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Hey, hey, fam. Hope you guys are doing great. Today is a special day. I'm reading The Good

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Father. So this is actually part of our training that's going on in the online School of Sonship.

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But I thought we'd share this with people in the Masterclass group and on my Facebook

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page today as well. But the session or the series that we're doing in the online School

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of Sonship right now that is covering, you know, that this is a part of is actually the

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Open Heaven Masterclass. And so I guess our theme this week is that an open heaven is

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a love encounter. I'm really excited about sharing this love encounter with you guys

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as we read The Good Father book. So I've put in the description if you want to get a free

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ebook version of this, you can just click the link in the description of this video and get

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a free version. And then you can see the pictures. It's beautifully illustrated all the way through

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by Courtney Gordian from Queenstown. If you want to get a hard copy, the link is in the

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description as well. Let me take a second to check the tech and make sure that everything's

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happening as it should be. And then we are going live. Yep. Beautiful. It's happening.

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One second here. Let me make sure it's happening where it's supposed to be.

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Just need one second here just to make sure that the tech is working the way that it should be.

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Hi there. I see you. Hey, hey, Darren. See you guys on my Facebook page in the Masterclass

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group. But I don't see you in the online School of Sonship right now. Never mind. I'm just going

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to share this. So if you're in the online School of Sonship, let me share this to you from my page

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so that it's going there as well. Here we go.

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Okay. Beautiful. There it is.

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All right. I'm going to pray and then we're going to jump into this. So Papa, I just thank you

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for your amazing love for all of us. And Jesus, I thank you that you came to reveal the Father.

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And so Jesus, as we read this today and as we spend our time today thinking about your love,

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thinking about your love, Jesus, I just thank you for releasing that full power of your love

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upon us, in us and through us for your glory. Amen. All right. The good father. Chapter one.

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Here we go.

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Jesus' most beautiful articulation of the gospel,

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or the good news, as he called it, is found in Luke chapter 15, verses 11 to 32.

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Known to many as the story of the prodigal son or the story of the lost son, it could also be

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titled the story of the good father. When Jesus told his story, his audience was a crowd of

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tax collectors, sinners, probably addicts, prostitutes, thieves, adulterers, a whole

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lot of people who were all the black sheep of their own families, and grumbling Pharisees,

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religious people who were offended by Jesus' association with all these sinners.

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Allow me to use some cultural context and a little poetic license to bring the story alive.

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Please also read Luke 15, 11 to 32, for the full biblical account.

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picture, there you go, there's the picture. You can see these pictures if you download that ebook

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by the link that's in the description. Betrayal. This story begins with a notorious event that

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shocks an entire village. The outrageous news spreads as one of the hot topics of gossip

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beyond the village itself to the borders of the nation. When wives cautioned their husbands,

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you don't want to be like that incompetent father, the husbands knew what they were hinting at.

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When parents cautioned their children, you don't want to be like that disgraceful son,

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the kids knew what they meant. The scandal was household news. It was commented on at the

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synagogue and other public forums, where the strongest condemnation possible was expressed

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at the complete moral failure of both the father and the son. What was the scandalous news that

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was spreading from person to person and village to village? It was the news of a son's extreme

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rebellion and a father's tragic incompetence. It took place within a wealthy family in Israel,

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whereby in an act that defied the values of their entire nation,

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this son disowned his father and his family. The son insisted that his father give him his

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inheritance immediately. He wanted nothing to do with his father, he just wanted his money.

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The son didn't care if his father lived or died. The scandal was household news.

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In the context of Jewish society and culture, honoring your father was one of the highest

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duties of a son. When Jesus listeners heard that this son had dared to request his inheritance

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from his father, they would have seen him as one of the biggest scumbags on the planet.

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I can visualize a corporate atmosphere of disgust towards this son rising tangibly

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amongst the crowd. Even with all these sinners in the crowd, none of them are likely to have

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ever done something that in their eyes was so vile. In any culture, this would be one of the

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highest levels of betrayal and dishonor the son could possibly commit against his father.

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These Jewish listeners believed the son in the story to be the public enemy number one. In fact,

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they would have already been anticipating the next part of the story. They would have been

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anticipating the son being completely disowned and a punishment of death by stoning. At bare

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minimum, this son would be disowned and receive the beating of a lifetime. They would have been

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anticipating the father's wrath to be poured out on the son. Surely this wicked son was about to suffer

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the wrath of his father. In that culture, if there was a line to cross, which would incur

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immediate rejection from your family, this was it. Dishonor your father by telling the whole

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world that your father means nothing to you, and you would prefer that he was dead.

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All he was good for was his money. The son had publicly disowned and dishonored his father.

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In their culture, at that time, children could be stoned to death for dishonoring their parents.

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The fact that this father did not explode in a violent rage would have perplexed the crowd.

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It was a son's duty to honor his father, and it was a father's duty to honor his son.

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The father's failure to punish his son was almost as much of a moral failure as the son's rebellion.

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It would have caused the crowd hearing the story, and also the people in the story,

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to perceive the father as a villain.

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This tale that Jesus was telling these people was absolutely scandalous. It got under their skin.

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It was causing an emotional response from the hearers who were anticipating wrath and justice.

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This father's failure to punish his son caused the crowd to judge him as a morally deficient father.

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The fact that this father did not follow the cultural protocol automatically set him part

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as a very unusual father, and a very bad father. As the story proceeds, we now have two villains.

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the crowd of listeners and in the eyes of the people in the story, the rebellious son and the

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incompetent father. The whole village knew the family. Their culture revolved around community.

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They were a great example of the saying, it takes a village to raise a child. Enforcing justice was

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a community responsibility. However, before the news got out to the whole community and before

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they had time to get organized or gather their stones, the rebellious son had fled.

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Not just to another village, the news of the incident and the resulting fatal justice it

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deserved would have caught up to him in another village. Not just to another region, the news and

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the justice would have caught up with him almost anywhere he went in the nation. The son fled the

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culture, fled the justice, fled the fear, fled the guilt and the shame, and he kept riding with

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his bags of money until he reached a distant nation. There would be no punishment inflicted

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on the father except that of a ruined reputation. The whole nation passed a condemnation,

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a condemning judgment on this father as a bad father. Here's the father longing for his son

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to return. Jesus goes on to tell us that the son wasted his wealth on wild living.

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The crowd surrounding Jesus would have been reading into that and assuming just as the

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older brother did that he was hiring prostitutes and was without any moral compass. For this crowd,

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the fact that he had wasted the wealth of his inheritance was considered as wicked as sleeping

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with prostitutes. This young man is crossing every line of decency and they want to see justice,

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they want to see punishment. With the escape of the son and rumors of his twisted lifestyle,

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the story gathered momentum and the notoriety and notoriety throughout the entire nation.

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Months had gone by. The father sat in his seat on the porch again alone in the middle of the night.

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The servants had gone to bed, his eldest son had gone to bed, but the father couldn't sleep.

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There was a bright full moon. The father could see clearly as he looked toward the horizon

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and the long dusty road coming from the village. He could see that the road was empty.

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He slowly drank his hot drink, warming his hands on the mug. His heart overflowed with love for his

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son. In response to his broken heart, a silent glistening tear rolled its way to the corner

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of his eye. The sun set up that night too.

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The rumors were true. Actually, the rumors didn't even capture half of this lost son's story.

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He had managed to keep his truly dark and defiling secrets hidden. The rumors did not portray how

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deep the darkness was in this lost son's heart. The rumors did not portray how a part of him

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wished he had been punished and executed. That would at least be a permanent escape from an

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internal world of turmoil. Another wave of emotional pain brutally ripped right through him.

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Once again, he reached for his half full bottle. A prostitute lay asleep beside him.

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She was a sedative to numb the reality that his heart was void of love. He liked her,

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but he hated her. He didn't even know why he hated her. He hadn't processed his own emotions

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deeply enough to understand what was really controlling them and what was really controlling

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him. But something about her made him angry. He wasn't aware that he hated her because she

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represented the fact that what he desired most was out of his reach.

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Thinking about the reasons behind his emotions was an unbearable feeling. He never went there.

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Instead, he had another drink. The truth that lived deeper than his conscious awareness and

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dwelt in his unexplored subconscious mind was that this prostitute made him angry because he

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believed that was the only way that he could get love. And deep down, he knew

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knew it wasn't real love. He hated her because she reminded

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him that he did not believe he was worthy of love. He had never

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believed that he was worthy of love. That was why he hated his

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father too. He had lived in the same house with this man his

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whole life, and he had never felt worthy of his love. He

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didn't simply believe that he wasn't worthy of his father's

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love. He believed that he wasn't worthy of love, period. He

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didn't just hate his father because of this. Most of all, he

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hated himself. Beneath the surface of things, even as he

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grew up, he had always been tormented by a ferocious sense

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of inadequacy. Ever since he could remember, he had felt this

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way and had been tormented by the insecurities associated with

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beliefs of inadequacy. It festered into a world of shame

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and condemnation, and a raging case of unworthiness. Perceived

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inadequacies had become his prison that isolated him from the

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possibility of ever receiving love. Regardless of how close

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and how unconditional that love had always been, he looked out

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the window at the moon. He began thinking to himself again that

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his loveless existence could never change. His heart

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overflowed with hopelessness. In response to his broken heart, a

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silent glistening tear rolled its way slowly to the corner of

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his eye. Finally, it starts getting bare for the crowd. As

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they hear that having wasted all his wealth, this wicked son is

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now in poverty. Not only is he in poverty, he is subjected to

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the ultimate humiliation of being the servant of pigs. Pigs

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were considered ceremonially unclean animals and raising pigs

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was unclean work. This son is now completely defiled and has

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reached the pinnacle of failure. The crowd is hungry for justice.

