The Prodigal's Father

The Father in Jesus’ parable of the Prodigal Son gives us a glimpse into God’s heart toward the wayward, but it also gives us valuable insight into Jesus’ perspective on stewardship.

When the would-be prodigal asks his dad for his share of the family fortune, the father obliges and lets the boy walk off with half of his wealth. No questions asked. The father and son lived together, and we can presume the father knew his son well. He probably had a pretty good idea of what would be done with the wealth. Thus, it’s reasonable to conclude that the father was probably not shocked that the wealth was squandered on binge drinking and acquaintances of questionable character. He was probably not surprised by his son’s utter failure.

Why else would he be standing on the porch looking off into the distance, waiting for his son to return home?

It’s fascinating that the father didn’t dissuade the son from the failure he likely foresaw. Probably because this moment in their relationship didn’t happen in a vacuum. It was the crossroads at which they arrived after a culmination of many other events. The father had likely already given many years of loving and patient instruction to his son on how to approach life and stewardship.

But those who don’t learn through instruction must go on to learn through experience and painful consequences.

Let’s put it into a modern context and imagine that the father is a successful entrepreneur who has cultivated a $10 million net worth and has brought his two sons into the family business. He then allows the younger, less experienced son to take off with $5 million... probably most of the liquid portion of the balance sheet.

This would seem to us to be not only unfair to the older son but also unwise, as the father himself is not dead yet and may incur substantial expenses in his retirement years.

If there was a true excess of wealth, shouldn’t it have been given to the poor or brought to the temple? In many ways, the father’s actions seem like a terrible waste of hard-earned resources.

Perhaps God holds a different perspective on these matters of stewardship and waste. He doesn’t seem to be as concerned about wasting money as we might be. Afterall, it’s only money.

The father seems to be far more concerned about his son than his money. His treasure seems to be his sons. When the prodigal returns, defeated and ashamed, the father rejoices and celebrates to the fullest extent, using even more resources to give the boy a warm welcome home party. How could he not celebrate extravagantly when the lost half of his fortune just walked back home to him?