Luke 15:16 16 And he was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything. ESV
Jesus was very effective in painting word pictures. He describes the son in this parable in a way that we pity him, or at least we might. Imagine being somewhere among foreign people who know nothing of you and care nothing for you. Imagine running out of your last bit of money and finally awakening to the fact that you have nothing and nobody seems to be giving anything. Sounds like a possible recipe for tough times. But consider the richness of the gift of nothing.
The son was full of himself as long as he had something. He was full of selfishness and ignorance as long as there was a balance in the checkbook. He was even full all-about-me as he was out feeding the pigs (an especially loathsome word-picture for the listening Jew). And at last he realizes he’s flat broke and nobody is gonna give him a thing.
Interestingly, it is only then he receives the richness of nothing; only when all hope was gone that his senses returned. He was materially rich but without his senses. Only when he became direly destitute did he have his light-bulb moment: dad!
I marvel at the schemes I come up with these days to better my circumstances, to try to put a plus-side to my account balance. It is only when I realize that I have nothing – no bailouts, no TARP, no welfare, no nothing and nobody gives a damn – that I realize what I have in Jesus. The only One who is going to really help me is the only One who really cares – the Lord. Sometimes it just takes embracing at a negative balance in the checkbook to remember that…
Father in Heaven,
Sometimes it feels like You’re just waiting for me to embrace the gift of nothing so that I can remember that apart from You, that’s all I have. Help me to die to my schemes and dreams and to live in the reality that You are continually providing for me a way out if I will embrace it and trust You. Amen.
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