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He didn't go straight to the pigs. This son was so addicted to

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his self-medicating practices, that he subjected himself to

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desperate acts in order to fund his addiction. These desperate

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acts only intensified the consuming conviction of his own

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inadequacy. Eventually, every door closed on him. His

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perpetual oppression by inadequacy, shame, condemnation

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and unworthiness made healthy relationships impossible.

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Everywhere he went, relationships failed and chaos

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followed. He had nothing. He had no one. He was homeless. He was

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broke. He didn't belong anywhere. On top of all this, he

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was going through major withdrawals. At the end of

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himself, he sat down in the shade. His back was against a

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tree, his face towards the street. The Middle Eastern sun

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was blazing. Beads of sweat swelled up from his forehead. His

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tongue dried out inside his mouth. The unsatisfied urges of

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his alcohol addiction whipped him repeatedly and ruthlessly.

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The withdrawals caused his body to spontaneously spasm and

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tremble. One of the high class prostitutes that he had spent so

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many nights with, walked along the street in front of him

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ready for work. His heart rate increased, his blood started

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pumping. They had shared so many beautiful moments. He called out

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to her and she turned. Her eye contact was powerful. Her eyes

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used to dance and hold his gaze with erotic invitations. But

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today, her eyes held no affection for him. No acceptance.

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Today, her eyes fueled his internal narrative of

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unworthiness and rejection. All the facades that his money had

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bought him faded like smoke. Despite all the sex and wild

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moments they had shared, this was the most vulnerable she had

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ever been with him. This was their most honest moment. There

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was no erotic dance in her eyes. Now the honesty in her eyes

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shattered the illusions she had once portrayed.

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The truth in her eyes struck him forcefully.

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He finally realized the painful truth

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that the shame inspired hatred

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that he had felt towards her was perfectly mutual.

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It's the pig farmer, this is what's coming.

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The floggings, the withdrawal, the floggings of withdrawal

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and the floggings of inadequacy matched each other

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in their relentless administration of torture.

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Physically, emotionally and spiritually,

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he was pioneering new depths of internal darkness.

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His only remaining friend, his only remaining escape was sleep.

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Overwhelmed by everything, he laid down in the shade and closed his eyes.

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He slept in the afternoon, quietly passed away.

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Instead of being woken by a sleep terror this time,

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he was woken by a bearded man, an ugly bearded man.

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This bearded man was graphically ugly inside and out.

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The ugly bearded man kicked him in the leg hard.

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The twisted odor of narcissism clung to this ugly bearded man

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like the stench of the pigs he farmed.

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As the son's eyes adjusted to the light and to consciousness,

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he could make out the eyes of the ugly bearded man who stood above him.

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The first thing he noticed was the absence of kindness and warmth.

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Instead, he immediately saw lethal brutality.

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And manipulation flashing in his eyes.

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The kick in the leg turned out to be a job offer.

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He got it, too.

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He got the only job he was fit for, feeding pigs.

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There was no minimum wage.

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He was a glorified slave.

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The ugly, stingy bearded man didn't care

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if this homeless bum lived or died.

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If he dies, he can be pig food.

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Until then, this street rat can feed my pigs,

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thought the ugly bearded man.

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It was while he was in this dark place that the sun began coming to his senses.

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He assessed his circumstances and came to the sobering conclusion

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that if he didn't figure out something soon, he was going to starve to death.

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But which was worse?

216
00:22:51.560 --> 00:22:53.480
But which was worse?

217
00:22:53.520 --> 00:22:55.360
Starve to death?

218
00:22:55.360 --> 00:22:58.000
Or go back and face his father?

219
00:22:58.000 --> 00:23:02.400
After the way he had publicly betrayed him, dishonored him

220
00:23:02.400 --> 00:23:06.040
and squandered the family's wealth.

221
00:23:06.200 --> 00:23:08.280
Then there was the fact that the whole village

222
00:23:08.280 --> 00:23:11.080
and probably the whole country wanted him dead.

223
00:23:11.760 --> 00:23:15.840
The thought of it instantly released a paralyzing explosion of fear

224
00:23:15.840 --> 00:23:19.720
and shame through his whole being, maybe dying here with these pigs.

225
00:23:20.160 --> 00:23:22.960
And his ugly bearded boss was better than that.

226
00:23:24.360 --> 00:23:28.760
He carried on feeding the pigs and tried to avoid thinking about his father.

227
00:23:30.600 --> 00:23:33.440
Time ticked by and the famine in the land

228
00:23:33.440 --> 00:23:36.760
caused the food supply to slowly wither away.

229
00:23:38.000 --> 00:23:42.280
The choice the son had to make started to become very, very real.

230
00:23:42.720 --> 00:23:47.880
Die of starvation or return to his father and face the consequences,

231
00:23:48.320 --> 00:23:50.480
however severe they may be.

232
00:23:51.480 --> 00:23:55.240
Again, the thought of it was like a lightning strike of fear,

233
00:23:55.520 --> 00:23:59.280
shame and negative emotions, the sense of being unworthy

234
00:23:59.280 --> 00:24:03.000
that he had felt before he left home was now out of control

235
00:24:03.000 --> 00:24:05.600
and coursing through his soul like venom.

236
00:24:06.200 --> 00:24:11.120
He was persuaded that the darkness he had walked in defined him.

237
00:24:11.720 --> 00:24:16.000
His failure to attain moral perfection reinforced his conviction

238
00:24:16.000 --> 00:24:18.600
that he was worthless and unlovable.

239
00:24:19.560 --> 00:24:25.480
His dark secrets tormented him and an ever present excruciating shame.

240
00:24:27.000 --> 00:24:31.440
With an ever present excruciating shame, he decided to spend more time

241
00:24:31.440 --> 00:24:36.520
with the pigs and his ugly bearded boss rather than face his father.

242
00:24:41.680 --> 00:24:43.400
Courage.

243
00:24:49.600 --> 00:24:54.920
The famine continued, stripping the land bear hope for this nation

244
00:24:54.920 --> 00:24:57.040
evaporated like the streams.

245
00:24:57.560 --> 00:24:59.600
He finally decided that one day.

246
00:25:00.000 --> 00:25:05.000
returning to his father was his only survival option.

247
00:25:05.080 --> 00:25:08.180
The withdrawal symptoms were subsiding.

248
00:25:08.180 --> 00:25:10.840
His mind began to clear a little.

249
00:25:11.880 --> 00:25:15.300
Throughout this story, the father is a constant.

250
00:25:15.300 --> 00:25:18.420
He is always a good father.

251
00:25:18.420 --> 00:25:23.020
The culture of the day had judged him as a moral failure.

252
00:25:23.020 --> 00:25:26.340
Despite the fact that this father's morals

253
00:25:26.340 --> 00:25:31.300
clearly surpassed their interpretation of morality.

254
00:25:32.140 --> 00:25:35.860
This father has his own normal.

255
00:25:35.860 --> 00:25:38.420
He has his own standard.

256
00:25:38.420 --> 00:25:43.080
And that standard is a love that never fails.

257
00:25:44.060 --> 00:25:46.340
The father's standard is a mercy

258
00:25:46.340 --> 00:25:48.960
that triumphs over judgment.

259
00:25:50.620 --> 00:25:53.940
The culture of the day had judged the father incompetent

260
00:25:53.940 --> 00:25:57.300
for failing to manipulate and control his son

261
00:25:57.300 --> 00:26:00.240
with threats, punishment, and violence.

262
00:26:01.140 --> 00:26:04.060
He ignored their condemnation and judgment,

263
00:26:04.060 --> 00:26:09.060
refusing to stoop to their shallow level of relationship,

264
00:26:09.580 --> 00:26:14.500
which was infused with manipulation and control.

265
00:26:14.500 --> 00:26:18.820
The father had something far more beautiful in mind.

266
00:26:18.820 --> 00:26:22.500
He was willing to do whatever it would take

267
00:26:22.500 --> 00:26:25.980
to share an authentic, mutual,

268
00:26:25.980 --> 00:26:28.760
loving relationship with his son.

269
00:26:29.820 --> 00:26:33.520
The father made himself totally vulnerable before his son

270
00:26:33.520 --> 00:26:37.660
by respecting the son's freedom and power to choose

271
00:26:38.780 --> 00:26:42.320
who, how, and when he would love.

272
00:26:43.260 --> 00:26:45.740
The father's courageous vulnerability

273
00:26:45.740 --> 00:26:50.740
empowered the son to break his heart over and over again.

274
00:26:53.300 --> 00:26:57.220
If this son had understood how loved he had always been

275
00:26:57.220 --> 00:26:59.060
and how much his father

276
00:26:59.060 --> 00:27:01.940
had always desired a relationship with him,

277
00:27:01.940 --> 00:27:04.300
he would never have come to the place

278
00:27:04.300 --> 00:27:08.520
where he didn't care if his father lived or died.

279
00:27:08.520 --> 00:27:12.460
The reality is that this son misperceived

280
00:27:12.460 --> 00:27:15.500
who his father really was.

281
00:27:15.500 --> 00:27:18.520
This son had a false definition of his father,

282
00:27:18.520 --> 00:27:22.840
which caused a dramatic relational disconnection.

283
00:27:22.840 --> 00:27:27.320
The belief that he was inadequate, unworthy, and unlovable

284
00:27:27.320 --> 00:27:29.440
prevented him from ever seeing the truth

285
00:27:29.440 --> 00:27:32.000
that his father had always loved him

286
00:27:32.000 --> 00:27:36.200
with a perfect, unconditional love.

287
00:27:38.280 --> 00:27:43.280
Even as he embarks on that dry and dusty road towards home,

288
00:27:44.280 --> 00:27:48.600
it is clear that he still has no grasp of the extreme love

289
00:27:48.600 --> 00:27:50.940
that his father has for him.

