The Father's Five Sons

THE STORY is told of a father who had five sons. The first son was an obedient child who loved his father. The four remaining sons were to varying degrees rebellious. One of the instructions of the father was not to go near the river because it had such a traumatic torrent.

It was very dangerous. But the last four sons decided not to listen to their dad.

So they all went down by the river and played in the water only to be sucked up by its current and pulled downstream. No matter how hard they tried, they could not get out of the water. They were pulled downstream for miles and miles, until many miles later and almost dead, they were washed ashore a long way from home. They had enough survival skills about them to build a fire, and around that fire they longed for home, but they didn’t know how to get home and they didn’t have a way back to home.

They remembered their father with fondness. They remembered how joyful things were back home and lamented over how things might have gone differently for them if only they would have obeyed. After a while one son said, “I’m going to build a hut.

I’m going to make the best of things I can right here. I’m going to call this home.” The second son went over to the ridge to watch the first son build his hut, and he said, “I’m going to stay here and watch what you do because I’m going to tell on you when we get back home.

I’m going to tell Daddy that you forgot about him, and I’m going to tell him that you forgot your real home.” The third son said, “Well, I’m going back home. I don’t know my way but I’ll just follow the bank and go back the way we came from.”

Now, the obedient son had been sent by his father to look for his brothers. He ran into the fourth son first. He told him that their father had sent him to find his brothers and bring them home. Now that he’d located one of his brothers, he wanted to know where the other three were.

Brother number four showed him where their brother number one had built his hut. They knocked on the door. The obedient brother said, “Time to go home!” But brother number one said, “This is home now.

I’ve been away from Daddy’s house too long. I’ve got new friends now and a new way of life. Thanks a lot, but I’m okay where I am.”

They went to the second brother who was sitting down, evaluating the first brother. The obedient brother said, “Let’s go home.” Brother number two said, “I can’t leave here. I’m going to keep my eye on brother number one.

If I leave, then there will be nobody to watch what he is doing. There will be no one to critique or judge him.” They went to the third son, who was busy making his way upstream. The obedient brother said, “You don’t have to struggle to find your way home.

I’ve got a boat with a motor to take us upstream.” Brother number three said, “No, I’ve got to do this myself because then I can get home to Daddy and show him how much I love him by how hard I’ve worked to get back to him.”

The father sent the son to bring everybody back home, but only one brother went home. Only one brother was willing to go home God’s way. The first brother had gotten so comfortable where he lived that he was not willing to leave what he knew for the uncertainties of the trip back home. The second brother was so focused on somebody else that he forgot it was his sin that got him in the water in the first place.

He didn’t have to spend all of his time looking at his brother’s sin. If he’d just look at himself, he could go home. The third brother was a “do-it-yourselfer.” He felt if he tried hard enough, he could be free and climb home himself.

Only the fourth brother understood that the only way to get out of the mess he had gotten himself into was to follow the son who knew how to take him back to the father so he would be home again. So I only have one question. Which son are you? For God the Father has sent Jesus the Son to locate His brothers.

If you are tired of the hut that you’ve made your home, if you are tired of being so focused on everybody else that you’ve not yet gotten around to your sin, if you are so tired of trying to work your own way back from the place you’re in, God has sent the bigger brother, and Jesus is willing to take you home.