He Ran, and He Ran

Luke 15:20—“But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

These two texts have a measure of apparent likeness: the man runs to Jesus from afar, and the Father runs to the prodigal from afar.

They do, however, as much illustrate the difference as the likeness of our action towards the Lord, and the Lord’s action towards us.

From the two together a blended lesson may be learned.

I. THE SINNER’S PLACE. “Afar off.” Jesus is afar off in the sinner’s apprehension, and the sinner is in very deed far off from God.

1. As to character. What a difference between the demoniac and the Lord Jesus: between the prodigal son and the great Father!

2. As to knowledge. The demoniac knew Jesus, but knew little of his love. The prodigal knew little of his Father’s great heart.

3. As to hope. The man possessed of a devil had no hope of recovery, or but a faint one, and that hope the demons tried to extinguish. The prodigal only hoped to be received as a hired servant: he felt that his sins had put him far away from the true position of a son.

4. As to possession. The demoniac had no hold upon the Savior; on the contrary, he cried, “What have I to do with you?” The prodigal thought he had lost all claim to his Father, and therefore said, “I am no more worthy to be called your son.”

   • Immeasurable is the distance between God and a sinner: it is wide as the gulf between sin and holiness, death and life, Hell and Heaven.

II. THE SINNER’S PRIVILEGE. “He saw Jesus.”

This much you, who are most under Satan’s influence, are able to see concerning Jesus: you know that—

1. There is such a Person. He is God and man, the Savior.

2. He has done great things.

3. He is able to cast out the powers of evil.

4. He may cast them out from you, and deliver you.

III. THE SINNER’S WISEST COURSE. “He ran and worshiped him.”

The demoniac was all in confusion, for he was under contending influences: his own spirit and the evil spirit strove together.

He ran towards Jesus, and worshiped him; and yet in the same breath he cried, “What have I to do with you?” Thus are sinners tossed about.

But it is the sinner’s wisest course to run to Jesus, for—

1. He is the Son of the Most High God. John 1:34.

2. He is the great enemy of our enemy, the devil. Hebrews 2:14.

3. He is abundantly able to drive out a legion of devils.

4. He can cause us to be clothed, and in our right mind.

5. He permits us even now to draw near and worship him.

   • It was the prodigal’s wisdom to hasten to his Father.
   • Like arguments may be easily found in his case.

IV. THE SECRET OF HOPE FOR SINNERS. “His Father saw him”

1. The returning sinner was seen from afar by omniscience.

2. He was recognized as a son is known by his Father.

3. He was understood, beloved, and accepted by his Father.

   • This is the basis of hope for lost ones: not so much what they can see, as the fact that the Lord of love and grace sees them in all their sin and misery.

V. THE ACTION OF THE SINNER’S FATHER. He “ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him.”

1. Here was great tenderness,—“his Father saw him, and had compassion.”

2. Here was great swiftness,—“and ran.”

3. Here was great condescension,—he “ran, and fell on his neck.”

4. Here were great love and mercy,—“and kissed him.”

   • The Father’s running made an end of the son’s fears, and brought swift realization of joyful acceptance.

Let us run to our Savior, and our Father.

Let us rejoice that our Savior and our Father run to meet us.

Running Comments

A needle will move towards a magnet when once a magnet has moved near to it. Our heart manifests a sweet willingness towards salvation and holiness when the great and glorious good-will of the Lord operates upon it. It is ours to run to Jesus as if all the running were ours; but the secret truth is that the Lord runs towards us, and this is the very heart of the business.—C. H. S.

The mother, as she sits in her house, hears a little one shriek, and knows the voice, and cries out, “Oh! ‘tis my child!” Away she throws all she has in her hands, and runs to her babe. Thus God takes the alarm of his children’s cry. “I heard Ephraim bemoaning himself,” says the Lord; his cry pierced God’s ear, and his ear affected his affections, and his affections called up his power to the rescue of him.—William Gurnall.

God will pardon a repentant sinner more quickly than a mother would snatch her child out of the fire.—Vianney.

When either God or man is strongly moved, the pace is running. A soul in distress runs to Jesus: God in compassion runs to meet returning wanderers. A slow pace evidences an unwilling heart; hence delay to repent is a deadly sign. With sin within you, Christ before you, time pressing you, eternity awaiting you, Hell beneath you, Heaven above you; O sinner, you may well run! It is the pace of one hunting after the game he desires, one anxious to win a prize, one escaping the avenger of blood. He who would have Heaven must run for it.—C. H. S.

A father, whose affluence was considerable, mourned over a reckless son, whose misconduct brought shame upon himself and his family. From home the prodigal went into another country, and for years he was lost to his relatives. A chance occurring, the sorrowing parent sent by a friend this message, should he meet his boy, “Your father loves you still.” The bearer long sought him in vain. At last he saw him enter a house of vice, and called him; and there, at a late hour of evening, he delivered this message. The dissolute gambler’s heart was touched. The thought that his father still loved him, and wished to forgive him, broke the spell of Satan. He abandoned his profligacy, and returned to his father. Oh, the power of such a message of inalienable love from God!—The Preacher’s Commentary.