290
00:27:50.940 --> 00:27:53.520
I wonder how many times the fear and shame

291
00:27:53.520 --> 00:27:55.720
stopped him in his tracks

292
00:27:55.720 --> 00:27:58.080
or caused him to turn back towards the pigs

293
00:27:58.080 --> 00:28:00.540
or even run towards them.

294
00:28:01.700 --> 00:28:03.940
Leaving hadn't been easy for the son.

295
00:28:05.560 --> 00:28:09.040
There were internal and external obstacles.

296
00:28:09.040 --> 00:28:12.960
One obstacle being that his ugly bearded boss

297
00:28:13.600 --> 00:28:16.640
didn't like slaves running away.

298
00:28:17.640 --> 00:28:19.200
Officially, he wasn't a slave,

299
00:28:19.200 --> 00:28:24.200
but he didn't exactly have a job description or a contract.

300
00:28:25.080 --> 00:28:27.960
In the abusive eyes of his ugly bearded boss

301
00:28:27.960 --> 00:28:30.440
who didn't care if he lived or died,

302
00:28:30.440 --> 00:28:33.000
he was effectively a slave.

303
00:28:34.040 --> 00:28:35.320
He slipped out in the night

304
00:28:35.320 --> 00:28:38.360
with a stash of stolen pig food to eat on the road

305
00:28:38.360 --> 00:28:40.400
and put as much distance between himself

306
00:28:40.480 --> 00:28:42.880
and his ugly bearded boss as he possibly could.

307
00:28:44.200 --> 00:28:47.680
For the first week, he traveled at night and hid by day.

308
00:28:47.680 --> 00:28:52.680
He had now lost count of how many days he had been walking.

309
00:28:53.400 --> 00:28:55.680
Hungry, exhausted, and emotionally drained,

310
00:28:55.680 --> 00:28:58.000
the son reaches the border of Israel.

311
00:28:58.000 --> 00:29:00.920
After three more days of walking,

312
00:29:00.920 --> 00:29:04.600
he can finally see his village on the horizon.

313
00:29:04.600 --> 00:29:07.400
He was wearing a ragged cape with a large hood

314
00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:09.560
that covered most of his face.

315
00:29:09.560 --> 00:29:10.800
He didn't want to be seen,

316
00:29:10.800 --> 00:29:14.680
and so far, nobody on the road had recognized him.

317
00:29:14.680 --> 00:29:18.520
However, as the hills started to become more familiar

318
00:29:18.520 --> 00:29:20.560
and he started coming closer to the village

319
00:29:20.560 --> 00:29:22.160
that he grew up in,

320
00:29:22.160 --> 00:29:25.400
other travelers on the road began looking twice.

321
00:29:26.400 --> 00:29:28.200
He was a curious sight.

322
00:29:28.200 --> 00:29:30.560
With his downcast look, bare feet,

323
00:29:30.560 --> 00:29:33.320
poor dress, and unpleasant aroma,

324
00:29:33.320 --> 00:29:35.640
he appeared a little suspicious.

325
00:29:35.640 --> 00:29:37.920
Perhaps they thought he was a runaway slave.

326
00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.760
A boy he went to school with passed him.

327
00:29:41.760 --> 00:29:43.200
Did he recognize me?

328
00:29:43.200 --> 00:29:46.600
He thought to himself in shock.

329
00:29:46.600 --> 00:29:50.120
As his heart began thumping, they both kept walking.

330
00:29:51.880 --> 00:29:56.040
He had to go right through the village to get to the farm.

331
00:29:56.040 --> 00:29:59.360
So he decided to walk that section in the dark.

332
00:29:59.360 --> 00:30:00.480
He found a distraction.

333
00:30:00.000 --> 00:30:03.280
Greek place to camp, a day's walk from home.

334
00:30:04.160 --> 00:30:09.160
He hid there and tried unsuccessfully to sleep until just after midnight.

335
00:30:09.880 --> 00:30:12.840
Although he was used to fear, anxiety and stress,

336
00:30:13.040 --> 00:30:17.920
he was now experiencing whole new levels of emotional chaos.

337
00:30:18.440 --> 00:30:21.880
But he could see no other viable survival option.

338
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:25.520
Die with the pigs or face his father.

339
00:30:26.440 --> 00:30:28.400
Honestly, right now,

340
00:30:29.480 --> 00:30:34.080
as the fear and shame ravaged him internally,

341
00:30:34.720 --> 00:30:39.840
dying with the pigs was becoming more and more appealing.

342
00:30:41.560 --> 00:30:46.120
Compared to how savagely his own mind was treating him right now,

343
00:30:46.720 --> 00:30:49.920
his ugly bearded boss was saintly.

344
00:30:50.920 --> 00:30:54.720
The son easily escaped from his ugly bearded boss,

345
00:30:55.240 --> 00:30:58.000
but he could not escape himself.

346
00:31:01.280 --> 00:31:04.600
His internal voice of condemnation

347
00:31:05.080 --> 00:31:09.000
was a prison in which he had lived his whole life.

348
00:31:09.840 --> 00:31:12.240
The closer he came to his father,

349
00:31:12.840 --> 00:31:15.560
the more intense the mental self-harm became.

350
00:31:16.760 --> 00:31:19.600
If he hadn't walked so far to get to where he was now,

351
00:31:20.400 --> 00:31:25.600
he may actually have chosen death with the pigs rather than facing his father.

352
00:31:26.560 --> 00:31:30.840
His feelings of self-hatred reached a record high.

353
00:31:31.600 --> 00:31:35.720
Every step that he took towards his father and towards the consequences

354
00:31:35.720 --> 00:31:39.960
of his past was exponentially harder than the last.

355
00:31:40.480 --> 00:31:45.160
Head down and anxiety high, he forced himself to walk on.

356
00:31:46.280 --> 00:31:48.680
It was a motionless morning.

357
00:31:49.400 --> 00:31:53.320
The road into town was dark, silent and empty.

358
00:31:54.080 --> 00:31:58.280
This was it. Today, he would see his father.

359
00:31:59.160 --> 00:32:03.800
As he walked along, he pondered as many potential outcomes as possible.

360
00:32:04.840 --> 00:32:07.400
Every one of them scared him.

361
00:32:07.400 --> 00:32:11.040
Every one of them reinforced his belief in his own inadequacy,

362
00:32:11.200 --> 00:32:16.320
and every one of them endorsed his constantly growing hatred of himself.

363
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:20.800
As he walked silently and alone through the darkness,

364
00:32:21.320 --> 00:32:26.600
he considered the fact that today could be the day that he died.

365
00:32:27.520 --> 00:32:30.360
What had he accomplished with his life?

366
00:32:30.360 --> 00:32:32.480
More harm than good, he thought to himself.

367
00:32:33.240 --> 00:32:37.680
Every thought he had seems to inflict another level of punishment.

368
00:32:38.080 --> 00:32:42.760
Even in his own, even his own mind had turned against him.

369
00:32:43.480 --> 00:32:46.600
It took several hours to make his way to the edge of the village.

370
00:32:47.400 --> 00:32:51.240
A few lamps burned in the houses in the village itself,

371
00:32:51.480 --> 00:32:53.640
and he moved from shadow to shadow.

372
00:32:54.120 --> 00:32:58.000
The occasional dog barked and roosters crowed at random,

373
00:32:58.520 --> 00:33:00.600
but he made it through the village unseen.

374
00:33:01.120 --> 00:33:06.360
Soon he stood on the crest of a hill overlooking the village behind him.

375
00:33:07.240 --> 00:33:09.120
The sun was rising.

376
00:33:09.120 --> 00:33:11.640
The cover of darkness was all but gone.

377
00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:13.680
Half a day's walk before him.

378
00:33:17.160 --> 00:33:23.800
Like half a day's walk lay before him and his past and his future.

379
00:33:25.080 --> 00:33:27.080
Even though he was walking quickly,

380
00:33:27.280 --> 00:33:32.640
his whole body was covered in a cold sweat of pure dread.

381
00:33:41.640 --> 00:33:54.200
He had already passed a handful of people in the dark.

382
00:33:55.200 --> 00:33:57.600
The road would now start to get much busier.

383
00:33:58.440 --> 00:34:02.320
Less than an hour later, one of his old neighbors approached

384
00:34:02.320 --> 00:34:07.160
with three donkeys fully loaded and bound for the village.

385
00:34:07.760 --> 00:34:09.840
Shalom, said the neighbor.

386
00:34:10.320 --> 00:34:13.760
Shalom, replied the son with his face to the ground.

387
00:34:14.920 --> 00:34:19.040
For a second, the neighbor thought he recognized the voice.

388
00:34:20.679 --> 00:34:23.040
After they passed each other,

389
00:34:23.040 --> 00:34:26.120
they both looked back at the same time

390
00:34:26.840 --> 00:34:29.360
and for a brief moment.

391
00:34:30.360 --> 00:34:33.040
They locked eyes.

392
00:34:33.040 --> 00:34:35.360
The neighbor knew instantly who it was.

393
00:34:36.199 --> 00:34:39.320
The son saw condemnation

394
00:34:39.760 --> 00:34:43.239
begin to flicker like hellfire in his eyes.

395
00:34:44.000 --> 00:34:46.159
They both turned and picked up their pace.

396
00:34:47.880 --> 00:34:50.840
The son knew that news of his return

397
00:34:51.080 --> 00:34:54.840
would very soon be known throughout the entire district.

398
00:34:55.560 --> 00:35:00.040
The severe consequences he had left behind had waited patiently.

