He Came To Himself

I love the story of the prodigal son that Jesus tells in Luke 15, don't you? I love it's subtleties, who was Jesus talking to, and why does it matter? I love it's details, why does Jesus tell us the father ran, and kissed and put a ring on the finger and new shoes on the feet of his son? I love the way it subverts our expectations, i love that verse 25 does say, as you might expect, 'for i tell you, there is more joy in Heaven...'

There's been one phrase in this parable that has been lodged in my head for the last few days. In verse 17 Jesus tells us that the younger son 'came to himself,' and this started his journey home. You know the story of this young man. He asks his dad to pretend he's dead so he can go off and live the high life in the big city. He spares no expense while he's there. The King James tells us that he 'devoured (his fathers) living with harlots.' No expense was spared for this young man, he ran headlong into his new life.

And then famine. And then his new friends disappeared, there was a new show in town perhaps, or maybe they were more interested in food than parties. The young man, his clothes in rags, ends up feeding pigs. You can almost hear Jesus pharisaical audience shifting uncomfortably at this point. Pigs?! And he's feeding them?!

This is where sin leads us and leaves us. Deserted by friends. Cut off from family. Clothes in rags. Dreams in tatters. Feeding pigs, being jealous of pigs even. We throw ourselves into sin, we thirst for it, we leave our lives, our selves behind for it, blinded by it's promises. It uses us then abandons us, it promises us life, but cuts us off from the source of life.

But then we come to ourselves. We realise that it's only in communion with Jesus that we are who we are supposed to be. We're a key in it's lock, a hand in a bespoke glove. We're not limited by God, we're set free. This is what the younger son realised, surrounded by well fed pigs, wearing tattered clothes and beaten up shoes. I'm supposed to by my father's on, he realises. I'll come to myself, and go back to him,

And that's what we need to realise. Jesus made us for Himself, and we are restless, jealous of pigs even, until we find ourselves in Him. The Bible does just help us fight sin by telling us that sin is wicked, and evil, and painful, and destructive, but that Jesus is better. That when we come to Him, we come to ourselves. We don't lose our identity, we find it, and redeem it, and reclaim it, and live it forever.