Imagine if in the prodigal son, he had returned and instead of the Father, He met the elder brother. What would have been the outcome then? You see, the parable is not about one lost son but two. One is obvious, he runs away from home and demands his inheritance; the other not so much since he is home, he seems the ideal son because he is at work in the Father’s home, he has the right appearance but in his heart he is far away from the Father.
But just imagine what would have been the fate of the prodigal if he had met his elder brother first, and not the Father.
Unfortunately, we the church to often have been the elder brother and too many lost, broken sons have come home and met you first. They have met our cold hearts and gone into even deeper despair and brokenness feeling there is no way back, no hope of redemption and because of us they have a distorted view of who the Father is. All I want to do now is say on behalf of the body of believers, I am and we are sorry.
Maybe you came into church, and your skirt was too short for the liking of the members. Literally, you could feel the judgmental glances at you that made you wish the whole earth would open up and swallow you. Maybe you were called names, you had not even done anything except have a wrong length dress and forever sine that day and you have felt condemned. On behalf of the body of believers, I say sorry.
Maybe you came into the body of believers later on, you already had a child and from that moment, you have been labelled. You have been a pariah, they call you promiscuous, whore and a whole lot of other names. Maybe you did do a lot of stuff and you just came because you were curious. You came in to see if there could ever be a chance for redemption and you were given none, you were condemned for hell and worse. Noone gave you a chance and as a result, you gave up on God and since then your life has just spiralled out of control. You do not like where you are but you just do not think there is a place for you in God and His family. The condemnation you got is inexcusable, and for that I am sorry.
Maybe you have come to us and you wanted to know if there was hope for you. Maybe your breath on that day was more than a telltale sign of where you spent the last night. Maybe you were really genuine and all we could see was the bottle on you. We never gave nor give you a chance to be fully human apart from your drinking or smoking.
Maybe you confessed a habit you wanted to ditch; a secret sin that was consuming your life that you so wanted to get rid of and you will never forget the horror on our faces-it made you feel alien. We acted as though you were out of this world, as though no one we know has ever faced the same struggle; we made you feel you were afflicted with something so alien and so rare God could never give you a chance. We are sorry
You knew and understood your shortcomings; you were all too aware of your failures and because of it you felt dirty. But we made you feel you had no hope, you were exceptional and beyond redemption. We made you feel worthless and you retreated to the only solace you could find, and still even now it seems empty. You came with questions and we ridiculed you, we laughed and mocked and still you feel you are in a dark place, you never quite know if God loves you and is for you. We are sorry, for making you feel illegitimate and worthless.
For all the times that we have been the elder brother, you came home looking for love and affection and instead you just were treated the ignominy of more disgrace, more rejection and even more confusion: for the times you tried to come home but we pushed you away and refused to give you a chance, we are sorry.
You see, here is the truth about God my Father, about Jesus Christ our loving Lord; you are always welcome. If you know you are dirty let me tell you something, He knows-Jesus came because of it. Your state and life does not surprise Him, He came to wipe that away-He came not to impute men’s transgression towards us but to cancel the debt that was written in your name. He never asks you to clean yourself before you come, just come and He will do the cleaning Himself—trust me, He will do a much better job than you could ever do. If you feel you are the lost, know this, the Good Shepherd has the heart to seek out the one that is lost, He came to seek and save the lost, to bind up your broken-hearted.
It is commonly said God is a God of second chances…..this is half a truth, if you clean a pig and give it a second chance to remain clean, it will not, it is a pig and it will return to its former habits-God is a transformer, changing us from our very core to the point where we will do the good we want to. He loves you, you are not condemned. Come as you are and receive grace, you are welcome in His hands, He greatly loves you.
Wherever you are, whatever state your life is, you are not beyond redemption and you are worthy of love. You are worthy of love and of grace. Right now, just receive His grace and His love and believe you me it is this encounter with love unbridled that will change you.
