How many times have you been in a large crowd, maybe a stadium, ballfield, mall…and you heal wailing? Not crying. Wailing. Someone has gotten lost. Separated from their parent or friend or sibling. Afraid. They have no idea which way to go or who to trust. They are separated from the one they love and the one that loves them.

It’s pitiful. The pain on that little face. The fear in those eyes. We just want to get them back to their loved one.

While thiss child is lost it is not a prodigal. A true prodigal is one that has turned their back on family. Turned away from their Father and gone to a far country. Lost in more ways than one.

In Luke 15, Jesus speaks about the prodigal that took his part of the family inheritance and left. Everything was squandered, wasted. We know the story so well. I think we fail to realize the shame of these actions. This son had no respect or love for his father and now it was public knowledge. Humiliated.

So when this prodigal comes home…what is he going to face? There is a Hebrew ceremony called “zezazh”. This ceremony cuts off any Jew who lost the family inheritance. This prodigal knew this. Did he have any expectation for forgiveness? The speech he worked on before returning home doesn’t indicate that. Maybe he expected to be cast out and that is why in his prepared speech he asked to be a servant.

I’m not a scholar but perhaps this father is so very overjoyed at his son’s return, he ran to that son before anyone could even mention the “zezazh”. There would be no opportunity for the son to be cast out because the father had forgiven and restored him. There would no “zezazh”.

This explains the behavior of the older brother for me. He is pleading the evidence for the case against his brother. The evidence is clear. This man lost the family inheritance and should be cast out from the family.

What a beautiful picture of forgiveness and restoration. It is a picture of our Abba God forgiving us. The case against us is clear. We are guilty. There will however, be no zezazh. Our Father lovingly runs after us with His hesed (steadfast) love. Instead of a zezazh, there will be celebration. The prodigal has returned home. But this time the older brother shed His blood to make the way. Jesus will not accuse us…His blood has redeemed us.