In March of 2020, the United States government declared a state of emergency in the face of the rapidly spreading COVID-19 pandemic. With millions of Americans testing positive, hundreds of thousands dying as a result of the airborne virus and so much uncertainty surrounding it, the search for a cure filled most of the news cycles of 2020. Roughly 14 months later, multiple pharmaceutical companies have created vaccines and numbers are plummeting. Recently, the Center for Disease Control released a statement saying that fully vaccinated individuals no longer had to wear facial coverings when they were gathered in public places. By all accounts, things seem to be on a trajectory of getting back to normal with millions of vaccinated Americans.
While the coronavirus pandemic has completely upended everyday life for all of us, there is a sickness that has plagued humanity since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. This sickness does not necessarily present with any sort of physical symptoms. You can’t recognize it due to high temperatures, shortness of breath or a nasty cough. Instead, this sickness, the sickness of sin starts on the inside and wreaks havoc on the soul of men and women long before there are any outward ramifications.
Fortunately, God has a remedy in place for the sinful nature of man. Before Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in Genesis, God had a plan in place if the day came where humanity would choose to satisfy our own lusts instead of living life according to the Spirit. God’s cure for sin doesn’t come in the form of a vaccination or a pill. Instead, the remedy for sin involves a look into the human heart and an acknowledgement that we are sinful by nature. Sin is a sickness, but God has a cure.
The Story of the Lost Son
Luke 15:11-32
Saint Luke records a parable in his Gospel account that isn’t mentioned in any of the other three Gospels. Tucked away in the 15th chapter of Luke’s Gospel, Jesus tells a story about a man who had two sons. This story paints a beautiful picture of the sickness of sin and the cure that is offered.
Luke 15:12 (TPT)
The younger son came to his father and said, ‘Father, don’t you think it’s time to give me the share of your estate that belongs to me?’
The request of the youngest son wasn’t all that uncommon for ancient times. While we think of an inheritance being available after the death of the testator, cultural norms during this period of history were a bit different. Children could request their inheritance while their parents were still living, and it wasn’t uncommon for parents to grant the request. Afterall, this meant that they would get to see their children enjoy the fruits of their labor.
Luke 15:13 (TPT)
Shortly afterward, the younger son packed up all his belongings and traveled off to see the world. He journeyed to a far-off land where he soon wasted all he was given in a binge of extravagant and reckless living.
The youngest son’s sin wasn’t in asking for what he was going to inherit. His sin was found in his inability to control himself once he had it. Self-control is one of the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23. Being able to control yourself and to refuse to give into the lusts of the flesh is one of the most important parts of stopping the spread of sin sickness in your own life.
We aren’t told exactly what he spent his money on, but the Bible describes it as a “binge” of extravagant and reckless living. Undoubtedly, he gave in to every desire that he had which allowed the sickness of sin to run rampant throughout his life.
Luke 15:14 (TPT)
With everything spent and nothing left, he grew hungry, for there was a severe famine in the land.
Once sin has latched onto a person’s life, it leaves them broken, empty and with nothing left. There’s no questioning that the young man enjoyed his time of extravagant and reckless binging. The Bible even tells us that there is pleasure in sinful living, but that pleasure only lasts for a short season (Hebrews 11:25). However, once that season is over and the pleasure of sin has worn off, there are ramifications.
The young man was left with nothing so he went out to do the only thing he could think to do. He found work and tried to restart his life. The Bible says that the young man “begged a farmer in that country to hire him” (Luke 15:15). That farmer gave him a job feeding his pigs. For a Jewish person living in New Testament times, having anything to do with swine would have been the lowest possible position in society. Pigs were unclean under the Law of Moses and even touching one was considered demeaning. That fact is what makes the next verse so impactful.
Luke 15:16 (TPT)
The son was so famished, he was willing to even eat the slop given to the pigs, because no one would feed him a thing.
Sin, while it makes you feel full for a moment, ultimately leaves you empty. This young man who would have been ashamed to even touch a pig now envied the slop that they had access to. Sin sickness spreads quickly if left untreated. The results are never pretty, and they always leave you wondering how you got to the point where you’re at. Without question, this young man had to wonder how he went from living the life of luxury to wanting to eat pig slop.
Luke 15:17 (TPT)
Humiliated, the son finally realized what he was doing, and he thought, ‘There are many workers at my father’s house who have all the food they want with plenty to spare. They lack nothing. Why am I here dying of hunger, feeding these pigs and eating their slop?’
Other translations say that the young man “came to himself.” The beginning of the cure for sin involves realizing that there is a problem. The young man in Jesus’ parable got to his lowest point before he came to himself and realized the situation that he was in. However, that moment of realization allowed him to seek the treatment he needed for his sin sickness.
He came up with how he was going to apologize. He went over the speech in his mind. He wasn’t going to try to go home and go back to being a son. Instead, he would go back, apologize to his father and get a job as an employee. If he was going to have to feed livestock, he might as well work for someone who fed his employees, right? However, his plan didn’t include what was going on back at home.
The father was waiting for him. That’s why the Bible says that the father “saw him coming, dressed as a beggar” from a long distance away (Luke 15:20).
The son went into the speech that he had prepared, but the father interrupted him (Luke 15:21). The father then ordered the servants to prepare a feast, a celebration for the son who had left but had returned.
This story paints a glorious picture of God’s cure for sin. The first step to finding your cure is acknowledging that you have the sickness. The young man had to come to himself, feel the humiliation of his sinful actions before he could even begin considering going back to the father. Once he had his realization, he went home, apologized and asked for grace.
You see, grace is the remedy for sin. The only thing we have to do is acknowledge that we need it. The young man in Jesus’ parable realized that he was better off as an employee of his father than living life on his own and the father offered grace. Your Father will do the same.
A Closing Prayer:
God, thank You for providing the grace that I need to overcome the sin sickness in my life. We both know my flaws and my shortcomings, so I ask that You help me to be mindful of them. When I give into those moments, give me the strength and the courage to recognize my need to come home and ask for Your grace. In Christ’s name, Amen.