Having lost all…I have nothing to lose…

Our men’s bible study is working through Henri Nouwen’s “Return of the Prodigal Son” – Nouwen’s very intimate and personal meditation on Jesus parable from Luke 15 – AND Rembrandt’s famous artistic expression of that same parable. I am in my 5th reading of the book – it is that profound. And today, a line hit me, touched me and moved me…a line I’m sure I’ve read at least 4 times before – but which for some reason found a deeper landing place in my spirit this morning.

This is the line: “The Father has nothing to lose because he has lost all. He has only to give. He can welcome his children home without asking them any questions and without wanting anything from them in return.”

Nouwen’s point is that though we all resemble, at one time or another, both the younger prodigal son as well as the older, resentful brother…God’s goal for us is to become Fathers and Mothers – who can welcome many sons and daughters home, to Him. The key to being an effective Father or Mother? To become one who “has nothing to lose because he has lost all.”

It is only then that we can truly be about giving to our spiritual children. Only then can we truly love our spiritual sons and daughters because true love is never about what we need, but the need of the other. We can only truly welcome home the spiritual kids God might bring to us if we have come to a point where we “want nothing from them in return”. Because this is the way the Father in Luke 15 welcomed home his prodigal son and this is the way our Heavenly Father has welcomed home each of us – without condition, without demand, without expectation, without any hoops to jump through, without any spiritual conditions to meet except that we have decided we want to come home.

He welcomes us freely. He welcomes us by grace. He is a Father who “having lost all, has nothing to lose.” That’s how I want to be…or shall I say, “become”. Father, help me today to continue to become a Father who welcomes home many sons and daughters…just like You. Help me to become a father who “having lost all, has nothing to lose, only to give.”