Why Did the Prodigal's Father Need to Run?

Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey, a teacher who lived and taught in the Middle East for over 40 years, explains how this parable reveals the heart of God:

Through the prodigal son parable, Jesus explains—in part—why he needed to die on the cross. “The father’s suffering at the beginning of the story has no effect on the prodigal son. The son isn't even aware of it. The son must first witness a demonstration of the father's suffering. Without witnessing this demonstration, the callous son will never understand that he is the cause of the broken relationship. Without the father's visible demonstration of suffering, the prodigal will return to the house as a servant. He will—quite likely—take on more and more of the characteristics of his older brother. Without this visible demonstration of costly love, there can be no reconciliation. Isn’t this the story of the way God deals with the sin of the world on the cross?” writes Dr. Kenneth E. Bailey in The Cross & the Prodigal. . . .

Today—just as in Jesus’ day—we struggle for an answer to “what must I do to make it to heaven.” We all have a tendency to look to our own efforts. Accordingly, many say the turning point for the prodigal son was when the prodigal was starving and “came to himself”—returning a repentant sinner to his father. However, this is not the turning point. When the prodigal was starving he knew that he couldn’t return home because he thought his father would reject him in anger. So the prodigal hatches a self-serving plan that would give him the best chance of filling his empty stomach. So rather than returning a repentant sinner, the prodigal crafts a contrived speech hoping to convince his father that he will pay back the money that he wasted.

The pivotal point—in reality—is when the father runs to the prodigal (and when the father leaves the banquet to plead with the older son.) In both situations, it’s the father’s demonstration of costly love that has the transforming power to save both the younger and the older son.

Yet, the father will not force either son to accept him. The father does, however, love each of them so tangibly that it creates the environment for the father’s love to break through his son’s misconceptions about him. What’s so eye opening is that sons’ “goodness” and “badness” lead both away from the father’s love. Most disturbing is that our “goodness” can get in our way more than our “badness.”

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