399
00:35:00.000 --> 00:35:06.360
for his return. The neighbour knew as well as the son, as well as the son did, the risk

400
00:35:06.360 --> 00:35:13.040
the son had taken in returning. The neighbour knew that there may be a stoning today. He

401
00:35:13.040 --> 00:35:18.680
took it upon himself, he took upon himself the responsibility to tell the village the

402
00:35:18.680 --> 00:35:25.680
news. Everything else went on hold as the demand for justice took centre stage. The

403
00:35:25.680 --> 00:35:32.160
son hurried on as discreetly as he could. Despite his desire to remain invisible, a

404
00:35:32.160 --> 00:35:38.120
number of people recognised him. He heard some people speaking to him, others shouting

405
00:35:38.120 --> 00:35:45.120
at him, but he could barely even register their existence. He was under so much internal

406
00:35:45.680 --> 00:35:52.680
pressure that it required every ounce of his focus and energy to take each step. He was

407
00:35:53.360 --> 00:36:00.360
consumed with agonising thoughts of his father. He blocked out everything and kept walking.

408
00:36:01.760 --> 00:36:08.760
Finally the father's farm was in view. The climactic reunion drew ominously close. The

409
00:36:08.960 --> 00:36:15.960
son took one more step over the horizon line and came into the father's view. The son had

410
00:36:16.920 --> 00:36:23.920
no idea what the father's response was going to be. He paused before walking a little further

411
00:36:24.680 --> 00:36:31.680
down the hill. Suddenly he saw that his father was sprinting towards him. The son stopped

412
00:36:32.600 --> 00:36:39.600
right there, literally frozen in panic. He was unaware that a mob had gathered and was

413
00:36:40.000 --> 00:36:47.000
fast approaching on the road, just a short distance behind him. Justice was a serious

414
00:36:47.480 --> 00:36:54.480
community responsibility. Now justice would finally be served. At best the son thought

415
00:36:54.560 --> 00:37:00.800
he may be able to desperately beg for mercy and possibly be given the role of a servant

416
00:37:00.800 --> 00:37:05.560
in his father's house. That would be better than dying with the pigs and dealing with

417
00:37:05.560 --> 00:37:12.560
his ugly bearded boss. His best case scenario was begging for the right to become a servant.

418
00:37:13.880 --> 00:37:20.520
His worst case scenarios were either that beating he deserved or the stoning that the

419
00:37:20.520 --> 00:37:27.520
village would demand. One thing was very clear. The son believed that because of his actions

420
00:37:28.640 --> 00:37:35.080
he had forfeited his previous right to sonship. At least the crowd agreed with something in

421
00:37:35.080 --> 00:37:41.600
the story that Jesus was telling. This son's behavior had completely forfeited him from

422
00:37:41.600 --> 00:37:48.600
any right to sonship ever. He began to shake. The closer his father ran, the more terrified

423
00:37:51.600 --> 00:37:56.800
the son became. All the strength that he had mustered to come this far and overcome so

424
00:37:56.800 --> 00:38:03.800
much fear and shame had taken its toll. He was at breaking point. As he watched the unusual

425
00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:10.000
speed of his father charging down the road, his sense of alarm began to grow. He began

426
00:38:10.000 --> 00:38:16.600
to shake physically as fear and shame rumbled through his veins like thunder. He could no

427
00:38:16.600 --> 00:38:23.120
longer hide from his past. He couldn't self medicate. He couldn't escape. He was forced

428
00:38:23.120 --> 00:38:30.120
to face reality. He was forced to face this great terror in his heart. His father quickly

429
00:38:30.680 --> 00:38:37.680
drew near. The father had been watching, waiting and longing for his son to come home. Longing

430
00:38:39.280 --> 00:38:46.280
for relationship, longing for reconciliation, longing for intimacy. Longing for his son

431
00:38:46.760 --> 00:38:53.760
to see him for who he really was and not as the monstrous father that the son's imagination

432
00:38:54.760 --> 00:39:01.760
had invented. The father had never been able to overcome the son's persuasion that he was

433
00:39:02.920 --> 00:39:09.920
unworthy of love. The father had never been able to overcome the son's persuasion that

434
00:39:14.400 --> 00:39:21.400
he was unworthy of love. The son's own persuasion that he was unlovable had always prevented

435
00:39:22.400 --> 00:39:28.920
him from receiving his father's love, no matter how desperately the father longed to pour

436
00:39:28.920 --> 00:39:35.920
it out on him. Because the son never received love, he never felt loved. And the son used

437
00:39:36.400 --> 00:39:43.400
this unloved feeling as justification for his theory that his father had never loved

438
00:39:43.520 --> 00:39:50.520
him and that he would never be worthy of love. The son's image of the father was so warped

439
00:39:52.000 --> 00:39:58.480
that he expected the worst from this moment. His father kept running, not jogging. The

440
00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:00.040
father was in full.

441
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:17.400
Jesus' crowd of listeners can't believe that the son didn't die with the pigs.

442
00:40:17.400 --> 00:40:21.280
How did he manage to escape justice once again?

443
00:40:21.280 --> 00:40:28.720
But now that the son has been forced to crawl back to his father, justice can at last be

444
00:40:28.720 --> 00:40:29.720
served.

445
00:40:29.720 --> 00:40:37.280
How cunning of the father to wait until the son had to come crawling back before administering

446
00:40:37.280 --> 00:40:44.080
a severe punishment on top of his ultimate humiliation.

447
00:40:44.080 --> 00:40:50.640
Perhaps there is hope for this father to redeem himself in the eyes of the crowd.

448
00:40:50.640 --> 00:40:57.760
The father is running towards this defiled, useless, disgusting boy, and this rebellious

449
00:40:57.760 --> 00:41:04.560
wicked outcast is about to get the pent-up wrath of an offended father unleashed on him

450
00:41:04.560 --> 00:41:06.000
in full fury.

451
00:41:06.000 --> 00:41:11.440
At last, the father's wrath will be fully satisfied.

452
00:41:11.440 --> 00:41:15.760
The son can't take his eyes off the father.

453
00:41:15.760 --> 00:41:18.080
This was it.

454
00:41:18.080 --> 00:41:20.920
This was the moment of truth.

455
00:41:20.920 --> 00:41:26.080
His entire focus was consumed by his father.

456
00:41:26.080 --> 00:41:34.360
He did not see the growing crowd behind him, gathering stones and drawing dangerously close.

457
00:41:34.360 --> 00:41:35.720
They were rushing.

458
00:41:35.720 --> 00:41:37.120
They were aggressive.

459
00:41:37.120 --> 00:41:38.960
They were demanding justice.

460
00:41:38.960 --> 00:41:40.840
They were demanding punishment.

461
00:41:40.840 --> 00:41:44.720
Fueled by wrath, they raced towards the son.

462
00:41:44.720 --> 00:41:47.320
The father could see the crowd coming.

463
00:41:47.320 --> 00:41:52.760
He had sat through many conversations with his own relatives, neighbors, and friends

464
00:41:52.760 --> 00:41:59.600
as they told him what they would do to his son if he ever showed his face again.

465
00:41:59.600 --> 00:42:07.080
There was no way he was going to give them a chance to inflict their form of justice.

466
00:42:07.080 --> 00:42:16.040
Inspired by love, the father raced towards the son.

467
00:42:16.080 --> 00:42:24.240
Heart pounding, chest heaving, covered in sweat, the father reaches his son.

468
00:42:24.240 --> 00:42:32.680
He instantly embraces him with a deep compassion and a fiery love.

469
00:42:32.680 --> 00:42:41.160
Consuming the son in arms of love, the father holds his child who once was lost but now is found.

470
00:42:41.160 --> 00:42:44.000
The son could not hug back.

471
00:42:44.000 --> 00:42:47.320
He could not express affection.

472
00:42:47.320 --> 00:42:51.520
He just stood there, rigid yet trembling.

473
00:42:51.520 --> 00:42:58.720
The son is obsessed with and oppressed by the conviction of his own inadequacy.

474
00:42:58.720 --> 00:43:04.600
He breaks down and gets to the root issue of what he has been secretly feeling forever.

475
00:43:04.600 --> 00:43:11.840
It all comes out before his father as he gets more vulnerable than he has ever been and admits the truth

476
00:43:11.840 --> 00:43:15.360
of what's really causing the emotional turmoil in his heart.

477
00:43:15.360 --> 00:43:18.000
Everything inside him explodes.

478
00:43:18.000 --> 00:43:21.840
The tears, the fears, the shame, the desperation.

479
00:43:21.840 --> 00:43:24.760
I'm not worthy to be called your son.

480
00:43:24.760 --> 00:43:27.840
He screams tears and emotion everywhere.

481
00:43:27.840 --> 00:43:36.320
This conviction that he was inadequate and unworthy to be called a son is what drove him from home in the first place.

482
00:43:36.320 --> 00:43:41.680
Now it all comes out, messy and painful.

483
00:43:41.680 --> 00:43:46.280
Tears, snot, raw emotion and full exposure.

484
00:43:46.280 --> 00:43:52.440
This son's broken and infected heart bleeds out before his father.

485
00:43:52.440 --> 00:44:01.240
The son's tears cover his father and the father's kisses cover his son.

486
00:44:06.320 --> 00:44:33.920
The unconditional acceptance, the love, the honor and the favor that the father lavishes on the son leaves everyone bewildered.

487
00:44:33.920 --> 00:44:39.520
The crowd listening to Jesus cannot believe what has just happened.

488
00:44:39.520 --> 00:44:44.880
This is the worst, most scandalous story they have ever heard.

489
00:44:44.880 --> 00:44:46.560
It makes no sense.

490
00:44:46.560 --> 00:44:50.800
In fact, it makes them vibrate with anger.

491
00:44:50.800 --> 00:44:59.920
The son is speechless, hyperventilating, gasping for breath, gasping for breath and choking on a rise.

