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This week we are continuing our study of Luke Chapter 15. Please read verses 20-32 every day this week and, if possible, use a different translation each day, asking God to open your eyes to fresh revelation from His Word.
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Luke 15:22-24 (NLT)
‘But his father said to the servants, ‘Quick! Bring the finest robe in the house and put it on him. Get a ring for his finger and sandals for his feet. And kill the calf we have been fattening. We must celebrate with a feast, for this son of mine was dead and has now returned to life. He was lost, but now he is found.’ So the party began.’
Yesterday, I briefly mentioned my daughter and her upcoming wedding. Well, it doesn’t seem too long ago when both of my children were very small. My son was always ‘on the go’ and into everything. From the time he woke up in the morning, he was desperate to get around the house and doing all he could to break everything in sight.
After several weeks, or it could have been months, of walking around the house, destroying what little furniture we had at the time, I remember taking him to a shop to have his first pair of shoes fitted. He was carefully measured and we were giving a choice of tiny shoes for him. It didn’t matter which ones we chose, they were all very expensive and we knew that quickly there would come a time when he would outgrow them and we’d have to purchase yet another pair
We were putting shoes on the little man so that he could extend his border of destruction. He wasn’t going to be confined to running around the house now. We were giving him the means to walk and to wander wherever his little feet would take him. Of course, we were providing protection for his feet, but it also meant that he now was no longer limited to walking in safe places. He could now walk over stones and gravel. He could now walk outside the house!
This is illustrative of what was happening in our parable today. The son had done more than his fair share of wandering. He’d left the comfort and safety of home and drifted into unchartered territory, into possibly dangerous lands. His feet had gone to places that the father would never have wanted him to go. This had caused the father undoubted pain and sorrow and now, right in front of him, here was the lost son, back home where he belonged. The father was overjoyed at the return and I can imagine that he was desperate to keep his son close and to enjoy his company once more. He had some time to make up for!
The father instructed his servants to bring sandals for the son’s feet. This may seem a minor point to us, but in the culture of the day, this really was a big deal. We know from various scriptures that servants did not normally wear shoes. In fact, when people were taken captive, their ‘masters’ removed the shoes forcing them to serve them barefooted. Only when they were liberated did they have their shoes restored to them. The son returned home probably barefooted and would have been similar to the servants. He had wanted to be treated ‘as one of your hired servants’ but the father had other ideas. The shoes on his feet indicated that he was no longer a servant but a son. He would literally stand apart from the servants because of the shoes on his feet. However, just like my story with Matthew and his shoes, the father was actually providing the means for the son to walk away. While he was barefooted, he would be tied to home. Having his feet shod in this way actually gave license for the son to roam once more.
God has done a similar thing for us. He has adopted us into His family and has made us sons and daughters. He also given us freedom to walk wherever we choose. Let us not use this freedom to wander away from Him. My prayer is that we continue to know His love, His peace and His freedom in order to stay as close to Him as we possibly can. There is no better place to be.
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