:20 states, "But while he was a still a long way off, his father saw him, and felt compassion for him, and ran and embraced him, and kissed him."  The father subsequently had a big party rejoicing in the return of his wayward son.

In like manner, there are times in our lives that we may purposefully go against the Heavenly Father's wishes and end up in tons of trouble.  We ultimately "come to our senses" (Luke 15:17) and come running back to God.  Gratefully, we are met with open arms as we repent.

Hence, the common denominator in both parables appears to be compassion.  The Good Samaritan felt compassion for the traveler who had been attacked whereas the father felt compassion for the son who had made extremely poor decisions.

So, whatever situation in life, whether it involves choices which have led to our demise or even times when we are guiltless, the compassionate Heavenly Father is there to bandage our wounds and welcome us back into His family.