I like how Rob Bell treats the story of the Prodigal Son in his book, Love Wins. Timothy Keller, as Bell noted, provided some great insight for Love Wins. In fact, I first learned of Keller’s Prodigal God from one of Bell’s footnotes. Read Bell’s book. I’ll be glad you did, and you might be, too.
Bell notes that both the younger and older sons have their stories that they have been living and creating. The younger brother sewing his wild oats, and the older brother sewing bitter herbs. But when each brother was sought out by their father, they were each given an invitation to adopt a new story for their lives and start living by that new script.
The younger son was given the opportunity to leave behind his story of hedonism’s surprising pain and embrace a story where he becomes a son again, fully restored.
The older son was given the opportunity to leave behind his story of self-righteous indignation and embrace a story where he begins to live with and enjoy more than he always wanted.
That Jesus included such a proviso in his story is no surprise, since he lived the story during his ministry. Dramatic, younger brother stories were commonplace for Jesus in his ministry. Remember that Jesus was well known for attracting all sorts of “sinners” during his ministry. With the brief amount of history we have of Jesus, we know that several of these types came to hear Jesus: tax collectors, adulterers, sexually immoral folks. We also know that other dramatic characters were part of Jesus’ story: lepers, blind people, disabled persons, and all manner of ill folks came to Jesus. As each heard Jesus’ message and received healing in various forms, they were invited to adopt a new story for themselves. They no longer needed to live by their sin- or disease-laden identity. They could trade up to a better story, where they were deeply loved and valued by God, and given God’s presence to help them go beyond their former scripts’ parameters.
Older brother types also received the same invitation. Very moral, highly religious self-righteous types also came to hear Jesus (even if simply to try and trip him up). They received the same invitation to trade up on their stories, leaving behind their desire to control others and God, and discover the freedom and love that grace affords. Recall that the Prodigal God parable was itself such an invitation to leave their limited and limiting stories in the past and embrace a much lovelier future.
Regular folks, too, were given the invitation. Most of the disciples fit in this category. They were, for the most part, pretty good people with pretty normal stories. And yet when Jesus invited them to “follow me” they were challenged to evaluate which story they were going to pursue: their predictable, familiar story or the enticing one offered by Jesus.
Read the rest of the Bible and you will discover that Jesus was simply doing what God has always done: ask people to adopt a new story driven by a God-centered plot. The new story is always challenging, but also always an improvement over whatever existing story there might be. God’s story is also better for the betterment of the world and its inhabitants, too – a shift away from our typically egocentric tales.
So, what does this look like in today’s world?
Adopting means identifying yourself more and more with who we are and can become as children of God. We acknowledge how we have been formed by our families, but we no longer limit ourselves by the bad or good script we've been handed. In this way, we are not in denial about how we have been shaped. We acknowledge the good and the bad, and in so doing God sheds contrast on what identifying with him means. It is always better, but rarely easy to adopt.
The invitation to embrace God’s story is always present, which is a good thing, since we regularly run into the limitations of our current script. Sometimes the difficulty is how we are read by others. It takes a while for people to let go of their preconceived expectations of us based on our old scripts. They will unwittingly assume we will be who we have been, which means we will experience pressure to stay in our old character roles. It will be easier, in fact, to stay the same. But we must not if we want to experience the party the Father is throwing. Better isn't always easier...
Are you aware of the invitation that is before you?
I know I haven’t been aware of the invitation if I never ask myself what God’s story line might be as I make life decisions, big and small. How do I manage my schedule? How do I allocate the funds at my disposal? How do I direct my thought-life? How do I steward my personal health? How do I handle stress? How do I love people who are important to me? How do I love people I don’t particularly want to hang out with? How do I decide what qualifies as a job well done in my line of work? How do I pray and what do I pray about? How do I determine my major life goals? How do I sort out what media I will allow into my life and what I will intentionally shut out? If I never even think about how God might weigh in on these questions (and every life question), I am very likely not embracing the invitation to the fullest extent.
To accept the invitation is to be present at the party, to be involved in the relationship, to allow the relationship to guide all of our direction questions because we have learned to trust that God's wisdom is worth heeding. and relationship with God is the very source of life.
The younger brother, wrecked by the life choices he had made, welcomed the invitation with humility.
The older brother, also wrecked by the life choices he had made (even if he couldn’t see it), was given the invitation as well. We don’t know what he chose. All we know is that the invitation was given.
How are you responding to the invitation God is extending to you? Are you ready to trade up your story?
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