Sneaking Home

The title might bring several pictures to mind. You had a ten o’clock curfew, and now you’re trying to sneak in at midnight without waking your folks. Or you had to work late, said you’d be home by eleven, and here it is 1:30 in the morning. Or maybe you were sent to bed without supper, and you snuck out your window to go to a friend’s house, and now you’re trying to sneak back in, hoping no one has missed you. But I’m not talking about that kind of sneaking home right now. Let me explain.

My wife and I were married in College Place, WA, down in the southeastern corner of the state. My folks lived in Enumclaw, on the other side of the Cascade Mountains, about 7 hours away at the time (I-90 had been built, but I-84 down the Columbia River Gorge was just under construction and I-82 was still on the drawing boards). But that didn’t stop my wife and me. We’d get in the car, and ring the folks’ doorbell without warning. My sister helped with several of these sneak attacks – once when my wife and I came from Columbus, Ohio by train, and twice when we headed to Glendale, AZ, where they now live (she lives across the street from the folks). Our son has continued the tradition, surprising us here at home with unannounced arrivals from Michigan.

There is one Bible character who wished to sneak home. He’d grown tired of wallowing with the pigs, and headed for home. He’d left there under less than favorable circumstances – in essence he’d told his father he wished him dead, took his money and left town. Of course, the father (the whole family, even the whole close-knit village) was humiliated, shamed and affronted. Now the boy is trying to sneak back to Dad’s place without having to face the barrage of insults, barbed missiles and taunts from the neighbors. But there is a problem.

Some time ago I had a colleague who’d spent several years teaching at a college in Beirut. Often, he’d take his camera and drive out to visit the small villages in Lebanon, Syria and Jordan. He and I discussed this Bible passage once, and he pointed out that, when it comes to Middle-Eastern villages (and probably everywhere else in the world), no one comes to a village unannounced. If the sharp-eyed children don’t alert the settlement, the uproar raised by the many dogs will. So our young lad knows it is going to be hard sneaking home. The villagers will get their chance at him.

But there is a third reason the boy can’t sneak home, and it is the one Christ mentioned – it’s the father. He’s been watching, day after day, praying, hoping to see his son. No, this son could never have snuck back home. The sharp-eyed kids probably started hollering, the dogs baying, but I can’t imagine them making a greater noise than the overjoyed father as he ran to meet the prodigal. And that isn’t the best part, at least in my mind.

If you’re familiar with the story, the father started hugging his son, and wrapped him in the best robe. Do you understand what the father was saying to the neighbors by this? In essence, “If you want to throw your missiles, your attacks, your barbs at my son, you’ll have to go through me.” Isn’t that just like God? When we return to His arms, He covers us with Christ’s robe of righteousness, and Satan’s accusations fall harmlessly around us. They can have no effect, because to get at us, the devil will have to go through our Father.

Reader, if you’re a prodigal son or daughter, (we’ve all been there at some point), go on home. Make peace as best you can. Your family still yearns for you, and will welcome you with open arms. And what about the spiritual prodigal son or daughter? Your Father is watching for you, too. The angels are just waiting to raise an uproar in town when you return.

And when at last the redeemed are taken to their heavenly home, ain’t gonna be nobody sneakin’ in. A gazillian angels are going to be praising, and singing, and halleluiahing, and …. This is going to be one you don’t want to miss. Let Him put His robe around you today.

God Bless!

Dr. G