492
00:45:00.000 --> 00:45:14.560
stream of tears, the father is ecstatic. When the older brother hears about what has happened,

493
00:45:14.560 --> 00:45:22.260
he is wild with anger. The only one that Jesus' audience can relate to is the older brother

494
00:45:22.260 --> 00:45:29.560
and his outrage at the absence of the flogging of a lifetime or worse. But as this story

495
00:45:29.560 --> 00:45:39.460
sinks in, as Jesus' audience reflect on this foreign love, a deep place in their hearts

496
00:45:39.460 --> 00:45:50.860
is jealous to experience it for themselves. They begin to feel a once dormant, deprived

497
00:45:50.860 --> 00:45:58.340
part of their hearts physically aching to know the radical love that has been poured

498
00:45:58.340 --> 00:46:08.760
out on their son. In that moment, some of them ask themselves, what would it be like

499
00:46:08.760 --> 00:46:16.880
to be loved so unconditionally? Shouts begin to rise from the gathering. Deadly demands

500
00:46:16.880 --> 00:46:22.140
for justice ring out from the priests, the elders, the lawyers, the cousins, the uncles,

501
00:46:22.140 --> 00:46:27.100
the aunties and friends. What will the father's decision be? What shall be done with this

502
00:46:27.100 --> 00:46:35.700
worthless son? They grip their rocks in rage. The gentle love and kindness in the father's

503
00:46:35.700 --> 00:46:46.800
eyes blinds sides and captivates the son. They immerse themselves in each other's gaze.

504
00:46:46.800 --> 00:46:52.620
The father's eyes tell a story that the son has never known. The son has known the looks

505
00:46:52.620 --> 00:46:59.540
of rejection, hatred, brutality and condemnation. But no matter how deeply he reaches into his

506
00:46:59.540 --> 00:47:06.620
father's eyes, there is not a trace of these things. He plunges desperately into them expecting

507
00:47:06.620 --> 00:47:13.060
that rejection is hidden somewhere inside. His father's eyes are baptizing him in the

508
00:47:13.060 --> 00:47:19.660
purest love that he has ever encountered. The rejection that he assumed was there had

509
00:47:19.660 --> 00:47:28.060
never existed. Waves of acceptance crash over him again and again. He can't understand

510
00:47:28.060 --> 00:47:35.860
why he had never seen it there before, but he can see it clearly now. The eyes of the

511
00:47:35.860 --> 00:47:42.140
father are a cosmos of ecstasy and delight in his son. The son is discovering that he

512
00:47:42.140 --> 00:47:51.100
has always been the focus of his father's delight. The son can see that this limitless

513
00:47:51.100 --> 00:47:58.540
love in the father's eyes could take a thousand lifetimes to explore. It is beyond his capacity

514
00:47:58.540 --> 00:48:05.100
to understand. He doesn't know why he's never seen it before, but he cannot ignore it. He

515
00:48:05.100 --> 00:48:10.800
cannot resist it and he cannot live without it. For the first time since he was a little

516
00:48:10.800 --> 00:48:19.720
boy, he buries his face in his father's chest. They grip each other in an embrace that simultaneously

517
00:48:19.720 --> 00:48:29.480
communicates a lifetime full of pain and a future full of hope. The father has an unprecedented

518
00:48:29.480 --> 00:48:35.600
response to the son's begging and the crowd's demands. He does not let the son continue

519
00:48:35.600 --> 00:48:43.840
to berate himself and beg like a slave. The father breaks everyone's cultural protocols

520
00:48:43.840 --> 00:48:53.680
and expectations as he demonstrates unconditional love for his son. The son himself is in serious

521
00:48:53.680 --> 00:49:03.480
shock. Where is the wrath of the monstrous father that he believed had never loved him?

522
00:49:03.480 --> 00:49:10.400
The father's love collides with his false perceptions like a sledgehammer on glass.

523
00:49:10.400 --> 00:49:17.800
The core beliefs that he built his world on are shattering. The love is tangible and strong,

524
00:49:17.800 --> 00:49:25.640
so strong that the son loses all his strength. An electric love surges right through him.

525
00:49:25.640 --> 00:49:32.440
He melts in his father's arms. The father upholds him in this eternally desired expression

526
00:49:32.440 --> 00:49:42.640
of delight. For the first time in his memory, the son drops his guard. For a moment, his

527
00:49:42.640 --> 00:49:53.000
sense of inadequacy is eclipsed by his father's love, and he receives this divine love into

528
00:49:53.000 --> 00:50:00.000
the depths of his love-starved soul, his love-famished soul.

529
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:04.920
or feasts at the same time as an uncontrollable flood

530
00:50:04.920 --> 00:50:09.920
of tears and snot and pain continue pouring from him.

531
00:50:10.900 --> 00:50:15.520
The double edged blade of love penetrates his heart.

532
00:50:15.520 --> 00:50:19.160
It's hurting, but it's healing.

533
00:50:20.680 --> 00:50:24.180
The father continues to demonstrate to the son

534
00:50:24.180 --> 00:50:29.180
and to everyone watching his unreserved endorsement

535
00:50:29.360 --> 00:50:34.280
of the legitimacy of his son's sonship.

536
00:50:34.280 --> 00:50:39.280
At this stage, the son's world is spinning out of control.

537
00:50:40.560 --> 00:50:43.480
The father called for his best robe.

538
00:50:43.480 --> 00:50:47.960
Immediately, the father placed his most exquisite garment

539
00:50:47.960 --> 00:50:49.480
on his son.

540
00:50:49.480 --> 00:50:54.400
This robe is a statement of the father's protection.

541
00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:58.360
The moment that the father's robe was placed on the son,

542
00:50:58.360 --> 00:51:03.360
every condemning accusation against the son was canceled.

543
00:51:05.300 --> 00:51:09.180
The son is now wearing the best robe of the household.

544
00:51:09.180 --> 00:51:12.240
It is the father's covering.

545
00:51:12.240 --> 00:51:15.820
It represents the father meeting the son's need

546
00:51:15.820 --> 00:51:17.820
for protection.

547
00:51:17.820 --> 00:51:20.800
It is a declaration of safety to the son.

548
00:51:20.800 --> 00:51:25.800
This act of love is casting out all fear of punishment.

549
00:51:26.780 --> 00:51:31.100
This act of love is canceling every offense

550
00:51:31.100 --> 00:51:36.100
and every accusation of judgment and condemnation

551
00:51:36.100 --> 00:51:39.980
associated with the son's failures.

552
00:51:39.980 --> 00:51:44.980
This act of love is a declaration of total vindication

553
00:51:44.980 --> 00:51:47.260
and reconciliation.

554
00:51:47.260 --> 00:51:49.540
This act of love is a declaration

555
00:51:49.540 --> 00:51:54.540
that the father has freely forgiven his son.

556
00:51:55.520 --> 00:52:00.000
This act of love is an undeserved declaration

557
00:52:00.000 --> 00:52:03.860
of redemption and freedom from the darkness

558
00:52:03.860 --> 00:52:06.080
of the son's past.

559
00:52:06.080 --> 00:52:09.720
The level of offense in the crowd is now rising.

560
00:52:09.720 --> 00:52:11.200
Where is the justice?

561
00:52:11.200 --> 00:52:13.840
To them, this is immoral, scandalous,

562
00:52:13.840 --> 00:52:16.360
against the laws of God and nature.

563
00:52:16.360 --> 00:52:20.600
This is blasphemy, heresy, and surely Gentile theology

564
00:52:20.600 --> 00:52:22.200
all in one.

565
00:52:22.220 --> 00:52:25.820
They believe that justice looked like punishment,

566
00:52:25.820 --> 00:52:29.660
but the father is overwhelmed with delight.

567
00:52:29.660 --> 00:52:33.760
He has no regard for the crowd's preconceived assumptions

568
00:52:33.760 --> 00:52:36.740
that he would pour out wrath on his son.

569
00:52:36.740 --> 00:52:40.420
The father had no intention of punishment.

570
00:52:40.420 --> 00:52:43.660
It wasn't what he had ever wanted.

571
00:52:44.540 --> 00:52:49.540
To the father, justice looked like redemption

572
00:52:50.200 --> 00:52:55.200
and he gets exactly what he wants, his son.

573
00:52:56.760 --> 00:52:59.120
The crowd's appetite for blood

574
00:52:59.120 --> 00:53:04.120
is left completely unsatisfied by the father.

575
00:53:04.980 --> 00:53:09.220
Moments later, the father rushes a ring

576
00:53:09.220 --> 00:53:11.300
onto his son's finger.

577
00:53:11.300 --> 00:53:15.780
This ring symbolizes identity.

578
00:53:15.780 --> 00:53:20.080
In giving this ring, the father is meeting

579
00:53:20.080 --> 00:53:24.760
the son's extreme need for identity.

580
00:53:24.760 --> 00:53:27.600
The father is saying that everything

581
00:53:27.600 --> 00:53:30.860
which the son once believed defined him,

582
00:53:30.860 --> 00:53:34.440
all his failure, all his dark secrets,

583
00:53:34.440 --> 00:53:38.900
everything negative that had ever been said about him

584
00:53:38.900 --> 00:53:43.860
or that he had ever believed about himself is irrelevant.

585
00:53:43.860 --> 00:53:46.560
The ring symbolizes the name, nature,

586
00:53:46.560 --> 00:53:51.360
and identity of the family and declares to the son

587
00:53:51.360 --> 00:53:55.980
that he is exclusively defined by his father.

588
00:53:55.980 --> 00:53:57.960
The ring declares to the son

589
00:53:57.960 --> 00:54:02.200
that the only valid reference point for his identity

590
00:54:02.200 --> 00:54:05.080
comes from his father.

591
00:54:05.080 --> 00:54:09.440
By doing this, the father also powerfully communicates

592
00:54:09.440 --> 00:54:14.440
that this son has a home and a place of belonging

593
00:54:14.780 --> 00:54:17.060
in this family.

594
00:54:17.060 --> 00:54:22.060
He will be seated at the family table at the father's side.

595
00:54:24.100 --> 00:54:26.340
The son can't stand.

