OMG I finally have time to read an actual book!
I bought this book as a birthday gift for a friend. At a short (but oh so dense) 133 pages, I decided to read it before I mail it to her =)
The Prodigal God highlights the parable of the prodigal son (Luke 15:1-3, 11-32). You know the one:
The younger son asks for his inheritance from his very-much-alive father.
He spends it on wild living.
He comes to his senses; and, with regret, longs to return home to his father.
His father welcomes him back unconditionally, and throws him a big party.
Usually the story ends here. But Keller, in this book, highlights the reaction of the elder brother, who refuses to join the party. Keller points out it's the self-righteousness of the elder brother which keeps him from experiencing the great feast:
29 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. 30 But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
How is this relevant to us? Keller points out the self-righteous religiosity of many "elder brother" Christians keeps them slaves to their own score-keeping. They become their own god, setting up their own system of good works for good reward, and eventually negotiates with God to "pay up" accordingly, while completely blind to the meaning of grace. It also gives them a superiority complex that ultimately isolates them from others, and keeps them from doing the work Jesus calls them to do.
I love that Keller's messages - as is consistent with his messages at his church in NYC, which I attend - always culminate in an application: How should this change me? Specifically, how should this change me to change the cities?
This time, he advises us to dispense with the kind of religiosity that only bogs us down with selfishness and self-righteousness. Jesus calls us to care for the poor, the oppressed, the orphans and the widows. If Jesus paid the ultimate price, his infinite cost should make our own costs (giving of self to others) seem minuscule.
The word
'prodigal' means recklessly extravagant, having spent everything. The parable is not so much about the younger prodigal son being welcomed back, but the prodigal father / God who has already paid the price, and calls us to stop keeping score but instead join Him at the feast. Then what naturally follows is radical generosity.
