NorthStar Community Daily Devotional

Day 9 - Divided life

Scripture focus: "So the father divided the property between them. It wasn't long before the younger son packed his bags and left for a distant country. There, undisciplined and dissipated, he wasted everything he had. After he had gone through all his money, there was a bad famine all through that country and he began to hurt. He signed on with a citizen there who assigned him to his fields to slop the pigs. He was so hungry he would have eaten the corncobs in the pig slop, but no one would give him any. Luke 15:12-16 (The Message)

Lesson 2

"So the father divided the property between them." Literally translated, this verse says he divided his life.

Big deal, right? The guy must be pretty rich if he's got something to divide. In today's tough economic times, we might speculate that his wealth shielded him from the cost of early divvying up of the estate. If we fail to take into account the tremendous cost of this transaction, we'll fail to miss the important lessons we need to learn.

This father's estate would have been his land. He didn't have IRA's or a stock portfolio. In order to have given this boy his inheritance, he'd have had to sell off one third of his land to give to his boy. To lose part of his land would tear apart this dad's life. The amount of land one owned determined their status in the community. The ability of a father to maintain control of his children was highly valued. The fact that he didn't send his son packing and instead, sold off his land would have caused him to lose standing in the community, cost him his reputation, and invite insult and mocking. This father was experiencing rejection and maintaining love for his son. This is radical.

Who has divided property for you? How many times have you cried out to God to rescue you, only to grab for the goodies without respecting the relationship once the crisis was averted? How have your choices caused those that you love pain, embarrassment, loss of standing in the community, insult and mocking?

It's an easy read to make note of the consequences for the boy's bad behavior - pig pens and groaning tummies tell a story many of us can relate to. But if we're going to experience life transformation, we must come to grips with our own need to learn how to pay attention to someone's pain other than our own. Sure the boy had consequences, but the dad's suffering was profound, and directly related to the son's rejection. It would be an easy and cheap way to avoid truth by falling into the trap of self-pity and shame as we identify with the youngest son's situation. Don't fall for this trap. Hang in with the story, wrestle with the words. Stay focused on the suffering of the entire family.

Recommended reading: Luke 4-6

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