596
00:54:26.340 --> 00:54:29.100
He is overwhelmed with love and emotion.

597
00:54:29.100 --> 00:54:33.460
He collapses to the ground and his servants run to him.

598
00:54:33.460 --> 00:54:35.740
Sandals are tied to his feet.

599
00:54:35.740 --> 00:54:39.320
Slaves and servants did not wear sandals.

600
00:54:40.160 --> 00:54:43.900
This act of the father was a declaration of provision.

601
00:54:43.900 --> 00:54:48.100
The father was saying that he would not receive him back

602
00:54:48.100 --> 00:54:50.960
as a slave or a servant.

603
00:54:50.960 --> 00:54:53.420
He would receive him back as a son

604
00:54:53.420 --> 00:54:56.980
and he would provide as a father.

605
00:54:56.980 --> 00:55:00.020
Each of these three actions endorsed.

606
00:55:00.000 --> 00:55:08.880
legitimacy of the son's sonship. Each of these actions revealed the nature of the father to

607
00:55:08.880 --> 00:55:19.520
supply protection, identity and provision. Following this, the father killed the fattened calf.

608
00:55:21.120 --> 00:55:27.600
This calf would have been enough to feed the whole village. It was a custom for wealthy

609
00:55:27.600 --> 00:55:36.560
families to invite the whole town or village to a banquet to celebrate Bar Mitzvah. A Bar Mitzvah

610
00:55:36.560 --> 00:55:45.280
is a coming-of-age celebration which took place on a son's 13th birthday, where a son is legally

611
00:55:45.280 --> 00:55:53.600
and publicly recognized as a son with all the legal rights, privileges and responsibilities

612
00:55:53.600 --> 00:56:02.480
of sonship. This was not an official Bar Mitzvah celebration, but the father was making a public

613
00:56:02.480 --> 00:56:11.120
statement similar to that of a Bar Mitzvah. The father was publicly celebrating, recognizing

614
00:56:11.120 --> 00:56:20.160
and endorsing the full rights, privileges and responsibilities of his son's sonship. The whole

615
00:56:20.160 --> 00:56:30.400
village was invited to witness the father testify to the legitimacy of his son's sonship. The father

616
00:56:30.400 --> 00:56:38.000
wanted to endorse his son's sonship in the most public way possible. Both the community

617
00:56:38.000 --> 00:56:45.120
around the father in the story and Jesus's audience were having a major culture shock

618
00:56:45.120 --> 00:56:54.720
as they tried to process the actions of this eccentric, heretical, villainous father. This father

619
00:56:54.720 --> 00:57:02.720
defied their cultural expectations for wrath and punishment and dumbfounded them with his

620
00:57:02.720 --> 00:57:13.440
unconditional acceptance and extravagant love. The son was received home as the object of his

621
00:57:13.440 --> 00:57:23.680
father's delight. While the son still smelt like a pigsty, the father had wrapped him up in his

622
00:57:23.680 --> 00:57:30.560
passionate embrace. Instead of separation, condemnation, wrath, humiliation and bloodshed,

623
00:57:31.440 --> 00:57:39.280
this son was sitting in the best seat at the father's side, wearing the best robe with the ring

624
00:57:39.280 --> 00:57:47.360
on his finger and brand new sandals on his feet, feasting at a celebration thrown in his honor to

625
00:57:47.360 --> 00:57:55.360
endorse the legitimacy of his sonship. This son has discovered his seat at the table.

626
00:57:56.880 --> 00:58:05.440
Seated beside his father, this son has finally found where he belongs. Instead of dying

627
00:58:05.920 --> 00:58:14.080
with the pigs, he is dining with the father. Although the crowd was confused, speechless

628
00:58:14.080 --> 00:58:25.200
and offended, the story awakened within each of them a deep and ancient desire to experience

629
00:58:26.000 --> 00:58:37.760
such a love for themselves. A jealousy for such a pure love began to sting the open wounds of lack

630
00:58:38.320 --> 00:58:48.400
and inadequacy in their own hearts. Could such a love be any more than mythology or heresy?

631
00:58:48.480 --> 00:58:52.720
They reflected on their own experiences of what a father's love could look like.

632
00:58:53.680 --> 00:59:00.080
They all had different images coming to mind, the good, the bad and the ugly. All of their

633
00:59:00.080 --> 00:59:07.680
experiences of what a father's love is like were different, but all of them paled in contrast

634
00:59:07.760 --> 00:59:12.800
to the extravagant love of this father.

635
00:59:15.440 --> 00:59:23.600
Could I ever hope to experience a love like this? They wondered secretly to themselves.

636
00:59:25.120 --> 00:59:31.600
Even the son is seriously questioning whether this is too good to be true.

637
00:59:32.560 --> 00:59:39.360
Is this really happening? All his expectations, his entire worldview, his reality has been

638
00:59:39.360 --> 00:59:47.760
completely devastated by his father's love. Truth is staring him in the face and declaring that life

639
00:59:47.760 --> 00:59:57.360
is better and brighter than he had ever imagined. His heart, his brain, his emotions, his spirit and

640
00:59:57.360 --> 00:59:59.920
his soul are all exploding.

641
01:00:00.000 --> 01:00:04.040
thing at the same time. It's too much to grasp the full meaning

642
01:00:04.040 --> 01:00:07.960
of everything. This love has blown a brain fuse in the sun.

643
01:00:08.280 --> 01:00:12.840
He makes the best decision of his life and chooses to simply

644
01:00:13.360 --> 01:00:22.400
receive his Papa's love. Even though it's beyond his

645
01:00:22.400 --> 01:00:28.160
comprehension, and his mind is spinning, his heart knows that

646
01:00:28.160 --> 01:00:36.160
he belongs in this seat at his Papa's table. Truth is

647
01:00:36.160 --> 01:00:43.000
convincing him that he is perfectly loved. For the first

648
01:00:43.000 --> 01:00:48.520
time in his life, he is starting to see his Papa as he really is.

649
01:00:49.280 --> 01:00:54.640
He is discovering that his Papa is a perfect lover. The more

650
01:00:54.640 --> 01:01:01.200
accurately he sees his Papa, the more he loves him. The

651
01:01:01.200 --> 01:01:06.120
offense and hatred he once held towards his father has been

652
01:01:06.120 --> 01:01:14.120
swallowed up by love and honor. His Papa's love is redefining

653
01:01:14.560 --> 01:01:21.480
everything that he ever knew about love. He has never felt so

654
01:01:21.480 --> 01:01:33.440
safe. He has never felt so secure. In the context of perfect

655
01:01:33.440 --> 01:01:41.200
safety, vulnerability is losing its terror. Surrounded by

656
01:01:41.200 --> 01:01:49.640
safety, authenticity cautiously emerges like a snail's antennae.

657
01:01:50.640 --> 01:01:56.400
The masks of false identities that the sun had worn as self

658
01:01:56.400 --> 01:02:02.880
protection mechanisms were becoming irrelevant. This

659
01:02:02.920 --> 01:02:07.120
unconditional acceptance is drawing the sun outside of

660
01:02:07.120 --> 01:02:11.920
himself. He is discovering that nothing he has ever experienced

661
01:02:12.120 --> 01:02:17.960
compares to the ecstasy and the bliss of this perfect love. This

662
01:02:18.280 --> 01:02:23.600
once lost sun has found a seat at the table. This once lost sun

663
01:02:23.600 --> 01:02:29.120
is discovering the bliss of sonship. A genuine smile lights

664
01:02:29.160 --> 01:02:36.040
up his face. His eyes radiate with the delight of a son who

665
01:02:36.080 --> 01:02:41.800
understands that he is perfectly loved.

666
01:02:42.800 --> 01:02:51.040
Conclusion. The term sonship is used here in a non, in a

667
01:02:51.040 --> 01:02:55.360
generic, non gender specific way. The term identity is used

668
01:02:55.360 --> 01:02:59.840
here to refer to the generic identity of humanity as those

669
01:02:59.840 --> 01:03:04.640
made in the image of God, not a person's unique individuality

670
01:03:04.840 --> 01:03:11.320
and personality. This parable of the good father is based on the

671
01:03:11.320 --> 01:03:14.720
idea that the good father is Jesus' most masterful

672
01:03:14.760 --> 01:03:20.520
articulation of the good news. Jesus exquisitely communicates

673
01:03:20.520 --> 01:03:27.480
the essence of the good news with power and precision. Jesus

674
01:03:27.480 --> 01:03:32.560
presents his definition of perfect theology, who God is, and

675
01:03:32.560 --> 01:03:36.200
his definition of the gospel, what the good news is, in one of

676
01:03:36.200 --> 01:03:41.360
the most gripping stories in the entire Bible. A father, a

677
01:03:41.360 --> 01:03:47.720
lost son, betrayal, scandal, secrets, fear, shame, heartbreak,

678
01:03:47.720 --> 01:03:52.160
villainy, tragedy, brokenness, addiction, bondage, isolation,

679
01:03:52.160 --> 01:03:56.000
courage, vulnerability, forgiveness, love, redemption,

680
01:03:56.040 --> 01:04:00.320
identity, reconciliation, restoration, sonship, family

681
01:04:00.320 --> 01:04:06.080
belonging, hope. This story incorporates the most powerful

682
01:04:06.080 --> 01:04:10.640
in life. It answers the most profound questions in life. The

683
01:04:10.640 --> 01:04:15.160
pinnacle revelation in the midst of it all is the unconditional,

684
01:04:15.200 --> 01:04:19.760
unfailing, unparalleled love of our father in heaven, whose

685
01:04:19.800 --> 01:04:25.040
unshakable love conquers the most hideous betrayals without

686
01:04:25.040 --> 01:04:29.240
flinching or being damaged, or reduced or inhibited or

687
01:04:29.240 --> 01:04:35.360
restricted in any way. It's a love that defies every adversity

