Nougat 31

So what does God’s compassion look like? And how do we tap into it? Consider today’s Holy Nougat

“So he got up and went to his father. “While he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion. His father ran to him, hugged him, and kissed him.” ‭‭Luke‬ ‭15‬:‭20‬ ‭CEB‬‬

A Ways Away

This was the son who wished him dead. This was the son who couldn’t move far enough away from home and what represented home. This was the son according to the law, who was as one dead. This was the son the father never gave up on.

Proof, you say? The son had not reached within city limits, yet he was seen by his father. Or, in the words of the nougat While he was still a long way off, his father saw him. Whether it was the sound of the community ready to dispense Justice for the son’s disrespect or a constant yearning for he who was not, the father recognized that boy a ways away.

How did he recognize him? He couldn’t have looked the same – perhaps weight loss owing to the piggery or the distance walked, possibly a bit emaciated from the ‘riotous living’, definitely less dapper and put together than when he left home…

And while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and was moved with compassion.

By law, he should be put to death (Leviticus 20:9), it was his due. His father didn’t sit there and relish the fact that all his predictions about his son had come to pass. Nor did he leave him alone to face the community. He knew what was coming next. He moved speedily and deliberately to prevent his son’s sure and certain death.

σπλαγχνίζομαι (‘splagchnizomai’) in Greek, suggests moved in the inward parts, pity, or to be compassionate. Was he pitying the son’s pathetic fall, the stoning he was due, or both? We don’t know. What we do know is that his father was on the alert; ready to intervene.

As God does for you and me.

No matter how far we’ve gone, no matter how ragged or emaciated we might get, God’s watching; ready to meet us a far way off. Filled with compassion, God races to claim us as heirs – sons and daughters of the Most High God – equal to them whose salvation is secured.

The psalmist assures us, ’As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear (ie revere, respect, or worship) God.

When we lose our way, it’s just as easy to worship as it is to go deeper into sin. I pray we choose to repent before our compassionate God, Who loves us us even from a ways away.

—

May all we seek be found in Christ