Why Did the Father Allow His Son to Leave?
There was a man who had two sons. And the younger of them said to his father, "Father, give me the share of the property that is coming to me." And he divided his property between them.
Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in reckless living.
Luke 15:10-12, ESV
Just about everyone is familiar with the parable of the prodigal son. In this illustration, Jesus tells of a man whose youngest son who wanted to go out on his own and do what he wanted. Since he had no money of his own, he asked his father to go ahead and give him his share of the inheritance he would normally have been given after his father died.
And for some seemingly inexplicable reason, the father did just that. Why, do you think, did he do that?
So, the son took the money and went off to live where he could do what he wanted, whenever he wanted. He had to go far away, because none of us like for those we respect to be close enough to see us when we are doing things that would let them down. Since the son had plans of wild living that apparently included throwing his money away on prostitutes, this young man understandably wanted to be as far away as possible when he did this.
Have you ever wondered why the father let his son take his money and leave? Perhaps it was because he knew that the youngest son was determined to sin, and he didn't want him around when he was doing so. He likely knew that the conduct of his prodigal would only pollute everything he came in contact with, and he didn't want to be an unwilling victim of the collateral damage that his son's wild living would surely bring.
In short, he didn't want the one who would end up living with the pigs to come back home and track what he had picked up in the pens all over his house.
When you think about it, this father was pretty wise. He had lived long enough to know his son was determined to sin and just had it to go through when it came to the consequences. How could he have known that the son would sin? Because he had already started sinning by asking for the fruits of his father's lifetime of labor when he asked him for his share of the estate early. The son was already self-centered to the point where he could make such a bold demand, and the only conclusion that the father could make was that the boy's destructive behavior would soon infect everything he touched. So, again, he let his do what he was going to do.
In many ways, I see America in a similar position. We have taken the fruits of our founders and everyone else who sacrificed after them, and we have in many ways squandered them. There are those who have received a godly heritage who care nothing about God, but sure enjoy their sin. They genuinely prefer things like drunkenness, drug addiction, sexual immorality and abortion. In their damaged way of thinking, they have begun to fowl their own nest by opening up the borders to criminals, putting sexual deviants near children, worshipping the land instead of God, and despising anyone who thinks differently than them.
At times I wonder if the wisest thing to do is for the righteous to split this inheritance that has been left to us by the blessings of God and let these sinful people go their own way in a place where they will no longer be able to pollute those who do not desire to live in this way.
That may sound like a crazy idea - dividing the United States - but wisdom has shown this to be the only viable option in days gone by. The thing to remember from Christ's parable is this: The father did not want the son to be prodigal and leave, but that was his son's desire. That being the case, he let him go. However, as the parable would later reveal, the father never stopped looking for the son to repent and come home - that is why he was able to see him from "a long way off" when the son began his journey back home.
Still, the father had the wisdom to wait for the repentance to first occur. When it did, the restoration of the family could begin, along with the healing that such a restoration would require. But until the prodigal son was through with his life of sin, he had no business around those who did not wish to be a part (or a victim) of this evil behavior.
Unpleasant and difficult as such things are to even consider, I believe that it is something we all need to be thinking about in these wicked days in which we live, wouldn't you agree?