688
01:04:35.360 --> 01:04:38.880
and never relents, a love that yearns for redemption, not

689
01:04:38.880 --> 01:04:45.200
punishment, and reconciliation, not distance. Using this story,

690
01:04:45.200 --> 01:04:50.080
Jesus exposes the root issues of the human heart, believing that

691
01:04:50.080 --> 01:04:53.520
we are inadequate and that we won't have enough. These

692
01:04:53.520 --> 01:04:57.400
beliefs flow from false definitions of our father in

693
01:04:57.400 --> 01:04:59.840
heaven, and false definitions of our

694
01:05:00.000 --> 01:05:04.400
own identity. When we have a false definition of who our

695
01:05:04.400 --> 01:05:09.560
father in heaven is, we come to believe that we will lack the

696
01:05:09.560 --> 01:05:14.640
things that we need, protection, identity, provision. Whenever we

697
01:05:14.640 --> 01:05:19.360
believe that we will be in lack, it produces fear. The nature of

698
01:05:19.360 --> 01:05:26.040
love, the nature of the father is to supply. Lack produces

699
01:05:26.040 --> 01:05:32.880
fear, but love, love supplies. That's how love casts out all

700
01:05:32.880 --> 01:05:37.480
fear. Love brings a promise with it that there will be more than

701
01:05:37.480 --> 01:05:43.680
enough. Lack produces fear, but love supplies. Love supplies the

702
01:05:43.680 --> 01:05:47.800
truth that we need to be free from fear. Love supplies the

703
01:05:47.800 --> 01:05:52.560
revelation that our hearts need to be fully persuaded of our

704
01:05:52.560 --> 01:05:56.760
papa's provision. When we are fully persuaded that our father

705
01:05:56.760 --> 01:05:59.640
in heaven will provide for us, then it will be clearly

706
01:05:59.640 --> 01:06:04.600
evidenced by the reality that there is no fear, anxiety, or

707
01:06:04.600 --> 01:06:09.400
worry in our lives. The only way to get free from fear is by

708
01:06:09.400 --> 01:06:15.520
discovering what this son discovered. Eventually, he

709
01:06:15.520 --> 01:06:20.120
discovered that his father's love was unconditional, and he

710
01:06:20.120 --> 01:06:26.520
had always been loved. Nothing he did or didn't do ever stopped

711
01:06:26.520 --> 01:06:32.400
the father from loving him. That is who the father is, a perfect

712
01:06:32.600 --> 01:06:38.720
lover. After a lifetime of living in an unnecessary love

713
01:06:38.720 --> 01:06:43.480
deficit, the son came to realize that his actions and mindsets

714
01:06:43.720 --> 01:06:49.280
did not alter or diminish the father's love. They altered his

715
01:06:49.280 --> 01:06:54.120
ability to experience the present reality of his father's

716
01:06:54.120 --> 01:06:59.080
love. It took great courage from the son to make the journey home

717
01:07:00.240 --> 01:07:04.400
and to become vulnerable before his father. However, it was in

718
01:07:04.400 --> 01:07:10.760
the context of his courage and vulnerability that he discovered

719
01:07:10.760 --> 01:07:15.040
the present reality of the love with which his father had always

720
01:07:15.040 --> 01:07:18.960
loved him. The father's unconditional acceptance

721
01:07:18.960 --> 01:07:23.880
establishes an atmosphere of perfect safety, an atmosphere

722
01:07:23.880 --> 01:07:26.800
that is safe to come home to a place where it's safe to be

723
01:07:26.840 --> 01:07:30.920
honest, real, transparent, and vulnerable, a place where it's

724
01:07:30.920 --> 01:07:34.840
safe to be ourselves. In the context of unconditional

725
01:07:34.840 --> 01:07:41.200
acceptance, we can expose ourselves and still be loved. We

726
01:07:41.200 --> 01:07:44.200
can be known, we can be intimate without fear of

727
01:07:44.200 --> 01:07:47.960
rejection. In this place of unconditional acceptance, we are

728
01:07:47.960 --> 01:07:54.520
given the opportunity to build trust. As we protect and steward

729
01:07:54.520 --> 01:07:59.120
and trust with as we protect and steward trust with safe

730
01:07:59.120 --> 01:08:04.320
behavior, intimacy grows. As intimacy develops, a sense of

731
01:08:04.320 --> 01:08:09.720
belonging grows with it. As the son courageously came home into

732
01:08:09.720 --> 01:08:15.440
that atmosphere of safety and acceptance, his heart melted. He

733
01:08:15.440 --> 01:08:18.240
repositioned his heart from a place of offense toward his

734
01:08:18.240 --> 01:08:23.640
father to a posture of honor. He discovered that offense shut his

735
01:08:23.680 --> 01:08:28.279
heart down to receiving love but honor opened his heart up to

736
01:08:28.279 --> 01:08:34.000
receiving his father's love. Honor opened the floodgates for a

737
01:08:34.000 --> 01:08:46.120
baptism in the father's love. A false definition of our father

738
01:08:46.120 --> 01:08:51.319
in heaven is not only the source of lack and fear, it is also the

739
01:08:51.319 --> 01:08:56.319
root of inadequacy and shame. We were made in the image of our

740
01:08:56.319 --> 01:09:01.319
father, our papa in heaven. He is the blueprint of our divine

741
01:09:01.319 --> 01:09:06.479
design. We were made perfectly in his image, and he alone

742
01:09:06.479 --> 01:09:10.279
defines us. However, if we are not fully persuaded that we are

743
01:09:10.279 --> 01:09:13.720
perfectly made in the image of our father in heaven, then we

744
01:09:13.720 --> 01:09:18.399
begin to experience feelings associated with beliefs in

745
01:09:18.399 --> 01:09:23.520
inadequacy. Perfection is the secret standard inside of every

746
01:09:23.520 --> 01:09:27.720
human soul that we measure ourselves by. If we come to

747
01:09:27.720 --> 01:09:31.880
believe that we are less than perfect in any way, then

748
01:09:31.880 --> 01:09:36.880
inadequacy and shame begin to spread like a vicious rash on

749
01:09:36.880 --> 01:09:41.640
our soul. The pathway to freedom from shame is becoming fully

750
01:09:41.720 --> 01:09:46.760
persuaded that despite what you have been through in life, the

751
01:09:46.800 --> 01:09:53.600
only valid reference for your identity is your papa in heaven.

752
01:09:54.160 --> 01:09:59.080
Nothing we have ever experienced in life has any

753
01:09:59.080 --> 01:09:59.960
authority

754
01:10:00.000 --> 01:10:08.520
to redefine that which our Father in heaven has already exclusively defined in His image

755
01:10:08.520 --> 01:10:14.320
and we have been forever defined by Him alone.

756
01:10:14.320 --> 01:10:19.880
Believing in lack will produce fear and believing in inadequacy will produce shame.

757
01:10:19.880 --> 01:10:22.240
Humans are allergic to shame.

758
01:10:22.240 --> 01:10:25.720
Shame is a toxic substance.

759
01:10:25.720 --> 01:10:32.560
Shame comes from believing that you as an individual are inadequate in some way.

760
01:10:32.560 --> 01:10:38.600
The belief that we are inadequate comes from a perception that things we experience have

761
01:10:38.600 --> 01:10:42.980
authority to define our identity.

762
01:10:42.980 --> 01:10:46.120
This world is full of extreme trauma.

763
01:10:46.120 --> 01:10:52.520
I have more friends than I can count who have been through extreme abuse and trauma.

764
01:10:52.520 --> 01:11:00.560
The ones that get free from shame are the ones that embrace the truth that their experiences

765
01:11:00.560 --> 01:11:05.120
have no authority to define their identity.

766
01:11:05.120 --> 01:11:10.200
The negative words spoken over their lives, the neglect they suffered, the rape, the violence,

767
01:11:10.200 --> 01:11:15.640
the incest, the rejection, the betrayal, the failure, the sin, the wounds, the fall, the

768
01:11:15.640 --> 01:11:20.560
works, none of these things have any authority to define us.

769
01:11:20.600 --> 01:11:25.920
Everything that we have ever experienced has the authority to redefine that which the Father

770
01:11:25.920 --> 01:11:30.140
has already exclusively defined in His image.

771
01:11:30.140 --> 01:11:34.640
We have been exclusively defined by our Father in heaven.

772
01:11:34.640 --> 01:11:39.400
He is the only valid reference point for our identity.

773
01:11:39.400 --> 01:11:43.800
He is the blueprint of our divine design.

774
01:11:43.800 --> 01:11:50.280
If we are experiencing condemnation, shame, or a belief in unworthiness in any expression

775
01:11:50.280 --> 01:11:57.280
in our lives, it is because we have allowed ourselves to be defined by something that

776
01:11:57.280 --> 01:12:00.600
has no authority to define us.

777
01:12:02.600 --> 01:12:11.520
There is one outstanding and exclusive definition of our identity that has the executive

778
01:12:11.520 --> 01:12:16.360
authority to define us, and that is Jesus.

779
01:12:16.440 --> 01:12:23.720
Jesus perfectly revealed and modeled our Father in heaven, and in doing so, He perfectly

780
01:12:23.720 --> 01:12:30.480
articulated humanity's true identity as those made in God's image.

781
01:12:30.480 --> 01:12:36.240
Every form of information that you have ever received that gives definition to your identity,

782
01:12:36.240 --> 01:12:42.960
which is not in harmony with what Christ revealed, is not valid.

783
01:12:42.960 --> 01:12:47.320
Jesus called the Son a Son for the entire story.

784
01:12:47.320 --> 01:12:51.800
Even in His darkest hour, the Son was still a Son.

785
01:12:51.800 --> 01:12:56.040
He was still as Son as a Son could be.

