After he had spent everything, there was a severe famine in that whole country, and he began to be in need. So he went and hired himself out to a citizen of that country, who sent him to his fields to feed pigs. He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no-one gave him anything.
Luke 15:14-16 NIVUK
Something happened during the Covid pandemic that was quite shocking.
Companies furloughed a great number of employees – and I was one of them. This was a means, supported by the British state, to prevent companies firing their employees. The government supported companies who put their employees on a kind of extended leave and paid them eighty percent of their salary.
Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I am very aware that we were very blessed to have this arrangement. All around the world, many, many millions of people lost their livelihoods in a moment and were absolutely poverty-stricken.
But the shocking sight happened at something we call food banks – charities that collect non-perishable food from the well-off and distribute it to the poor.
You see, expensive cars, containing people in neat, fashionable clothes would often turn up outside these food banks. Well turned-out, middle class folks would get out of their vehicles and make their way into the food banks. But they were not making a donation.
No, they were there to get help.
As shocking as it might seem, these people were in so much debt that a twenty percent reduction in their salary had left them unable to feed their family.
And it wasn’t just happening once or twice. It was happening a lot.
Their lives, built purely on borrowing, were on the brink of collapsing.
The decline of this young man is shocking, but also painfully predictable.
His lack of discipline and careful planning might have made him a really interesting guy to be around (or it might have made him a crushing bore – we don’t know), but it also sapped his resilience, as well as His bank balance. His selfish way of living burned through his resources like a wildfire.
A famine – very common in those days – took care of everything else.
And now he is in trouble. Big trouble. Life or death trouble.
He is now in need.
He was at the top. He has now tumbled to the bottom.
Of course, all his friends are gone. He is alone. If there is something I have learned it’s that if you seem to have wealth and confidence and power, you are popular. Everyone wants to know you.
But if you are poor and needy and broken? People cross the street to avoid you.
This younger son’s fate stands in stark contrast to a famous Psalm written by David:
The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
Psalms 23:1 NIVUK
David is led by the Lord. He is under His guidance and authority.
He lacks nothing.
This younger son has lived his life by his own rules. To quote Frank Sinatra, he’s did it his way.
He lacks everything.
One Jewish rabbi taught, ‘When the Israelites are reduced to eating carob pods, they repent’.
And that is precisely what happens here.
The workless young man is forced to work.
The Jew among pagans is force to serve animals his people did not eat.
The man who once feasted and dined now has less to eat than the animals he feeds.
He has hit rock bottom.
The beauty of this parable is not just that it tells a tale that was contemporary at the time.
No, it also echoes Jewish history. How many times had they, as a nation, fallen off the rails? How many times had they hit rock bottom? How many times had they needed to be rescued?
Far too many to count.
And when Jesus spoke this parable, they were in the same mess: under brutal Roman annexation, having previously been exiled to a foreign land.
There could even be a historical reference here by Jesus. Hundreds of years earlier, in 167 BC, the Greek king of Syria, Antiochus IV, invaded Jerusalem, set up a statue of Zeus in the Holy of Holies and sacrificed a pig on the altar – on the very place where priests made sacrifices to the Lord, some of which were eaten.
But let’s not think this is just Jewish behaviour. Often it takes this for us to turn to God. Often we have to hit rock bottom before we lift our eyes to heaven and see our way out of there.
This parable is about human nature.
Painfully frustrating human nature.
This young man had to hit rock bottom before he came to his senses.
What will it take for you to come home to God?
Prayer
Lord Jesus, please catch me before I fall. I know the lifestyle I live could lead to a tragic end if I don’t pull back from the brink. I don’t want this anymore. I want to come home to you and to live life your way. Help me, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Questions
1. Why is the this young man’s fall so sharp? What is Jesus trying to say?
2. What is it about this man that made him vulnerable to such a sharp change in circumstances? What did he do wrong?
3. What will it take for you to come home to Jesus?
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