786
01:12:56.040 --> 01:13:02.120
Discovering the present reality of His Sonship required the lies in His belief system to

787
01:13:02.120 --> 01:13:05.720
be shattered entirely.

788
01:13:05.720 --> 01:13:13.120
His whole way of processing what defined Him had to be completely rewired.

789
01:13:13.120 --> 01:13:19.320
He had always believed that what He did, what people said, and what He experienced defined

790
01:13:19.320 --> 01:13:21.560
His identity.

791
01:13:21.560 --> 01:13:27.480
This way of thinking is a system rigged to fail, a system that will keep us chained to

792
01:13:27.480 --> 01:13:30.400
inadequacy, shame, and condemnation.

793
01:13:30.400 --> 01:13:36.480
The Son discovered that the legitimacy of His Sonship had never been compromised by

794
01:13:36.480 --> 01:13:40.840
all His failures and rebellion.

795
01:13:40.840 --> 01:13:46.920
As the Father endorsed the authenticity of His Son's Sonship, He began to see that the

796
01:13:46.920 --> 01:13:54.580
only valid reference point for His identity was His Father.

797
01:13:54.580 --> 01:14:03.340
He was exclusively defined by His Father, and He had always been His Son as a Son can

798
01:14:03.340 --> 01:14:05.380
be.

799
01:14:05.380 --> 01:14:14.020
Combining these two revelations in our lives empowers us to discover the bliss of Sonship

800
01:14:14.020 --> 01:14:15.700
that this Son discovered.

801
01:14:15.700 --> 01:14:24.420
In Jesus' gospel narrative, discovering unconditional love and unconditional Sonship is what

802
01:14:24.420 --> 01:14:29.140
seats us at our Father's table.

803
01:14:29.140 --> 01:14:41.980
Our Papa is a perfect lover, and we are exclusively made and defined in His image.

804
01:14:41.980 --> 01:14:49.660
We are all perfectly loved, and we are all perfectly worthy of love.

805
01:14:49.660 --> 01:14:57.340
We have not been qualified or defined by our own failed attempts at perfection.

806
01:14:57.340 --> 01:14:59.500
We have been qualified and defined.

807
01:15:00.000 --> 01:15:05.000
by our Papa in heaven, who made us in his image,

808
01:15:05.280 --> 01:15:09.380
and who has declared that we are his beloved children.

809
01:15:11.560 --> 01:15:14.880
Just like the sun in the story,

810
01:15:14.880 --> 01:15:19.880
your father in heaven longs to have you return home.

811
01:15:22.120 --> 01:15:25.160
He has reserved a seat at the table for you.

812
01:15:26.160 --> 01:15:28.620
He longs to celebrate you.

813
01:15:29.460 --> 01:15:33.420
The way the sun in the story was celebrated.

814
01:15:33.420 --> 01:15:37.260
He longs to feast with you at the family table.

815
01:15:37.260 --> 01:15:41.740
He longs to place his robe of protection over you,

816
01:15:41.740 --> 01:15:46.380
to place a defining ring on your finger,

817
01:15:46.380 --> 01:15:49.300
to promise you provision

818
01:15:49.300 --> 01:15:51.940
and to welcome you home as a beloved child.

819
01:15:53.040 --> 01:15:58.040
He wants you to take your place at the banquet of heaven.

820
01:15:58.660 --> 01:16:00.700
He wants you to sit at the dining table.

821
01:16:00.700 --> 01:16:05.700
Your Papa longs to publicly celebrate

822
01:16:06.540 --> 01:16:11.140
and endorse the legitimacy of your sonship.

823
01:16:11.140 --> 01:16:13.780
He wants the whole world to know

824
01:16:13.780 --> 01:16:17.260
that you are perfectly, unconditionally

825
01:16:18.260 --> 01:16:23.260
and extravagantly accepted and loved by him.

826
01:16:29.620 --> 01:16:31.340
Thanks so much, family,

827
01:16:31.340 --> 01:16:36.340
for joining the live reading today of The Good Father.

828
01:16:40.100 --> 01:16:41.820
I'm gonna pray for you,

829
01:16:43.020 --> 01:16:46.180
and then we're gonna wrap this up.

830
01:16:51.080 --> 01:16:51.920
Papa.

831
01:16:51.920 --> 01:16:52.760
Papa.

832
01:16:57.680 --> 01:16:58.520
Wow.

833
01:17:06.480 --> 01:17:09.680
Papa, thank you for your goodness.

834
01:17:13.720 --> 01:17:16.040
Thank you for your extravagant love.

835
01:17:17.640 --> 01:17:18.860
Thank you for,

836
01:17:19.860 --> 01:17:24.860
and thank you for your unconditional love.

837
01:17:26.860 --> 01:17:28.240
And Papa, right now,

838
01:17:30.340 --> 01:17:33.100
right now, Papa, I just ask that you

839
01:17:33.100 --> 01:17:38.100
wrap people's hearts up in your love.

840
01:17:39.900 --> 01:17:42.940
Papa Romans 5.5 says that the love of God

841
01:17:42.940 --> 01:17:47.940
is poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.

842
01:17:48.100 --> 01:17:50.140
So Holy Spirit, right now.

843
01:17:51.180 --> 01:17:52.860
Holy Spirit, right now.

844
01:17:54.460 --> 01:17:57.020
Holy Spirit, I ask that you flood

845
01:17:57.020 --> 01:17:59.300
through every life right now.

846
01:17:59.300 --> 01:18:01.500
I ask that you release the atmosphere

847
01:18:01.500 --> 01:18:03.420
of heaven over people right now,

848
01:18:03.420 --> 01:18:07.820
that there would be an atmosphere for love encounters

849
01:18:07.820 --> 01:18:11.100
swallowing people up right now.

850
01:18:11.100 --> 01:18:12.900
Papa, I ask that your Holy Spirit

851
01:18:12.900 --> 01:18:15.140
would capture people's hearts.

852
01:18:15.140 --> 01:18:19.300
I ask Holy Spirit that your love would infuse them

853
01:18:19.300 --> 01:18:21.580
and flood them and consume them.

854
01:18:21.580 --> 01:18:24.060
Papa, I ask that your love right now

855
01:18:24.060 --> 01:18:25.420
would be like lightning,

856
01:18:25.420 --> 01:18:26.900
that it would be like thunder,

857
01:18:26.900 --> 01:18:28.340
that it would be like oil,

858
01:18:28.340 --> 01:18:30.140
that it would be like fire,

859
01:18:30.140 --> 01:18:31.540
that it would be like waves,

860
01:18:31.540 --> 01:18:34.900
that it would wrap people up

861
01:18:34.900 --> 01:18:37.140
and consume them in your love.

862
01:18:37.140 --> 01:18:42.020
Papa, may that supernatural outpouring of your love

863
01:18:42.020 --> 01:18:44.100
freshly encounter people.

864
01:18:44.100 --> 01:18:45.860
Papa, not on a surface level,

865
01:18:45.860 --> 01:18:49.700
but Holy Spirit, would you pour out the love of the Father

866
01:18:49.700 --> 01:18:51.940
into the very core of our being,

867
01:18:51.940 --> 01:18:54.820
that we will be consumed and baptized,

868
01:18:54.820 --> 01:18:57.900
that there'll be a fresh release of a baptism

869
01:18:57.900 --> 01:18:58.980
in the Father's love,

870
01:18:58.980 --> 01:19:03.340
that the power, the weight, the glory, the fire,

871
01:19:03.340 --> 01:19:06.780
the intensity, the wonders of the Father's love,

872
01:19:06.780 --> 01:19:09.980
let that be released right now in Jesus' name.

873
01:19:09.980 --> 01:19:12.660
Let it be a storm, let it be a flood,

874
01:19:12.660 --> 01:19:13.980
let it be a baptism,

875
01:19:14.860 --> 01:19:16.100
let it be an encounter, let it be fire,

876
01:19:16.100 --> 01:19:18.260
let it be lightning, let it be thunder,

877
01:19:18.260 --> 01:19:20.940
let it be wonders, let it be glory,

878
01:19:20.940 --> 01:19:25.260
let it be all-consuming and penetrating and heart-pounding

879
01:19:25.260 --> 01:19:30.260
and soul-blazing in Jesus' name.

880
01:19:30.260 --> 01:19:32.260
I just say more, more, more.

881
01:19:32.260 --> 01:19:34.180
We just wanna wait on you, Holy Spirit.

882
01:19:34.180 --> 01:19:35.020
We just wanna wait on you.

883
01:19:35.020 --> 01:19:36.860
We just wanna receive your love

884
01:19:36.860 --> 01:19:39.340
going deeper and deeper and deeper

885
01:19:40.500 --> 01:19:42.420
in your beautiful name, Jesus.

886
01:19:43.420 --> 01:19:44.260
Whoa.

887
01:19:45.140 --> 01:19:45.980
Amen.

888
01:19:47.820 --> 01:19:48.820
Wow, family.

889
01:19:48.820 --> 01:19:50.340
Thank you so much.

890
01:19:51.900 --> 01:19:54.980
Yeah, lots and lots of love to all of you.

891
01:19:54.980 --> 01:19:58.140
And like I said, if you want a free copy of the book,

892
01:19:58.140 --> 01:20:00.300
you can grab that in the...

893
01:20:00.000 --> 01:20:04.480
the description right now.

894
01:20:04.480 --> 01:20:08.400
And also there's a hardcover version as well,

895
01:20:08.400 --> 01:20:10.400
which these are really, really amazing

896
01:20:10.400 --> 01:20:15.400
for sharing with people who don't know Jesus yet.

897
01:20:15.880 --> 01:20:18.160
It really rocks their lives.

898
01:20:18.160 --> 01:20:20.600
So thanks so much, family.

899
01:20:20.600 --> 01:20:24.240
Bless you, and we'll see you all again soon.

900
01:20:24.240 --> 01:20:25.080
Bye-bye.